Letters 5/4-5/11

I was appalled by the Source endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Your arguments for her are misinformed and naïve. Sure she is experienced, but what about her awful record as senator and Secretary of State? She accomplished little in eight years as senator and her time at the State Department was a disaster. She is a war hawk who has consistently sided with Republicans in dealing with Iran. Her insistence on regime change in Syria ruined hopes of a cease fire agreement back in 2012. She spearheaded the overthrow and murder of Kaddafi in Libya, which created a power vacuum and is now a stronghold for Isis, who now use the weapons she gave to "moderate rebels" against Assad.

President Obama has cited Libya as the biggest mistake of his presidency, but it was Hillary who pushed him. She also convinced him to approve the Bush era trade agreement with Panama which Bernie Sanders predicted would lead to more tax havens for the rich.

Not surprisingly, several people named in the "Panama Papers" are also donors to the Clinton Foundation. While Secretary of State, hundreds of donations were made by arms manufacturers who later received contracts for overseas weapons sales.

I could go on and explain how she is a moderate Republican in disguise, but readers need to do their own research of her voting record. The most dangerous aspect of Clinton is her position at the epicenter of the corporate oligarchy which has a strangle hold on our political system.

Well before "Citizens United," corporations infused huge amounts of money into campaigns and lobbyists to the point that the voice of the people is nonexistent. If the people ruled, we wouldn't have massive student loan debt, the world's most expensive healthcare and drug prices, the highest rate of child poverty in the developed world, and half of the federal budget going to the military. What is good for corporations is inherently bad for the rest of us.

Most Americans are ignorant of the real politics of our country because they get their news from corporate media. For example, CNN (the Hillary Channel) is owned and operated by Time Warner, which is one the top 10 contributors to Clinton's campaign [ranking eighth, with contributions of $603,170 between 1999 and 2016]. Its bias is showing this election cycle. For every hour on Hillary, Bernie gets two minutes. We used to have a law called the Fairness Doctrine [a policy of the Federal Communications Commission] that required news sources to provide equal time to all candidates. President Reagan repealed it. So the real story of this election is Bernie Sanders' historic grass roots campaign drawing massive crowds and contributions and reflecting the true mood of the country. But the revolution will not be televised!

So you say that Hillary is for voting rights. That seems like a naïve argument in light of the massive election fraud in New York and across the country.

~Tom Freedman

I ask myself, what would Deschutes County look like on Earth Day 2020 if we allow recreational marijuana growing in rural Deschutes? We will see detrimental effects on county land, water and air, with dramatic increases in the need for water and electricity, rolling farmlands and natural areas will be covered with greenhouses. County Commissioners must Opt Out of Measure 91, and allow only the existing "medical" grows.

While attending several MAC meetings, heavily packed with pro-marijuana members, it was obvious that the main concern was to accommodate growers. Very little consideration was given to families who live nearby and who will be directly affected. Property values will plummet. There will be 24/7 noise from fans/filters that regulate air and lighting, plus there will be the resulting over-powering odor of the plants/trees. Driving through rural areas recently, it saddened me to see our beautiful Oregon countryside being destroyed by greenhouses, enclosed in barbed wire fences that now block scenic mountain views and that have destroyed the natural landscape.

The state of Colorado is experiencing significant problems since legalizing pot: lawsuits from adjoining states; high costs of regulation and enforcement; increases in emergency room visits due to smoking or ingesting marijuana and increased arrests by police for people driving under the influence of pot. Expect to see the same problems here. Most likely tax revenue collected from pot sales will not cover enforcement and will over-burden existing police, fire and medical personnel. Are higher taxes and increased energy and water costs on the horizon as well?

If we really care about our citizens and about preserving our environment, we must demand an Opt Out of Measure 91 as relates to the growing of recreational marijuana, leaving the existing medical grows as is, provided they are following regulations.

Many families moved to Central Oregon to experience a better quality of life - we must preserve that.  Contact County Commissioners Tammy Baney, Tony DeBone and Alan Unger and urge them to vote for Opting Out.

~Natalie Fehlberg

Email County Commissioners to continue their Opt Out of marijuana for rural Deschutes County [voting on May 4]: [email protected].

This neither affects your ability to get medicine, legally grow four plants or use. It contains the 1800+ medical pot growers scattered across Deschutes County from converting to recreational pot grows and increasing in size. Neither City nor County holds a list of these growers today so grandfathering medical growers is imprudent.

Orderly community development protects health, life and property and places noxious industry with employees in City industrial parks.

Bend has pot dispensaries, four testing labs, vacancies in industrial leases yet doesn't want to produce this industry inside its own UGB. Since pot is grown in a container, above a cement floor and inside buildings, why not welcome pot production: doesn't the City want these jobs?

Our leaders believe that pot "belongs" on rural farmland. OLCC's recreational pot growing (not your personal four plants) is unlike farming hay, hogs or horses. This industry comes with fingerprinting, razor wire, fencing that displaces wildlife, outdoor cameras, screening, vault-like metal containers, pesticides/poisons, invading skunk.

Pot production belongs on industrial land in UGBs with fire suppression, employee housing, transit, noisy industrial fans for odor, all close to law enforcement. It does not belong scattered across the rural county where trees are now being cut to string heavier power lines and where wells extract groundwater unmetered.

I vote for clean rural air, dark skies and farm work for kids in FFA. Keep the Opt Out.

~Nunzie Gould