Letters to the Editor 07/25/2012

To the Editor:

My father dreamed of being a cowboy when he was growing up in Beverly Hills in the late '20s and early '30s. He and his buddy would sneak on to the 20th Century lot hoping to see a Wild West scene. Tom Mix, the cowboy star, lived down the street. Notes Dad, "There sure were a lot of liquor bottles when his garbage was set out for collection!"

Dad went on to college, served in the Army during World War II, earned an MBA and settled in Portland pursuing a career in business. He returned to his cowboy dream in the early '60s when he and Mom came to Central Oregon looking for a vacation cabin in the wilderness and a spot for horses.

At that time Sisters was a dreary little town. It seemed that every time we drove past the "Entering Sisters" sign, the population had dropped. But that didn't matter. We found a breathtaking patch of wilderness in cowboy country.

This past weekend I flew in to Portland to bring my Dad to the cabin to enjoy his cowboy country. Dad isn't as mobile as he once was. No more saddling up his horse and riding off into the foothills of the Sisters mountains. He walks with a cane, slowly, short distances. We didn't realize it was the time of Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. We decided we would see it from the car so Dad wouldn't have to walk too much.

As ill-conceived as this may sound, we, in fact, did exactly that. We viewed the displays on several streets. On each block a parking space appeared as we approached and, equally important, a volunteer appeared to guide us into the spot and alert the many pedestrians walking the street to make way for our vehicle. We parked, looked at each of the hanging quilts and chose our favourites. Then as we went to back out to move on, a volunteer would guide us out managing the crowd in the street so we wouldn't hit anyone. We finally settled at the entertaining live performance at Sisters Coffee Co. A local couple saved a seat for Dad and he navigated his way through the crowd.

As we sat enjoying the music, we talked about Sisters, how we would never have imagined the change to the sleepy town of 1962. Here we were enjoying the efforts of a lively, creative, committed, welcoming community. Our visit to town that day was delightful and it felt that every volunteer, organizer and participant had contributed to this thriving place called Sisters.

Ann Frisbee Naymie

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To the Editor:

To my friends, family, and community - I would like to take the opportunity to publicly apologize for my involvement that led to the wildlife violations I received, though they hit the news media before I received any acknowledgement of the charges ahead of

time.

I admit, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time in a few situations, but have never shot any game animals out of season or poached in my life. All in all, my help with making ends meet in the case, made me liable for citations.

The punishment that I will receive in my opinion doesn't compare to the shame this situation has brought upon not only me, but all my family members and I can't help but feel embarrassed about the whole deal. My father and I have been hunting together since I could practically walk, and because of a bad decision on my part I may never be able to hunt again. I just want to apologize and help clear the waters with the mistakes I made with my family and community.

Spencer Greene