Ryan Maye Handy's altercation with the Gazette reminds me of an incident during my journalism career at The Oregonian that, fortunately, had a different ending. As a business reporter, I was aggressively covering the effort by Enron, a massive energy company based in Houston, Texas, to acquire Portland General Electric Co. in 1996-1997. Enron had gained a reputation for arrogance in Oregon. Once at a public hearing, when some Enron people tried to intimidate Oregon Public Utility Commissioners, Commissioner Joan H. Smith blasted them for assuming Oregonians were simple-minded country bumpkins . “Do you think we all just fell off a turnip truck,” she said. I was told that a group of Enron executives and PR people, frustrated and mad as hell at my coverage, came to the paper's offices in Portland one day to meet with the publisher, Fred A. Stickel. They complained vigorously about my stories and demanded I be pulled off the beat. "MacKenzie's been accurate and on target in his reporting," Stickel responded. "He's staying on the beat." Stickel, a former Marine, showed real gumption and I admired him for it. When news of widespread fraud within Enron became public in October 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy.
Ryan Maye Handy's altercation with the Gazette reminds me of an incident during my journalism career at The Oregonian that, fortunately, had a different ending. As a business reporter, I was aggressively covering the effort by Enron, a massive energy company based in Houston, Texas, to acquire Portland General Electric Co. in 1996-1997. Enron had gained a reputation for arrogance in Oregon. Once at a public hearing, when some Enron people tried to intimidate Oregon Public Utility Commissioners, Commissioner Joan H. Smith blasted them for assuming Oregonians were simple-minded country bumpkins . “Do you think we all just fell off a turnip truck,” she said. I was told that a group of Enron executives and PR people, frustrated and mad as hell at my coverage, came to the paper's offices in Portland one day to meet with the publisher, Fred A. Stickel. They complained vigorously about my stories and demanded I be pulled off the beat. "MacKenzie's been accurate and on target in his reporting," Stickel responded. "He's staying on the beat." Stickel, a former Marine, showed real gumption and I admired him for it. When news of widespread fraud within Enron became public in October 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy.