Letters to the Editor 06/18/2014

To the Editor:

To the person(s) who removed the big Sears tool bag from my blue Honda car when it was parked at Melvins: By now, you've discovered it only had two pair of pliers and a riveter in it (but did contain hundreds of bird bands and my banding journal) and no doubt tossed it.

Do something good for a change, please: Either tell me where you tossed it or bring it back. Just drop it in the city park if you would, someone will find it and know who it belongs to and call me.

Getting off with the bands and data has caused major waves for the banding lab and in the bird studies I'm conducting.

Jim Anderson

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To the Editor:

The Tollgate Property Owners Association (TPOA) has resubmitted proposed amendments to the community's CC&Rs, following an initial failed attempt at passage. Unfortunately, the new bundle of proposals titled Attorney Recommended Changes are in many ways just a stealth version of the unwelcome original.

One item in the Attorney Recommended Changes would empower an Architectural Review Committee (ARC) or the Tollgate Board of Directors to independently and arbitrarily decide whether any feature on your property is unsightly and must be removed.

No guidelines or restraints are provided for such a decision; the ARC or board could decide you must get rid of patio furniture, driveway-lighting fixtures, a bird bath, garden feature, air-conditioning unit, yard decoration - whatever they don't personally like.

Rather than use the CC&Rs to guide such decisions, they would be left up to the capricious personal taste of a small group of people.

If you don't bow to their whim and voluntarily give up the disputed items, TPOA can fine or sue you, or enter your property to remove them (see Article 10.1 (a), (b) and (c) of the full CC&Rs posted at http://www.tollgatepropertyowners.com).

The proposed amendments, once approved, include a provision to make it harder to undo the damage: the percentage of "Yes" votes required to change the CC&Rs would be increased from a two-thirds majority to 75 percent of total votes.

TPOA could have split up these contentious amendments into separate items to vote on, but chose once again to sneak them into a package that includes worthier amendments. They removed select language that signaled some of their intrusive intentions while granting TPOA broad and overarching powers that would let them do the same. Please vote "No" on the Attorney Recommended Changes portion of the proposed CC&R amendments.

Michael Cooper

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To the Editor:

I for one am hoping that Sisters builds a roundabout at the corner of Highway 20 and Barclay. I have seen large ones work well with large trucks.

I feel much better going through a roundabout than a lighted intersection. Much safer. I have seen students crossing at 15th Street and Bear Creek roundabout in Bend very safely. They are constructed to offer safe passage for walkers and bikers.

I also hope that when that is finished and a light or roundabout goes up at Locust Street by the elementary school that all large trucks will be required to use Barclay Drive as a truck route to get those huge trucks off Cascade Avenue.

Sue Edgerton

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To the Editor:

Things that Sisters should pay attention to:

Didn't the City say they would do something about back-in parking in a year and wasn't that over a year ago?

Second, the improvement in traffic flow with the temporary light at Barclay and Hwy. 20 was remarkable. We are concerned that changing the intersection to a roundabout will impede traffic flow and decrease safety. The traffic light effectively handled traffic with no accidents that we're aware of during its use. Let's keep what works!

Al Straumfjord

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To the Editor:

This past Saturday, as the rodeo parade ended and hundreds of people gathered their belongings to head home, my 4-year-old son and 4-year-old nephew decided to wander off. They had never wandered before, but apparently that was the day for adventure.

It happened quickly and there were a lot of people walking around. It was less than a minute before we realized that they were gone and unaccounted for.

We ran up and down the streets, checked breezeways and shops and recruited help from friends along the way. We flagged down sheriff's deputies to aid the search and I contacted 9-1-1 in case anyone called in to report finding lost children.

Approximately 30 minutes after they wandered off, the 9-1-1 dispatcher informed me that someone found them at Angeline's Bakery and was keeping them there. I don't remember breathing, but I vaguely remember running, hopping over bushes, walls and whatever was between Angeline's Bakery and me before we were reunited.

I want to thank the Sisters community for being the kind of place where people help strangers, who find lost children and who take action and do the right thing. The worst case scenario occurred to me, but only because I am a father. Had we been in a large city, the pucker factor would have been far more significant. Yet, I believed in Sisters folks and they didn't let me down.

I have to thank the Deschutes County Sheriff's deputies and the 9-1-1 dispatchers who helped our search. I also have to thank Shelley Marsh of Western Title for joining the search when I said "Go" without even blinking. And finally I have to thank Kathryn Godsiff for corralling the boys and calling 9-1-1. From the bottom of my heart and with tears in my eyes, thank you for being our angel on Saturday.

I know there were others involved. I don't know your names, but thank you, thank you, thank you.

Jeremy Storton