© 2001
The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
All rights reserved

Comments to
Eric Dolson, Publisher

Letters, letters, letters
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.

To the Editor:

Talk about the cart before the horse! I assumed when the school bond was being brought to the people that there had been enough interaction with the architectural firm that at least a preliminary design had been conceived for the new high school.

Now according to the article in The Nugget of July 25 ("Sisters officials study school design options," page 1) the school board is exploring school floor plans trying to decide what may be cutting edge or pleasing or open and then deciding what materials may be used both for the structure as well as the interior.

Isn't that the kind of planning which should of taken place before assigning a value to a school bond to be presented to the community? Are we also just now deciding how many classrooms will be needed or is the decision process just defining how they are to be arranged?

When one looks at school design one should not be overly concerned with uniqueness because I would challenge anyone to bring forth some definitive studies showing that a certain overall design produces better educational learning. Specific classrooms need particular designs, but to go to unique features in an overall school design merely increases the architect's income at the expense of other useful educational construction. We will get the most benefit for our money in a traditional design.

When the emotion sheets were sent out by the school bond committee earlier this year, one of the items was the statement regarding how costly it was to heat the middle school. It now seems that the new high school will not be considered as a two-story building. From any energy explanations I have ever read a two-story building is much more energy efficient than a one-story structure of the same square footage. Why is this not important for our future costs?

Having been involved in this phase of a school construction before I can say that a lot of the kinds of features that an architect may present have very little relevance to the classroom experience and often they produce extra hardship for the teaching staff in terms of supervision and instruction.

Sincerely,

B. Graham

* * *

To the Editor:

With reference to the article of July 25, regarding the Camp Polk Road slaughter- house for deer, the pitiful photo by Craig Eisenbeis speaks volumes.

My husband Norm and I have lived in the Sisters area for many years and have seen the traffic pattern and the speed increase by who knows how much. Rather than being tailgated, I pull to the side of the road and let the speedsters charge forth.

When I was a claims secretary I recall a particularly tragic accident our insured and his wife were involved in when they hit a deer head on and it was catapulted over the hood of the car, through the windshield and landed on the wife who died the most horrific death. I will spare you the gruesome details.

Slow down! The life you save might be your own; to say nothing of the deer and the fawn who is sure to be following.

Sincerely yours,

Shirley M. Perry

To the Editor:

About a month ago I came to work and noticed Franklin, our Barclay Square cat (of 13 years) wasn't around.

I became worried because he always came when we drove up. A few days went by and still no cat. I began to ask around and all the cats in this area were missing.

Since then, four or five cats have been found dead, probably poisoned.

I can't believe someone has such a cold heart to do that to all those innocent cats.

One of them was our little Franklin.

You know who you are. Shame on you. If you would have given us a chance, we would have taken them home. They were part of us and I miss Franklin every day.

Pam Creason

To the Editor:

Due to some cruel person or persons, the smell of death is in the air at the west end of Cascade Avenue. While I took a well deserved few days off around the Fourth of July, someone took it upon themselves to poison the cats.

These cats have been hanging around this end of Sisters for up to 13 years. "Old Funny Franklin" was around 15 years old, "Rodeo," who was rescued by the Rodeo Association, was a big orange guy with an upper lip that was always hung up on a tooth, and "Mama Kitty" or "No Tail" with various members of her offspring.

The total cats was seven and they are all gone. There were many of us that bought food, doctored, made sure there was shelter in winter and above all really enjoyed them as did our customers.

Cats become feral, not by their choice, but because humans refuse to be responsible and take them to be altered. That doesn't make it equal to poison them; besides they weren't bothering anyone.

The total bottom line is some cruel individual or individuals killed our cats! Mark my words, if I find out, with proof, I will take this matter to the law. Also if I find out, with proof, I'll be writing another letter to let the people of Sisters know who the cruel cat killer or killers are.

Becki M. Neal

B-J and Friends

* * *

To the Editor:

I've been in the lawn maintenance and landscaping business over 15 years as a small business operator and everywhere I've been given business discounts of 15 percent.

In Sisters I've not been given the courtesy of a business discount except for stationery and billing supplies.

I talked to another landscaper friend in Sisters and he also isn't given courtesy discounts; maybe we are too small!

I do extras for my customers without charge.

I would like to do all my buying locally if I could, but when I need a new $900 mower and Bend offers it to me for $759, what am I supposed to do?

Mechanical repair shops, hardware, small engine repair, tire shops, etc. -- how about treating the small business owner equally as well as larger businesses and give us a small break?

Chester L. Davis

Chet's Lawn Service

* * *

To the Editor:

This is a letter that is hard for me to begin. Not because of the love that it holds but because of the emotions of my heart.

I write this letter sitting under a shady tree with a slight mountain breeze blowing and blue sky above. Blessings of many sizes and shapes all around me. With all this beauty I am reminded of many more blessings in my life. One of the greatest of these blessings are my friends (family) in Sisters who I have grown to love. Even though I live in the town of New Pine Creek my heart and spirit still remain deep within all of you.

When I became ill with what has not yet been diagnosed, I felt a need to stand on my own and face whatever would come. My friends (family) had other ideas.

The hardest challenge in my life was learning how to humble myself before those that I love. Learning to accept help has been very difficult due to the independent person in me. I want to thank all of you who have helped with my medical expenses. I will never be able to thank you enough for all the love you have shown to me. I have never felt worthy of so much love and blessings. All of you will remain a part of me forever, I promise.

Through the 20 years of working in Sisters I received many memories of people who have come and gone, but when I started work at Weitech that is when the true family feeling grew in my heart. The friendships that developed were ones that will remain strong in my life forever. I love all of you and you will be a part of me for as long as I am on this earth.

To my sisters Anne, Yo, Hope, Theresa, Susan and Melissa, I want to send a special thank you and I love you. You girls have given me unconditional love and patience and I owe you all a very big thank you.

Last thank you goes towards heaven not just to God for all of you in my life but to Linda Coffey who truly was a sister to me. She blessed my life with so much laughter and memories and never gave up on me even when I tried to turn her away. Thank you.

Thank you Sisters!

Karren G. Taylor
New Pine Creek, Oregon

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