The Oregonian reports that Dick Bogle, remembered as a pioneer in Portland television news and city politics, has passed away at the age of 79.

Richard Bogle spent eight years on the Portland Police force before shifting to television, working as a reporter and anchor, at Channel KATU-Channel 2 for 15 years. After a career in television news, Bogle was elected to city council in 1984, where he served as a commissioner for eight years.

No funeral has been planned, but a memorial to celebrate Bogle's life is tentatively set for March.

In February 2010, Advance Publications is ending its "no layoffs" policy, which has shielded The Oregonian's newsroom employees from the mass layoffs that have been thinning other newspapers.

Fred Stickel was seen as protecting those employees from the ax.

Recent rounds of buyouts, restructuring, furloughs, pay cuts, pension freezes, health insurance cuts and layoffs of non-newsroom employees were all ways of reducing costs without sending newsroom staff out the door involuntarily.

Still, the paper's newsroom workforce has seen a drop from over 400 to under 300, due largely to voluntary buyouts announced one year ago.

Those buyouts gave workers with over 10 years of experience at the paper a two-year pay and health care package. Those who left have included big names, like managing editor Michael Arrieta-Walden and columnists S. Renee Mitchell, Jonathan Nicholas and David Reinhard, as well as dozens of people who were instrumental to the paper's daily operations.

What will the future hold without layoff protection and without Stickel?

"It's definitely a shock to the system," one employee told OMC. "It's hard to imagine this place without him."

They added, "I know that some are wishing they had taken the buyout."

To All Employees:

The following news release announcing my retirement is being made public today.

Fred A. Stickel, today announced his retirement as publisher of The Oregonian, the newspaper he has led for 35 years.

“I am 87 years old,” Stickel said. “I love this newspaper and the essential role it plays in Oregon and this community. But it is time for me to retire and make way for new leadership. ”

Patrick F. Stickel, The Oregonian’s president and son of Fred Stickel, will serve as interim publisher until a new publisher is named. He has chosen not to be a candidate and will assist in the search and selection of the new publisher.

The newspaper, the oldest continuously functioning business in the state from which it takes its name, won five Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other national awards during Fred Stickel’s tenure as publisher.

“I have worked with Fred Stickel for 56 years,” said Donald Newhouse, the president of Advance Publications, which owns The Oregonian. “In all that time I have never met another executive with his ability to lead, to inspire, to adapt to an ever-changing world. He is unique, irreplaceable and he is my friend.”

Stickel came to Oregon from New Jersey with his wife Peggy and six children in 1967 to be general manager of the newspaper. In 1972 he was named president of the company and in 1975, he was named publisher.

He became deeply involved in the civic life of the community and was named Portland’s First Citizen in 1996. “The health of a newspaper is closely tied to the vitality of the business and civic institutions in the community,” Stickel said. I have been pleased to be involved in so many aspects of community life.”

Of his many civic activities, he considered his work with the Citizens Crime Commission, which helps police, the courts and private groups fight crime, as most rewarding. He was active on the commission for more than 20 years and was its founder and chairman in 1987.

Fred Stickel led the newspaper through technological transformation in all aspects of newspaper production, from hot type made of molten lead to offset presses, from hand-delivered page dummies to the computer age. He was president and publisher of the company when The Oregonian and The Oregon Journal were merged in 1982. As publisher, he saw The Oregonian grow in staff size, quality and reach and fiercely guarded its integrity and independence.

In 1992 he took the unprecedented step of publishing a front page editorial urging Oregonians to vote to defeat Measure 9, which would have inserted restrictions on the rights of homosexuals in the Oregon constitution. “My longstanding religious and moral views as a conservative Roman Catholic are one thing. My lifelong commitment, both in peace and war, to defend and exult in the inalienable rights granted our citizens under the U.S. Constitution is another. This is what I stand for, and this is what Oregon stands for,” his editorial stated. The measure was defeated with 57 percent of the vote.

“To his employees, Fred Stickel represents the soul of The Oregonian,” said Sandy Rowe, who Stickel recruited and hired as editor in 1993. “He is revered for his utter devotion to the newspaper, his loyalty, his unwavering sense of fairness and his candor.” Known also for his willingness to meet with employees, his dapper dressing and Marine-erect bearing, he commands both respect and deep affection among his staff.

“Newsrooms by nature are challenging places filled with creative, sometimes cantankerous professionals often skeptical of authority. A publisher represents the ultimate authority figure for a newsroom. I’ve never known one more beloved than Fred. He is responsible for many of us choosing to be here and for what we have been able to accomplish,” Rowe said.

Fred Stickel’s retirement will be effective Sept. 18 and a national search for his successor will begin immediately.

The cover of this week's "TV Click," The Oregonian's weekly insert on television, drew complaints from readers Sunday. Managing editor Therese Bottomly explains the situation on The Editors' Blog.

The depiction of a character in what turned out to be a Halloween costume, holding up a plastic head and spattered in fake blood, prompted objections that the image appeared "less than an inch away from the Sunday comics," and that "there is profound cultural, historical and psychological meaning to the act of beheading."

For the editors' thoughts on the matter, and for a link to the full cover in PDF format, read the original post.

(This story was originally published July 16, 2009 at 2:55pm.)

Four Portland television talents will vie for the title of the biggest mouth in broadcasting as they eat in a charity competition benefiting the arts and athletic departments of local schools next month. KOIN's Alexis Del Cid, KPTV's Stephanie Kralevich, KATU's Rhonda Shelby and KGW's Amy Troy will race to see who can eat a giant calzone the fastest at Caro Amico Italian Cafe, with the winner receiving an official championship belt.

The event will be hosted by sports radio host and columnist John Canzano on August 6 at 3pm, with proceeds benefiting his Bald-Faced Truth Foundation. Kralevich told Canzano, "It's a race, right? Like how fast we can eat a calzone? I think this giant mouth can handle that." Shelby said, "You realize you're asking a diabetic to participate in an eating contest?" That's dedication to the arts. Or to calzones.

The public is also invited to participate: Email JohnCanzanoaol [dot] com with a video explaining why you should compete to eat. And a poll is up on Canzano's radio site asking who you think will win.

UPDATE (7/19, 9:23am): The trash-talking has begun! From Alexis Del Cid's always-entertaining Twitter account:

@stephkralevich you are petite and delicate looking, yes, but I've heard the rumors of your hollow legs for calzone storage. I am afraid.

I slightly fear the Calzone power of @AmyTroy, as well...

And what is this about @ShelbyKATU having diabetes?? Nonsense. I suspect it's a ploy: We underestimate- and she wins. Think about it People

We'll let you know if we receive a response to any of these scurrilous charges.

(Thank you to new OMC Volunteer Brad Taylor, aka BradTaylor1, formerly skihoodoo, for sending this in. Brad was the first to offer to help OMC, inspiring us to ask for volunteers.)