Letters to the Editor 08/30/2006

To the Editor:

For eight years as a classroom volunteer, I assisted Toni Foster in one of the delights in her life: Black Butte School's participation in National History Day.

Each year, History Day's governing body poses an historical theme for research. For example, in 2006 it was "Taking A Stand." For 2007 the theme selected is "Triumph and Tragedy." From across the nation, many hundreds of schools will encourage selected students to undertake intensive research in a specific historical subject of their choice drawn from the assigned general topic.

Then comes the next step, the demanding one: turning months of research into essays, television documentaries, and other pictorial presentations-the latter accompanied by a spoken narrative.

Finally, in early spring in each state the projects of the participating schools are presented for judgement before a History Day panel.

In recent years in Oregon's competition, Camp Sherman's Black Butte School has chalked up a string of second- and first-place winners. The first-place winners moved on to Maryland, visited Washington D.C. and competed for the national prize.

Remarkably, the past two years brought that prestigious prize to Camp Sherman's tiny school. All of which attests to Toni's love of history. She was enthralled by its sweeping drama of joy, sorrow, achievement and failure.

It was this kind of vivid and searching history she wholeheartedly gave to her students. It was not given lazily. She demanded serious work. She expected quality work. And to the great credit of her students, in almost every instance they responded in kind and in doing so discovered something more than a gathered harvest of historical facts. They discovered something about themselves: they had learned how to REALLY study. Better yet, they had learned how to perform well under pressure.

How much will Toni Foster be missed? Let's count the ways.

Erhard K. Dortmund

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To the Editor:

The area where ODOT plans to put the passing lanes west of Sisters on Highway 20 seems to have more accidents due to deer than due to unsafe passing.

Adding lanes would make it harder for deer to cross the highway and increase accidents rather than making the highway safer. All so people can get to the traffic jam in Sisters 3 seconds faster.

This money would be much better spent on the proposed bypass which would actually increase the capacity of Highway 20 and improve the livability af Sisters.

Bruce Berryhill

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To the Editor:

The planned highway-widening west of Sisters has stimulated a lot of grousing. Rightfully so. However, ODOT is committed to the project for our safety, so they say.

Sisters acts like a funnel on Highway 20 because of a lack of a bypass. The funnel at Sisters is what really determines how fast traffic will move through. Under current conditions, when traffic approaches Sisters, drivers continually tailgate in an effort to position themselves to pass. The root of the unsafe conditions is tailgating. Tailgating is illegal but, as we all know from driving that stretch, tailgating is rarely ticketed.

We don't need to serve impatient tailgaters with passing lanes and a wider highway. The solution is to ticket tailgaters and post 55 MPH signs. Everyone can then arrive at the funnel (Sisters) in an orderly fashion rather than jockeying for position to see who gets to the neck of the funnel first.

Doug Wood