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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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:

Allow me to start by thanking the Buckmanns for their initiative and the hard work that has gone into the flag project. I, too, am proud of the result and its reflection on the town. I had a flag made in honor of my father, who was a World War II Commander. I was pleased to find it flying on the corner in front of The Gallimaufry, a business establishment he would have particularly appreciated.

That the city administrator's comments to The Nugget on this matter were referred to by last week's letter writer as "pathetic" should in no way reflect on her as she was simply trying to expound the council's position. That's her job.

I was the city councilor who initially expressed concern about the proposal to fly the flags continually and I'll attempt to clarify my concerns. I do not speak for the council...my colleagues have their own opinions.

I believe that flying the flags continually is indiscriminate and that the meaning and significance of the display is thereby diluted. When flown continually the flags are noticed less and less, even taken for granted. In the end they become merely another decoration for the town and as such an affront to flag etiquette.

I would define patriotism as devotion to the welfare of one's country (Webster's). For those who condescend to imply that flag flying is some sort of litmus test of one's patriotism, may I suggest that voting, writing your representatives, volunteering, working to stay informed in a complex world, keeping an open mind, supporting favorite causes and even participating in a public forum such as this are all better indicators.

Patriotic citizenship is hard work. Just flying the flag does not make this a better world.

Let's fly them when we can all agree on what they mean, celebrating our independence and our veterans and our lost warriors and so on and take them down in between.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

John Rahm

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To the Editor:

I am confident that Mr. Doug Wood and I will continue to disagree on whether or not his solution to the state of Indian affairs is ethical -- and as that is merely a matter of opinion, I will leave it alone (Letters to the Editor, The Nugget, July 30).

However, I assume that Mr. Wood believes that his proposal is plausible, and on such a discussion of fact, I am happy to weigh in. Mr. Wood writes, "If we were to cling to bad policy as Ms. Shaw suggests there would have been no Emancipation Proclamation authored by Lincoln. If we are to keep our word then PERS should continue with a guaranteed 8 percent annual growth. Changing bad policy is how we make progress."

While they might have been conceived by federal policy, fortunately treaties are a matter of legal agreement, not policy.

Treaties, unlike the two examples, are legally binding contracts between two sovereign nations. I know of only two ways to affect such a contract: renegotiating it or violating it.

The first was tried by the United States in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. Our neighbors, the Klamath Indians, are victims of the government's misguided Termination Policy. A quick look at the history of that situation would illustrate that the outcome for the Klamath Indians was not as rosy as Mr. Wood would like to project for Indians should the government only stop feeding that "unethical relationship."

Another option, I suppose, would be to ignore contracts in the name of "better" policy. However, if I sold my car to someone and he chose not to keep his end of the bargain, the law says that I may repossess my property.

The original article that spurred this discussion was about Olivia Wallulatum of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Before we advocate breaching treaties, we would do well to remember what the Tribes of Warm Springs gave the U.S. in exchange for what Mr. Wood calls "ethnic pandering, birthright stipends, and gambling concessions": Ten million acres of the most beautiful country in Oregon.

Shawnele Shaw

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To the Editor:

Running is our passion and our local business community has helped us to continue this important pursuit! Cross-country running is a non-funded Sisters High School sport, so we earn money annually to cover transportation, uniform, and coaching costs.

Our team would like to thank the businesses who made generous contributions to our breakfast and lunch fund-raiser held on Quilt Day; without their support we could not have conducted the event.

Sincerely,

Rikki Glick and Justin Thomas

Team Captains