About The 99

I'll be honest with you: I'm still kinda new here.

My wife and I moved to Yamhill County in February 2024, and we've fallen in love with this place. The wine country, the festivals, the outdoors, the local pride, the way it feels just far enough from Portland to feel like somewhere else entirely. She even works at one of the wineries now. We sold our first house in the county for more space and bought again without a second thought. We're not going anywhere.

But here's the embarrassing part - we haven't explored nearly as much as we want to. Life happens, but I also realized I didn't have a great way to know what was happening. What's worth going to. What's worth trying. What's happening on a Friday night under the lights.

That's a big reason why I started The 99. People light up when they see their town reflected back at them with care. Yamhill County deserves that.

I've spent 23 years in media and content creation - starting as a sports editor at a daily newspaper covering a community roughly the size of Yamhill County, working my way through college athletic communications at programs across the country, and learning every corner of what good local storytelling looks like. I know from experience what it means to a community to have a place that covers it well.

I'm a born and raised Oregonian - Portland kid, Gresham raised - who took the long way home. Military service, journalism school at the University of Oregon, newspapers in New Mexico, college athletics from Kansas to Albuquerque to SoCal to the mountains of Colorado. I almost took a job in Hawaii before deciding after 17 years away I wanted to be in my home state. I landed at Western Oregon University and eventually found my way to Yamhill County.

The 99 is named after Highway 99W, the road that connects most of this county together. It's our road. And this is our newsletter.

Here's what I want it to be: A place where the community finds community. Local life, local sports, local history, local events, local info. The fun stuff. The stuff that makes living here worth talking about.

I'm not here to compete with local journalism. As a former journalist I know how important that work is and I'll always give credit where it's due. I'm here to add something. To shine a light on the athletes, the restaurants, the wineries, the events, and the moments that make this county worth celebrating.

It's just me right now. One person with a full-time job, a camera, and a genuine love for this place. I can't cover everything and I won't pretend otherwise. But what I do cover, I'll cover right.

I hope The 99 helps you discover something new in your own backyard. I’m sure it will do the same for me.

— Clayton Jones
Founder, The 99