Letters to the Editor 10/21/2015

To the Editor:

As an attorney I found Roger Detweiler's more narrow interpretation of the Second Amendment limiting the right to bear arms to that of being within a militia both a familiar and reasonable one.

However, Oregonians should not forget such an argument is merely academic for them. Article I, Section 27, of the Oregon Constitution states: "The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defense OF THEMSELVES..." (emphasis added).

In Oregon, the Constitutional right to own firearms is much broader than it is in the U.S. Constitution. That being said, it in no way restricts reasonable regulation such as background checks or magazine capacity limits.

As in many cases, the answer is somewhere between the extremes.

James J. MacAfee

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To the Editor:

At Thursday's council meeting my husband - Mayor Chris Frye - brought up the issue of Columbus Day and how we celebrate it. While this issue hits close to home for us, myself being half Native American, issues of social justice are much bigger than ourselves.

Chris brought to light the injustice of both the namesake and ideals we celebrate in honor of a man who supported rape, torture, enslavement and murder of countless innocent people for profit, because he considered them an inferior race.

I was shocked to hear most councilors felt this was not an important enough issue to warrant further discussion. While I was not surprised that a council so absent of diversity had trouble understanding the complexities of a minority viewpoint I was disappointed at the distinct lack of effort to even try.

The thing that really horrified me was that one councilor went so far as to question what kind of message tackling this issue would send to people wanting to move or do business here in Sisters. What message is the councilor worried we will send by joining the ever-growing number of cities to do away with a celebration of greed, cultural intolerance and brutality and instead celebrate Indigenous People's Day?

Let Sisters send a message that we care about the cultural diversity within our community - however small that number may be - and that we understand the disservice we do to ourselves and our children, no matter their ethnicity, when we celebrate a day that so clearly goes against the values of equality, justice, and liberty that this country was founded on but so rarely in history got right.

Peggy Frye