For your information, this “Capital Chatter” Dec 26, 2024, column (dateline, Salem, Ore.) about the Frickes was written by Dick Hughes, Linfield Class of 1975.
Capital Chatter: A journalism inspiration and Myrtle's memorial
· By DICK HUGHES For the Oregon Capital Insider
· Dec 26, 2024
https://www.oregoncapitalinsider.com/opinion/capital-chatter-a-journalism-inspiration-and-myrtles-memorial/article_7cc73bf2-c464-11ef-9f44-6716a809f8a3.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=oregon-capital-insider&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
In a small but very personal way, Elmer C. Fricke changed the course of Oregon journalism. This is my story.
As a Linfield College student in the 1970s, I regarded Elmer as a curmudgeonly but lively professor of math and computer science.
https://www.oregoncapitalinsider.com/opinion/capital-chatter-a-journalism-inspiration-and-myrtles-memorial/article_7cc73bf2-c464-11ef-9f44-6716a809f8a3.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=oregon-capital-insider&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
At Linfield football games, he was known for shouting “Fumble!” from the stands when the opposing team had the ball. At First Baptist Church, where he and his wife, Myrtle, were in the choir, his wisecracking during sermons elicited many an eyeroll or “shush!” from her.
Elmer also served on the McMinnville School Board, one of many good people who contributed their time and talent without trying to advance a political agenda or launch a political career.
In 1976, editor Jeb Bladine hired me as features editor at the McMinnville News-Register. I was so green, yet so full of myself, that I’m surprised Jeb didn’t fire me five minutes into the job. Instead, I stayed five years.
Jeb taught me how to be a journalist, including knowledge of Oregon’s laws allowing access to government meetings and records:
“The Oregon form of government requires an informed public aware of the deliberations and decisions of governing bodies and the information upon which such decisions were made. It is the intent of the Public Meetings Law that decisions of governing bodies be arrived at openly.”
Among my duties was covering the McMinnville School District. State law limits school boards, city councils and many other government bodies to discussing only certain subjects in closed-door meetings, formally called “executive sessions.”
One evening, I was covering a routine school board meeting. The lawyer for the district told the board to retreat into executive session to discuss a minor agenda item, one that I hadn’t planned to write about.
I don’t remember the topic, but it didn’t qualify for an executive session under the Public Meetings Law. I objected, saying the executive session was illegal.
Quite annoyed, the highly respected McMinnville attorney dismissed my concern, telling the board: “We can discuss that later. Let’s go ahead and do this.”
Then board member Elmer Fricke spoke up: “If Dick says it’s illegal, that’s good enough for me and I’m leaving.”
At that moment I understood the importance of the free press in keeping watch over government. If Elmer left, the board would be without a quorum to conduct business.
Furious, the attorney caved. Board members proceeded to discuss the topic in open session.
That incident fueled my journalistic courage, instilling the awareness and confidence to cite the Public Meetings Law and quote the Oregon attorney general’s handbook whenever necessary.
Not that I am without fault. In a later story, I misstated how much the district paid that attorney. I called him to apologize and said we’d run a correction. “Don’t bother,” he said. “No one pays attention to what you write anyway.”
Public bodies make mistakes. So do I and other journalists, more than we realize but — I believe — fewer than the public assumes.
I’ve won dozens of journalistic awards through the years. I recall the specifics of only a few. What I do remember are the errors I’ve let creep into my writing. Almost always they’re dumb typos or brain freezes. Rarely do they arise from misunderstandings.
In last week’s Capital Chatter, I twice misspelled Sen. Lynn Findley’s last name despite typing it correctly three other times. I listed 5th District Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as a Democrat in “Oregon insiders: Who’s who in and around state government.”
Argh. It was not a good day.
Meanwhile, trust in the mass media continues to decline. During the 1970s, up to 72% of the public expressed confidence in the media’s ability to report news “fully, accurately and fairly.” That has dropped to 31% as of last month, according to Gallup. What’s even scarier is that many Americans instead trust “information” they get through social media.
As for Elmer Fricke, he not only was my journalistic hero but also an example for how to live.
When my mother died, Myrtle and Elmer became beloved substitute grandparents to our two kids. Our daughter especially remembers her outings with them.
Elmer’s funeral in 2007 brought together people of all ages, swapping heartwarming and often hilarious stories about his impact. I expect a similar multi-generational turnout for beloved Myrtle’s memorial service on Jan. 18, 2025. To me, that is a measure of a life well-lived.
https://www.macyandson.com/obituaries/Myrtle-N-Fricke?obId=34144525
I told the school board story at Elmer’s service. First Baptist was packed, as I later recounted in a March 20, 2008, commentary in the Salem Statesman Journal. I concluded the column with these words:
“Leaving the service, I asked my wife whether she thought many people would attend my funeral, which I hope is a long way off.
“She replied, smiling: ‘It’ll be packed. Half will be glad; half will be sad.’”
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Dick Hughes,
who writes the weekly Capital Chatter column, has been covering the Oregon
political scene since 1976. Contact him at at
TheHughesisms@Gmail.com, Facebook.com/Hughesisms, YouTube.com/DickHughes or
@DickHughes
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