Letters to the Editor 02/09/2011

To the Editor:

In the spring of 1991 our family received a telephone call from Sisters Habitat for Humanity (HfH) informing us that we were to be the first recipient of a Sisters HfH home. In January 1992 we moved into that home and our lives changed forever. Not only did we purchase a warm, decent, affordable home, we received the friendship of Hort and Julia Hammond, founders of Sisters HfH. Hort died in March 2006 and on Saturday evening February 5, Julia died peacefully in her home.

The day we moved into our home, Julia arrived first to help. She made up the children's beds, helped with unpacking boxes, and she provided us with hot meals for the week. Julia soon became a part of our family, showering her love and sunshine on us. She babysat our children, attended their programs and activities, provided our family with many hot dinners, prayed for us always, and shared in our joys and hardships over the years.

In October of 2007 Hammond Place subdivision and park area were dedicated in a ceremony honoring the Hammonds for their commitment and hard work toward eliminating poverty housing in Sisters. Three homes now grace the area behind the Hammond Place sign on the corner of East Cascade Avenue and Cowboy Street. As we turn home off East Cascade we are grateful that we will always have this reminder of our dear friends Hort and Julia, who changed our lives and those of the other 46 families who have since purchased HfH homes.

We will miss you Julia.

Rick and Theresa Slavkovsky

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To the Editor:

I'm looking for some people to help start the Sisters Farmers' Market. The first task is to meet with Anne Heath, the business manager at SPRD, to discuss the governance structure.

Call me if you enjoy drawing up bylaws: 541-420-3730.

Bruce Berryhill

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To the Editor:

I am not a Democrat. I support President Obama's healthcare reforms.

President Obama's healthcare reforms allow young adults to stay on their parents' health-insurance plans until they are 26 years old. Republicans in Congress want to take that away from American families.

President Obama's healthcare reforms give you the same healthcare benefits and rights as members of Congress. Republicans in Congress want to take that away from you. They want special treatment all for themselves.

President Obama's healthcare reforms will limit, beginning this year, how much profit health insurance companies can earn. This will stem the soaring increases in health insurance premiums, which are crushing families and our nation's economy. Republicans in Congress want to let their cronies at the health insurance companies earn as much as they can get away with, even if it hurts our country.

President Obama's healthcare reforms eliminate caps on lifetime benefits. If you get cancer, for example, insurers can no longer arbitrarily decide when they'll stop paying for your care. Republicans in Congress want to put an expiration date on you.

President Obama's healthcare reforms make it illegal for health insurers to deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions. Sanctimonious Republicans in Congress pontificate about family values while turning their backs on Americans who are sick or injured with pre-existing conditions.

President Obama wants everybody in America to get the healthcare they need. Republicans in Congress want only the wealthy to have healthcare. Republicans in Congress are wealthy.

Don't be fooled by the Republicans' rhetoric. If Republicans succeed in reversing President Obama's healthcare reforms, insurers will continue to rake in obscene profits and have unfettered authority to deny you medical care. You will have no safety net. Unless you're rich, that is. Like the Republicans in Congress.

Michael Cooper