Letters to the Editor…

 

Last updated 11/2/2021 at Noon



Selling Sisters out

To the Editor:

In the October 27 paper I read the story about Sisters’ future as a tourist destination. As I read the story and contemplated bringing in outsiders to develop our little city into a tourist trap and a plan to make this city a final destination tourist resort, I quickly decided several things: First off, this city was never designed to be a final tourist destination; we always have been and should always be a jewel in the mountains, but every time a new person or family moves in or stays for a while they bring opinions and different ideas that change Sisters permanently.

The other thing that comes to mind is will the City Council and the people of Sisters actually sell out what we have in exchange for tourism money? And the unfortunate conclusion I have come to is City Council as well as the residents are allowing it to happen. They are selling our amazing little town, its beauty, its sense of small community, and our small-town morals for tourism money. Sisters will be the next Jackson Hole, Wyoming — a beautiful place ruined by tourism: forests and lakes as well as the mountains overused and destroyed because we allow it.

We invite the outsiders to come and enjoy it, and I’m not against the idea of sharing what we have, but I moved here in 2006 and I see the changes that have occurred in just 15 short years. Use of our forests, lakes, and national lands have spiked — trash everywhere in the forest and a permitting process where we have to ask government permission to take a hike or camp in the forests and lands where we as residents of Sisters Country pay for the right and the privilege to coexist with our neighbors.

The forests are full of homeless people living in tents and RVs illegally in our national forests. I remind everyone federal law is clear: 14 days in the forest camping, not take up full- time residence and not pay rent.

Sisters has made the choice to move towards tourism and bringing more people here to create sustainable income industries cause that’s good for Sisters? What they are really doing is selling what we have and love so much to the tourism industry in exchange for money.

It is a mistake, and once you cross that bridge you can never go back.

Austin Selle

s s s

Mt. Bachelor Fast Tracks

To the Editor:

Re: Mt. Bachelor Fast Tracks…

I’m done with this! Can we please finally send Ron Wyden and his cronies packing? Skiing is expensive, period, but let’s please not again tell private business how to operate in a supposed “free market” environment.

Fast Tracks is a great idea and if you can afford it, so be it.

I cannot afford a luxurious SUV to get around in our snowy winters, so should we eliminate the opportunity of others to purchase these vehicles? How about first-class airline tickets? I cannot afford those, should we remove that opportunity as well? How about fancy restaurants — let’s eliminate those.

Hotels? Only the government-run Motel 6.

Golf carts are basically an expensive luxury; can’t purchase those, and on and on and on.

This is another example of woke society

gone bonkers. Stop it.

Brian Chugg

s s s

Headlights

To the Editor:

I am somewhat of a “snowplow driver.” That is, when someone is following me so close while driving their vehicle it appears to be a trailer, I usually irritate my passengers by pulling over to the side of the road and allowing the idiot to pass. I give the person a little bit of time, then pull out, just keeping his vehicle about half a klick (about .36 miles) away.

I find this technique helpful during rutting season and migration times as the idiot that was in a hurry clears the path of deer ahead of me, thus the term I call “snow plow driving.”

Now that darkness is prevailing over light, another phenomenon that occurs this time of year is people driving toward you with their bright lights (high beams) on. I know it is probably because they are just as blind driving at night as me, and flashing my headlights at them just compounds the problem.

My uncle had a 1958 Cadillac de Ville which had an automatic headlight dimmer built on top of, and in the middle of, the dash behind the windshield. I may be missing something, but with all the bells and whistles, computers, (and ding-ding-dings that tell you no one in the car is wearing their seat belts), backup cameras, and cars with the capability to drive themselves, why can’t the car manufacturers have the head lights dim automatically? It certainly would help preserve the eyesight of everybody, and help those of us losing our memory to drive safer. It may even prevent an accident or two from happening.

Bill Anttila

s s s

The death of Colin Powell

To the Editor:

I am not one who cries much but I wept when I heard of General Colin Powell’s death.

His father, a Jamaican immigrant, had told his son to do his very best for this country which had taken them in. Colin Powell certainly took his father’s entreaty to heart. He became a distinguished military leader, diplomat, and civil servant.

It is not just the loss of this great man which brought me to tears; it is the loss of his ilk. He embodied qualities which seem to be endangered: moderation, humility, truthfulness, the ability to admit error, and respect for divergent opinions. These traits, once so admired in our leaders, seem to be vanishing from our civic landscape. It is sorrowful to lose a great patriot like General Powell but even more sorrowful to wonder if such leaders will ever again flourish in our country.

Stella Dean

 

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