Imagine a world where the only network television news came via FOX, or the New York Post was the only national newspaper. Kind of frightening. Yet that's how I too often feel when I pick up my local daily newspaper of record. Take this past week.
Editor In Chief John Costa kicked things off with a Sunday column that accused local homeless advocates of skewing the area's homeless numbers by including families and individuals that are so destitute that they've been forced to take up with friends or seek temporary shelter in cut-rate motels around town. I won't go into the argument that Costa makes to accuse advocates involved in the count of doing more harm than good for the local homeless who now number in the thousands. But the notion that people living off the goodwill of family and neighbors or relying on the whim of a motel manager are on solid footing is patently absurd.
Not to be outdone, I opened up the paper today to find the editorial board (of which Costa is a member) railing against the smoking ban that finally cleared the air in local restaurants and taverns where non-smoking patrons and more importantly workers are no longer exposed to potentially lethal second-hand smoke.
And when it's not advocating for a destination resort free for all in the Metolius basin, it's championing a questionable wind power project around the Steens Mountain Wilderness.
It's time for a reality check on Chandler Ave. WTF?!
