Weed + Christians
To Whomever,
In the great words of the Lord (also the words he gave The Beatles):
I am you, you are me
We are one and we are all
Together
All we need is love... but patience helps too! And with that being said, an opinion is just that and should not be put out as gospel. We are all just humans. Being! (Sammy Hagar) We never have the right to judge or condemn on our own opinions. That job already has a committed boss, God!
So whoever sends out messages of hate, forever know, I will do my best to put a better spin on it, I will then take your negativity, turn it into a positive and I'm going to send it right back to you with love, kindness and happiness. Peace be with you!
You've been heard, we appreciate your opinion & we love you. We hope you find what makes you happy & brings you joy, then there will be no need for hate or anger or unkindness.
Also quit making us "pot heads" out to be lazy idiots with nothing but problems. Pot is not one of Oregon's problems and our "legal weed" revenue will help with fixing our real problems. Good people do smoke cannabis, reefer, weed & yes, marijuana. It's a gift from God! Kudos to Ms. La Fleur. Excellent story teller you are! LMFAO. You are so awesome. You too, Josh (Jardine).
(To Everyone, Angela Moore has the patience of Job! She's Amazing! As we all are!)
—Raylene White
Why Bend Needs to be a Tree City
with an Advisory Tree Board
Trees provide essential services like cleaning our air and water and mitigating the effects of climate change. These benefits must be protected. The City of Sweet Home and the City of Sisters have Tree Boards that do great things.
The City of Sisters has a tree inventory. There is current data on the urban canopy which allows for knowledgeable advice for city management decisions. The City of Sweet Home's tree board created a heritage tree program which allows citizens to plant trees with a plaque to someone or something of importance. The citizens say the heritage tree program in Sweet Home has strengthened civic pride in their city.
Tree boards are essential in the face of climate change.
For those of you that may disagree I suggest an example from the east coast. The Emerald Ash Borer outbreak decimated large swaths of urban forests across 25 states. Over 17 million Ash trees had to be treated, removed and/or replaced. The estimated cost was 10.7 billion dollars according to the USDA. Cities with active informed tree boards were a lot better prepared for this disaster than ones without.
There are concerns that this push for the Arbor Day Tree City Designation and a Tree Board in the City of Bend will result in overbearing governance. That is not the intention. Tree boards are not governing boards. Their roles are only advisory. The intention is to have a qualified tree advisory board that will advise the city and citizens to best protect the high quality of life in the beautiful City of Bend.
As a citizen concerned with the sustainable future of Bend I ask you to please consider the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA designation and the formation of a Tree Board in this city I call home.
— Paul O'Neill
Bend's (Non-Existent) Rental Market
If you are rich, you are good to go. If you are poor and choose not to work or can't work, you can live off of the system so the middle class to low income people like myself PAY for it! I am a single mom, I work full time and have done so MY whole life! I make a decent wage, however, it still isn't enough to really survive in Bend because of the RENT! I have lived seven years on the Westside and my landlord keeps raising my rent! It is now at a point where I have to move and can't even afford the rentals anywhere else! I have a 10-year-old little girl and may have to rent a one bedroom for the both of us to even try to make ends meet and even those are hard to come by!
The greedy landlords are ruining the lives of people like myself who work hard. My landlord just recently raised my rent $100 after raising it $150 last year. Though I still have the crappy carpet/linoleum that is from the 80s and a stove that is even older and I can barely cook on! I am outraged that the landlords get away with raising the rent over and over and over again without having to upgrade the apartments! My neighbor is in her 70s and has lived there for nearly 10 years in the same four-plex as I. She is on a fixed income and is struggling because of the GREED of these landlords. It is ridiculous and maddening that they get away with this!!!! Rent everywhere is way too high! They are building new apartments but are charging $1,200 to $1,600 to live in! How the hell does that help us low income or middle class? It doesn't! I am just at a LOSS!
No wonder people are homeless! I have even thought I may end up in a motel and I am 48 years old with my little girl! There should be some laws for the landlords who are this greedy! Very angry and disgusted about this. And people that aren't on unemployment anymore are a lot of the time OUT of benefits so they are not getting unemployment. That doesn't mean they have a good job and are prospering now! HELP????!
— Kathleen Beck
In Response to Congressman Walden Had a Tough Week (3/24)
I have written and called Representative Greg Walden with civil questions and requests about visiting constituents in Bend, and I know I am not alone, and not one response. Good to hear someone trying to get a response to these questions. And we all have every right to be angry!
— Cathy Sheldon-Wambaugh, via facebook.com
I write Walden weekly to express my opposition to his party only vote/agenda. My biggest issue — legislate — do the job which includes discussion, revision, and compromise. It's time for Walden to be defeated.
— Julie Hudson, via facebook.com
I was shocked to find that Walden's congressional email would not accept my letter. It repeatedly told me that I had not entered the zip code correctly. I thought that it was because I have the new 97703 so I tried 97701. Repeatedly failed. Until I entered Prineville's zip. Worked 1st time.
— Susan Vonbergen
LETTER OF THE WEEK
Susan, congratulations on your stealth maneuvers in civic engagement! You heard it here first, peeps. Want Walden to listen? According to this reader, you need to pretend you're from Prineville.
Susan, come on in for your gift card to Palate!
