Letters, letters, letters

The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.

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To the Editor:

In response to John Asbury's challenge regarding the senseless killing of the cougar (The Nugget, "Letters to the Editor," February 2).

I have been hunting, fishing and enjoying the outdoors my entire life. Once again, I'm amazed as to how many people like John are appalled at the fact of killing animals when they endanger our livestock or families.

I sometimes wonder how their opinion of the cougar's death would be if it was their infant child that had been killed.

The fact that people with this kind of mentality exist is why we have many of the problems of today.

If it's not a poor defenseless cougar, it's a serial killer, rapist or some other form of low-life who inherently obtains more rights than their victims.

I'm not at all for the extermination of cougars or any other animals; however, I do believe that some necessary measures must be taken to ensure a proper balance between man and nature.

This week it was goats and sheep. Perhaps next week it may be your son or daughter, prized quarter horse, or family pet.

Be sure to keep your emotions in the right place when the subject really hits home.

Matt Williams

Williams Firearms Co., Inc.

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To the Editor:

I enjoyed your short, but oh-so-sweet editorial on the "Republicrat and Democan" candidates (The Nugget, January 29, p.2).

Those who have a real message (agreeable or disagreeable, they have strong, honest messages) such as Alan Keyes are pushed aside, and not given airtime.

Much of the so-called "left vs. right," "conservative vs. liberal" debate is a spurious game made up to prevent the electorate from noticing the real loss of everything we believe in, including personal liberty and responsibility, what remains of local governance, any sliver of ethical or moral standards, and finally respect in our own elected leaders and government.

As these power brokers succeed in divorcing us all mentally, emotionally and physically from governance, they succeed in accreting power to themselves, and turning us into naive pawns in their manipulations.

The end result is an ignorant, impoverished populace managed by "bread and circuses" -- and finally despotism and dictatorship.

In politics, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, "The process is the issue." It is incumbent upon us, the electorate and the citizen leaders (we are each leaders), to lead again and fight against the centralization, manipulation and corruption of the process. It is up to us to accept the fight and become candidates for office, to take on the "shield of righteousness" and battle for the good, accepting that we may have differences of opinion on the way.

Gary Bickford

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To the Editor:

Last week, I was part of a Sisters School District/Forest Service partnership where we planned and submitted a grant application to begin the journey of the shared vision to become a conservation education leader in our community, our region, our state, and our nation.

I would like to applaud the efforts of the school district for its visionary insight and recognizing the intense need for conservation education.

Steve Swisher, our school superintendent, noted the intense competition that exists today in computer technology for occupying our youth's interests. He felt strongly that schools also need to create opportunities to get our youth into the outdoors to learn about the natural world.

The Sisters schools' vision focuses on creating a major natural resource and team building emphasis in our K-12 curriculum starting in the elementary school with the many field trips, the Career and Culture Camp, sixth grade outdoor school, the eighth grade retreat, 11th grade natural resource CAM (Certificate of Advanced Mastery), and a final 12th grade service learning project.

Also included in their vision is the creation of a Natural Resource Science School on the school's 250 acres adjacent the high school that would include two ponds, natural forest, two science labs, an interpretive facility, eight cabins, and a mess hall to provide a wondrous setting for environmental education for Sisters' youth, our state's youth, educators, natural resource professionals, and continuing education interested people.

My hat is off to the visionary leadership in our school district and I am incredibly grateful to be a parent educating my children in this earth-conscious community.

Cindy Glick

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To the Editor:

Last week's story about the chips recently received from Intel ("Technology sits idle at school," The Nugget, February 2, p. 1) has prompted several generous donations, now totaling $1,700, and pledges for another $1,000.

The first funds received have been used to purchase a dual Xeon processor board and the memory needed to build a first class server for use as a server/router between the high school and other parts of the district. The rest of this machine will be "salvaged," gathered from other "donor" machines supplied by the high school's StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology) program.

By the end of this week the new machine should be operational. Thanks to all involved with this effort, and especially to those who stepped up with the much-needed cash.

The server that we are now building would cost more than $4,000 if we were to buy it ... instead of the $600 it will cost to build. Many of the remaining chips donated by Intel could be "converted" to real machines by OutlawNet students for about $350 each ... and each machine produced this way not only produces a terrific new tool for the classroom, it also provides direct, hands-on training for the students doing the building.

Again, as one of this community's teachers, I'd like to express my gratitude to all those who support our efforts. If you would like to see the results of your support, drop by and ask for a tour, or better yet, audit a class!

Jon Renner

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To the Editor:

As a parent and member of the SPTC (Sisters Parent Teacher Community) dance committee would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who made our first annual Family Night Dance a success:

(Dancers enjoyed) the outstanding talent of the Blue Darts Band and our Sisters High School Jazz Band members. Thanks to donations provided by local businesses, we were able to sponsor an evening of entertainment at no charge.

Thanks to parents of Sisters Elementary students for supplying a large donation of foods and products for our focal Kiwanis food bank. Special appreciation to Lori and Rusty Gridley, Deb Sether, Heather Wester, Kelly Cyrus, Shannon Davis, Susan Bennett, Robin Davis and, of course, Mr. Comfort for all their hard work and assistance.

To those in attendance, you made it a success -- thank you!

Melinda Witt