News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
To the Editor:
Why, asks Principal Dempsey, the sudden rash of teen pregnancies? Guess what? They learned how easily one can abuse a system designed to make more people dependent on government hand- outs.
Of course, this is your and my money. Perhaps these children should ask their friends and neighbors how they feel about their money funding the results of their sexual activities. Why not directly demand of their neighbors the extra $4,000 they get through the "system."
These children have either missed the boat or just plain don't want to listen. What part of "sexual activity could get you pregnant" don't they understand? These children want all the privileges of adults but plead innocence and youth when they run into trouble. Where are the parents when all of this is going on? Rumor has it, some celebrate these pregnancies with baby showers.
What's next? As "single moms" they are eligible for welfare and have us again pay for everything. Daycare, food stamps, medical coverage, school. Its certainly a better living than the honest, hard-working, hourly wage-earner.
Must we keep rewarding this kind of behavior? One should learn valuable lessons from mistakes and the only way to do this is to suffer the consequences and deal with problems ourselves or with the help of our families.
This is not the Dark Ages. These children know the consequences of their behavior. We don't need to go back to shunning and back-street abortions, but these "children having children" need to be accountable for their actions. If society keeps accepting them into the mainstream at school and taking care of everything, the number of teen pregnancies will increase.
Diane van den Berg<p>
Earl Armbruster's reply to my letter regarding the Sisters School District well reinforces the point I was trying to make -- bad decisions and wasteful spending.
Before ever drilling the well and spending $200,000 the district should have made a decision to either develop their own water system or connect to city water. Instead, they drilled the well first then decided to use city water.
But what possessed them to give that well to the city for free? As it ended up the city got a great deal and the district taxpayers got the "shaft."
Mr. Armbruster states in his letter that the district is budgeting $30,000 for water for the 1996- 97 year. I suggest he read the February 21 Nugget which states, "Earl Armbruster told the board he has budgeted $46,000 for water over next year."
Which one is it? Either amount is a lot of money, much of which could have been avoided had the district kept that well. The September 20 Nugget reported that the high school water bill for August was $5,264.78. The well driller's test report shows the "giveaway" well supplied 1,200 gal/min for an eight-hour period. That could have watered a lot of grass -- cheaply.
This all comes down to making prudent decisions and spending taxpayers' money wisely. We constantly hear about district money problems. Looks like it's their own doing.
Howard Paine
Howard Paine's letter dated April 17 regarding the well drilled by the Sisters School District and donated to the city raises several issues that need clarification.
The Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District required a water system which would produce 2,500 gallons of water per minute for fire protection at the new middle/high school.
In March, 1991, the city and the Sisters School District met to determine the most cost-effective means of providing water to the new middle/high school.
Sisters School District stand-alone system providing required fire flow needs:
* Minimum 150,000 gallon reservoir.
* Well -- 250 h.p. pump, pump house, fence.
* Diesel-powered backup generator.
* Certified operator for water system.
* Maintenance for water system, pump building, fence.
* EPA-and-DEQ required testing.
* Electricity minimum charge, demand charge, and regular monthly electric usage.
Sisters School District connecting to city water, providing required fire flow needs:
* 3,585' of 12" water line to connect city water, a looping system was required by Oregon State Health Dept., 1,185' installed by school, 2,400' installed by two private individuals
* Water well, 75 h.p. pump, chlorinator/pump house, fence.
Mr. Paine states the city charged the school district $46,000 for water--not true. From April, 1995 to March, 1996 the city charged $16,723 for all three schools including irrigation.
For a 250 h.p. motor the electric minimum charge (standby charge) is $581 per month, electric demand charge averages $1,084 per month, testing $1,000 per year, certified operator $100 per month. If the school would have chosen to operate their own system, these costs alone ($22,180) would have far exceed the amount the school district paid the city for all three schools including irrigation water.
The middle/high school is outside the city limits, therefore pays 1-1/2 times the inside city limits rate.
The school district and the city acted responsibly, saving many taxpayer dollars, by connecting the new middle/high school to the city water system.
Barbara J. Warren
City Administrator, City of Sisters
Several years ago I retired and moved to Sisters. The last two years I have served as a member of the Long Range Planning Committee and the Budget Committee for the Sisters School District. I still feel a commitment to a strong education as being the backbone of our freedom and prosperity. Due to this commitment I feel it necessary to respond to the letter of April 24 by Mr. Clemens.
Calling the building program a Band-Aid approach is totally ridiculous. The Long Range Planning Committee spent many hours developing the best building program for the Sisters School District. Any enrollment projection we used showed that these rooms would be needed in the near future even if a middle school is constructed and/or year-round education is put into place.
Furthermore, calling the capital projects fund a slush fund can only reflect the attitude of a totally uninvolved and uneducated person.
Anyone who reads anything about the status of education in Oregon will rapidly conclude that the tax limitation coupled with providing the services as mandated by the state have put a real squeeze on budgets. This squeeze has caused the elimination of much needed building maintenance and equipment replacement.
As a prime example, over $60,000 of needed maintenance was eliminated in order to balance the 1995-96 budget. The taxpayers of Sisters School District have over $12 million invested in buildings and ground improvements. Do you want these to deteriorate to the point that more costly major repairs are required? Do you want to replace $500,000 worth of pavement after it totally deteriorates rather than have $20,000 available to seal it with a new top coat?
In conclusion, I feel it is totally irresponsible for anyone to sit on the sidelines and voice such criticism. Why don't you get involved in a positive manner and after you know the facts make some conclusions?
Gaylon Hieff
The school bond cost to taxpayers has been represented at 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation over 25 years. Yet this bond issue is designed to serve our needs until 2002, only some six years down the road.
One doesn't need to be a Chase Manhattan Bank president to realize that when you buy a six-year program to be paid for in 25 years, you will have 19 years remaining in your payment coupon book after the useful life of the "fix" has expired.
What then? How many additional bond requests will be waiting in the wings in the 25 years before this bond has been paid off in full? One can bet there will be several. And they will continue to pile atop the unpaid earlier bond issues unless changes are made.
Let's "get real" on costs. If the $5.5 million requested will only solve our problems for six years then we should amortize that amount over the same time frame. Now the $50 a year hypothetical cost to the owner of a $100,000 home skyrockets up several hundred dollars. And if you happen to live in Indian Ford, Tollgate, Black Butte Ranch or Cascade Meadows--get ready for a real shock when the tax bill arrives.
In the April 17 issue of The Nugget, Superintendent Judy May presented a rational explanation of year round education that effectively answered virtually all questions coming from concerned parents. Voters need to read that excellent piece before going to the polls on May 21. Year- round education will happen one day; perhaps now is the proper time.
Respectfully submitted,
Wendell Kaufman
In March, 14 communities in Oregon put school bonds for construction, remodeling and equipment purchases on the ballot. Twelve of these communities passed their bond measures.
Why? Because they recognized this as one of the few ways school finances can be helped locally in the wake of Oregon's Measure 5.
Sisters schools are running out of room. Anyone who doubts this fact should schedule a personal visit. And with shortfalls in funding, the district has delayed much- needed repairs and equipment purchases.
I urge Sisters residents to join voters throughout Oregon who have said "yes" to a quality education for the children in their communities.
Lora Nordquist
Low-income, high-radiation housing is about to grace our local landscape near the Bitterbrush Subdivision.
The parcels of land to be used were on the market for a number of years, but common sense prevented their sale because of their location. Central Electric high power transmission lines cross these small lots, with ever-increasing power requirements and therefore more radiation in future years, unless our state adopts the regulation of power line radiation (EMF) as other states already have.
The set- back needed to construct a home at a reasonable distance is not possible, however Sisters Habitat for Humanity does not seem to be concerned.
Decades before the studies of electromagnetic fields radiated by power lines and our exposure risks to them were undertaken, many engineers and scientists including myself were well aware of the hazards, but public awareness and education is obviously still lacking. Recently Canadian studies indicate that exposure to stronger than average electromagnetic fields can increase the risk of developing some types of leukemia. In adults it's usually acute nonlymphoid leukemia, which includes acute myeloic leukemia and the suggestion that a type of brain tumor known as astrocytoma may also develop.
Epidemiology, the study of human disease patterns as far back as 1970, found children living in areas of certain high- voltage power lines were about twice as likely to develop leukemia. Of 11 childhood- cancer studies that I know of by early 1994, six are considered by experts to be the most careful and thorough. Of these six, five found some statistical association between elevated magnetic fields and childhood cancer.
Laboratory studies have shown that these fields can produce measurable changes in cellular activity. There are myriad delicate electrical forces at work within the body, providing our physical and mental equilibrium. Millions of years of evolution have fashioned a virtual universe of electrical activity in the human body, yet with unbelievable carelessness we take up residence in powerful magnetic fields which are totally alien to our historical environment, and which can alter that activity and therefore the very basis for a normal life.
Buz Hanson
Editors note: Habitat for Humanity was offered the opportunity to respond directly to Mr. Hanson's letter. They brought the question to Central Electric Cooperative. CEC declined to answer Mr. Hanson's letter directly but faxed The Nugget an article by the New York Times News Service stating that:"The world's largest group of physicists, the American Physical Society, has taken a stance on a contentious public health issue saying it can find no evidence that the electromagnetic fields that radiate from power lines cause cancer. The group's statement... appears to be the strongest such statement by a scientific society in the 15 years or so the issue has been debated."
CEC told The Nugget that the utility also informs members with concerns about EMF that CEC has compiled a small library of study results that are available to members.
It is 7 a.m. Friday, April 26, 1996. I am looking out the window, basking in the beauty of the snow- dusted Cascade Mountains and the tremendous blue sky, as I do every morning since moving to this area.
This morning is special, it's opening weekend of the '96 fishing season. My employees and I have been scurrying around all week to make sure that we are prepared to provide each and every fisherman and woman with all the necessities -- an early morning hot cup of coffee, a dozen fresh worms or hooks, some warm gloves, a fishing net, breakfast, dinner, etc. We are all excited about opening the doors and greeting all who venture in our door.
I came to the community of Sisters a year ago, and in that short time have grown to truly appreciate and love this small mountain community and the people who live here. I have chosen the task of operating a small business that has been a long-time tradition in the Sisters area and look forward to opening each springtime in the future and seeing many of your familiar faces.
However, there has been some confusion due to a recent article in the Bulletin about the future of this operation. Please understand that along with my long- term lease, my intentions are to continue the tradition into the upcoming years.
Paula Berry Waite
Proprietor Alpine Restaurant and Country Store
While out in the woods west of Sisters the other day, I noticed someone had dumped some garbage which included some record albums.
Curious as to the type of music such a reprobate would listen to, I picked one up. Produced for Natural History Magazine it was titled "Language and Music of the Wolves," narrated by Robert Redford.
Nuff said.
Ron Breitenstein
Sincerely,
Sisters Garden Club
Maggie Hughes, President
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