Letters to the Editor 7/31/24

Food sovereignty

To the Editor:

In response to commentary on the Sisters Community Garden:

Last week Bailey Diemer made an excellent point, one that seems to be forgotten in our current worldview: Food Sovereignty. When considering the best use of a space, how can we seriously be comparing growing our own food with cherishing a lawn?

I agree with Bailey’s observation that no one uses that exceptionally large lawn. I have two young children, we play at Cliff Clemens playground. Sometimes, people walk across the lawn to get to the playground. I see a lot of deer poop in that lawn. I see a human on a lawn mower riding above that lawn. But only a handful of times have I seen much else on that lawn.

There is a social movement called Food Not Lawns (the name derived from the Food Not Bombs movement which acts to give free prepared food to the public in protest of wars, poverty, and the destruction of our environment). Food Not Lawns takes this idea one step further — grow the food ourselves. Food Sovereignty is about personal and community freedom, empowerment, and basic needs. To grow our own food is a basic need and right. That right should not be up against delusions of leisure. Not to mention the absurdity of maintaining lawns with our limited, precious water and the weekly expenditure of fossil fuels.

The proposed garden space is a small fraction of Cliff Clemens field. I’d love to push this issue and suggest that we turn the entire field into a garden. Use water responsibly. Give people a true opportunity to work land. Add bigger community plots that could actually curb food security. Grow a small orchard of food-offering trees. A quarter-acre plot is simple. Let’s be profound.

Bailey, I’m going to join you down in that hole if we can’t get our priorities straight.

Carys Wilkins

E-bikes on trails

To the Editor:

E-bikes make biking easier, even when one is pedaling, making any road or trail, hill or surface more accessible. That feeling of power starting with a toddler’s first trike is undeniable. However, it would seem most folks who are using e-bikes because of health or age issues, would not choose certain trails with any measure of inherent risk, but would stick to hard surfaces. I speak of Peterson Ridge, the system now being considered by the Forest Service for inclusion.

Those who walk or ride “regular” bikes, mountain or hybrid, still must have the strength and control to navigate some very rocky stretches, as well as narrow curves. Upper trails are steep and winding, hardly just meant for outdoor cruising. Fortunately, a short ride up Highway 242 offers several paved roads with little traffic for miles through the woods, as well as fun dirt roads open to anyone. It seems that those who choose risky trails are not usually over 65 or physically debilitated, but rather those younger seeking the thrill, or my friend Paul’s “fun.”

But when does the e-biker’s fun become a nightmare for the many walking alone or with dogs, or the slower regular bikes? When faster e-bikes must slow for others, will they simply go out and around to keep going? Can you guarantee that these faster riders will “always” slow down and wait on narrow stretches?

Definitely not, as we have had to jump aside quickly on Suttle Lake, Shevlin Park, and on sidewalks here in town, so far illegal for e-bikes! We see pre-teens riding them, despite new laws, have had a rider take off through lawns and empty private lots in our neighborhood, just because they have power, and watched them shoot through stop signs. I’ve even seen a mountain bike run over chipmunks, albeit slower and accidentally, and no, regular bikes do not go 20 miles per hour on trails. Bike and dog or person collisions are dangerous at any speed! How am I supposed to know which class of e-bike just ran me off a trail, when I am not a rider? Who will be monitoring which bikes are used?

I am all for e-bikes on wide trails like the Lake Creek Trail, where walkers needn’t jump aside, or paved roads, but Peterson Ridge is an urban system designed for walking and unpowered bikes, highly populated because it is close. And now the Forest Service is also considering awarding contracts to two vans, carrying 15 riders each, to visit our trails for group or individual riding. Do you know how that additional use, not to mention the speed factor, will affect wear on the trails? Do you understand that the Sisters Trail Alliance maintains over 200 miles of trails with all volunteers?

Would you e-bike fans have “fun” loading huge bags of bentonite onto the trails to mix in wheelbarrows, to dump out and spread and roll with a heavy roller to keep surfaces more solid? Do you know who keeps the brush cleared, the fallen trees sawed and moved, and how after every muddy season must repair the damage careless “regular” bikes have caused? Would you give up your Saturdays to volunteer as trail usage increases manyfold? Do you know it takes volunteers to walk and ride every mile of trails year around to keep track of maintenance needs? Kindly step up and offer your time!

Please leave our prized Peterson Ridge for walking and slower biking.

Wendie Vermillion

To the Editor:

Editor’s note: A version of this letter was published in the April 27, 2022, edition of The Nugget. In light of the current decision process regarding Class 1 e-bikes on local trails, Mr. Collis requested that it be republished in a slightly edited form.

Regarding allowing e-bikes on trails:

1. Not all e-bikes are the same: Pedal-assist e-bikes are a different animal compared to throttle-assist e-bikes that can be propelled without pedaling, just like a motorcycle. Pedal-assist e-bikes do not move unless pedaled (no throttle), and just like traditional bikes, the rider (and gravity) provides the power to get and keep the bike moving. To say the pedal-assist e-bikes are motorized in the same way that a throttle-assist e-bike or motorcycle is, is just not true. Therefore, I argue that they should be treated differently with regard to trail access.

2. Not all e-bike riders are the same. The vast majority of pedal-assist e-bikers that I know and have met are vastly experienced on mountain bikes and are using them simply because their age or health prevent them from enjoying biking like they once did. I, for example, am a 61-year-old cancer survivor. I started riding mountain bikes in the 1980s and have probably logged more miles on a mountain bike than I have on my two feet. Biking has always been a central part of my life, bringing me more joy than just about any other activity.

To say that if you can’t handle the physical demands of biking without assist, then you don’t belong on singletrack trails reeks of arrogance and lacks compassion for those that may need a little help to continue to participate in an activity that they love.

3. Biking in designated wilderness areas is not allowed in any form: I, like most mountain bikers, am in favor of the restrictions that are already in place to protect our wilderness areas and the wilderness experience. There is a prohibition on all mechanized transport in designated wildness areas. If people are not wanting to share the trails with bikers, then they have access to millions of miles of trails in the wilderness areas where bikes are not allowed. I find it odd that mountain bikers could support a prohibition of pedal-assist e-bikes on singletrack trails given all that we mountain bikers had to go through to share trails with hikers; what’s up with that?

4. E-bikes are noisy: Poppycock! Perhaps when you are right next to an e-bike you can hear the low hum of the motor, but again, the noise made by an e-bike is not at all like the noise produced by a motorcycle, snowmobile, or ATV — not even in the same universe.

Public lands belong to everyone. Like it or not, e-bikes are here to stay. We need to find a way to provide all people with access to trails; old/young, fit/unfit, or healthy/health-compromised, we all need to have the ability to be outdoors on trails. I know my health and well-being depend upon it.

Ken Collis

The American house

To the Editor:

I’ve read numerous letters in The Nugget the past few weeks about the present American political scene, from readers on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately most were so far off the mark from the truth and reality and causes and blame and giving credit as to be pointless. And all the demonizing of one another and wide swaths of Americans, too. Words have consequences. Serious consequences.

It reminded me of a scene in the movie “Gandhi,” where India is tearing itself apart after the British partition of colonial India into independent India and Pakistan. Hindu vs. Muslim. And the people of India, former countrymen, are massacring each other by the hundreds of thousands in an orgy of blood and guts. Unimaginable cruelty for months and months. When Gandhi hears the latest round of awful news, he says, “Stop it! For God’s sake, STOP IT!” Those words apply today. Here.

I think another quote I read recently, especially applies:

“We must keep the faith because we are one people. We are brothers and sisters. We all live in the same house. The American house.” — John Lewis

Barry Clock

Destined for World War III?

To the Editor:

Destined for World War III? I don’t think we are at this point but there seems to be enough hate and or evil apparent in our world that would indicate potential. The division within America is high, a weakness which may put us at great risk from our enemies. Just prior to Biden’s last address, for the first time our military intercepted Russian jets and two Chinese bombers in joint patrol off Alaska.

After the attempt to assassinate Trump, suddenly, a call to pull back on the vitriol. To do that we must conduct an analysis IAW method suggested by our Border Czar VP Harris. We need to determine what or who is the “root cause” of all the hate, lies, and misinformation. As it turns out one of the greatest hoaxes of our generation was revealed during the first Biden/Trump 2024 debate. The mainstream press and entire Biden administration lied, covered up, and withheld the truth about a person not capable of heading the greatest nation on earth. Sadly, those glued to fake news were duped while those attuned to FOX and alternate news outlets saw the truth unfold as did our enemies.

Time for Joe to go? Not so fast. Throughout the period Joe was in office an even greater fear on both sides of the aisle; Harris could possibly take over given her extreme left views (all on video). She had attacked Joe for being racist, yet he still selected her as his VP; why? On July 12, this year Joe made it perfectly clear “I’m running and I’m going to win!” July 24, Joe gave his withdrawal speech claiming necessity to save democracy and finish out his term; Harris coronated as Dem’s official candidate for President of the United States. Joe never revealed why he did drop out, but we all know it was “the easy way or the hard way.”

Harris got zero votes in the 2020 primary and zero votes in this year’s Democratic primary; and “Make America Great” is the end of Democracy? Are “we the people” really that stupid?

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! I’m voting for the convicted felon who withstood eight years of endless hate and an assassination attempt; never wavering on a vision of making America great vs. havoc, weakness, and maybe World War III.

Jeff Mackey

Keeping Sisters healthy, one ride at a time

To the Editor:

Looking at so many medical ride needs for Sisters Transportation and Rideshare (STARS) this week, I am experiencing emotions I need to share with the community.

I feel gratitude for drivers who selflessly volunteer their time to give doctor appointment rides to residents who are unable to drive because of health challenges; respect and admiration for dispatchers who book rides on Tuesday and Thursday and monitor rides seven days a week; and awe for managers who have accomplished so much in building this successful community service for Sisters Country. I also feel a bit sad to know that there may be passengers this week we cannot help because we have more needs than we have drivers. When voicing my concerns last year to a St. Charles representative that this could happen, she told me to never focus on what we cannot do, but on what we are doing. I have taken this to heart and know that the 573 round trip rides completed and 25,000 miles driven over the last year are meaningful.

Just a few hours a week from volunteers have made a real difference in making Sisters more livable and that is what I focus on as I send my praise to volunteers. To the community, please join me in recognizing and supporting STARS volunteers who are “Keeping Sisters healthy, one ride at a time.” Feel the need to help? Learn more at starsride.org or on our Facebook page. I welcome your comments: Rennie Morrell, STARS Executive Director, rennie@starsride.org.

Rennie Morrell