Important!
Stand up to bullying! Show up at 9 am Wednesday Jan. 18, Josephine County Commissioners’ meeting at Ann Basker Auditorium to let them know they cannot bully our local newspaper, The Grants Pass Daily Courier, by pulling the county’s legal notices from where they have been printed the last 100 years. Commission Chair Herman Baertschiger and Commissioner Dan DeYoung are taking revenge on our historical newspaper for letting their constituents know what they are up to every week.
Commissioners have drawn up an Order shifting county legal notices to the Illinois Valley Press in Cave Junction because they want to hurt the Courier. Commissioners are trying to sneak this by their constituents because an Order doesn’t require a public hearing. Legals are a lucrative source of income for a newspaper and our Commissioners are pulling them with hopes the paper won’t be able to survive. This is a clear example of retaliation against the Courier, long a target of Commissioners’ distain.
We cannot allow this kind of malice from our elected officials whose toxic philosophy reflects the right-wing media they immerse themselves in where hatred of real news has grown into an obsession.
You can also help by sending emails and making phone calls to Commissioners telling them not to do this. This staggering vandalism of the First Amendment is unethical, selfish, malignant and vengeful.
Help preserve one of the last independent newspapers in the nation. Ask Commissioners to vote NO on Order No. 2023-013.
Let’s flood their email inbox and voice mail.
Right Now! Send emails and call Commissioners,
Copy all emails to BCC@josephinecounty.gov
Baertschiger – hbaertschiger@josephinecounty.gov
DeYoung – ddeyoung@josephinecounty.gov
Phone – 541-474-5221
Then let’s pack Anne Basker Auditorium for their meeting at 9:00AM on Wednesday.
January 16, 2023 @ 5:48 pm
Hello,
imagine my dismay to see this on the JoCo Democrats website, “We cannot allow this kind of malice from our elected officials whose toxic philosophy reflects the right-wing media they immerse themselves in where hatred of real news has grown into an obsession.”
Are the local Democrats saying that a member of their party is a right-wing media owner? Are you implying that my locally owned paper is not real news?
This is quite alarming to this registered Democrat. Please correct me if I am wrong.
djm
January 17, 2023 @ 11:08 am
We don’t know how you took this sentence as an insult as it does not imply anything about your newspaper. If you followed our county commissioners for the last year you can see they constantly gripe about the Grants Pass Daily Courier and their griping is influenced by the right-wing media they immerse themselves in and occasionally quote during meetings. Baertschiger appears weekly on KMED and if you’ve ever listened to that talk radio station you’d know what a malicious influence it is in our county. I do not see where this statement implies the IV News is right-wing media.
Baertschiger, Fowler and DeYoung have used their positions as Commissioners to denigrate and lie about the Courier, following the larger pattern of media denigration in right-wing circles. Their war on the Courier is also a war on Grants Pass Mayor Sarah Bristol, Councilor Brian DeLaGrange and anyone they deem “liberal” to the point where their prejudice has undermined many of their constituents’ trust in their government.
This goes back to the pandemic years when they took COVID vaccine promotion money they didn’t want simply to make sure it didn’t get spent on ads in the Courier. As a community we need to show these people we know what their game is and we will not put up with it.
January 16, 2023 @ 6:03 pm
Nothing worse than our elected officials playing dirty politics to suit their own needs, and sneaking their agendas past their constituents. I vehemently oppose their actions and hope the whole dang county can effect a NO vote on Order No. 2023-013
January 17, 2023 @ 11:01 pm
I depend on the Daily Courier for the news about what is happening in Josephine County. I disagree with the commissioners’ desire to stop publishing public notices in the Daily Courier. I hope they recognize that I am a voter who is opposed to Order No.2023-013.