Letters, letters, letters

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copy To the Editor:

Senator Wyden and Senator Smith have a bill (SB 416) that is about to be taken to committee. It would transfer Forest Service land for Sister's sewer treatment project. But an unrelated proposal was added - to transfer up to 77 acres of the land in back of the Forest Service (offices) into the real estate market.

The Forest Service would get 25 percent of the funds with the rest used to buy up water rights along Squaw Creek. No study of effect or feasibility was done.

This public land will be sold for development and can be logged, stimulating expansion and changing the character of the town. This forested area now serves as a buffer containing the city with trees and wildlife.

The sell off of public forest land to serve other purposes is a bad idea, similar to what we saw in the '80s when public land was lost to the private sector. It merely detracts from the main bill which provides land for the city sewer system across Squaw Creek.

The 77 acres back of the Forest Service building should be taken out of the bill. In the future this special area might be considered as a park for the city. The trees and the wildlife would then be spared.

Those who don't want this area sold off should contact the following without delay:

Sen Wyden, 717 Hart Senate Office Bldg. Washington D.C. 20510, ph. 202-224-5244

Sen Smith 359 Dirksen Senate Bldg. Washington D. C. 20510 ph. 202-224-3753.

William Boyer

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To the Editor:

Your editorial writer (April 14) may have been misled by the surface similarities between Vietnam and Kosovo, and missed the deeper differences. This has led him to compare apples and oranges - an exercise in irrelevance. We are not going it alone in Kosovo as we did in Vietnam. We are acting in concert with 18 other nations who deem it necessary. None of them, it should be noted, agreed with our action in Vietnam.

And rightly so: Ho Chi Minh had the support of 85 percent of his countrymen, north and south (according to President Eisenhower in his autobiography). Our intelligence people knew that, so our government was lying about "fighting for the self-determination of the Vietnamese people. It's there in the government's own documents in the Pentagon Papers, which is why the government kept them secret, and then tried to prosecute The New York Times when it published them. Our whole rationale there was based on lies, misinformation, and false assumptions, according to Barbara Tuchman ("The March of Folly) and Robert McNamara ("In Retrospect.)

In Vietnam, we were the ones driving out women and children and burning their homes, creating over a million refugees. They are still suffering miscarriages and birth defects over there, from Agent Orange. According to Barbara Tuchman: "Search and destroy missions, using tanks, artillery strafing and defoliation from the air left ruined villages and ruined crops and destitute refugees living in festering camps along the coast in growing resentment of the Americans.

And this was in the south. Never mind what we did to the north. We killed 2 million people over there overall, three quarters of them civilians, and mostly in the south. Clinton was right to oppose it then and he's right to oppose similar atrocities in Kosovo now. Your editorial charge of inconsistency on his part is in error, as was our whole Vietnam venture. The defense rests.

John Goodwin

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To the Editor:

Toni Foster, who teaches grades four through six at Black Butte School in Camp Sherman, stated in the April 14 Nugget that the students' consistent academic success is attributed to community involvement in the school.

I would add that the students are successful, both while attending and after leaving Black Butte School, because they are taught the old fashioned way: they are challenged, in a no-nonsense environment, to learn the basics, to learn how to think and to learn what accountability means.

My daughter Jamie, who will be a junior this fall in San Diego State's School of Education, aspires to be an elementary school teacher. My son Jered, who leaves this Wednesday for basic training in the U.S. Air Force, wants to fly someday.

Both of them attended Black Butte School and were taught in the two-classroom school by Toni Foster and Steve Johnson before they came to Sisters.

So, I'd like to extend a personal thanks for equipping the kids with the tools they will need to pursue their dreams. With school boards and taxpayers stressing over finances and why many of their high school students can't read or write a complete sentence, it's very rewarding to see a successful outcome, especially when it's your own kids. Thank you Toni, Steve and Black Butte School.

Jon Sundquist

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To the Editor:

Tom Smith, life-long resident and alumni member of Sisters High School, had an idea: Let's have a volleyball tournament and raise some dollars for the spirit scholarship.

Eight teams were assembled to vie for top honors as the best volleyball team. The girls' team had a grudge against the boys' football team and the boys' team knew they were up to the challenge.

The elementary school teachers wanted a chance to show the high school teachers who was boss when it came to competition. The high school stole all the glory in local sports. The elementary school wanted to take some of that glory away in a humbling way.

The school bus drivers were determined to show that they were just as physical as the Forest Service personnel and were willing to bare all for a wild ride. The high school freshman team and the high school alumni team knew they didn't have a chance.

I'll have to admit, the results were a real surprise. Eight teams did show up and the competition was fierce. Every play was a scoring play so each team played each game within a time constraint of 15 minutes and each team played three games. Talk about ability; who would think that there was so much talent in the Sisters residents?

Many thanks go to the participants of this great event and to the sponsors who provided cookies and cakes for the raffle. The event raised $560 for the spirit scholarship and the girls volleyball team got revenge on the boys football team. Of course, first place ribbons were passed around to the local workaholics - the local alumni team.

Lance Trowbridge

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To the Editor:

Thanks to all who participated in the Alumni Celebrity Volleyball Tournament. The teams were great fun and entertaining. A special thanks to the sponsors.

Thanks for your support of the School Spirit Award and the senior all-night graduation party.

The Sisters High School Alumni Association

To the Editor:

We would like to thank all of you who attended the burial services for Edith Stidham at Camp Polk Pioneer Cemetery March 20.

The flowers and cards were very much appreciated. Your hugs and kind words were comforting beyond measure. You made our pain bearable. We would also like to extend a special thank you to Gerry and Suzie Tewalt, Jesse Winkle and the congregation of The Sisters Kingdom Hall for the use of their folding chairs.

Sincerely,

LaVina and Frank Wolfe and family

Joy Timmens and family

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To the Editor:

Belated but very special thank-you to all of our family and friends for their part in making our 50th anniversary, March 12, so memorable.

As we prepare for our move to Bend, although it's not very distant, we will carry with us a treasure trove of happy times spent through these past 13 years here in Sisters.

Extra special thanks to our dear friends, Curt and Dixie Morken, and our family, Cathy, Janice, Jack Jennifer and their spouses; my brother and sister-in-law, Kenny and Sherry Miller; my sister and brother-in-law, Bev and Marty Rakich. To each and every one of you, our deepest appreciation...you really pulled it off big time!

Jack and Donna Ulstad

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