Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

As parents with school-aged children, we have been following the debate on year-round school with great interest. We feel that a very important issue has not been made clear to the public or taken into consideration in the discussions.

The year-round schedule is only being proposed for the elementary and middle-school students. The high school would remain on a traditional September to June schedule.

Just imagine for a moment having two children, one in elementary and one in high school. One child will be having short breaks throughout the year and will attend school during our traditional "summer," while your other child will be in school for nine months and off for the summer.

Trying to plan activities during breaks for the child on the YRE schedule could be a nightmare for parents who work outside the home, creating more opportunities for children to be on their own and unsupervised. Not only would planning family vacations be next to impossible, the disruption to daily family life would be totally unacceptable. The concept of having two children on such radically different schedules is possible the most "anti-family" course of action our community could take.

The Nugget reported recently on how YRE worked in Woodburn. The instigation of YRE did not solve their problems, it only put off the need to build a new school for a year or so. They also reported that they couldn't have done it without the great programs offered by the local parks and recreation district. We don't have a parks and rec. We do have a wonderful, but fledgling program called SOAR that is currently existing on a shoestring budget (a $16,000 grant for 1995/96). Are we willing to fund SOAR, through taxes, so it can provide the needed programs that YRE will necessitate?

Sisters is a beautiful community with a wonderful quality of life that every year attracts more families. The number of school children is growing every year and we must recognize our obligation and privilege to provide adequate facilities that will give our children the chance for a good education. Instigating YRE will only be a "stop gap" effort and ineffective in the long run, not to mention its negative effects on the families of Sisters.

Sincerely,

Ginger Durdan-Shaw and Bob Shaw

Hooray for Shirley Miller and her letter about the stinking and harmful problems associated with stray pets.

This old man has had nothing but grief from the same problems... like Mrs. Miller's woodpile, my barn also smells like a tomcat's outhouse.

I can't leave any food out overnight for my old dog Mud or the stray cats and dogs gobble it up before she can.

I can't even raise chickens on my place; the poor old hens can't protect their chicks from the feral cats. They got off with every one of the chicks my hens produced last year.

A couple of weeks back a stray dog tore through the chicken-yard fence and killed one of my good laying hens -- not to eat it -- but for the "fun" of it.

There are no more quail, jackrabbits, cottontails, desert chipmunks, or even fence lizards left around my place. The feral cats have eaten them all. The last baby jackrabbit I saw on my acreage was dangling from the jaws of cat.

I even have cats hiding beneath the porch next to my bird-feeder, pouncing on juncos and leaping after pine siskins.

One of these days I hope the county will begin to push the leash-law and cat-owners will be required to have a collar, loud bell and a license for their pets. Maybe that will help to reduce the stink of cat urine around my place and protect my chickens and what's left of our small, non-game wildlife.

Come on all you pet-keepers. Please be more responsible.

Jim Anderson

I exercise my dogs in the forest and I wonder if parents know what their kids are doing with their four-wheel-drive trucks.

They really tear up the ground, race in all the puddles, hit trees, fly up in the air, get stuck in the roads, tear up roads. These kids need a ticket and the parents need to supervise their kids with these trucks.

Thank you,

F. Rush

Where is the sense of proportion in Oregon's justice system?

Dennis and Diane Nason of Celebration Family fame were victims of an out of control witch hunt in which Oregon spent $3 million-plus investigating them for four years, desperately trying to find violations.

They were each given 60 days. Three million dollars divided by 120 equals $25,000 per day of jail time! They lost family, health and property.

Of 27 charges there were two minor convictions for forgery and racketeering. Minor? Yes, minor. Oregon racketeering law: illegal acts performed more than once by an organization. Therefore the alleged forgery of medical forms was automatically also racketeering.

The forms were required by Idaho's Hope House when they accepted children from Nason's large adopted family. Downsizing was due to pressure of the investigation and dwindling private financial support. The Nason's had no state-supported foster children.

CSD, state police, special investigators and Attorney's General office were all coordinated. Guess what high official gave the orders.

Could it happen again? I pray not.

Dr. Leslie J. Carson