June 17 2001Dan HortschOregonian
Dan Hortsch Oregonian 17-Jun-01
The telephone calls, letters and e-mails that reach my desk are weighted on the negative side. They range from mild annoyance over a misspelled word or an odd headline to allegations of conspiratorial bias in the placement of a story.
That’s fair enough. A key purpose of this position is to provide readers a place to voice those concerns. But readers also take the time to offer thanks and praise, and not just for the big stories.
A rundown of several recent efforts that drew praise from near and far:
A Beaverton reader who covered diverse ground in The Sunday Oregonian of June 3 cited “two great articles.”She was impressed by “A gift of music education” by Bob Hicks, assistant arts editor, in the ArtsWeek section; and, in the Commentary section, “Under cover of night, cockfighting’s brutality clear” by Doug Bates, an associate editor.
Hicks, in an essay lamenting the loss of music programs in public schools, reported that cable channel VH1′s Save the Music Foundation is offering $100,000 worth of new instruments to be split among four Portland schools to be named in September. Bates provided a description of the cruelty of cockfighting and supported state legislation that would make breeding fighting chickens illegal in Oregon. (The fights themselves are outlawed.)
Each article stood out because it informed and educated while also offering the writer’s personal perspective — Hicks on the sorry state of music education and Bates on his view as to why this substantial connection to cockfights should be outlawed. Intriguingly, Bates also explained how it happened that 30 years ago he took his wife, dressed up for a night of fine dining to mark their eighth wedding anniversary, to a cockfight instead.
A Brockton, Mass., man called to say that Dana Tims, a staff writer in the Southwest bureau, did a “most fantastic job” in June 5 editions on the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, permanent home of the HK-1 Flying Boat, or Spruce Goose. The caller’s son had sent him the pages.Tims did do a fine job, as well as with stories that week on Delford M. “Del” Smith, Evergreen Aviation founder, and on the actual opening of the museum.
The eye-catching display on June 3 was a full-page graphic depicting the museum, the Flying Boat and other restored aircraft. It was the product of Tims’ research and writing, and graphics work by Derrik Quenzer, a staff artist.
A reader in Alpine, Texas, with botanical interests and a friend in Portland wrote to say thanks for the May 24 stories, photos and illustrations on the 176 plants described and collected by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their expedition.A four-page news section and the Homes & Gardens of the Northwest magazine examined the plants and the areas today where the adventurers recorded their findings. JoLene Krawczak, features editor, and Joany Carlin, editor of Homes & Gardens, wrote and photographed the packages with illustrations by Lisa Russo and Rene Eisenbart.
A photo that recorded “A joyous victory,” as the caption headline said, drew compliments from a reader who said that in his 80 years he had never called a newspaper. However, the photo by Rob Finch of a man leaping into the air as he watches his stepson row past during the Milk Carton Boat Races in Westmoreland Park prompted that first call.The photo, he said, “contains all the elements that make a truly great photograph.” Finch’s photo demonstrates that although the event, part of the Rose Festival, is 29 years old, each year offers new opportunities to capture the zeal and energy of the participants.
The newspaper comes out every day. Efforts such as these help keep it fresh, even when reporting on long-running or repeated events.
Sunday, June 17th, 2001
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