To the Publisher and Editor of The Chronicle

Please discontinue my subscription to your paper.

When I moved to this area four years ago, I started a subscription to the paper I considered “local” to my home in Columbia City. Yours. In those four years, I’ve read the paper cover to cover, week after week, and while picking up some bits and pieces of the news, I’ve primarily used the paper as a piece to practice my proofreading and spell-checking. (Did you know there’s a feature on computers these days that does much of that for you??)

During the past three months I’ve been heavily involved in the recall effort against St. Helens City Councilors Doug Morten and Phil Barlow, as have many residents of the St. Helens area—whether they were for or against the issue.

Your paper was given the first opportunity to run with the story, courtesy of Sally Gump’s personal friendship with one of your writers. Imagine my dismay and confusion to find that the South County Spotlight broke the story, and then, in form with a “news” paper, followed it throughout. This, despite repeated efforts to offer information first to your staff.

There are two things that should have triggered my decision to cancel my subscription, early on:

First, the St. Helens City Council's decision to switch back to the Chronicle as their paper of record after the South County Spotlight ran an interview with Mayor Randy Peterson in which he criticized the actions and behavior of the current council. This article was followed shortly afterward with an interview with Councilor Doug Morten. Even reporting, I think. The Council, however, at the urging of Councilor Phil Barlow, voted to change paper of record almost immediately following the interview with Peterson.

That decision might have been a simple change of heart among councilors, perhaps even to bring the paper of record distinction back to the town paper, IF the Chronicle had even once printed a story after that time that was not pro-council. It left many of us at City Hall shaking our heads and commenting on the power of a few councilors as opposed to the historic power of the press.

And, second, the day that Sally Gump told me she had all but been tossed out of the Chronicle because management there didn’t want her and her recall buddies in the building. This came in response to another attempt by Sally to give your reporter a heads up regarding the recall. And, predictably, nothing of the recall efforts made the Chronicle columns until Phil and Doug filed their SLAPP suits against Sally. The Chronicle in its infinite wisdom ran a glorifying article about the poor, put upon councilors as well as the indignant replies of the councilors to Sally’s attempt to recall them. (Keep those councilors happy and stay in business, I guess, huh? Damned be the news.)

Still, I wanted to believe you were truly good to your name and would report the news. So, I've watched the papers for weeks; I’ve never ceased to be amazed at what the Chronicle considers newsworthy and, oddly enough, what it chooses to ignore. Absolutely no word of the lawsuit coming to court made the paper the week it occurred. (I am anxious to see if the topic will ever appear in print again if left to you.) The only concession to actual coverage of the court scene was my letter, which appeared in the letters to the editor section two days after the court date. My assumption here is that if you print a letter to the editor in direct opposition to the councilors, you have "reported" on the topic without putting yourselves in the line of fire, so to speak.

I studied journalism in school. I read avidly. I know the definition of “news.” You have missed the boat more than once on this front; you are NOT publishing a newspaper according to the acknowledged definition of the word. Control of the press is the often the first sad sign of the demise of democracy and freedom. Many locals may not recognize your part in that, but I do. It is clear that the councilors of St. Helens, led by Phil Barlow, Doug Morten, and Keith Locke, have control of what you print, whether by their actions or your acceptance of their control.

My fondest hope is that you will pick up a dictionary or an old textbook and refresh your memory as to the purpose and, indeed, the responsibility of a newspaper. The councilors already have their propaganda rag, the city’s "news"letter, the Gazette (and it is proofed and edited about as well as yours). Citizens don’t need another councilor ego piece, especially one disguised as a newspaper.

I’ve had enough. I’ll find my proofreading exercises elsewhere. Please cancel my subscription.

Good luck.

Kim Bauer
Columbia City