Letters 6/8-6/15

Denise, have you gone back and looked later? Are the bags still there?

Think about this typical scenario: A person goes with their dog to the trailhead. They begin their walk. At some point in the first couple hundred yards or so nature calls and the dog poops. The owner does the right thing and bags it. But do they hike a couple hundred yards back to the trailhead and then begin their outing all over again? Not very often. What they do is place the bag next to the trail (or place it discretely off the trail so as not to offend the easily offended) so they can grab it on their way back. In the mean time you come along, see an unattended bag and jump to the wrong conclusion.

The people too lazy to see their dogs poop to the trash can are the ones also too lazy to bag it in the first place. The fact is that if the poop makes it into a bag then it's almost always going to get collected, just not with the immediacy you expect. Have a little patience.

~Rick Johnson

DogPAC Board Member

Street roundabouts flow quickly and easily in other parts of the world as vehicles MERGE safely. In the U.S. we get to practice this routine at much higher speeds, usually on a freeway entrance or while changing lanes. Curiously, some drivers are reluctant to merge into Bend roundabouts, apparently preferring to stop and wait until traffic has stacked up longer than a European train.  

Roundabouts are smart, attractive and fun, and they don't come with red lights, Bendites, so please just keep on flowing!

~L. Green

In 2012, I had the honor of litigating a month-long complex trade secret and intellectual property jury trial before Judge Gonzalo Curiel. I can say without reservation, that he was the most conscientious, intelligent, and level-headed jurist I've encountered.

Judge Curiel learned of his nomination for the Federal bench during our trial, and attorneys for both parties were openly enthusiastic and proud of the pending appointment. His appointment gave me hope for the judiciary and provided proof that the system works—that the very best rise to the top.

Donald Trump's racist attacks on Judge Curiel are not merely offensive because I personally know the target and would not hesitate to vouch for his integrity. The deeper reason is that Trump's attacks signal a shameless contempt for the judiciary, judicial process, and separation of powers.

The legal system is our best hope for peacefully resisting tyranny. And make no mistake, Trump, by any measure, is an aspiring tryant.

Trump's attack on this nation's bedrock principles must not be tolerated.

~William G. Wardlow, Esq.

Please forgive me if I offended any veterans or their families over the Memorial day weekend. Friday's flyover indicated my property was on the weekend's events rooster. I littered my property to make it less attractive for flyovers to protect my health. Let me explain.

My passion is gardening and landscaping, a lifelong passion that balances the stress of my developmental disability (ASD) and sensory processing disorder.

But labor intensive twelve-year-old gardens are unusual in this climate. When private pilots found these gardens they claimed them as a favorite flyover. When I objected, flights became threatening and illegal causing PTSD. Informing the flying community of this injury resulted in increased aggressive flights worsening the PTSD.

It is difficult for anyone to get over PTSD; it is impossible when you have ASD and reactivity is triggered multiple times daily. I will soon be 71 years old; each passing flight triggers the PTSD, raising my blood pressure to unsafe levels and increasing my risk of heart attack or stroke.

Please forgive me. What may have appeared as disrespect of our war heroes, was a desperate attempt to keep PTSD triggering overflights away.

~PJ Eilers

Troy Field is 109-years-old, the city of Bend is 111-years-old. Saving historic places has always been the best thing for the entire community. 

We have been lucky to have Troy Field for the past century. Somehow through all the years, it hasn't been eliminated, like other historic places. The Crane Shed was demolished illegally by its owners, in the night, because vacant land in downtown Bend is worth much more than a historic building.  

Well now, Historic Troy Field is being considered, by the School District, the City Officials and Parks and Rec. as something that should be eliminated, for an old development plan which would make a more "designer" looking park on the west side of Bond Street. They want to dig up the parking lot in front of the School Admin. Building and make that the park instead. Why are they determined to get rid of Troy Field, even after the field has been recently proven to be much older than they had thought-it goes back to 1907 not to just to 1940? 

The old development plan is called Heritage Square. Not sure, why it has this name, considering the plan is about getting rid of the actual Heritage of Bend.  

Citizens have come forward, asking the School District to preserve Troy Field for historical reasons, and they also have stated that they would raise the funds, through fundraising, in order to acquire the historic field to be kept for the public. The developer would have no interest in a historically preserved field. The City states that they need to "balance competing interests" and decide what is best for the public and the entire community. 

What are the competing interests?  

Development vs. Historic Preservation and the community? 

How would eliminating Troy Field benefit the community?  

There wouldn't be a field that is full of memories and history, just a plaque stating what used to be there, a field that could have easily been saved. 

What actually would be best for the entire community would be, to beautify the historic field, with beautiful fencing created by an artist—then a brick path surrounding it, with the names of all the citizens who donated to preserve the field—a true community field. 

Not to dig up a parking lot. 

The City, the Park District, and the School District need to actually listen to the people and stop talking about an outdated development plan that would be absolutely no benefit to the community—destroy a historic field to make a more upscale, "designer" park, that could be promoted for new condo owners. 

The public entities are supposed to be representatives of the public and doing what is in the best interest for the entire community, while also "carrying out" Bend's policies on historic preservation, not ignoring it all, because it doesn't fit into Their Plan.

~Julia Ohlson