Letters to the Editor 03/15/2006

Last updated Mar 14, 2006 12:0pm0

To the Editor:

How many times have you gazed at the Three Sisters and Broken Top as you drive along Highway 20 between Bend and Sisters?

Driving east or west, the view of the foothills and the peaks changes with the seasons and the time of day. The foothills are usually a deep green representing the coniferous forests, the peaks often white with snow as now in wintertime.

Now imagine those same green foothills dotted with large homes or destination resorts.

If the latter image is not to your liking you need to find out more about the plans to preserve this Skyline Forest. 33,000 acres of this land between Sisters and Bend will be coming up for sale in the next few months. Deschutes County has approved the Community Forest Authority and this approval would allow the non-profit Deschutes Basin Land Trust to purchase this land and maintain it as a sustainable forest.

Much remains to be done to make this vision happen. Please invite the speakers from the Deschutes Basin Land Trust to come and speak to your service club, church group or neighborhood association to explain what you can do to help. You can reach the Land Trust at 330-0017 or http://www.deschuteslandtrust.org.

Norma Funai

Deschutes Basin Land Trust docent

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To the Editor:

Oregon’s government leadership is at a watershed moment: that moment in time where all movement goes one direction or another.

In one direction is the dismally ineffective system of partisan politics which seeks self-advancement over public service.

In the other direction is independent, problem-solving thinking focused on the concerns of the people.

Okay, enough of the metaphors.

Partisan politics have stalled effective government and we Oregonians have the opportunity to change that. I know very few people care to deal with November elections in March, myself included; but we have a chance to provide ourselves with another option this fall.

Ben Westlund has been so bold as to follow his convictions and step outside of partisan politics to better serve Oregonians.

In order to allow ourselves this option, Ben needs petition signatures to make the ballot. Check out his Web site (www.westlundforgovernor.com).

If you’ve become cynical with state government I ask you to consider “shedding the water” in another direction.

Doug Curtis

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To the Editor:

Because President Bush was so sure he had a mandate from the people in the 2004 election, and is behaving that way, I went to the Internet to check.

The number of votes cast for Bush relative to the population of the U.S. was only 21 percent which seems to not be a mandate.

Or let’s look at it another way: It turns out that of all possible voters who could have registered and voted only 55 percent did so. Since Bush got a fraction over half of the votes that means that he was elected with only 28 percent of the votes which could have been cast for president.

Since so many voters do no research into the person they vote for, but rely on the 30-second emotional sound bites from the television or the idea that they will vote the way their parents have voted in the past, one can see that the president was elected with a very small percentage of informed voters.

One needs to remember that when one elects a president from either party they are also changing all of the directors of the various agencies in the government such as FCC, EPA, Interior, Attorney General, Transportation, etc.

The above leads me to believe that unless people care enough to become informed and vote in an election the country will end up being run by a small minority who will do pretty much as they please.

To be informed in the upcoming congressional elections one can go to Google and bring up voting records for all incumbents to see if they are doing what you want. Do not accept what is put out by their election machine as the only truth.

B. Graham

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To the Editor:

To my anonymous angels — a very heart-felt thank-you to you and the community for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers.