Letters to the Editor 10/16/24

Vote!

To the Editor:

Citizens of Sisters — please vote. It is our right; our privilege; our duty!

Thank you. All for America.

Jenny Denzer

God and freedom

To the Editor:

Our grandson Cruz M. Bryan went over to Ukraine in July to fight for their freedom and independence. On July 15 he was killed saving six other soldiers’ lives. Many foreign soldiers are fighting to save Ukraine’s freedom also.

I don’t understand why in this country millions vote for socialism and collapse of the United States every four years. I challenge someone in the church to explain this to me as many of them vote socialism, which hates God and freedom!

Chet Davis

Too emotional

To the Editor:

I want you to look back four years ago when Kamala Harris was selected as our vice president. She was selected because of DEI. At the end of the first year as our VP it was apparent that she was totally unqualified for her job. Now they want to have her as our President.

I have lived long enough to know that it is rare to have a strong-willed, informed woman to be able to handle the office of President as they are too emotional to handle world affairs.

Pat Farr

Vander Kamp concerns

To the Editor:

In the October 2 edition an article mentioned that there was not much difference in law enforcement priorities and policies between the two candidates for sheriff (Capt. William Bailey and Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp).

Candidate Bailey in his live debate on KTVZ has taken steps to enhance school safety by having extra patrols during school hours, being proactive in having extra patrols at homeless camps, implemented successful solutions to mitigate wildfire risks in homeless encampments and wants to do more with the homeless by starting a full time LE team to address long term homeless encampments in Deschutes County. Captain Bailey has three years’ experience with budget preparation and county budget presentation experience at the command level where candidate Vander Kamp does not have the experience. Captain Bailey wants to get additional funding for the Sheriff’s Office as well as keeping the transient room tax funding. Sgt. Vander Kamp wants to get away from the transient room tax funding which would defund the Sheriff’s Office and cut the patrol division by one quarter ($3.6 million). He has not mentioned any ways to replace those funds.

Candidate Vander Kamp does not have DPPST certification for Management and Executive police certifications. He would be absent from Deschutes County while attending the police academy to obtain Management and Executive police certification. Candidate Vander Kamp between 1990-2009 filed 19 lawsuits in San Diego and East County. In 2019 a tort claim notice was filed against the City of Bend, Bend Police Department alleging it illegally used LEDS to run plaintiff’s vehicle plates when it had not right/justification to do so and published that information to Summit High School to the detriment of plaintiff. The plaintiff asked for compensatory damages of $10,000 plus attorney fees, costs, and disbursements.

Mandi Puckett, who left CLEAR Alliance as its executive director in May 2023, alleged by filing two formal complaints with two state agencies that Vander Kamp, the board’s president, engaged in unlawful, and unethical conduct between 2021 and 2023.

Candidate Vander Kamp previously stated that he did not consider his experience with La Mesa as law enforcement and didn’t remember being terminated. Recently, candidate Vander Kamp posted a letter on his website that he was dismissed from the reserve position for using speed radar equipment without proper certification that would include car stops. Further information included failure to report a visit to a gas station and failure to report assisting a police officer on an activity logbook. Further records have not been released due to Sgt. Vander Kamp filing a legal complaint Wednesday against Deschutes County and OPB to stop release of records. If elected Sgt. Vander Kamp will have a culture of memory loss and the drama will follow him throughout his tenure.

Laurie Kimmell

Deputy, Multnomah County Sheriff Office (Ret.)

Unsung heroes

To the Editor:

A big heartfelt thank you to my “secret” nominator and to the members of the VIT vision team who honored me with recognition for contributions to Sisters. Nothing is achieved without group effort and Sisters is fortunate to have so many people who contribute their time and energy to projects that make a positive difference in our town.

All the Unsung Heroes fill Sisters with a joyful chorus of accomplishments.

Dixie Eckford

Supporting Harris

To the Editor:

Once again condescending, smug Craig Rullman, in his September 25 column, is making the absurd claim that the two candidates for the United States presidency are essentially the same.

Let’s review reality for those of you who haven’t been paying attention: In 2020, the now convicted felon Donald Trump would not accept the results of a fair election. He sent a mob to the Capital and people died. He is still claiming, against all evidence, that he won the 2020 election. His Republican sycophants are already trying to spread doubt about the upcoming election even though the evidence of any irregularities in any election since 2016 is infinitesimal. A 2017 Brennan Center study showed that election officials who oversaw the tabulation of 23.5 million votes in the 2016 general election found only an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting. In other words, suspected improper noncitizen votes accounted for 0.0001 percent of those votes and think about it — even if all 30(!) illegal votes happened to be for Democrats it still wouldn’t have affected the results.

If Trump wins (God forbid) no one should be surprised if there are no election fraud complaints because Trump and the Republicans only care about the votes if they lose. They don’t care about election integrity or the will of the people. If Democrats lose, (God, are you there?) Democrats will accept defeat, uphold the Constitution, continue to fight to protect the rights of all people and try to manage and counterbalance the inevitable chaos of a Trump presidency.

So, sure, go ahead and vote for the guy who hikes around carrying a 30-pound log on his shoulders, ignore the clear evidence of what another Trump presidency will do to the country, mock those of us who are voting for Kamala Harris not just because she’s “beautiful and has good vibes,” but because she’s a true patriot who cares about our democracy and has a record to prove it.

Terry Weygandtt

Supporting Trump

To the Editor:

I notice a number of people have written letters stating various reasons why they are planning to vote for Kamala Harris. And many of these writers have also included various reasons why they believe former President Trump is unfit for the office.

I, on the other hand, will be voting for former President Trump and it’s very easy to explain why. I’m voting for Trump because of his policies on issues that are the most important to me, namely, support for the unborn, support for Israel, and greater border security.

I wish the former practice of being able to disagree with others without being disagreeable would come back into style. We are all Americans after all, and hopefully we can all agree that everyone should vote. It’s such a privilege that we have, as well as a responsibility. Our veterans have given their all to ensure we keep our freedoms, including the right to vote. Let’s all exercise that right, no matter who we are voting for.

Deborah Halsten

Fresh voice on city council

To the Editor:

Eli Madrone has a passion to serve the Sisters community and will bring a fresh perspective to City Council.

Eli and I share a love for Sisters as outdoor enthusiasts, parents, and volunteers. We bond over an appreciation for the same small town charm that inspired our families to move here, raise our children, and give back to the community we call home.

We are both progressively minded, but don’t always agree with the challenges our town faces. I am continually surprised by Eli’s diplomatic approach when we near a disagreement. Eli is eager to listen, provides creative solutions, and genuinely wants to build on the commonalities that we do share.

Sisters is experiencing significant growing pains as we see the bigger city sprawl creep closer to our doorstep. City Council and the leadership in this town cannot rely on the same approach that has been in play for years. Eli understands the need to balance growth and sustainability. He pushes for equity for all residents and understands the changing demographics of our town.

I want a town that continues to value education, traditions, and community stewardship.

Eli is focused on livability and will maintain the charm that brought us all here in the first place.

Eli will bring the fresh voice I want to Sisters City Council.

Tyler Davis

Harris is a role model

To the Editor:

As a kid growing up in Billings, Montana, I remember reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every day in elementary school. Underneath the flag was a framed portrait of Dwight Eisenhower, our president at that time. As a 10-year-old boy, I recall looking at that smiling face of Eisenhower and feeling quite proud of him and proud of being an American.

If I imagine that same scenario with a portrait of Kamala Harris next to the flag, I would feel similarly proud. The other choice in this election, Donald Trump, is just a terrible role model for our next generation. He is the bully on the playground, making up his own rules for the games as long as in the end he is the winner. And most of the people who have played on his team don’t like him. I am baffled as to why anyone would vote for this man.

I don’t know if they still hang a picture of the current president in school classrooms but, if they do, I hope the face that every child will soon be seeing in school will be that of Kamala Harris. She is the role model we need in these divided times.

Paul Bennett

Inflation counterpoint

To the Editor:

While I appreciated Howard Jameson’s article on “Who’s to Blame for Inflation” (The Nugget, October 9, I believe he has greatly oversimplified a complex issue and in doing so arrived at an oversimplified, populist answer — that is, someone else (often who is or looks different from me) is to blame for my problems.

Inflation is a general term for an index that attempts to measure the increase in prices over time for a basket of goods or products. The term is every bit as meaningless to price changes as profitability is as a measurement of a company’s “success.” Neither are perfect indexes, but if there is a better way to measure these concepts (in one word), I’m most open to being enlightened.

A free market is very efficient at allocating resources towards those who value them most, and driving the cost of products down to their marginal cost of production. In a free market, most business people know there is a limit to what they can charge for their products before customers choose to buy from their competition. When a company prices their product in a way that is significantly higher than their cost to produce (excess profits), competitors will enter the market and drive down prices to their marginal cost of production (classic Republican economics).

An increase in prices (inflation) is inevitable when there are more dollars chasing fewer products due to human-caused limitations on production — climate change hurricanes, or rent control, for example.

Make no mistake, the government has a critical role to play in ensuring (via regulation) that companies don’t push external costs onto society, thereby artificially lowering their product cost at the expense of others — such as pollution, addictive substances, or patently dangerous devices. Government also adds to the cost of production through some politically expedient and counter-productive mandates such as blanket tariffs, overbearing labor/code regulations, or close-minded immigration policies.

Trade is good, not bad. No person, city, county, state, or country can be the most effective or efficient producer of all products. Jack of all trades, master of none comes to mind. Due to climate, natural resources, education, infrastructure, cultural proclivities, and many other factors, some countries can produce superior products at lower cost than others. Restrictions to trade between countries means that consumers will be pushed toward buying goods from less efficient producers at higher cost. Get over it America, we are not exceptional.

And where does greed fit in? Mr. Jameson uses the example of a golf course doubling its prices, losing 50 percent of its customers and as a result, profitability improves. Less maintenance, fewer complaining customers, better return on investment. He calls this greed, I call it behaving rationally. In making a rational, sensible decision, golf course management has opened up the opportunity for a competitor to develop an alternative (more productive?) form of recreation—such as hiking trails, and charge far less than $25/round.

Kris Calvin