Letters to the Editor - 9/1/2021

A note of appreciation

To the Editor:

It had been four years since my last visit and the changes to the town are impressive. New stores, houses, school upgrades, and trail improvements are some of what I witnessed, but what was most impressive is what had not changed: the community participation through action, and the kindness toward one another abounded.

I am taking the goodness I experienced while there and will pay it forward to my community here in Connecticut. I won’t be able to recreate what you all have, but realize I am grateful for my time with you all and knowing there is a little town like Sisters out there.

Be well.

Bill Rexford

Strengthen power grid

To the Editor:

We must do more to strengthen our power grid against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event. Such an event can result from an attack by an enemy, or it can occur naturally. It could result in devastating loss of life. There is disagreement on this, but why take chances?

We should also have a ground-based GPS back-up system, (like Russia has,) or we could lose internet in an anti-satellite attack.

Alvin Blake

Resort threatens water

To the Editor:

Thornburgh Resort, a proposed destination resort near Cline Butte Recreation Area, close to Sisters and Redmond, intends to use millions of gallons of water daily at a maximum daily rate.

This would be drawn from the underlying aquifer, negatively affecting Whychus Creek.

Trout, steelhead, and other wildlife are already struggling with drought and climate change.

And right now we are all concerned about the future of our water and lands.

Please direct comments and opinions to City Planner William Groves at [email protected] or call at 541-388-6518.

We need to be vigilant as a community to at least try to be heard before we are overrun by unscrupulous investors.

Jeanne Brooks

Rights and responsibilities

To the Editor:

As American citizens we cherish our “inalienable rights.” But some of us have forgotten that with rights come responsibilities.

Our rights exist only to the point that our activities do not cause harm to others. Failure to be vaccinated impairs control of the epidemic and increases the risk of COVID spread to others. Thus it does harm other people, your family, friends, and neighbors.

Those who insist on rejecting vaccine should agree to remain at home if they contract the virus and not expect society to rescue them in the hospital and ICU, endangering our exhausted health care workers, claiming a bed that should be available for someone who legitimately needs it, and creating several hundred thousands of dollars of unnecessary expense for your neighbors! It is not one’s right to reject vaccination, it is one’s responsibility to be vaccinated!

Donald Harner

To the Editor:

We are again forced by a government entity to wear masks. I don’t want to and I won’t do it unless I am all but forced. It’s my choice and I accept any responsibility for the choice I have chosen to make.

I had COVID in early 2020. I am also vaccinated, and I donated my blood when the national call went out for donors to help develop the vaccines. I am asthmatic and took the vaccine to be able to take the mask off, so I can breathe normally again.

I loudly state this is my own choice; no one else’s — mine and mine alone. I don’t need Kate Brown or any other government agency to tell me what I need to do.

I am supportive to any individual I may encounter in my daily activities that chooses to wear a mask, but I choose not to. I have been called out in local stores and seen people get upset because I choose not to wear it. That’s not their choice to make; it’s my choice. I refuse to support Kate Brown and her new mandate, and I will not put a mask on.

We live in an amazing area of Oregon, and we are all forward-thinking people that are capable of thinking for and protecting ourselves in whatever form it is that we choose. Wear a mask; don’t wear a mask — it’s our choice and no one else’s choice to make for us!

Austin Selle

Shades of grey

To the Editor:

The shades of grey were certainly presented to me this week, both from The Nugget and around town.

Glancing through The Nugget was the article by Erik Dolson addressing (pun intended) “homelessness.” It reminded me of a skit by George Carlin adding humor to the phrasing of our language that is happening over the years. Then there is the article by Michael Luftig about cooperation, collective action and the free-ride individuals. Supporting such individuals would benefit all society, “…creating incentives to become contributors, or by reducing their welfare as a disincentive to engage in this kind of behavior.” There are many valid questions posed by both of the articles. There is a shade of grey between these two, as well.

Where is the grey area when litter tossed on the highway is fined, but how is society addressing the overwhelming litter seen on Hunnel Road, for example? Our parks are public spaces, we pay city employees to help manage litter and debris in our public spaces, what about the public streets and the larger community of Central Oregon? There is the grey area between a cooperative collective society and the individual.

“The Delta Blues,” by Jim Cornelius states his responsible measures of protection in jabs, seat belts, and guns. There’s a grey area between this and someone who does not believe that any of those are necessary. Or maybe only one? What if an individual is consuming society-mandated expired foods? There is the grey area between a cooperative, collective society and the choice of the individual.

I witnessed a couple of episodes today starting at our post office. An elderly gentleman was exiting the PO and crossing the parking lot. At the same time a young woman with an infant in the back seat was pulling out and seeming unfamiliar with the standard parking-lot traffic pattern, so was attempting to proceed towards the “Entrance Only.” The man was not allowing the woman to go forward. Her forward movement was also hampered by the appropriate incoming traffic. So she had to cross through the limited open parking spaces to exit correctly. A grey area — who are we to support? The justice-induced elderly man or the woman with an infant in a car on an extremely

hot day?

Then I went to a local grocery store and while checking out heard an exclamation, from a retired couple in sporty outdoors clothes, about Sisters and that since there was no (chain specialty grocery to remain unnamed) in the town they would make this local store work. The clerk helping me just rolled her tired eyes.

Then, going to the shade of the River Park to eat in my vehicle the aforementioned meal, I witnessed a healthy-looking elderly woman walking her dog — on leash, thank God — but she failed to clean up her doggie doo. Where was the man from the PO?

All these, one after another. It reminded me of the “Me and Jim Bridger” column in The Nugget. I didn’t know it was Jim Bridger’s lament ringing in the grey area between my ears all these years. Guess I can either quit glancing at The Nugget and/or coming into town. Or are all of these shades of grey part of living?

Scott Stoery