Letters to the Editor 09/14/2005

To the Editor:

I would like to put to rest the misinformation that a lot of people have about Habitat for Humanity and the people who are fortunate enough to become homeowners.

First: We are not given our homes. We put in 500 hours of sweat equity — and I mean sweat.

We hammer, paint, learn how to do insulation, roof and anything else they guys can find for us to do.

This is the equivalent of our down payment.

Second: We pay the same tax rate as everyone else in Sisters and Deschutes County.

We are not given any special deals on rates.

Third: We are not all welfare recipients. Quite the contrary. I work a full 40-hour week, plus a second job of 12 hours a week. I know of other families that work more than one job to care for their families.

A lot of Habitat homeowners are single moms and this allows us to have a safe, warm, stable environment to raise our children without the fear of a landlord selling our home out from under us or raising the rent without warning.

The next time Habitat dedicates a house, you should come and meet the homeowners and see for yourself what good, hard-working and proud new homeowners they are.

Almost ready to move in Habitat homeowner,

R.D. Tawney

s s s

To the Editor:

I am the mechanic for the school district. After reading the article in The Nugget (“Schools embroiled in labor dispute,” September 7, page 1), I felt that I needed to let you know some things:

I would never do anything to a school bus that could potentially harm the children or a driver. My children (ages nine and 10) ride these buses every day along with yours. I am here to make sure that the buses are as safe as they possibly can be. I have been through certification processes for annual bus inspection and brake work.

Just to make it clear: I did not disconnect any cruise control on any bus, ever. The district and the union investigated the allegation and there was no evidence at all to support the allegation made by a co-worker.

The district also did not clarify that my job description pertains to more than just maintaining a small fleet of buses. I also maintain and repair all of the districts mowers, tractors, vans, backhoes, propane powered floor burnishers, service vehicles, generators and anything else that runs on internal combustion.

I am also a certified bus driver able to cover routes in an emergency, go out to deal with breakdowns, pull buses out of the snow banks and retrieve and repair buses that break down on field trips.

I am there between routes for all repairs for all repairs that are needed to ensure that the buses are safe for their next route. Yes, I have had grievances with the district, but I believe in what’s right: Honesty, fairness, hard work and no cover-ups.

Sincerely,

Eugene O’Brien

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To the Editor:

Did you know that our superintendent Ted Thonstad is trying to contract out our bus mechanic maintenance services? (See “Schools embroiled in labor dispute,” The Nugget, September 7, page 1).

Apparently we do not need a full-time mechanic anymore, even though we have had one for six years, who was injured on the job and now that he was is returning to work he has been told there is no need for a full-time mechanic. The superintendent feels it is more cost effective to just contract out this work on a part-time basis.

Our full-time mechanic is certified in brake repair and inspection not to mention certified in the yearly annuals, which is the total inspection of the bus. Bus safety is not a part-time job…it is a daily job to fix and repair and maintain busses on the spot. He is also a licensed bus driver in the event of an emergency and can drive on the spur of a moment on a route or trip. This past year I noticed on different occasions there have been buses broke down on the road and at the grade school.

What is next? Is the superintendent going to contract out our awesome bus drivers that care about our children and safety?

Sincerely,

Janet Berhorst

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To the Editor:

This is addressed to the person or persons who dumped their garbage which included pine cones, pine needles, and paper junk by the canal at the edge of the Log Cabin Garden at the east end of Sisters.

It was very ugly and everyone coming through Sisters from the West could view the mess as it was right on Highway 20’s right side.

As a member of Sisters Garden Club I cleaned up the mess while working in the Garden this morning but just could not believe that someone would dump such a mess in plain view. The Garden Club takes great pride in planting and tending four garden areas to help beautify our city.

Maybe that person or persons would like to donate some time to help in the gardens as pay back. The members who work in these gardens volunteer their time and all have their own gardens, company and traveling they enjoy too.

Let’s all help to keep Sisters clean and good looking for all of the visitors and residents to enjoy our town.

Sincerely,

Lorena Bliven

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To the Editor:

Diana Raske Lovgren’s most recent letter to the editor greatly oversimplified the Cyrus vs Central Electric Co-op (CEC) debate and painted a longtime community member in a poor light.

CEC has a history of heavy handedness and rudeness to property owners, builders and some of their members. The construction of very large and ugly towers incongruent with the landscape and views was a “done deal” (without hearing or input) until Mr. Cyrus raised objection.

CEC continued forward, forcing Mr. Cyrus to sue. CEC lost this suit not once, but twice. Rather than compromise, CEC hired a lobbyist and attempted to the get the State Legislature to change the law to their benefit. When this failed, they filed a very questionable Measure 37 claim, which is still pending.

Rather than compromise, seek a better solution or even consider reengineering or redesign, CEC made the choice to spend tens, or perhaps hundreds, of thousands of dollars fighting one of their own members. Remember, since CEC is a cooperative, this is our money!

Ms. Raske Lovgren, if the Sisters area has a serious loss of power in the future, the fault will lie with only one party. That party is not Mr. Cyrus.

Scott B. Pillar

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To the Editor:

I recently read the city’s decision to have Deschutes County police the Sisters area for the next two years... with no need for even on city police officer.

Think again Sisters!

For those of us who live in the city limits I would hope that some would agree with me that a city police officer would be wonderful.

Just because we don’t read about illegal activity in our local police log doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Try living close to a city park on a normal week night! The racing vehicles, the questionable activities and the loud noise of fireworks or just a foul mouth.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a city police officer just once. When the bars close at night and you see the same cars speeding by at the same times, a city officer is the only way to keep track.

We think Sisters is so crime-free. Think again.

Rich Delk

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To the Editor:

The federal response to Hurricane Katrina is a national scandal. Our nation was better prepared and responded better after 9-11. The Republican leaders are trying to set up an investigation that looks like the wolves guarding the henhouse…similarly to what Bush wanted to do with the 9-11 commission until he was pressured to bring in a bipartisan investigation committee.

We need an independent committee, modeled on the 9-11 commission to investigate what went wrong at FEMA and the Deptartment of Homeland Security.

This is an opportunity for real truth to come out…that will serve everyone, not just a select few.

Kelsey Engel-Collins

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To the Editor:

Evolutionary “strongly verifled theories” do not exist. These theories are being shattered. Facts not name calling is appreciated. Email me at [email protected] for references.

Living matter is composed largely of proteins, which are long chains of amino acids. Since 1930 it has been known that amino acids cannot link up if oxygen is present.

No theory has been able to explain how earth’s atmosphere acquired so much oxygen. Too many processes should have absorbed oxygen on an evolving earth. If early earth had oxygen in its atmosphere, compounds called amino acids needed for life to evolve would be destroyed by oxidation. No oxygen and there would be no ozone (a form of oxygen in the upper atmosphere), therefore. the sun’s UV radiation would destroy life.

DNA cannot function without at least 75 preexisting proteins. Proteins are produced only by DNA. They apparently came into existence simultaneously.

Radiocarbon dating is a technique, which dates only matter that was once part of an animal or plant.

Scientists measure the rate at which carbon-14 decays from item.

Most researchers do not radiocarbon date items they feel are older than 70,000.

If the item were more than 70,000 radiocarbon years old, all detectable C-14 would be gone.

If a bone actually contained C-14 then an item a scientist believes to be millions of years old could not be older than 70,000.

Using New Atomic Accelerators, which now accurately measure C-14, laboratories are consistently detecting small amounts of C-14 in every organic specimen, even materials that evolutionists claim are millions of year old.

Items are actually coming in with very young ages.

We are talking about bones of dead people. Where are they now? I think we should be \ thankful for what God has given us and put our faith in Him. It is by faith, not works.

Jeff Haken

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To the Editor:

Thank you Mr. Bryan for the opportunity to discuss further the merits of teaching intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution.

I.D. is scientific. It starts with the idea that things appear to have design. It makes predictions on how things work based upon the design and order we see in the universe. The predictions prove to be true when we can set our clocks, publish tide levels, observe animal migrations, watch a new plant the same as the parent plant growing from a tiny seed, see the miracle of birth of a new human containing the same DNA as the parents, possessing the intelligence to develop amazing technologies based upon the order and predictability built into our universe.

Do you have one undisputed “proof” that evolution has occurred, that is not based upon the presupposition that evolution is fact? I have yet to hear one. We are all waiting to hear, and evolutionists have been searching for it since before Darwin.

We are not proposing to use the Bible as a classroom textbook, although it does contain many verses alluding to scientific facts.

I.D. is teachable using the same methods of inquiry as those who believe in the evolutionary model of origins — speculation, analogy, experimentation. Inquiring, open minds will want to follow all methods of inquiry to try to make knowable what is so far unknown or inconclusive.

Following all methods and every avenue of inquiry is hardly illiterate. Rather, scientific illiteracy is guaranteed by narrowly allowing only the belief that evolution is how it all happened. Nobody can claim to know what happened at the beginning unless they were there at the time.

Respectfully,

Lorene Richardson