Don’t Charge Veterans

To the Editor:

Give our vets a break. I attended the Memorial Day service in the city park put on by our local VFW Post 8138, the American Legion Post 8, and the Sisters chapter of the Band of Brothers. They needed a sound system for the event this year, and also wanted a piper, so I was happy to help out on both of those fronts as I have a portable sound system from our band that I brought over so all could hear the speakers, and was glad to play the Highland pipes to commemorate and honor the fallen.

I didn’t charge a dime for any of that, and never will, as I strongly feel we need to honor our vets and have piped for a lot of such events for free. I’m not saying that to shine a light on myself but rather state that its how we all ought to be honoring of our vets especially on that day.

Also, the folks that bring and set up the chairs for this event also wave off any costs as well, so bless them for that.

I learned only later that our illustrious city council had decided to considerably up the fee rates for event usage in the city, (more decisions behind closed doors with little if any public input), and that our vets were not exempt but were charged for this and were told “all nonprofits have to pay the fee.” What a typically bureaucratic answer.

Frankly, I find it pretty disgusting that our vets have to pay for an event in a park that houses a veterans memorial. What kind of people do we have on city council these days making such decisions? They seriously can’t waive the fee for our vets on this one day? You can’t honor those who have served?

I’ve lived here for 34 years and it seems that in recent times we’ve been getting more and more people who wind up in city government who are not originally from here and are fast contributing to the erosion of the small-town atmosphere and tight-knit community that we have enjoyed here for a long time.

I concur with Andy Sichler’s letter to the editor on June 1 that this is completely unacceptable. Get your act together and do what’s right!

Steve Allely

Water Conservation

To the Editor:

A front-page article in The Nugget about the City urging water conservation among residents floored me.

A few weeks ago, at a Sisters citizens meeting with city leadership, an audience question was put forth concerning Sisters’ water resources given all the new apartments and homes approved and being built. The City’s answer to the question was, “We have plenty of water for that.”

So, we have plenty of water for up to 300 new residents, but current homeowners are being urged to conserve water due to “ongoing drought conditions affecting the local community and natural resources? What changed between the meeting weeks ago when there was “plenty of water” available for the new construction and now? Nothing!

I resent being “urged” to curb water usage while the City continues to approve current and future building. I always use our city’s water judiciously and hope the City is handing out building permits with the same thoughtfulness.

Chris Shepherd