Letters to the Editor 04/06/2016

To the Editor:

Reading Jeff Mackey's letter in the March 30 Nugget News I thought I had accidentally happened upon that famous Monte Python skit: "Why, we were so poor we lived in a shoe box by the side of the road. Luxury! We dreamed of living in a shoe box. We were so poor the 12 of us had to live in a sardine can and walk six miles barefoot through the snow..."

Then Mr. Mackey tells us about his minimum-wage jobs that he had ... wait for it ... "over 50 years ago." Right, Mr. Mackey.

From 1960 to 1964 I worked my way through college by completely supporting myself on a job which paid $1.75 per hour though I had to work 50 hours a week. But my tuition was $250 per semester. My roommate and I paid $90 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. Gasoline was 30-something cents a gallon and I could get a complete meal at my favorite pub for $1.25 and chase it with a glass of beer for a quarter. Ever heard of inflation, Mr. Mackey?

Two states have now agreed to phase in a $15-an-hour minimum wage over the next four years. Two states, Oregon not included. As for Mr. Mackey's assumption that people earning a minimum wage expect that to be the apotheosis of their earning life is just Conservative blather. If you want to get riled up over such things, why not complain about oil companies that get billions in government subsidies. Or rich farmers and big agribusiness living off the public trough. Maybe you're OK with giant defense contractors like GE raking in millions in Pentagon largess while paying virtually no income taxes.

Do you even read The Nugget? The same issue has an article about the crisis of unaffordable housing in Sisters. Minimum-wage workers need a "living" wage in order to have a place to sleep and food to eat. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

R.T. Tihista

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To the Editor:

I want to urge all voters to vote yes on Measure 9-108 in the upcoming election on May 17.

Our community needs to move forward together without biases formed in the past or on misinformation.

Take the time to consider the facts, attend a meeting and find out what it is really all about, visit the website http://www.ourschoolsourcommunity.org, ask questions and get involved. We need to move forward to strengthen our schools, which are a foundation of our outstanding community and a community-wide asset.

It will only make us better. It will make us stronger. Let the children and the families of Sisters know that you care and believe in them. That faith will be returned to our community. Believe in the people you voted into office to lead us and our children in the right direction. They truly care - I have witnessed it - and they have the best interest of our children and our community at heart.

Jennifer King

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To the Editor,

Thank you to The Nugget for their great reporting in general and especially for the recent special report on the local real estate market.

I would like to clarify one quote in the article regarding sales at Black Butte Ranch. What I meant to say was not that sales were flat, but that the average sales price per square foot has been flat for the last two years. The number of sales at the Ranch has increased dramatically for each of the last two years.

Average sales price per square foot is one of the tools we use to begin the process of determining the price at which a home should sell in the current market.

Gary Yoder, Managing Principal Broker

Howells Realty Group