Letters to the Editor

Misinformation To justify imposing the “Transportation Utility Fee” on all Bend residents and businesses, the City of Bend has consistently stated that “gas tax revenue is declining.” This is the Oregon Highway Fund that supplies about a third of Bend’s Street Operations budget. BUT the 10/2023 ODOT “City and County Apportionment forecast” CLEARLY shows that […]

Guest Opinion: Expanding Commissioners Years ago, while working as a reporter in Oregon, I was tasked with covering the county commissioners. At the time, I had very little understanding of who the county commissioners were or what their jobs entailed. Like a lot of voters, I trusted that these public servants were doing their best […]

Guest Opinion: Why aren’t we making our streets safer and more affordable? The logic is simple: wide roads encourage speeding, and fast streets are unsafe for people in and outside of vehicles. Higher speeds give drivers less time to react, require more time for the vehicles to slow down or stop and increase risk of […]

Corrections: In the Jan. 25 story, “Winter Wonders: Caring for Winter Hummingbirds,” the author recommended a 4:1 sugar-to-water ratio for hummingbird food; that was incorrect. It’s “water to sugar.” In the Jan. 25 story, “Dinner at the Hook & Plow,” the author mentioned eating swordfish. It was sturgeon. We regret the errors. Guest Opinion: Telling […]

South Bend footbridge I am the local leader of the Bitterbrush Broads and Bro’s chapter of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness and we oppose the footbridge proposal over the Deschutes. I read your article about the group that keeps pursuing a footbridge over the Southern Deschutes River Wild and Scenic area. There are some […]

Guest Opinion: Crossing the centerline… both literally and figuratively The impact was violent. Under sunny skies at 11:43 am on January 5 on my way up to Mt. Bachelor, a spinning Ford F-350 coming down the mountain crossed over into my lane at high-speed, plowing into the front driver side of my Sprinter van. I […]

January 6th Was Just the Beginning for Trump Three years ago, a violent mob, incited by then-President Trump and his allies in Congress, attacked the U.S. Capitol to try and stop the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history. Now, three years and four indictments later, Trump is running for president […]

“Sound of Freedom” I very much enjoy Jared Rasic’s shows and movie reviews. I save his reviews and check out what he writes about in his column. I’ve managed to find some movies/shows that I enjoy because he takes the effort to do the initial screening for me. I do not understand, though, why the […]

Guest Opinion: Your Vote, Your Voice By Karen Spears Zacharias Oregon led the nation in voter turnout in 2022, but just barely — Oregon edged out Maine voters by 0.5%. Oregon’s youth voter turnout was fourth in the nation, at 35.5%. The higher-than-normal mid-term election turnout was propelled in part by two issues most concerning […]

RE: Exploring Climate-Friendly Communities. Feature, 12/14 The article “Exploring Climate Friendly Communities” feels out of touch with the realities of navigating our town by way of alternative transportation (walking, biking, bus, etc.). Car-free zones and walkability sounds like a dream, don’t get me wrong. But this is all aimed at benefiting the rich. It doesn’t […]