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Submitted By: maryfaith.bell@tillamookcounty.gov – Click to email about this post

Dear Neighbors,

Recently someone posted misinformation about Tillamook County libraries being unsafe for immigrant community members due to facial recognition software that could be accessed by immigration officials. As a Tillamook County commissioner and the county liaison to the library for the past seven years, I would like to set forth the facts.

What is true: the library has installed new security cameras at the entrances of all of the branch locations to promote safety for patrons and staff. Libraries are warm, open, and public spaces where everyone is welcome. Occasionally that includes people who violate library rules intended to keep people safe. The cameras will create a visual record of who has entered the library in case a violation of library behavior rules occurs. The cameras are not yet in use, while the library updates its policies.

It is also true that the cameras have a facial recognition software option; however, the library has no current plan to enable that feature. The library takes privacy as a core and fundamental value for its users. There are strict limitations about access to images or video from the library. The library director or one of two senior librarians are the people authorized to release images and video footage.

Anyone who has questions or concerns about the library is invited to contact Tillamook County Library Director Don Allgeier. Don welcomes the opportunity to engage with community members about the library system. Please rest assured that security cameras are intended to enhance safety and security for all of the library’s valued patrons.

Sincerely,

Mary Faith Bell
Tillamook County Commissioner

Submitted By: laniciaduke@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

I watched the first couple of minutes of the football game over the weekend. As they going to commercial, the broadcaster said when we come back, we will honor America. I said out loud to myself we need to mourn what we have known of America. She is dying.

I am going to be hosting a time of mourning, offering prayer into our land. I believe that’s the only thing that will heal us. Even in the protest, hearts are hardened and angry. We reap what we sow. We need to start sowing something different.

We are in a wonderful time of being able to help usher in what is before us. None of us know what the future holds, but we can certainly prepare our hearts. Nothing dies without something bringing life.

We can offer a time of comfort with songs and spoken words. We can begin envisioning what our world can still be. If we are not part of the change, we risk being left behind.

No one will win in this culture war if we do not step up and take a lead into a new world. We’re already headed that way. If we don’t envision it, and create it, it will continue to be more of the same and worse.

If we want something we have to begin doing something different.

We are heading into a major financial crisis both at the state level and across the country. The changes to SNAP and Medicaid changes will begin taking place at the end of the year.

SNAP changes: www.fns.usda.gov/snap/obbb-implementation

American Medical Association’s information on Medicaid changes: www.ama-assn.org/system/files/medicaid-community-engagement-requirements-summary.pdf

You can look at what the Oregon legislative body will be working on beginning next week.

Here is a link to watch this month’s committee hearings. This is the first day. Click on the calendar arrow to see the meetings for the whole week. The joint ways and means committee is where state spending and revenue discussions are that will affect all of us.

olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025I1/2026-01-13

Pay attention to budget shortfalls. How do we begin preparing for the much harder times ahead? We can’t keep fighting about what’s already on the way.

I keep saying protesting alone will not move the needle. How quick did people forget about Saturday when the football game came on the next day.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

If you’ve read this far and are still interested, my email is laniciaduke@gmail.com and my number is 503-898-8929.

LaNicia Duke

Submitted By: jillt@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

This morning I watched a brief video of Anderson Cooper talking to a woman in a Minnesota church about the “Singing Resistance” that she’s a part of — a peaceful and extraordinary part of the resistance in Minnesota. While her voice was calm and strong as she spoke and sang, her back was to the camera, at her request. Anderson asked her if she was afraid, and she answered, ….”we’re all afraid,” “…. it’s a way to gather our courage.”

I was down at the beach briefly later on and thought again about why I haven’t raised my voice and joined the millions who are marching and singing across our country and in our communities. Why in a year since the local protest group began, all I’ve mustered is driving by and honking when I happen to be in the area of a Saturday protest, despite my despair as the days have gone on and the horror and agonies have grown. I’m ashamed of myself. Physically, it would be very difficult to join the protest group, but I have words — words that have been sitting on my heart and making it heavier and heavier as each day goes by.

It is so important that we join our voices with others — just as one dot makes a small impact when placed in the middle of a page, when another dot is placed and they connect and then another, it encourages others to place a dot and the dots spread out and connect and on and on until we have a heart that beats in unison with the words of our Pledge of Allegiance: … One Nation Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All. One heart that beats in unison with love of and support of our Constitution. One heart that beats in unison to the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You.

If apathy or whatever or however you want to label it failed to keep us engaged in and understanding the political process and why each of our votes, informed votes, matters, it is now up to each of us to stand up and speak up and sing and cross the divide that separates us from those who would support this administration and all the pain, evil, and yes, death it has brought to our country. Each of our lives are impacted by the events of the last year in our country. Each of us may have a line to cross with family members, friends, neighbors, acquaintances — for me, it’s a brother and a cousin; for a friend, it’s a sister. They aren’t enemies; they’re flesh and blood, and they matter to us. We have history with them, just as we have history with our country. It’s terrifying for me to consider that the brother who has been a rock and the source of so much joy through all these years might forsake me for crossing that line with him. However, the belief I have that the possibility of connecting our dots might lead to the connecting of other dots — well, I just can’t go to sleep another night with that burden on my heart and not make an effort to lighten the burden.

And that’s what this letter is about — joining my voice in protest, with my neighbors and friends and community, of a president (no capital “p” — he doesn’t deserve it —) and an administration that has robbed us of our trust in our government to do what is right for us — all of us in our community and state and country and the world. We are a young country of immigrants, and we’re being shaken to our core. I do believe today there are encouraging signs that what we are doing in rising up against all the injustice is making a difference. May our hearts rest in the peace and knowledge that all will be well, however long that may take, and that we will find the courage to carry on together.

With heartfelt love and gratitude to all my brothers and sisters in our local community and throughout the country standing up and speaking out and singing —

Jill Thurston

Submitted By: s.l.johnson2021@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

One positive aspect of having a “slow” season on the coast is that our residents and business owners have more time to visit, one on one. I have taken the opportunity in recent weeks to join with a friend and go business to business to actually talk to people in our community to discuss the direction our country is heading with regard to immigrants.

What we found is the people in our community are willing to share their thoughts. A project that we thought might take a few hours ended up taking more than a few days. As we listened to the concerns of our neighbors along the main street, we were overwhelmed to find that we all shared similar concerns and values. At a time when main-stream and social media push the evocative notion that we are a deeply divided country, we found that is far from the case in our community.

The common grounds shared by our community members include the belief that truth matters. Our constitutional rights should be protected. Our laws should be followed and enforced by trained officers and politically neutral courts. People should not be stereotyped based on the color of their skin. Good people come in every color. Everyone, regardless of country of origin, has a right to due process and to be treated respectfully.

Like most Oregon communities, our residents and visitors come from diverse backgrounds and countries. We have first, second and third generation immigrants. Nearly all of us have immigrant heritage. Immigrants belong with us, in our community. As someone more eloquent than I recently wrote, “they belong to us in the sense that proximity, and familiarity, and regular interaction bring us all into a community of principle and mutual care, make us all our brother’s keeper, and calls on us to love our neighbors.” If you see a sign in a business window bearing a monarch butterfly, the symbol of migration, know that as a sign of support for these values.

In our community, as in the entire United States, people who believe in liberty and justice for all stand up to tyranny. We stand up for our neighbors. We let our voices be heard. Now is the time to let our elected officials know we demand our (and our neighbors’) freedom, the truth, and our rights protected.

Submitted By: rjm98351@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Hello! Looking for recommendations for wallpaper hanger for small interior project. Thanks!

Submitted By: codger817@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

This is from Antonia Scatton at reframingamerica.substack.com/p/one-pager?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=875433&post_id=185770980&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=rvpv6&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
If it doesn’t work for you, let me know I can e-mail it to you. Jim Heffernan codger817@gmail.com

One Pager
What to Say
The actions of the Trump administration violate the most sacred promise of our Constitution: that our freedom never be trampled by our own government.
The Trump administration is carrying out an illegal and unconstitutional military occupation of the state of Minnesota, in rural and urban communities alike. Trump is waging a campaign of terror and brutality to instill fear in all those who would stand up to him. He sought to make an example of Minnesota, and instead, the people of Minnesota are showing the world what standing up to tyranny looks like.
Federal agents with DHS and ICE have executed two American citizen legal observers, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Masked, poorly trained agents are stopping, assaulting, and abducting anyone they choose. They are using chemical weapons indiscriminately. People of color are afraid to go to work or school. Businesses are closed and medical facilities dangerously understaffed, especially in rural areas. No one should have to fear leaving their home.
ICE and DHS are violating our Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and to not be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law. We have the right to object to wrong-doing by our government, to not be stopped and questioned without cause, to not be searched or arrested without a warrant signed by a judge, and to legal representation and a fair hearing.
Constitutional rights apply to everyone in the United States, whether they are citizens, legal immigrants, those in the process of seeking asylum or legal status, visitors and even undocumented immigrants.
This is a political attack, both to take the heat off of Trump’s failure to release 99% of the Epstein files (despite being required to by bipartisan federal law) and to punish states that did not vote for him and compel their leaders to comply with illegal demands for private voter data and other unconstitutional violations of state authority.
What We Want
• ICE and other federal immigration agents must cease operations now and leave Minnesota.
• All incidents of illegal arrests and violent or lethal confrontation must be investigated.
• Account for every person detained, assure that their rights are being respected and that they are being held under humane conditions.
• Create clear and enforceable operating parameters that strictly limit use of force and require agents to operate within the bounds of the law and constitution.
• Federal agents must not operate in any state, city or locality without the approval of local leadership and supervision by local law enforcement.
• Federal funding for ICE should be frozen. If ICE will not operate within the law and the Constitution, it should be disbanded and replaced with law enforcement that will.
What NOT to Say
Do not repeat or spread their arguments, not even to debunk them. Their messaging is designed to sow doubt in the mind of the listener, even when you are making the case against what they are saying. Always write and speak from our perspective.
•
Do not accidentally expose people to our opponents’ framing. Our opponents try to associate us with negative concepts. When we put two ideas together in a sentence, a neural connection is made between them no matter what other words also appear in the sentence. For example: “Renee Good was not a paid agitator” is processed by the brain as: “Renee Good” plus “paid agitator.” Instead you could say: “Renee Good was a legal observer,” connecting the words “Renee Good” and “legal observer”. Become conscious of using the words “not” or “don’t”.
• Talk about how you feel and don’t use jargon. Talk in clear everyday language. Talk about right and wrong, not policies.
• Don’t label. Describe. Using labels like “fascism” tends to sound like name calling. It calls into question what you mean and what your motives are. It is always better to talk about what the person or group is doing. Then the listener is focused on judging their behavior, not yours.
• Project the image of peaceful non-violence. This is messaging too. Throwing things makes us look violent to voters. Remember what Dr King taught us about making a stark contrast between our peaceful protesting and the violent cruelty of our opponents. DO NOT work against our goals.
________________________________________

Submitted By: Davidkmc72@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Resistance is not futile

Submitted By: dwieb1@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Sorry if this seems brief and doesn’t fill in the blanks for you, but I think it’s best you decide whether it’s good info to follow up on, or just a bunch of hooey. -Dave

There are at least 2 reasons to protest peacefully: (1) the current administration would love to escalate tensions and violence because they have the clear advantage in fire power and an emotional base of support who feel discriminated against for both legitimate and manufactured reasons, and (2) violent protests will only further inflame factions of the electorate against each other and take the focus away from our primary and serious problem of an incredibly corrupt administration doing nothing to address the many pressing concerns of our population.

“More in Common” is an international organization that does extensive surveys. “More in Common was established with the mission of tackling the ‘us-versus-them’ divisions that pose a generational threat to the United States.” More in Common issued a report on Jan 20th titled “Beyond MAGA, A Profile of the Trump Coalition”

moreincommonus.com/publications/

[excerpt] “Drawing on surveys, interviews and group conversations conducted with over 10,000 Trump voters over 10 months concluding in early 2026, this study finds four distinct types of Trump voters: MAGA Hardliners, Anti-Woke Conservatives, Mainline Republicans, and the Reluctant Right.”

(back to my post) I believe it’s difficult or impossible to solve a problem without a clear and accurate understanding of it. While the internet can be a great resource, it’s also a cesspool of misleading garbage. Most of mainstream media isn’t much interested in sorting things out for viewers.

Every once in a while there’s some intelligent analyses and it’s up to us to recognize the useful and helpful bits as they fly by. I think one such bit of reality was broadcast on NBC’s Meet the Press this Sunday. Senator Adam Schiff has been slandered and vilified by Trump to a point that many don’t pay much attention, but he is very intelligent and got right to the point of the matter. He clearly believes we have a functional democracy and can make it work better. I agree this is not a time for doom and gloom, but for calling out the corruption and looking toward solutions.

www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/adam-schiff-says-he-s-not-giving-ice-or-cbp-another-dime-as-shutdown-looms-full-interview-256545349717

Submitted By: rjm98351@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Looking for recommendations for someone on the Coast to install drapes, rods & hardware on a couple of 3×5 windows. I have the drapes and hardware, just need the installer!

Thanks!

Submitted By: codger817@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

History is rhyming again.
During the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Maj. General Daniel Sickles was ordered to hold the center of the Union line. He thought it might be better if he advanced a mile to a peach orchard with slightly higher ground. His stupid move left a gap in the union line, and his own corps was easily outflanked.
262 troops from the First Minnesota Regiment were ordered to charge into the gap and hold back the Confederates until more troops could arrive. They were greatly outnumbered and suffered 215 casualties, but the line held and the Battle of Gettysburg became a turning point in the Civil War.
How poignant that 163 years later, Minnesota is holding the line for us once again.
Jim Heffernan

Submitted By: pattyrinehart@nehalemtel.net – Click to email about this post

Yesterday, Saturday, proved to be an incredibly hard day for many of us protesters in Nehalem. The loss of Renee Good, followed by the death of Alex Pretti, has left our community reeling. The atmosphere is tense, not just in Nehalem, but in cities across the country. Many people are focused on maintaining peace, but that goal feels almost impossible when we are faced with the reality of our own government taking lives. We cannot allow these violent acts to become normalized; this has to stop before such tragedies become routine.
At the North County Resistance gathering yesterday, emotions ran high. Some people were in tears, while others were visibly angry and cursing. Both reactions seemed justified and understandable given the circumstances. More than one person voiced the sentiment, “This is not the country I grew up in.” It was clear that this group of people was fundamentally changed from who we had been in the past. Many struggled to find words to express their feelings, and there was a shared uncertainty about how much longer we can allow the destruction of our democracy to continue—and what actions we should take in response.

Looking ahead, there is hope that all Democratic lawmakers will vote to stop funding ICE. If they fail to do so, those individuals should not be reelected. ICE should be dismantled immediately, and those leading the organization should be removed from their positions—though perhaps only after experiencing the conditions of an ICE detention unit themselves for a couple of months. Witnessing these events, I am reminded of the lesson I was raised with: “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Yet, I admit to feeling a desire for those responsible to face consequences, even harsher than what I am willing to say aloud.

Please do not hesitate to email me with your feedback. We need to stick together in times like these. We must not give up!
North County Resistance will meet again next Saturday, January 31 in Nehalem, from noon to 2 PM. Thank you to the 80 people who showed up on Saturday. Our numbers grow weekly. Patty

Submitted By: Tinnindeb@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Nehalem Bay Community Services is asking for donations for blankets, towels, pillows and winter socks (all sizes).

NBCS is always looking for donations for the following items:
Personal Care Items: shampoo and baby shampoo, soap, toothpaste for adults and children, toothbrushes, personal wipes.

Pet Food: Canned Cat and Dog Food, Dry Cat Food. Also, cat litter.

You can drop these donations off during operating hours of Monday, Friday and Saturday from 10 to 2, or Wednesday from 1 to 5. We are located in the basement of the Nehalem Methodist Church.

Thank you.