Bracing for some fallout after poll drew more than expected response

By Michelle C. Nedved

businesses that are here?”

Officers: Michelle Nedved, President; Sean Flaherty, 1st Vice President; Steve Powell, Past President; Trustees: Roger Harnack, Teresa Myers, Rudi Alcott, Matt Winters, Ron Judd and Bob Richardson.

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the offical publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, PO Box 389, Port Townsend, WA 98368.

Fred Obee: Executive Director: 360-344-2938 Email: fredobee@wnpa.com

Janay Collins, Member Services Director: 360-344-2938. Email: ads@wnpa.com

The

Pend Oreille County Economic Development Council

is a hot topic as of late for anyone who is paying attention … and thanks to Facebook, for those who aren’t.

One of our three county commissioners recognizes that the EDC isn’t very effective and has little to show for itself after 20-plus years of existence. His opinion is not shared by the other two county commissioners, or by anyone on the EDC board of directors. The board is comprised of people from various entities around the county including the tribe, the hospital, the school district, large employers, and a former city official (who was fired as city administrator and has since moved out of the county but for some reason still holds the treasurer seat).

We ask our readers to suggest online readers polls and in a very rare occurrence, we got one. “Do you think the Pend Oreille County EDC is effective at recruiting businesses to the county and retaining

Most weeks we ask questions about national or global news. I like to think of it as a historical record of what’s happening around the world as our content is hyper focused on what’s happening within our counties. We usually get between 25 and 50 responses. Sometimes we get in the 80s, if it’s a really juicy question.

Last week with the EDC question, we got 254 responses, with 80 percent of voters saying “Yes, the EDC has been effective both in marketing the county and supporting businesses.”

We heard that a local woman had posted on her personal Facebook page that The Miner had a vendetta against the EDC director and we wanted her to lose her job.

Well, that’s news to me.

She linked our readers poll to her post and asked her friends to vote “yes” on our readers poll. Viola. Inflated readers poll responses from a lot of people who probably don’t know what the EDC is or does, but who happen to be friends with this Facebooker and/or the EDC director.

We’ve been working on an editorial for a while now that will agree with the sole county commissioner who thinks the EDC should be dissolved, or at least moved completely under the direction of the county, rather than remain the quasi-county entity that gobbles up time, energy and money with little return on investment.

It’s an important message that we feel strongly about. But we know what will happen. The barrage of readers who want to cancel their subscription, the online chatter about what vindictive, horrible people we are who hate powerful women (that’s my favorite), and possible threats from all those entities represented on the EDC board to pull their advertising.

Obviously, we don’t have anything against the EDC director personally. She’s a very nice person. Even sillier is the assertion that we don’t want to see female leaders. But the newspaper has a vested interest in economic development and our county is dying if something drastic doesn’t happen. Our only objective is to encourage the county to do better when it comes to economic development.

So, wish us luck. (Seems like I’m asking for that a lot lately.) And if you’ve written unpopular but necessary editorials, I’d love to hear about them. Drop me a line or give me a call. 509-4472433, michellenewportminer@ gmail.com

Michelle Nedved is Publisher of the Newport Miner and this year’s WNPA President.

Nominations open for two big awards

Nominations are being sought for two of WNPA’s top awards, the Dixie Lee Bradley award and the Miles Turnbull Master Editor/Publisher award.

Bradley tirelessly served the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and its members for 45 years and Turnbull was an active publisher and ultimately Executive Director of the organization.

The Bradley award recognizes newspaper staff members who work long and hard, often behind the scenes, to see that the best possible community newspaper is produced and distributed each week. Professional positions, such as photographer and advertising sales, are not included due to ample opportunities for these professionals to be recognized through WNPA’s annual Better Newspaper Contest.

The first WNPA Master Editor/

Publisher award was presented at WNPA’s 1994 annual convention.

This award may be given to any person who is actively engaged in editing, managing and/or publishing a newspaper which is a member in good standing of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

To nominate someone, send us a short essay describing why your nominee should win. Deadline for submission is July 1, 2023.