Letters to the Editor 02/22/2006

To the Editor:

In the February 15 issue of The Nugget Jim Anderson is on the rant again about wild turkeys.

Jim, If you are going to object to releasing wild turkeys in Central Oregon you should at least get your facts straight. According to Jim we will soon be inundated with wild turkeys and a few other species he has decided don’t belong here.

Sorry Jim, that is just not true. I have been chasing wild turkeys in the Sisters area for over 16 years and I can state for a fact that there are way fewer turkeys in the area now than in the 1980s. There will never be a lot of turkeys in this area because of available habitat.

When turkeys become a nuisance it is nearly always because people feed them. DON’T FEED THEM and there will be way fewer problems. A broomstick or a dog are easy ways to get rid of turkeys. Much cheaper and easier than building an eight-foot fence to keep out native deer.

I am sure that sportsmen would welcome a “non-comsumptive license” for bird-watchers, etc. Sportsmen have been carrying the load of wildlife management costs for a long time. In additon to licenses and tag fees, they conduct fund-raisers every year. Much of that money, along with their sweat, is spent on habitat improvement for all wildlife.

Funny but I haven’t seen any naturalist, environmentalist, or animal rights people out there helping.

Yes, turkeys are omnivores, but we have little or no evidence in other areas that turkeys are eating the plants and critters that Jim identified in his article. I am sure that ODF&W and the National Wild Turkeys Federation would appreciate documented evidence that turkeys were eating all those things. Of course we don’t want turkeys eating things like mice. We must save these animals for the raptors and coyotes.

Are turkeys really non-native? Ice age fossils have been found in California and Idaho. Were these birds so smart that they walked up to the border of Oregon and thought I can’t cross this line because someday those people in Oregon won’t like me so we will just stay here?

Don Lantz

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To the Editor:

A big thank you to all of you who sponsored Jackson Katz’s recent visit to Sisters, and to those who attended one of his appearances. As you may (hopefully) have read in The Nugget, Mr. Katz is a nationally recognized leader in bringing about a cultural change in the attitude that violence and abuse directed against girls and women are a “women’s issue” which good men of all ages can tune out on.

Sisters Men Against Domestic Abuse (SMADA) is comprised of local men and women dedicated to helping all males take responsibility for preventing all forms of abuse in our community. You will see future efforts and programs from SMADA in the future.

How can you help? Be an empowered bystander — don’t remain silent when you see an abuse. Educate yourself on the effect of media messages that your friends, kids and grand-kids are getting from movies, TV, violent electronic games, the Internet, etc. Be a mentor and role model in teaching young boys how to be a man in ways that do not involve degrading or abusing girls and women.

Again, thanks to Sisters Kiwanis, Sisters in Sisters, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, COBRA and SMADA volunteers for bringing this cultural men’s issue to our community.

John Gerke, Co-chair, SMADA

Janet Huerta, Co-chair, COBRA

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To the Editor:

Philosopher George Santayana describes fanaticism as “redoubling your effort, when you have forgotten your aim.” This seems to describe the Muslim reaction to cartoon depictions of Muhammad which have initiated lethal and destructive protests throughout the Muslim World. Fanatic Muslims have reacted to this outrage by killing each other and destroying their own towns and villages.

Mercifully, we in Sisters are immune to such nonsense.

Well… There was the incident of burning to the ground of an evil monolith of formulaic fast food, a hegemonic force beyond our power to resist.

And what of the ruinous big box retailer invasion coming to a city near us? Will we be compelled by forces beyond our control to fuel their greedy agenda by involutarily being parted from our money and becoming cogs in a machine whose diabolical ends include “wide selection” and “low prices”?

And lest this become a diatribe against the left, let us not forget the religious right’s beloved “intelligent design” (no capitalization necessary), an idea so bereft of merit, meaningful content or formal scientific investigation that its entire curriculum can be summed up thusly: “Unlikeliness equals God. (long pause) Hallelujah! Now open your Bibles…”

I hope such religious curricula are kept a safe distance from my children and their public, government-funded schools.

I find these ideas of diabolical corporate and religious figments ridiculous. But the fanaticism individuals undertake in expressing their beliefs is anything but. What we should be afraid of is not corporate monsters or religious ideologies, but our own fanaticism. Look where it’s gotten Islamic fundamentalists: A culture with a millenia headstart on the West, it’s barely progressed since the Spanish Inquisition.

Religious ideas can’t kill us, but religious fanatics can. I’m not afraid of Corporate America, but I am afraid of being killed in an arson fire started by misguided ideologists.

Formula fast food, big box retailers, religious ideologies, and the like probably won’t destroy this country, but mindless, idiotic fanatic reactions to them certainly will.

Paul A. Dacus