The World newspaper, posing as the moral voice of Coos County, has fallen upon its own petard and scrambled some rotten eggs along with self served crow in a hastily assembled editorial entitled, “They set a bad example”. Last week, the paper seized an opportunity to excoriate Commissioner Bob Main and commissioner candidate, Don Gurney, saying they were reckless and lacked leadership for having signed a petition to put a citizen initiative for a home rule charter on the November ballot. Yesterday, the paper was forced to acknowledge that position three candidate, Melissa Cribbins, endorsed by The World last spring and supported by the CCAP (Coos County Alliance for Progress), is also a “reckless” petition signatory.

The editors’ giddy opportunism has the paper desperately trying to make salad out of cow patties and contorting itself to rescue Cribbins from damage by its own condemnations. Cribbins decision to sign a petition, we are told, was a tactical move, a clever political strategy, a feint, like sacrificing your queen to a pawn, all designed to “chasten” charter backers by embarrassing them at the polls. Cribbins, by trying to sell this drivel has insulted the intelligence of everyone in Coos County. At best, if you accept what she says, she signed the petition for the joy of seeing it fail… is that leadership or character?

For the record, the charter organizers have never advertised the names on the petitions. or used the names of any dignitaries as an endorsement for the charter. Only The World, in its zealous assault of all candidates or all measures not towing the CCAP line has publicized names on the charter initiative petitions.

Last week, in an article suggesting a cozy relationship between Commissioner Bob Main and The Sentinel newspaper that included a sidebar entitled, “A tangle of news and politics in Coquille” The World reported, “…conflicts of interest are an important perception issue for newspapers”. Yes, they are!