Letters to the Editor 10/09/2019

To the Editor,

In the September 25th edition of the Sisters Nugget, my Letter to the Editor was published. At the conclusion of my letter about Sisters needing better police protection, I stated that “It’s time for the Sisters City Council to act on re-establishing a Sisters city police department, sooner rather than later.”

In the most recent edition of The Nugget, there was a Commentary on page 20 titled “Sisters can’t afford it’s [sic] own police department,” written by Laurie Kimmell, Deputy Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. (retired). In her excellent article she points out the expense of establishing a police department. She certainly has more experience in this than I have, and I respect her opinion.

However, she points out that in order to have an effective police force in Sisters, it would require “at least six to eight police officers working eight-hour shifts, 40 hours per week, with full coverage.” She goes on to state it would also require “a supervisor (Sgt. or Lt.) assigned to oversee them,” and would require “a six-car minimum, bicycles, and other pertinent equipment.”

Is this what the Deschutes County Sheriff Office is currently providing? I certainly have no objection to having Deschutes County provide this kind of service if it saves money over having our own police department and if, in fact, the Deschutes County Sheriff will guarantee this type of two-man police force will be stationed inside the Sisters city limit 24/7.

Right now, anyone can observe that this is not what we are getting under the current contract with Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. And as I stated before, no citizen or homeowner should have to hold a home intruder at gunpoint at 2 a.m., for 20 minutes, while waiting for a police officer to arrive, as recently happened in my neighborhood.

With the growing population of Sisters and the rapid building of low-cost apartment housing on the west side of Sisters, something must change to give Sisters residents and homeowners the comfort of knowing that police are present inside the city limits 24/7. If that requires a new contract with Deschutes County and a possible city added tax levy to pay for it, then let’s move forward with getting it done.

William Carmichael

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To the Editor:

Susan Cobb’s letter about Sisters citizens standing up for climate change was great. I’m happy to know that this little band of folks represented a critical issue important to so many of us! She has inspired me to share another — the recent gutting of our Endangered Species Act.

Since 1973, this Act has been credited with preventing 99 percent of species (animal and plant) in its care from going extinct.

Earlier this year, a UN report warned that we are in the midst of an extinction crisis, sounding the alarm that within the next few years, humanity’s actions could lead to the die-off of nearly 1 million species.

The very health of the natural world that we all rely on for food, medicine, clean air and water, and sustainable economies is dependent upon the Endangered Species Act. Because it’s not just the species that are at risk. So are the habitats that they depend upon to survive. Without the protections that the Act previously provided, powerful polluting industries are now able to indiscriminately drill, log, mine and frack. This will destroy critical habitats and irreplaceable wild places and exacerbate climate change.

What you can do to offset this unprecedented attack on the Endangered Species Act is to call your representatives and ask them to support the PAW and FIN Act (HR 4348). This bill would revert the Act to its previous implementation guidelines by voiding the current changes. The House is where new bills are introduced and Congress needs to hear from us!

Yesterday I was gathering signatures at the Bend Farmers Market. Here are a few comments that children submitted. I care about endangered animals because: “They’re cool, and the land was originally before humans”; “The animals feel just like people”; “They are amazing and it would be awful not to have them.”

For more information and how to get involved:

https://www.mobilizeforthewild.org/get-involved/act-for-endangered-species/.

Susan Prince

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To the Editor:

This is in response to Eric Knirk’s guest column titled “Politicizing climate change” published in the September 25 issue.

One of NASA’s web pages talks about the scientific evidence for climate change. (https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/). NASA is the government agency that successfully sent astronauts to the moon. At one point, they say: “Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.”

Take a look at the chart showing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on the NASA web page mentioned above. It shows levels going back 800,000 years. Current levels are much higher than at any other time during this period.

NASA also goes into detail about global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, decreased snow cover, sea-level rise, declining Arctic sea ice, extreme events and ocean acidification. They list 15 references including NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, another government agency (https://www.noaa.gov/categories/climate-change).

I trust that scientists employed by our government agencies, along with 97 percent of the world’s climate scientists, know more about this subject than the rest of us.

Paula Surmann

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To the Editor:

I thoroughly enjoyed, and agree with, Craig Rullman’s column of September 25. Hopefully, Mr. Rullman doesn’t need encouragement to continue voicing (writing) his opinion pieces; I know he can stand up to his critics without my help.

I do want to write, however, just to let those critics know there are folks like me who agree with Mr. Rullman’s point of view on many subjects, and heartily approve his excellent wordsmithing of those opinions. Keep it up, Craig!

And for those who suffered the quivering shakes over his mention of Democrats and slavery in the same sentence, I would suggest a little historical research. It may be enlightening.

Jerry Wright