Letters to the Editor 01/28/2015

To the Editor:

My dog and I were about two minutes into our usual walk on the popular path at the corner of McKenzie Highway and Edgington Road when my dog lagged behind. I turned to find him sniffing a gruesome sight: a completely skinned, crimson red and frozen animal - dog-like but unlike anything I'd ever seen. No fur, no evidence of a fight.

Non-emergency animal control explained that they don't remove animals from the forest like this. I told them it was on a well-used path. Still not their job. I showed the picture to a deputy at the sheriff's department who explained that what I was seeing was the completely legal killing and skinning of coyotes for their fur.

"And its OK to just leave them?" Also legal.

I also learned when I connected with Jim Anderson that while all this is legal, it is also the case that lead ammo is left in the dead animals and that raptors and other birds are poisoned when they feed on the carcasses. I had hoped that at least the dead animal would be a useful part of a food chain.

Learning that what we discovered was the aftermath of sportsmanlike pursuits that are legal, I hope that those who hunt and skin animals this way might leave animal remains far from public areas and could remove ammunition from the bodies so that other animals aren't also hurt.

Annie Painter Bridgeford

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To the Editor:

One week after a newly elected(?) mayor and the boat is already rocking! To "sneak" the food cart issue thru without public input reeks of disrespect and disconnect to our community by city officials AGAIN! Holy Mozart! What did that amphitheater presentation cost us? Thank you, Mr. Asson, to try bring some clarity to the muddled mess of clashing agenda driven administrational egos.

A concerned citizen,

Shirley McBride

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To the Editor:

I find it odd and concerning that our new mayor, who was never elected by the citizens of Sisters, would take to task David Asson, recently re-elected, for trying to add some much-needed transparency about the food-cart fiasco.

The recent decision by the City to allow food carts for the ex-mayor doesn't pass the smell test regardless of how our city officials try to spin it. It isn't about the food carts, it is about the process used to allow them. Kudos to Asson for trying to keep the public informed.

Criticizing a fellow member of the Council in a public forum shows not only a lack of taste but also the lack of even the most fundamental of management capabilities.

It looks like our Council, AKA the gang that can't shoot straight, is carrying on business as usual.

Bob Norman

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To the Editor:

In church we periodically learn of all the ancient kinds who send their armies to conquer other countries (after all, the Bible is our best history book!).

Two thousand years later it doesn't seem to have changed; the Mideast is still a scene of constant wars. Today groups like Isis (sic), certain Muslim groups are still trying to conquer territory and impose their lifestyle upon them. Without wealthy kings, where is the money coming from to provide all the modern weaponry? Arms companies around the world will say that they "just sell to brokers" and care less where the guns go. If we shut off the oil, will the wars stop? I doubt it, if history is a guide!

Why then do countries like ours feel that it is their prerogative (duty? privilege? moral imperative?) to try to stop them all? Is someone here likening our arms companies to ancient kings and that the final name of the game is "keeping your armies busy" and "make money"? All I can think about it is that it is usually women, children, and innocent citizens who ultimately pay the price for every war! I don't recall much about that in the Bible!

Russell B. Williams