Letters to the Editor

RE: Shepherd’s House Introduces Permanent Shelter in Redmond. News, 11/9 While it’s nice to offer permanent shelter, with that offer there is no requirement for background checks or moving towards sobriety. Therefore success rate to permanent housing is low. The Bethlehem Inn in Redmond, as of last week on a local news broadcast, stated they […]

Serious About Guns? GUNS are to intimidate, maim and kill. Guns do not serve the Common Good and are unacceptable in a decent society. What would a society do if it were serious about stopping the deadly effects of gun use? Create a buyback program such as the one enacted in Australia. Establish consequences for […]

Oregon’s big Wild and Scenic River anniversary On October 28, many of Oregon’s most iconic rivers celebrated 35 years of Wild & Scenic River protections. This includes natural treasures like the Deschutes, McKenzie, John Day, Metolius, Clackamas and North Umpqua rivers. There’s a good chance your favorite Oregon river was included in this legislation! The […]

Guest Opinion: The Real Triple Crown of Economic, FireFighting, and Environmental Benefits By Dominick A. DellaSala and Rick Martinson Senator Ron Wyden’s (D-OR) recently introduced “Timber Innovation for Building Rural Communities Act” claims to “build[s] much-needed federal support for that triple crown of economic, firefighting, and environmental goals.” We find it ill-advised to promote logging […]

A letter to the Bend-La Pine School Board The unions affiliated with the Central Oregon Labor Chapter represent several thousand workers in both the private sector and public sector, including members of Chapter #6 of the Oregon School Employees Association. While the Bend Education Association is not in the AFL-CIO, their members are our allies […]

Cranes, Planes and AutoBikes “Look up in the sky and on the roads, it’s…the end of Bend as we knew it!” Most Central Oregon Bendocratsplants (yes, make it official) have seen cranes before, and surely a big jet airliner lumbering along for a landing. E-bikes, well, aside from the teens hogging the river trail, are […]

RE: New Park Projects Aim to Improve River Access News, 9/21 Bend parks design team, We appreciate efforts to maintain our riverbanks in the face of increased summer use here in town and enjoy the water park and recent river improvements. The small concrete rock style protection and recent access additions near Farewell Bend park […]

RE: BEND-LA PINE SCHOOLS REVIEWS POLICY AFTER SPORT SPONSORSHIP BACKLASH. NEWS, 9/21 From a quick glance at the Nosler product website, you can order the “Nosler 22” cartridge for your converted AR 15. (Then you can click on over to the AR-STONER website and order a 25 round capacity magazine for your Nosler 22’s.) The […]

RE: Affordable Housing. Take Me Home, 9/7 It’s a complicated issue but let’s also talk about Short Term Rental Permits if you want to discuss affordability. A reason for lack of affordability falls on the city for allowing people to acquire short term rental permits, aka STR’s. It is a big business for Airbnb and […]

Global Warming From the “Built Environment” After reading an article about Global Warming in “The New York Times,” I thought I would send some figures reported in the article concerning environmental emissions. As Bend is one of the top four fastest-growing cities in the U.S., we are likely one of the top four causes of […]