Letters, letters, letters

To the Editor:

A measure on the November ballot will ask Sisters residents to amend the city charter requiring the city to charge the highest system development charges allowed by the State of Oregon.

There are many people who are unaware of what a SDC is, let alone what the implications of high SDCs are to a city like Sisters. It is a confusing issue. At the August 13 city council meeting, I read the following:

"In light of the November elections and on behalf of Citizens For Cooperative Urban Planning we'd like to request that the city conduct an Educational Forum, open to the public, regarding the initiative titled, "charter amendment requiring system development charges allowed by state law."

We'd like to ask that the following individuals be invited to participate: Steve Bryant, City Attorney; Shaun Pigott, a utility rate and infrastructure finance consultant who is working with the city to develop SDCs; Ken Emmrich, one of the authors of the initiative; Neil Thompson, City Planner; Bob Quitmyer, Community Development Director for Redmond and that Mayor Wilson be the facilitator.

We ask that the forum be held prior to the next city council meeting which is August 27 and that a minimum of one hour be allowed for discussion and questions from the audience.

By holding the forum on August 27, we will be allowing time for The Nugget to report back to the voters and still leave time for arguments to be submitted to the Voters Pamphlet. That deadline is September 8.

We feel it is important that the registered voters of Sisters have the opportunity to make informal decisions at the polls and that it is the responsibility of the city to educate them."

Please look in The Nugget for the time and date of the forum. I encourage residents to attend and educate yourselves.

Melanie Curry

Editor's note: A forum has been scheduled for Monday, August 24, 6 p.m. at

Sisters City Hall.

To the Editor:

I was very pleased to read about the citizens of Sisters collaboratively working towards a stable funding base for positive youth activities. The SOAR program is similar to the Boys' and Girls' Club in its ability to serve youth on a daily basis both after school and throughout the summer.

The importance of non-fee based programs are vital to so many youth who have little or no resources. These kids need their "idle" time filled with positive, structured programs, to help prevent negative and "street" leadership which often leads to delinquent behavior.

National statistics show that 90% of juvenile crime occurs after school while parent are at work or unavailable for their children. Other communities throughout Central Oregon have implemented daily recreational and youth development programs, such as Boys' and Girls' Clubs, that do not exclude kids due to their socio-economic backgrounds.

Many of these communities have witnessed a decease in juvenile crime within the first year of offering their non-fee based youth program. I feel that the SOAR program has the ability to offer opportunities to the youth of Sisters that would greatly benefit the community as a whole.

Joe Hayes

To the Editor:

Our Libraries will be missed.

County libraries will close on August 29. That is hard to believe, isn't it? I don't think it will really sink in until we go to the Library and see the CLOSED sign on the door.

Libraries serve everyone. We continue to learn and grow. Knowledge is available to all income levels, to preschoolers, and seniors.

Your library offers information if you may be thinking about a career change, and you won't need to buy those books that will help you make decisions, you can borrow them from your library.

We absolutely need to vote YES on September 15. This September ballot will propose a one year tax levy to cover library expenses for 1998-99. It will be a mail-in ballot and we still need a greater than 50 percent voter turnout.

In November we will vote again for a library district, to be administered by a locally elected board of directors. These YES votes will return our libraries to all of us. Your library needs you!!

Elayne Clarke, Sisters

To The Editor,

I write this as a child and now an adult of the public library system. The library was always a place where I felt welcome, happy, and secure. It was a place where the possibility of travel, learning, adventure, drama, information and intrigue became a reality.

If my world was less than happy, the library was where I headed. As a youngster, books enabled me to imagine all sorts of wondrous things, travel to far off lands, and be far more adventurous than I really was.

As an adult the library still does all this and more.

Libraries now offer almost limitless information through books and the Internet. You can now travel more, learn more, explore more and escape more. Libraries are still a place where you can feel welcome and secure.

We need to do all we can to preserve this special place for everyone. As I told my children growing up, "When your friends are mad at you or if you are feeling alone, you will always have books. They are always your friends."

Give someone a life long friend and vote YES on the LIBRARY.

Kathy Goodwin, Sisters

To the Editor:

The post office needs to be congratulated on the ease of using those self-adhesive postage stamps.

Just peel and stick. That's it. A most satisfying feeling. So, whether you're writing a letter to a dear friend or just sending in your library ballot tax levy in September, remember one of life's newest little pleasures: a postage stamp.

So simple. Your friends and the library will be glad to hear from you!

Paul Bennett, (A Friend of the Library)

To the Editor;

Some erroneous assumptions about community policing have been presented in the media and require a response from the citizens on the Central Oregon Community Policing Cooperative.

Community policing relies more upon the voluntary participation of citizens than it does upon law enforcement personnel. Citizen involvement creates an atmosphere of non-tolerance to crime, and clarifies community norms. Community policing is problem solving at the earliest level.

While results can be difficult to measure by ordinary means, most citizens find the neighborhoods in which they are active to be more peaceful, hospitable, and livable. Most importantly, citizen involvement creates pride in our neighborhoods. In short, livability and the sense of safety improves when we know and work together with our neighbors.

As a neighborhood organizes, its capacity to manage small problems becomes greater, and small problems can be prevented from evolving into unsolvable issues.

It is important to walk the turf, and to conduct one's own poll to find more tangible results of Community policing. Even though it is difficult to measure peace or our neighbor's well-being, a neighborhood that can successfully manage its small problems has a better ability to prevent crime and violence.

Community policing is more about community than policing, we all make up our community. Law enforcement will always be necessary and important. For more information on future meetings or to join us contact Julie Lyche at 385-1724.

Ken Mathers

Central Oregon Community Policing Cooperative

To the Editor:

I have finished watching CNN. I stopped watching network news years ago when I realized reporters no longer reported news. They edited it and pontificated. They become stars.

Lawyers and judges, across the land, have also worked at becoming stars.

Sunday, before Clinton's testimony in front of a grand jury, they are all over the tube speculating on what he will say. It is like an office pool. Who will have predicted the most points?

Monday, I'm subscribing to the Oregonian and the Bulletin. For kicks, I'm going back to 6 p.m. news on different channels. Will I hear news or an old pro's interpretations of it.

Glory Daggett