Letters to the Editor…

To the Editor:

My mom has always been a strict proponent of hand washing. She should receive some sort of presidential Medal of Honor for her relentless efforts at cleanliness. She’s taken some flack through the years and even been teased about it on occasion.

Even now when I’m home from a visit at her house my son will ask me if Granny K made me wash my hands when I got there. You do not under any circumstance get to be in her kitchen, much less touch anything without washing your hands first!

In fact, visitors are mostly banned from her kitchen. When my sisters and I were growing up we had to wash our hands after everything. When we got home from school, from church, from playing outside or from a friend’s house, the first item of business was hand washing. And especially after using the bathroom or picking our nose or scratching ourselves in the yonder regions.

My mom did not hesitate to ask our friends to go wash either when they came over to play. As soon as any meal was ready we had to wash before we could sit at the table. Now my grandkids balk at me when I tell them to wash their hands as soon as they step through my door. I guess we’re born lazy. But now we’re learning all the more the importance of hand washing. I think we’ve become a society of quick fixes. We want to rely on medications and remedies to make us well rather then putting out the extra effort to combat it on the front end, even if it’s as simple as washing our hands.

My mom was right all along. And I’m grateful because I don’t remember being sick very often when I was growing up. And her hand washing rules are strictly enforced in my home now, too.

Judey Berray

To the Editor:

Oregon is a very unique state to have placed into law the “pumping of gas by attendant” law back in 1951

In 2015, this law was relaxed somewhat in rural areas as there were operating pumps, but no attendants, and often not a convenience store attached to warrant one. On March 24, 2020, this law was further relaxed (until April 11, 2020) to allow anyone to pump gas if the attendant was “busy” or not available.

Some people think Oregon has been in the “Dark Ages” regarding this issue. Personally, I love having someone else pump my gas. I try to use cash, but if the attendant uses my credit card, I have a zipper bag I place it in to clean later. I don’t have to touch that grimy nozzle that everyone else touches, particularly those guys I saw three months ago in California (and many times before on trips) using the restroom, not washing their hands, then going to the gas pump and handling the gas

nozzle.

We have been instructed that if we pump our own fuel, we should wear gloves. We should carry a bag full of antivirus solution to put the glove in so our car doesn’t get infected after pumping fuel.

I really wonder if this new law was really given much thought. Wouldn’t it be better if one guy with a mask and gloves pumped the gas and handled the hose? And, are we all supposed to put our credit cards in the slot and punch our numbers in on those filthy key

pads.

Also, remember not to touch the sides of the credit card slot as you enter and exit the card.

The new relaxed law for pumping gas was to offer more options for motorists, but I wonder if it might not allow more opportunity to contract COVID-19.

Bill Anttila

To the Editor:

I am wondering whether our local health care clinics — St. Charles, High Lakes, BMC, doctors and staff — could come up with a plan to get all people within the City of Sisters tested in a drive-up setting, and then those who live outside the City, and then those who live in Camp Sherman.

Certain days and certain times everybody could be tested as to whether or not they have the virus. Then maybe we could re-open the City of Sisters and proceed with life.

Could that be possible?

Diana Raske

To the Editor:

During this worldwide disaster, partisan politics again raises its ugly head, in its forever effort to divide us. How can we, as intelligent humans allow this biased BS to prevail over our common sense?

For our party leaders to be spending valuable time during this phase of the pandemic arguing about which party is right or wrong is unconscionable and serves absolutely no purpose toward resolution.

I firmly believe that the media on both sides are guilty of deliberately creating this divide. The corporations that own these news outlets are in it for profit, controversy creates division, and without those two components profits are minimized.

Envision the media consisting of two groups, within each outlet. One group is NEWS the other Opinion or Fact and Fiction respectively. The NEWS side of an outlet, CNN, Fox, ABC, MSNBC etc. are not lying, until you the reader, reads outside the NEWS. The truth is your interpretation of the NEWS, Fake NEWS is the opinion-makers’ presentation of their one-sided belief in an event. Fake NEWS is exacerbated by readers of opinions who spread this BS on Facebook and the like.

Terry Coultas