The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

To the Editor:

Once again I had to read an article of another being losing its life because we as a species cannot tolerate the presence of a life that we either do not understand and/or cannot control.

What a barren place Sisters would be if all we saw were people and all we heard were the voices of people. Somehow, we, as a species, must come to terms with the simple fact that we are not alone on this planet and we have to share this small piece of space with other life forms.

And, please, spare me the speech about the danger that one black bear represented: I would prefer to meet up with a bear on my walks in the mountains than a man I do not know. I feel more threatened by strange men than by other animals

Life has to mean more to us…it just has to!

Barbara Egan

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To the Editor:

Regarding “Sisters black bear treed and killed,” (The Nugget, June 7, page 1):

The odd behavior didn’t sound aggressive to me. I think all other options should have been exhausted before killing the bear.

I’m extremely disappointed.

Erin Bordonaro

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To the Editor:

In response to “ODOT Wants Passing Lane” (The Nugget May 10, 2006).

This highway is a designated Scenic Highway and should be secured as a safety corridor. The community of Sisters can’t handle the speed of traffic now and this project would make this stretch of road more dangerous than it already is. The scenic quality will be lost forever if these “speeding lanes” are constructed. Where is law enforcement and why aren’t they more visible on this stretch of road? Wouldn’t it be more feasible to have speed limits enforced and more visible law enforcement? The passing lanes on the pass are adequate and people need to slow down to enjoy the beauty of where they are!

I won’t stand by while 500-plus ponderosas are cut down to make room for more speeding vehicles. We shouldn’t allow the automobile to control our lives, environment, or our town. We can’t do anything about the growth but we can control what happens to our environment and community and have the right to protect our home.

The wildlife habitat can’t withstand the stress and pressure of these “speeding lanes” proposed. The Black Butte elk and deer herds will be decimated. Tourism will be impacted as well as the quality of life of Black Butte Ranch and Sisters.

This is not a good use of our tax dollars as there are many roads that need repair. We don’t need more roads to maintain.

Let’s work together to find more viable options than 15 miles of speeding lanes destroying what we all love so much about our home! This is not California — people don’t need to drive 80 mph!

Respectfully,

R.M. French

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To the Editor;

Just a quick note to encourage area residents to complete the Greater Sisters Community Vision and Growth Strategy survey. See the full-page ad in The Nugget for June 7 for more information. There is also a separate survey for students.

This is an easy and quick way to have input into the future of Sisters. You can help keep and continue to improve the positive aspects of life here. Or, you can express concern about some of the things you see that are not so positive. It takes just a little while to complete the basic parts of the survey. And, there are opportunities for writing more extensive input.

What do you want the Sisters of the future to be like? Have your say today.

Maggie Hughes

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To the Editor:

What an interesting array of opinions in last week’s Nugget!

Lorene Richardson, who I have disagreed with in these very pages regarding Intelligent Design, makes an excellent point regarding the banning of gay marriage.

Marriage has always been between one man and one woman, and allowing it to be otherwise would soon dilute it’s meaning, and destroy the memory of all those who have come before us who valued the institution of marriage as their highest achievement in life. But the implicit government discrimination regarding marriage should also end. Civil unions should be statutorily adopted, whereby gays can receive all the government benefits (and punishments!) accorded to married couples.

As for eavesdropping, I can barely remember all the phone calls I make in a week. Do you really think there is a third-party listening to every single call?

Bush is without a doubt, the worst President of our lifetime. But did he steal the election or start eavesdropping on everyone of us because he’s an evil genius? Probably not, that’s giving him too much credit. Did Cheney’s delayed disclosure about the accidental shooting of his friend constitute a “cover-up”? Please. Giving credence to this accident as a diabolical cover-up is like saying Hitler’s worst crime was he was a fashion nightmare.

I consider myself staunchly Republican, but I am even more staunchly Anti-Stupid, which is why I don’t like Bush. I respect a woman’s right to have an abortion, because it will always happen anyway. The war in Iraq is an abomination, but the money gained is a distant mirage compared to the American and Iraqi lives lost. Gay marriage should be banned, but the differing government treatment of married couples versus gays wishing to pursue a civil union must also end.

We as a country need to stop mindlessly buying into the putrid river of idiotic propaganda electronically streamed at us everyday. Start thinking.

Paul Dacus

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To the Editor:

Mr. Burke and all those folks that are suddenly so worried about our immigration policy:

I’ll bet the folks up on the Warm Springs reservation are guffawing at your arrogance and I’ll bet that they wish they had had as much self-righteous indignation when your ancestors came over here and stole their land “fair and square.”

Apparently all they really needed was a better immigration policy. And by the way, you will be living in a “third world country” very soon, immigration policy notwithstanding. The USA is literally living on “borrowed” time. We must borrow more than $1 million a minute to maintain our lifestyle and our military aggession. The blowback is coming.

Dean Billing

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To the Editor:

The June 7 issue of The Nugget contained an urgent plea by Lorene Richardson to call our Senators and urge them to vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment, otherwise known as a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages.

Alas, her appeal came too late for me to call my Senators and the bill failed to pass. Should I now worry that my wife of thirty years will divorce me because our marriage is “unprotected?”

Now I don’t know why homosexuals want to subject themselves to another potential source of grief, like marriage, but they do. However, I don’t understand the logic of folks like Ms. Richardson who oppose it. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of homosexuals are hankering to get married which to me seems like a ringing endorsement of the institution of marriage.

Massachusetts, the only state to legalize gay marriage has the lowest divorce rate in the country. Indeed, it’s much lower than those Southern “Bible Belt” states that are feverishly putting such bans on their state ballots. Instead, if they allowed gays to get married, marriage statistics would skyrocket and dwarf the divorce rate statistics. It’s a win-win for everybody.

R.T.Tihista

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To the Editor:

I have been wondering why the State determined that the only land it wanted from the federal government to settle an old in-lieu land debt was in Deschutes County and why most of that land is part of a big chunk of BLM land between Bend, Redmond, and Sisters.

The state wants over 3,000 acres that would reduce by about 15 percent a beautiful area of BLM land between Fryrear and Barr Roads. It is land of canyons, hills, and rimrock where locals hike, bike, ride horses, see elk and find wild flowers.

It is also home to one of the few populations in the world of Central Oregons endemic Pecks Milkvetch, which in Oregon is classified as threatened.

The land the state wants to take out of the public domain is prime recreation land they want to lease (or sell?) to the proposed Thornburgh resort. The State Department of Lands has chosen lands in the path of progress. This means land the state could make money from.

It is admirable that the state is evaluating their land holdings and figuring out how to increase revenues from state land to fund schools in Oregon. It is curious that the States Asset Management Plan defies the Bureau of Land Managements 2005 Upper Deschutes Management Plan to dispose of small parcels and consolidate BLM lands.

Imagine the population growth of Bend, Sisters, and Redmond continuing for two or three more decades. What is the value of a natural area large enough to support elk and coyotes and an afternoon exploring in the midst of three cities?

As open lands become more and more fragmented from development, consolidated tracts of public land increase in value. The state says in its Plan that it chose land that was of high value. Many of the disposable BLM tracts are in beautiful locations and could be used to generate school monies. Parcels as large as a mile square are proposed for disposal in a plan that has gone through public review. Did the State Department of Lands even read the federal agencies respective resource management plans? Are they aware that the BLM has a goal to consolidate lands and connect lands to increase recreation value, provide wildlife corridors, and to preserve resource values?

It is a huge waste of public money for the state to ignore approved land management plans. The state has ignored the fact that this transfer of land could serve two purposes: disposal of small BLM tracts and addition to high value lands held by the state.

Certainly the state could find more properties in the path of progress in Oregon, if not among the over 15,000 acres the BLM has proposed disposing of in Central Oregon.

Michele Morseth