2006: Roseburg Oregon's Marilyn Kittelman Controversy

Without a doubt the biggest story in Roseburg, Oregon this year was the Marilyn Kittelman controversy. Regardless of what you feel about her, if you live in Douglas County, Oregon you'll agree: she was always in the news. Heck, she's still in the news.

Disclaimer: This post is purely opinion, so don't take my word as the end all be all of fact. I only know what I heard on the radio and read in the papers.

First Roseburg went through a controversy with its Museum Director. She was forced from her job for a number of reasons, all of which started "coming to light" when she refused to take down an exhibit that Marilyn Kittelman told her to take down.

Later on there was a scandal in which it was alleged that Kittelman said, in public, that she was hunting "injuns" and then made shooting motions with her hands.

During the Primary Election, County Commissioner Dan Van Slyke tried to take credit for re-writing a brochure in the free clinic which talked about abortion and abortion clinics. When a nurse came forward to talk about how the pamphlet couldn't be rewritten it came out that Marilyn Kittelman had gone in and removed all of the pamphlets and said that they were being rewritten…to not include abortion. If this had taken place, DouglasCounty could have been fined a ton of money.

Later on in the summer a Recall Kittelman effort was mounted. Reasons for the recall included the museum debacle, Kittelman's nasty relationship with the tribe, the pamphlet incident at the clinic as well as what they felt were demeanor deficiencies. Their effort was defeated by a narrow margin.

The most recent development is her newest attack on the Cow Creek Tribe, saying that letting them buy land where other businesses have failed is unfair because they have "casino money" to help them succeed.

Whether they love her or don't love her, most people in Roseburg will tell you that what they heard most in the news over the course of 2006 involved Marilyn Kittelman somehow.

On the other hand, I don't remember seeing much in the way of the national elections. We heard snippets of the Governor's race, mainly because Ron Saxton ran tons of radio and television ads. We knew our House of Representative Candidates, DeFazio and Feldcamp. Hardly anything was said about statewide ballot measures. Roseburg is a great community, but it doesn't really acknowledge that the outside world exists too.