Commentary: Herald editor should be ashamed for bashing ‘$200,000 couple’ for secrecy

By DAVID GORDON/For The Herald — I have contributed two articles in the past year to your publication. Both articles were thanking people for stepping in and having a positive impact on other people’s lives in this community. Your commentary titled, “Commentary: Oakridge’s $200,000 couple- a tangle of allegations, secrecy and conflict of interest” is the antonym of that.

People should be able to tell just from the title that you are biased and prejudiced against them.

I am the president of the Oakridge Volunteer Fire and EMS Association after 28 years of volunteering with our local fire and EMS. I have recently been told you were wanting to interview me about our department. You can cross me off your list because I am not going to give validity to your spewing of misinformation, meant to harm, into the digital readership of your publication.

Your ugly brush strokes are trying to paint a picture that is openly biased, and I will not support that.

As for the accusation of “If you haven’t heard about the 2-year-old case, it’s because Christina and Scott Hollett don’t want …” you appear to not understand that internal investigations into allegations should not be talked about. Let the investigation take its time to find the truth without interference.

I am a long-time teacher here in this community and there have been internal investigations into allegations over the years in our school district. We were always told to not discuss it with anyone. The very fact that Scott and Chrissy didn’t talk about it gives credence to their honoring the system so the investigation could proceed without interference. You should know that. They were honoring the process, yet you try to paint that as a bad thing. SHAME ON YOU!

As for Scott being paid a lot of money, that is the fault of the city. The city decided several years ago to not hire a new paramedic/firefighter chief. Because of that decision, we were left with four paid full-time staff who could consistently respond to calls. Two of them live out of town. When the one was put on administrative leave so the investigation could proceed, that left three paramedic/firefighters to be on shifts to cover the needs of Oakridge. Then, when one of the other three had medical issues, it whittled down to two. Scott and Aric both were called on to take multiple hours of overtime to help keep Oakridge residents covered.

If a paramedic/firefighter chief had been hired, that would not have fallen on those two to cover. Yes, overtime is expensive, yet appropriate to pay, when they are giving up time with their families to help the citizens of Oakridge have medical and fire protection.

As for conflict of interest, you apparently have a short memory, because Chrissy Hollett, Melissa Bjarnson, Michelle Coker and Dawn Kinyon were duly elected into office for the very reason they supported the fire department and would fight to keep it for our city as well as they listen to the people who did not want our highway through town to be bottlenecked into two lanes.

Your unashamed bashing of Scott is appalling. I have worked with him for over 28 years and have nothing but respect for him and the way he does his job. I am not the only one. I cannot tell you how many times over the years I have had the following conversation with chronically ill patients in Oakridge when I arrive on the scene:

“Is Scott coming?”

“No, he is not on shift today.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, I really like Scott.”

“Yes, I know. He is a really good paramedic, isn’t he.”

“Yes, I really like him.”

“I’m sorry he is not here, but we are, and we are ready to help you.”

“Ok, but tell him, next time I have to call, he needs to come.”

“I will.”

Doug Bates, you should be ashamed of yourself for your obvious bias and openly hostile reporting. I will no longer be giving your publication the validity of any responses. I am deleting any links I have, and the sooner your publication learns what fair and just reporting means for journalism 101 the better!

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Society of Professional Journalists

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Preamble

Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.

Follow your own code of ethics, Doug

David Gordon is president of the Oakridge Volunteer Fire and EMS.