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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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.

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Mel Bryan's letter in the December 5 edition of The Nugget. In that letter his main topic of discussion was the plan for the new high school and his contention that maybe we should be spending money to build a new middle school for less money.

First, the middle school needs to be replaced, but so does the high school. Would Mr. Bryan like to spend money to build new facilities for both? I think not. The new high school is exactly what we need. It won't look as nice as the high school we have now, but it will be the right size for the students entering the school in the future.

We need a new high school now. My Web Design class last trimester had to exclude two students because of a lack of computers for everyone who wanted the class. My current English class has at least one student without a desk because of lack of resources. Four students left the class I am a Teacher's Aid in because there wasn't space for them.

At lunch time the cafeteria is jam-packed every day. Even though many of the juniors and seniors go off-campus for lunch there are still not enough tables and chairs.

Also, Mr. Bryan was insulting to the people who have already voted for the new high school claiming that the new building (particularly the auditorium) was planned for 900 seats because of someone's ego. Does he realize we owe a huge thanks to the people, for example, who run the Starry Nights performances and donate the money to help the school district?

How much more could we do with 900 seats?

The need for this school is so great that we shouldn't argue petty things and delay, or even stop, the building. I hope the people of Sisters keep supporting the new high school.

Caitlin Partridge

Freshman, Sisters High School

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To the Editor:

In November, I attended my first and maybe last school board meeting on behalf of Mel Bryan.

Mel brought up a lot of valid concerns and lack of public confidence in (the) school board.

It looks like the same three board members continually out-vote Heather Wester and Steve Keeton on their good ideas. It doesn't take a smart person to see what is going to happen to McKinney Butte sub-division development -- many millions of dollars profit!

I hope the Attorney General steps in on this big mess!

It's too bad one or two people control every aspect of life in Sisters instead of the people. Money and profits rule!

Only the rich and well-to-do will be able to live in Sisters. Why do we need any schools here as enrollment is going down with the recession?

I've heard that one of the school board members said if Sisters votes no on annexation they will just get the county to give them the land and build anyway over the wishes of Sisters residents!

Chet Davis

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To the Editor:

My husband and I recently purchased a condo in your beautiful town. Our first visit was last weekend.

We packed up our gear and headed from Newport and the rain to Sisters and the snow! We arrived Friday night. Our 13-year-old, one-eyed cocker spaniel slid out of the car and disappeared instantly into the darkness.

Since he is deaf we could not call for him. We immediately started a search by foot and by car. Later I opened the phone book and tried the veterinary clinic. No answer.

I foolishly called several other local businesses finally reaching the video store. I told them of my situation, although why, I'm not sure!

Not only did they calmly tell me to call the sheriff's office, they looked up the number.

Meanwhile my husband drove around until about midnight and began at daylight again. Everyone -- our brand new neighbors, strangers in the street and on their front porches -- stopped what they were doing to listen to us and reassure us that they would look for Buffett.

One kind lady even called me to see if we had found him yet! I tried the vet's office again mid-morning and much to my delight my prayers had been answered. A very nice woman had taken in our dog for the night and called them with the information.

We had a very happy, tearful reunion.

I am writing this as a public thank you to all the kind, wonderful people of Sisters! Thank you so very much for everything. We know we made the right choice for our home away from the beach!

Sincerely,

Lin Lindly

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To the Editor:

Have you had the opportunity to take a ride on a dog sled or to watch dogsledding? Well, about 450 students in Sisters school district have done both.

For the past five years the fifth grade class at the Sisters Elementary School have taken the opportunity to partake in this adventure with the Tour of Dreams located at Mt. Bachelor.

Some classes had the opportunity to map the Iditarod race in Alaska, learn Internet skills following the Iditarod, produce and act out a play involving this experience (coupled with our snowshoeing outing with the Forest Service), learn about the mushers in the Iditarod and make predictions regarding who the winner might be.

Writing and art were also involved in this experience. In addition to the academic end of this field trip, students were able simply to get out of the classroom and learn about the nature of these dogs and what mushing and racing is all about.

Jerry Scdoris, owner of Tour of Dreams, is organizing a dog sledding race in Central Oregon.

Two days of racing will occur in the Sisters area and they are in need of some volunteers to host the mushers and to help with the race. If your child has been on this field trip, will be on this field trip, or you simply enjoy dogs and the thought of helping out I would encourage you to be a host family for the AttaBoy 300 dog sledding race January 7-8. For more information call Brian Witt at 549-4859 or 549-4958.

Kathy Kemper-Green