Letters to the Editor - 10/21/2020

To the Editor:

Having been born and raised in Sisters, I have actually never once commented on a Nugget post or written a letter. During a time of so much hostility and confusion combined with rapid growth, we have slowly lost our beautiful sense of community. I have faith that we will rebound and one way to do so is to honor key members of our community and educate ourselves.

I hadn’t read The Nugget in quite some time, being that I really wanted a break from all news, but this morning when I read the letters to the editor I was particularly moved by Don Wilt’s suggestion of honoring Jim Anderson and his devotion to wildlife. I am saddened that they moved, but honored to have known them my entire life. That family is pure, kind, and has completely committed their life to nature, which is both admirable and rare.

I just want to second the notion that a school or some sort of facility or program should tribute the Anderson legacy and hopefully inspire more humans to commit to protecting our planet.

Rather than stroking your egos and angrily writing about Trump and Biden let’s find common ground and use this as a forum to discuss things actually relevant to our community and not continue to divide us.

Find something about this area you love, honor it, and protect it.

Ryder Redfield

To the Editor:

The recent on-line forum of candidates for the Sisters City Council was quite helpful. I was particularly impressed with Jen Letz and believe she would make a valuable contribution to the Council.

I did hear the phrase “quality of life” uttered by one of the candidates, which has become an all-too-familiar euphemism around here for “gated community.”

Roger Detweiler

To the Editor:

Do you want to vote for a Sisters City Council candidate who will offer us a fresh perspective and new ideas? Easy! Vote for Elizabeth Fisher as one of your three picks. She is the only candidate that knows Sisters from the perspective of growing up here and the reality that many of our working families face trying to afford to make our city their home. She just graduated with a science degree from OSU, and has returned home because she loves and cares for her hometown.

I have gotten to know Elizabeth from her work on the Sisters Social Justice Network. Helping to found an active, new advocacy organization and running for a seat on council is not what she planned to do in 2020. I have seen this young intelligent woman has a heart that can’t let our world stay the same, and she wants to serve on council to fulfill that passion.

I’m casting my vote for Elizabeth to bring a new and unrepresented voice to the council. We need young people in our community, and they all need to be able to afford to live and work here. Elizabeth will support the vision to make sure that Sisters is a welcoming place for all, and that working families can raise and educate their kids in this wonderful town.

Vote for Elizabeth and watch what happens!

George Myers

To the Editor:

It is exciting to see a great slate of candidates this year for the three open City Council seats. I urge you to re-elect incumbent Andrea Blum to fill one of those seats.

I have served on Council with Andrea for four years and she has a passion for the City and her preparation for Council business is always thorough. Her knowledge of the City and its unique goals, priorities, and the laws that guide these goals and priorities is superb. But most of all I am impressed with her non-biased approach to every issue and always thinking on what would be best for the City and its residents.

Finally, the staff at City Hall respects her, and that is a huge plus.

Chuck Ryan

To the Editor:

This sweet town was once “Sisters - Tree City.” But where did it go? A prominent long-time resident recently wrote in The Nugget, “I got lost in Sisters!”

Is our once-beautiful City becoming overrun by the rampant growth of housing developments? How many “affordable” housing units are enough to satisfy City planning? To growth we’ve lost hundreds of old and elegant trees (one was recently valued by the City at $26,845), maneuverability, stressed our infrastructure to its limits (including water usage — we are nearly 10 years into a drought), and charming grace which is healthy for residents.

Isn’t it time to put a lid on growth or do we want to mimic Bend? Residents need to be allowed a voice (vote) on this issue before their treasured livability is eroded into flatlands lacking the beauty we and tourists all treasure so greatly!

Ruth Schaefer

To the Editor:

I read, with great interest the October 7 Commentary, “The Windigo: The Evil Spirit of the Great North Woods.” And I would like to pose that this myth, of the flesh eating monster, is way more than a ghost story.

The editor quotes from “The Manitous: The Supernatural World of the Ojibway.” To continue author Basil Johnston’s story, “As long as men and women put the well-being of their families and communities ahead of their own self-interests by respecting the rights of animals who dwelt as their cotenants on Mother Earth, offering tobacco and chants to Mother Earth and Kitchi-Manitou [Great Mystery] as signs of gratitude and goodwill, and attempting to fulfill and live out their dreams and visions, they would instinctively know how to live in harmony and balance and have nothing to fear of the Windigo.”

Among the Anishinaubae people, selfishness was regarded as the worst of all human shortcomings. And, within many other Native peoples’ mythologies, the Windigo shows up as a warning against greed. In cultures where interdependence was akin to survival, this is not surprising.

Some anthropologists have surmised that it was, in fact, white man’s colonization that brought the Windigo into its true form.

I would add that modern capitalism, when it exits with no regard for our basic interdependence on each other and with all life, has come to personify greed for greed’s sake — unchecked and insatiable.

Much more than a ghost story, The Windigo serves as a cautionary tale for 2020.

Susan Prince

To the Editor:

It appears the election issue (besides COVID) is our economy and the jobs market. Your vote is valuable. Please consider the facts when you cast it.

Under President Trump’s leadership, Congress passed historic tax cuts and relief for hard-working Americans.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:

The first major tax reform signed in 30 years. It provided tax relief for 82 percent of middle class families. It doubled the Child Tax Credit providing an additional $1,000, per child, in tax relief for working parents.

Nearly doubled the standard deduction, a change that simplified the tax filing process for millions of Americans. Cut taxes for small business by 20 percent, providing $415 billion in tax relief for small business owners. It alleviated the tax burden on over 500 companies who then used those savings to fund bonuses and wage increases for 4.8 million workers.

It spurred new investments into the American economy. Once it was passed, those businesses invested $482 billion into new American projects. Repealed the burdensome individual mandate. Made U.S. companies competitive on the world stage by lowering the corporate tax rate from one of the highest in the industrialized world at 35 percent to 21 percent.

Our gross domestic product growth has soared under President Trump, topping three percent in four quarters under his administration.

Under President Trump six million new jobs were created. The unemployment rate fell to its lowest point in 50 years. Wages grew at three percent for 10 months in a row.

African American, Asian and Hispanic unemployment rates reach record lows under President Trump.

President Trump signed an executive order that expanded the federally funded Apprenticeship Program.

President Trump launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative which advances women’s full and free participation in the global economy and allocated $50 million for the fund.

D.S. Findlay

To the Editor:

About a year ago a close friend was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His name was Bo Viking Jacobson. Viking was born in Finland in 1943 and emigrated here with his parents after World War II. As his health declined there came a time when he wanted to have one last wish granted to him. His final wish was that he would live long enough to vote for president in this election. Viking was generally a quiet person who was often reluctant to share his political beliefs, but one thing he firmly believed was in the Constitution of the United States and the importance of our Democracy as a way of life. Viking never got a chance to have his wish fulfilled.

He died on October 6 of this year.

In his book, “A History of Knowledge,” Charles Van Doren wrote, “The Constitution is a piece of paper.

It cannot fight for itself.

If Americans do not believe in it, it will become mere paper.

Most Americans accept the Constitution as the law of the land.

They may disagree about everything else.

But they know they must not intentionally and knowingly act unconstitutionally.

In that realm, they agree they should always do right.

Not to do so is to challenge the basis of American government: The Constitution has no protection except the peoples’ belief in it.

Soldiers and police could not protect the Constitution if people ceased to believe in it, although they might destroy it by turning the American democracy into a police state.

Belief cannot be legislated.

It is an act of free will of the citizens.”

He goes on to say that only the nearly universal belief of this sort can ensure both peace and freedom in our country.

Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to our Constitution. He has done everything he can to subvert the rule of law so that he can be re-elected. Most Democrats and even some members of his own party have (finally) come out and said that if he is elected to another four years it could very well destroy our democracy.

I think it is sad that Bo Viking Jacobson never got the chance to vote for Joe Biden. I will cast my vote in his remembrance in his and my belief that our constitution is more important than any man who believes that he is above the law.

Daniel Ramberg