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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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:

As a Cyrus, I would like to clarify our position on water conservation and increased stream flows.

We support both! We believe there is a place for piping, lining and various other water conservation measures. We feel each project should be assessed utilizing accurate information, have specific goals established, be professionally engineered, and be properly planned and executed.

We would be delighted to see flows in Squaw Creek increased. In fact, Keith Cyrus collaborated with Water for Life (WFL) on a proposed project that would have put 12 cubic feet per second (cfs) in Squaw Creek during water shortages instead of the 3 cfs anticipated from the Cloverdale Ditch piping project.

WFL's proposal would have cost the district nothing, the taxpayer significantly less, and would not have damaged the riparian habitat. The Deschutes Resources Conservancy (DRC) rejected WFL's proposal without consideration because they had another proposal on the table -- the district's proposal to pipe the Cloverdale Ditch even though the very ownership of the ditch was being litigated at the time.

The judge eventually determined that the Cloverdale Ditch and the right-of-way under the ditch belong to the Cyruses.

Additionally, it is likely that the Cloverdale delivery actually has a greater seepage loss now than before it was piped. Prior to piping, the ditch could bypass the district reservoir (which has a high seepage and evaporation loss) during periods of short water. Now a significant amount of water is required in the reservoir at all times in order to feed the pipe.

The bottom line is that the district performed a $660,000 piping project on a ditch it didn't own, without consent, and almost certainly increased, rather than decreased, the total seepage loss. In addition, it destroyed significant riparian resources and is now attempting to transfer 3 CFS of its members' water to an in-stream right without their approval.

Matt Cyrus

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To the Editor:

Chief of Police Nick Kelsey (Molalla Police Department) missed an opportunity to take responsibility for his community.

Instead he took a reactionary approach to the problem, by referencing what he thought should have been done (The Nugget, October 9 Letters to the Editor).

He sidestepped the real concern -- "harassment" -- and dwelled on Coach Keel's decision and his lack of calling 9-1-1. Coach Keel did what he thought was right for the safety of his team and I commend him.

I would have liked to see Nick Kelsey state that he is working with the Molalla School District to insure future incidents like this do not reoccur. Unfortunately, this wasn't the message he conveyed.

Rod Hjelmstad

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To the Editor:

USA Superpower or bully?

Iraq... Area: total: 437,072 square kilometers.

Population: 23,331,985 (July 2001 estimate ).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): purchasing power parity -- $57 billion (2000 estimate).

Military capability: World War I (maybe).

USA... Area: total: 9,629,091 square kilometers (22 times bigger).

Population: 278,058,881 (July 2001 estimate 12 times bigger).

GDP: purchasing power parity -- $9.963 trillion (2000 estimate; 175 times bigger).

Military capability: World War III-plus.

IBM, with a global work force of about 250,000 people, grosses more than the 23 million people of Iraq. The U.S. should just buy the country and fire the management for gross corporate malfeasance.

Regards,

Dean Billing

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To the Editor:

I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to those volunteers who helped take down the new Sisters Portable Community Center Tent.

The tent had been up in the Village Green for the fun events held here during the month of September.

Rick Geraths was the fantastic crew leader assisted by Bill Merritt, Frank Deggendorfer, Fred McCaulou, Dawn Roberts and her son Tyson.

The Jazz Festival crew Tom Worcester, Kent Thie and Neil Williams came through in a pinch and stayed until our Sisters High School friends Cooper Nagle and Brandon Dean arrived after school.

So thanks to wonderful community volunteers who work untold hours to put on events such as the Sisters Folk Festival, the Sisters Jazz Festival, the Sisters Bike Festival and the Chamber events in September!

They were all fun parties... thanks for staying to help clean up!

Kathy Deggendorfer