This weekend, City Councilperson Robyn Wheatley posted a graphic on her Facebook page, celebrating the “Kids Not Camps” initiative that she helped pass, along with Mayor Bill Rosacker, in May 2023. Earlier this month, Rosacker also reminded voters that he worked hard to make car camping illegal near schools, part of his mayoral efforts to make Newberg safe again.

Here’s the thing: like their MAGA president, both candidates are returning to their greatest hits, rather than offering many new solutions to a town in need of change. And here’s another thing: the “Kids Not Camps” campaign demonized the houseless population in Newberg, and also vilified a Christian community trying to live faithfully into their Jesus-centered mission.  

So really, not an initiative to be proud of after all.

Let’s review what happened in 2022: North Valley Friends Church, a Christian congregation that has existed in Newberg for over 50 years, felt called by God to help those experiencing houselessness in Newberg, and proposed Peace Trail Village, a planned transitional housing project on the NVFC property consisting of eight small cottages, along with shared community and laundry facilities. The church was awarded $400,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to help begin their work on the village. (You can find out more about that project here.) 

This was not a homeless shelter or sprawling encampment of unsupervised people. According to the ARPA proposal, funds would help vet those living in tiny homes, as well as providing wrap-around care for residents. The targeted clientele for these homes was people experiencing medical procedures to recover in a warm, safe space, rather than on the street or on a friend’s couch. Again, NVFC was following a faithful call from God in proposing this well-thought out, well-considered plan, including safeguards to assure that clients and neighbors were kept safe.

Some parents at Veritas School were upset about the thought of houseless people living so close to their school, and raised their objections, something that was well within their rights to do, because almost everyone–including NVFC, including those experiencing houselessness–cares about the safety of their children.

In summer 2022, there was a meeting between NVFC and Veritas to share information, hoping to quell concerns Veritas parents had about the proposed project. The meeting was advertised as only for direct stakeholders: NVFC members, and Veritas parents. Rather than make space for thoughtful listening, Rosacker (not a NVFC member or a Veritas parent) was at that meeting, clipboard in hand, ready with a Kids Not Camps petition. In other words, rather than taking time to listen to the church’s concerns (or even the parents’ concerns), Rosacker met the emotional moment, and parents’ fears, by having a petition ready for them to sign.

Even though the church’s proposal wasn’t about camping. Even though the church tried to reassure parents that their robust children’s ministry showed they cared about kids, too. Even though a Red Bucket Preschool representative spoke at the meeting, supporting the Peace Trail Village project, trusting that the church where their school was located would not put their kids in harms’ way.

Certainly it was acceptable for people to have concerns about the project, and to ask hard questions of North Valley Friends. Residents were entitled to wonder whether city money should support the project or whether it belonged in that location. The intent of the meeting between Veritas and NVFC offered one opportunity for those questions and concerns, though Rosacker already had his petition ready to go, exaggerating claims about what North Valley was doing, stoking fears in parents, dehumanizing those experiencing houselessness, and showing an astounding lack of charity to Christians trying to follow God’s call. 

That petition effort in summer 2022 led to both Rosacker’s and Wheatley’s election in November 2022; both rode into their positions on an emotionally powerful public safety issue. The “Kids not Camps” petition passed in May 2023. And now, three years later, both Rosacker and Wheatley are returning to this issue, seeing it as a “proud moment” when they listened to parents, and stood up for a community’s children.

Well, at least some parents. And some children. 

Make no mistake: this was also not necessarily a grassroots effort to protect Newberg, but a well-funded campaign by wealthy donors who chose to denigrate folks who were struggling. According to public records, the George family paid $26,693.36 to the Kids not Camps PAC, backing the efforts of Wheatley and Rosacker to assure that houseless people in Newberg would not be able to turn to a church for support. 

There’s an undercurrent of fear-mongering and disinformation that continues to fuel the “Kids Not Camps” rhetoric, evident even in the infographic Wheatley posted on her Facebook page. For example, the Peace Trail Village was not a “homeless shelter,” despite what Wheatley says in her post, which also advocates for “Parents” and “Community.” 

Again, some parents. And some community. But definitely not all.

Wheatley also wrote that “City Council should not be funding homelessness!” On this, perhaps, we can agree, because funds for a Peace Trail Village would have explicitly helped people to not be homeless. A win for them, and for our community. 

For a host of reasons, including the disinformation campaign targeting NVFC, Peace Trail Village will not be built. Those struggling to find housing in our community will need to seek out other, very limited resources. Still, what happened in 2022 should not be reason to celebrate now, in 2026, as Wheatley and Rosacker seem to be doing. 

Perhaps it’s still wise for Wheatley and Rosacker to raise this dark part of our community’s history, because they are really asking us this: what kind of leadership do we want in city hall? And, how do we want our community to conduct politics? 

When someone tells us our children are in danger, we should ask for evidence. 

When complicated issues are reduced to slogans, we should look behind the slogan.

When disinformation begins circulating around a legitimate community concern, we should expect leaders to correct it—even when that disinformation might help their political cause. This was the case when disinformation demonized a church congregation, suggesting someone that North Valley wanted to harm children; and also dehumanized houseless people, seeking safety and a place to call home. Rather than asking that the purveyors of disinformation stop telling lies about Newberg citizens, Rosacker allowed their efforts to continue, suggesting that he doesn’t really work for all of Newberg’s citizens, after all.

When someone asks for our vote, we should look not only at what they’re telling us today, but at what they’ve told us before.

Newberg will undoubtedly face difficult decisions in the coming years: water rates, infrastructure, housing, economic development, public safety and how we pay for all of it. There will be honest disagreements about those issues. But disagreement doesn’t require fear, nor do they mean demonizing people in our community who are struggling with houselessness–or who are seeking creative ways to provide homes. 

Four years ago, Newberg was given one particularly memorable slogan: Kids Not Camps.

This election year, voters have the benefit of something they didn’t have then. Four years of hindsight. We should use this hindsight by voting for Elise Yarnell Hollamon.