Letters to the Editor 08/24/2005

To the Editor:

The Deschutes Basin Land Trust (DBLT) recently announced it will attempt to acquire the 33,000 acre Bull Springs Tree Farm, now dubbed the Skyline Forest, via the creation of a Community Forest Authority permitted by a new law passed overwhelmingly by the Oregon legislature.

This parcel consists of the foothill forests stretching from near Shevlin Park to within four miles of Sisters. This purchase is a rare win-win situation in that it would retain the scenic views, recreation and wildlife, while the revenues from sustainable forestry would help provide jobs, pay property taxes, and retire the bonds issued to acquire the property. Taxpayers would not be responsible for payments on the bonds.

Even the environmentalists and the timber industry are on the same side of the fence on this one.

So, what’s not to like? Well, it may not happen!

Remember, this land has been in private hands since the U.S. Forest Service traded it to the now-bankrupt Crown Pacific Ltd .; now those hands belong to the creditors’ holding company which can sell this massive tract to the highest bidder.

Some of the possibilities are dismal with the worst-case scenario too ugly to contemplate. It could be sold to an entity that would cut the timber and flip the land, or to a deep-pockets developer that may result in a destination resort or sprawl and rooftops high into the foothills — goodbye cherished views.

What can you do to help preserve this forested link between Bend and Sisters? A showing of broad public support would greatly assist DBLT to make Rep. Chuck Burley’s vision become a reality. You can sign a petition online to the county commissioners or download and print one at http://www.skylineforest.org.

Further information is available at http://www.deschuteslandtrust.org where under “maps” you can left-click to enlarge an aerial photo with a property boundary overlay; this one is a real eye-opener.

The stakes are far too high to fumble this opportunity.

Don McCartney

To the Editor:

Regarding the August 16 article “Black Butte Ranch project draws opposition”:

Imagine substituting the famous first few measures of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony with grocery store Muzak and you get the picture of what the proposed entry redesign will do to the experience of entering Black Butte Ranch.

The general manager of the Ranch is quoted in The Nugget’s August 16 article as saying that the experience will just be “postponed” a “few seconds.” In landscape architecture, like any work of art that is experienced over time, the opening notes or phrases make it or break it. The proposed entry redesign does not postpone the entry experience; it breaks it —because it substitutes Muzak for a masterpiece.

In response to the comment that the opposition is a “small group of property owners with very strong opinions,” let me point out that those opinions are in harmony with the views of Robert Perron, the original landscape architect of the Ranch. Based on the response to our recent letter to all the homeowners at Black Butte Ranch, we are clearly a growing group with support trom all areas of the Ranch.

The desire to preserve common scenic vistas for all to enjoy is not limited to property owners at Black Butte Ranch. It is a concern shared by many people in rapidly growing Central Oregon. A group is forming to address scenic preservation and we would welcome participation trom our neighbors in Sisters, Camp Sherman, and other communities in the area.

Terri M. Hopkins

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To the Editor:

Forest service: Seems to me you have a big mess to clean up, namely the forest fire residue and all those burned trees. I believe it is true that the longer you wait to cut down the old and new burned and dead trees the more it will cost us taxpayers.

While if you hurry a little and cut down the dead trees you may even be able to sell them for some money that you could return to us taxpayers. Is this not true? So what are you waiting for, a side benefit of making the woods safer from fall dead trees means we can get on with the business of growing more trees.

So I hope you are replanting the burned ones and making taxpaying jobs for tree planters. Just hoping.

I wonder if the protesters that were getting in the way of the traveling public the other day would really want the job of replanting or were they not from around here?

David Culver

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To the Editor:

I am both shocked and amazed at our mayor’s reaction to skateboarders on the cover of The Bend Bulletin August 19.

Skateboarding is not a crime, Mr. Mayor and furthermore, have you any idea how long it takes for these kids to land a kick flip? Or how many bumps and bruises it takes to grind a rail? Do you care? These kids have some amazing talent (not to mention courage!) and have worked hard to master this incredibly difficult sport.

Perhaps it would be a good time to start becoming a part of the solution and not the problem. Kudos to Sharlene Weed, Brad Boyd and Bill Adams for seeing clearly what our Mayor could not.

Having already raised a generation of skaters and now on my second, with one up and coming, I know, personally, that this is not a new problem in Sisters. In fact, for the last two years there has been rumor of a skate park in Sisters to solve this ever present (and seasonal) problem.

What’s the hold up? Don’t just sit there and judge these kids and penalize them for doing something they love…let’s give them a place to skate!

Sherry Elliott

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To the Editor:

In response to the article in Friday’s Bulletin titled “Sisters targets skateboarders” Mayor Dave Elliott was quoted as saying “Skateboarders are belligerent as a matter of fact.”

I am 13 years old and I have been skating for about two years now. My friends and I enjoy skateboarding in the parts of Sisters where we are not bothering anybody. We have yet to have a run-in with a store owner, pedestrian or a police officer for being belligerent or disrespectful while skating.

Many of my friends and I found it very offensive to be stereotyped as a bad kid just because we skate. Skateboarding is actually a great competitive sport and is known worldwide and I am sure many other skaters would find the Mayor’s statement offensive as well.

Hopefully Sisters will decide to put a skate park in so that we can have some place to skate where we can have fun and not get in anybody’s way.

Sincerely,

Skye Scott

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To the Editor:

Re: R.T. Tihista’s letter in the August 17 The Nugget: Repeating a misconception often enough doesn’t make it true. The insistence that evolution is science but intelligent design is religion is a fallacy. There is plenty of scientific evidence for intelligent design, and many unexplainable holes in the theory of evolution.

Again I say, it is only fair to present all available information for both, and let students decide which makes the strongest case. Evolution is just as much or more so a matter of faith as is I.D. Neither can be proven in laboratory experiments. One must ignore many very respectable sources of research and scientific reports to call belief in intelligent design ignorant.

The evidence for design is all around us as well as within us.

There are many artisans in this community. Which of them would be willing to say that, given enough time, the elements in their wonderful creations, reduced to vapor or liquid form, could eventually become even one finished, coherent piece without the aid of the designer’s hand - let alone the numberless pieces of art and craftsmanship that we take so much pleasure in.

It is just as ludicrous to assume that all of the functioning life forms in this world came about by accident, or to think that this earth hanging in space in precisely the right relationship to our sun and the other planets to permit life at all is an accident.

And it is less than honest for our schools to present evolution as a fact and withhold the evidence for design.

Respectfully,

Lorene Richardson

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To the Editor:

How could someone make the evolutionist statement, “pseudo-scientific fraud of ‘Intelligent Design’”? I’d love “facts,” not “feelings and theory” to back up that statement – [email protected]

“In the Beginning,” 7th Edition, Walt Brown, Ph.D. shows mind-blowing facts, 79 pages of references to books, scientists, researchers, and Nobel Prize winners showing the “Evolution Theory” is basically dead. The entire book can be read at http://www.creationscience.com.

“It was a shock to the people of the 19th century when they discovered, from observations science had made, that many features of the biological world could be ascribed to the elegant principle of natural selection. It is a shock to us in the twentieth century to discover, from observations science has made, that the fundamental mechanisms of life cannot be ascribed to natural selection, and therefore were designed. But we must deal with our shock as best we can and go on. The theory of undirected evolution is already dead, but the work of science continues.”

Michael J. Behe, “Molecular Machines,” Cosmic Pursuit, Spring 1998, p. 35.

Michael J. Behe (evolutionist) is Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. Behe’s current research involves delineation of design and natural selection in protein structures.

In addition to publishing over 35 articles in referenced biochemical journals, he has also written editorial features in Boston Review, American Spectator and The New York Times. His book “Darwin’s Black Box” discusses the implications for neo-Darwinism of what he calls “Irreducibly complex” biochemical systems. This book was internationally reviewed in over 100 publications and recently named by National Review and World magazine as one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century.

Jeff Haken

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To the Editor:

I was glad to see the article on “Cougar Harvest” in The Nugget August 17 issue.

I do believe we have a problem. The folks on the west side of the mountain have the voting power to enact laws that don’t work on the east side very well. They just don’t understand and we are stuck with those laws.

Right now there is an estimated 7,000 cougars in Oregon. Before the law about not hunting cougars with dogs was passed there were an estimated 4,000 cougars in our state. This problem will really hit home when a cougar takes down a child. They already take down family pets, livestock and deer and this is happening in our backyards, right now. So far the worst has not happened, but it is inevitable if nothing is done.

We need to balance the population of these fine cats. That would be a healthy response to both sides of the issue. This problem will come to a head soon and I pray that it’s not one of our children that bring it to that point.

Joe Geary

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To the Editor:

This week (August 21, 2005, to be exact) our family welcomed my grandson, Aiden Dean Winninghm into our lives and hearts. My entire family are all very excited and feel fortunate to be blessed with such a wonderful and perfect gift.

We are very proud of my daughter Raina and of her boyfriend Jesse and their commitment to their family and child. We want to let them know how much love and support they have. We would also like to thank our friends and the community for their support, baby showers and words of encouragement. Aiden will feel welcomed and loved, just as the rest of my family has for years.

My daughter Raina has given me many reasons to be proud of her, being the cowardly lion in a play, dance recitals, ROTC, volleyball, basketball, cheerleading.

But sharing in the birth of her child, seeing her as a young mother holding her new baby, I felt proud of her the most.

Jackie Kolb

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To the Editor:

I think God wants peace on earth. How about joining me and pray for peace?

Doug Williams