A few days ago, I sent an email to some members of the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors regarding their opposition to the Douglas County Home Rule Charter petition gathering efforts, of which I am a part. I contacted them to ask why on earth they oppose Home Rule Charter.…
Petitions are being circulated to put the question of a Home Rule Charter before Douglas County residents this November. Like every political option there are virtues to this proposal and there are flaws.
I just hate to do it but somebody must respond to Chuck Stuermer’s “The Return of Hate in America” (July 12 guest column.) There was so much in this comment that it takes some time to digest it and develop a researched response. I prefer to actually state facts not sadly mistaken opinions.
A few weeks ago, I wrote an opinion about the hateful speech that is on TV and news reports. My reason was to make us think where we are headed with our hateful comments that we have seen on TV in particular. I received many calls and comments thanking me for writing the opinion, as they fel…
E very child in Douglas County, as well as every teenager and adult, deserves access to a library. Here is my suggestion for financing a library network in Douglas County.
We live in the “days of division.” Never before has this country been so evenly divided, on so many key social issues, and on so many imperative political and legal decisions.
“We really had no choice,” Beth Peer, special projects coordinator for Deschutes National Forest, is quoted as saying regarding their plan to close five major Oregon wildernesses — Three Sisters, Jefferson, Washington, Diamond Peak and Waldo Lake — to hiking and backpacking except by permit.
I agree, Mr. Dayton: Change is inevitable, and we must adapt (“Change is coming, one way or another” by Fred Dayton, The News Review June 27). Global warming presents us with an exceptionally stark case for adaptation in the face of change.
If you grew up in or a near a major city, then moved to the country, there are things you are going to have to learn to live without, or at least lower your standards.
It was indeed a longshot. But that longshot turned into a Sunshot. And that “Sunshot” was a grant award from the Federal Department of Energy to Douglas County Smart Energy. Formally called “Sunshot Solar in Your Community,” the award will offer technical assistance to DC Smart Energy and or…
Three thousand years ago, four great civilizations developed along major rivers in Africa and Asia: the Nile, the Ganges, the Euphrates and the Yellow.
I was dismayed when reading that, after a group of teens allegedly harassed, incited a fight and then gang beat a homeless man, and then posted the video online for others’ entertainment, a group of community members thought the appropriate response was to organize a “cleanup” (The News-Revi…
Why do we fear change? Is this something we are born with or is this something we are taught? Recently, we had youth protesting climate change. We had youth suing the government over climate change. Are we doing better to teach them to protest or to teach them to adapt to change?
In 1958, the Oregon Constitution allowed Oregon voters to adopt charters prescribing how their county governments could be organized, what powers they could have and what procedures they could follow in administering the affairs of their county. This information is easily researched and foun…
In June of 1975 a group of Douglas County residents came together because they wanted direct local influence over training and employment programs in Douglas County. They felt a private nonprofit corporation with a local board of directors would be more responsive, more efficient and effecti…
On June 11, the grey skies looked threatening. No rain came, but 400 people did; they streamed into seats set up outdoors, in front of the Douglas County Museum of History and Natural History, bearing individual flowers and to honor their friend Gardner Chappell in a celebration of life.
I’ve been blessed with doing a lot of things in my life, but the Senior Services programs have been a few of my “highlight memories.” First, delivering food baskets to the Meals on Wheels was so inspiring; I know that I have to do it more than once. The seniors’ response to seeing a county c…
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein is often credited with this statement, although researchers cannot locate it in his writings. Others believe Alcoholics Anonymous originated it. Who knows? Perhaps it started with an exas…
In numerous public forums around the county, Douglas County Smart Energy has been recruiting energy champions — homeowners willing to take actions to make their homes more energy efficient and to share the success stories with their communities. For The News-Review readers who missed these f…
Our commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, has pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Among the nations of the world, we’re all alone. Well, not quite. Nicaragua is not on board only because they felt the agreement was too weak, which leaves only one world leader with Trump President Assad — …
Visitors from other countries are often puzzled by our nearly unrestricted American style of free speech. In much, perhaps most, of the world what you can and cannot say or write publicly is limited by the government. Often, there are seemingly good reasons for this pre-emptive banning of ce…
The most common misconception is that the business cash flow means profits. In fact, that is the farthest from the truth.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The columns of Bill Duncan, a long-time journalist, have returned to The News-Review. Duncan, who died in November 2011, wrote a weekly column for The News-Review and The Capital Press of Salem from 1981 to 2011. Duncan wrote the following column in June 1995. His thoughts are…
Question: Where else can you combine energy savings with fun and excitement ?
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