Letters to the Editor 02/01/2012

To the Editor:

Is anyone else in town besides me getting tired of having to clean up and dispose of all the nuisance tumbleweeds that blow onto ones property? After the last wind storm I had a big bunch of them blow in (again) and so did many of the other residents in our

neighborhood.

They're big, bulky, and some have stickers akin to thistles and are a pain to get rid of since you can't burn them anymore.

If you stuff them into the High Desert Disposal yard debris containers, a few big ones fill the containers completely and then often don't fall out when the disposal trucks attempt to empty them unless you smash and break them up. Most all of these nuisance tumbleweeds, at least in our neighborhood, are blowing in from vacant lots in and around the Pine Meadow Ranch on the west side of town. If I owned property at PMR, I'd see to it that such weeds wouldn't be allowed to grow on my lots and then blow off elsewhere, yet this keeps happening.

Could I suggest that PMR management look into this in the future and make arrangements that require both present and absentee lot owners to cut down these nuisance weeds during the summer months before they grow to maturity and all us down wind neighbors have to deal with them later after every wind storm? It would be appreciated and right neighborly of you if you did.

Steve Allely

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To the Editor:

There is a flip-side to Bill Mintiens' bold proposal in last week's Nugget, that Sisters amend its charter to include the 10,000 residents in the surrounding Sisters Country (presumably including Tollgate, Indian Ford, Sage Meadow, Crossroads, Aspen Lakes, Cloverdale Road, Black Butte Ranch, Camp Sherman, and Suttle Lake).

It is that the City of Sisters could, arguably, have a gripe with us outliers.

Like most locals, I buy my gas and groceries, go to the post office, attend church, enjoy the festivals, parades, and fairs, and get my tires rotated in town.

I pay no city taxes.

And, I stay home, in Tollgate, when I know the streets in Sisters are clogged with traffic.

No obligations, yet I get to claim Sisters as my home.

To Bill's point, amending the city charter would increase the electorate, but it wouldn't necessarily improve the quality of city council or give the city any more authority over regional public policy issues of interest to us outliers. Electric utilities, bus service, water and trash, hike and bike paths, rodeo-type regional events, economic development, environmental quality and habitat, and regional traffic planning come to mind.

Perhaps, as Bill suggested, it's time to consider some changes. There are paradigms. Locally, we formed SOAR, and the fire and irrigation districts. Statewide, there are models, for instance, of public and municipal utility and service districts. But the bigger issue may be does Sisters Country in fact have un-met needs? That's a question worth chewing on in 2012.

Alan Guggenheim