Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

My family and I moved to Sisters last August. As many people in this community will attest, we did our homework! We talked with church leaders, business people, police, civic leaders, real estate professionals, and newspaper publishers, not just in Sisters, but in 5 other Oregon communities. It was quite a process, but as whoever has tried to uproot a family knows, it is important to make the right choice.

While all of these people had good things to say about Sisters, the most important draw to this area was undoubtedly the schools. We looked very closely at schools in Klamath Falls, Ashland, St. Helens, Scappoose, and Lake Oswego. We found that Sisters Schools had great student pride, excellent facilities, very strong leadership, excellent teachers and few drug or discipline problems. Quite frankly, we felt the district was the best we researched!

As a former 20-year resident of a small town, I do not feel it's my place (as a newcomer) to tell the people of Sisters how to run its community. I do feel, however, I have a good idea what many school districts are like in Oregon and encourage Sisters to realize and appreciate what you have here!

So you think that money for sports officiating is wasted dollars? Look at the tens of thousands of dollars spent by another school just for graffiti removal! Think administrators are paid too much? Perhaps look at the quarter million dollar mistake made by another superintendent in 1994! Think a lot of Sisters' students are involved with drugs? Look at one of the richest school districts in Oregon and see their drug problem!

I strongly encourage to the community of Sisters to work diligently helping to make Sisters School District better. Demand accountability from board members and administration! Work to achieve quality in the classroom! Support effective discipline and demand an excellent learning environment! But people, I implore you to look around! We have a good thing here!

Sincerely

Scott B. Pillar

Sisters

Recently Karen Shimamoto of the Sisters Ranger District inferred that logging live trees as part of the Jack Canyon logging project is good management.

One look at this ill-conceived plan shows that it is anything but. How is logging 29 percent of the remaining healthy old growth trees good? Is clear- cutting over 1,600 acres and not leaving any live trees reasonable? Is jeopardizing the survival of four nesting pairs of spotted owls and the healthiest bull trout stocks in the state sound decision remaking? In my opinion it is not.

This is Forest Service business as usual. They throw in some of the last healthy green trees into the mix in order to get the timber industry to bid higher on the sale. That is what is at work here and it has nothing to do with good management. By allowing this indiscriminate cutting of live trees as part of this so-called "salvage" sale, we can expect the "accidental" cutting of old- growth similar to the 187 ancient trees logged on the Walla Bear timber sale.

Timber theft will be much easier than it already is and after the mistakes, all we can expect from the Forest Service is lame excuses and promises to do it better next time. It is actions such as this that further erode the agency's credibility and increase the calls for repeal of the clearcut salvage rider and ultimately an end to commercial logging on our public lands.

Steven Huddleston

Have you ever given money to a "good cause" and wondered what happened to it? Would you like to know what happens to the money you give? What if you could see your $1, or $5, or more turn into an attractive garden area which you and the entire community can enjoy, not just for a short time but for years?

Members of the Sisters Garden Club will be announcing a campaign to raise funds to complete gardens at the intersection of Cascade and Hood Streets by the old cabin.

Please be prepared and give promptly. If you are ready, feel free to "jump the gun" and give now. (For tax- deductible contributions, call me for special instructions.) If you have had out- of- town guests who've raved about Sisters' gardens, they are also welcome to participate.

Since it appears that spring may finally be here, you may see Work Parties doing maintenance on sections that were planted last year. Further plantings though will depend on you. Be a part of this garden. Feel connected to it every time you drive or walk past, knowing that you helped make it happen.

All winter, people have been working on preliminary plans for this garden. In addition to funding, we are currently waiting for truckloads of soil. A local service club has indicated plans to be involved. The city council has approved a preliminary design for the garden, the final results of which depend on the level of funding. The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce will provide help by processing tax- deductible contributions.

Perhaps this garden area can be thought of as a living, lasting tribute to the many volunteers who have made the Sisters area into "A Small Community with a Big Heart."

Sincerely,

Maggie Hughes

President, Sisters Garden Club

I, Mrs. Beulah Alden, will not maintain road 2058!

The care of this road belongs to the Forest Service. And the county road commissioners. I pray a lot.

Thank you,

Mrs. Beulah Alden

This letter has been a few years coming. I've threatened to write it a time or two and always shelved it.

I'm right in the middle of enjoying this wonderful spring weather and trying to get my flowers weeded, getting my yard raked and doing the sort of things that get a yard half way ready for summer.

But this letter isn't about gardening, it's about my flower beds smelling like cat boxes and the permanent cat track I have in the grass going across my back yard. It's about the "dog logs" I've had to clean up in my yard year-round. It's about the cat scratches on a brand new car and the cat tracks on the vehicles parked in our carport. It's about cats forcing the vent covers off our house to get under it and living in our woodpile making the wood smell awful.

I haven't owned a pet for 10-plus years. I choose not to because I don't want the responsibility of a pet. But it seems like I've ended up with all the negative benefits.

So if you're a pet owner, know where your pet is. If you have an animal and choose to move but don't choose to take the pet, be humane and take that pet to the pound. If you have a dog and walk it don't let it off the leash to come into my yard (or some one else's) to do its duty. I've cleaned up piles three feet from my front door and 50 feet inside my property line.

I have grandchildren that play in my yard. I want it as much as possible a clean place for them to play. And I'm sure it's really healthy to be weeding in the areas that maybe your cat has used for a bathroom.

Come on pet owners, own your pet. Be responsible for it.

Thank you,

Shirley Miller