Letters to the Editor

Guest Opinion: Please Sign the “Kids Not Camps” Initiative for November Ballot No doubt since September of 2021, there has been an escalation of public interest regarding the growing population of Bend’s unhoused residents and where they should camp, how they should camp, who is in charge and how this gets funded. There has been a […]

In response to school shootings. Safety. Words which were never oxymorons before America. There are not enough tears  to undo the vetoes there are not enough votes to undo the tears is the story they say,  but they are wrong. And we,  we are so tired- “thoughts and prayers”  cannot undo the lifelong trauma of […]

Water, Water, Water I am writing to all those people who don’t understand why a high desert could be low on water. I grew up here and most of the town hauled their own water. Most people on the outskirts did not have wells. City water was only in the city which was a small […]

Guest Opinion: All We Really Need to Know to Get Along in Central Oregon We Learned in Kindergarten “It doesn’t matter what you say you believe—it only matters what you do.” — Robert Fulghum, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” The past couple years have been tumultuous and divisive in Central Oregon. […]

Roe v. Wade The case against Roe v. Wade has been waging in earnest for at least 45 years. The argument of whether abortion is legal or not can be traced to pre-Revolutionary War in British Common Law. Being 66 years old, I have been listening to this commentary for the majority of my life. […]

RE: UFOregon Feature, 4/28 An interesting and relatively objective historical article. We now know that the unofficial media policy of ridiculing UFO/UAP interactions was backed with money by agencies like the CIA, who thought (probably rightly, given the panic over Orson Welles’ 1938 broadcast of “War of the Worlds”) UFO hysteria induced by the Soviets […]

Guest Opinion: In Response to “Firefighters Feuding,” News, 4/7 There have been three news articles regarding the fighterfighters’ union staff becoming unhappy with Fire Chief Mike Supkis and the board’s management of the 115 square mile fire district and the nearly 1,000 square mile ambulance service area. In July 2021 my elected term expired and […]

RE: A Farmer’s Plea to Change Water Laws, Guest Opinion, 4/14 I recently read the “Farmer’s Plea to Change Water Laws” and I think this is the main issue facing Oregon and specifically Deschutes County in relation to water.   The letter from Megan Keller-Rode is so well written and precise to the specific issues […]

Guest Opinion: Water laws in Oregon As a local farmer in Central Oregon, I am writing today out of desperation, out of panic, and from the heaviest heart. But I am also writing out of hope. If Oregon can make some changes to water laws and regulations, and fast, we may only have to endure […]

Guest Opinion: Enforce Water Quality Laws for the Deschutes River For the past twelve years, the Wild and Scenic lower Deschutes River has been warmer and filled with nuisance algae, to the detriment of aquatic life. Meanwhile the Department of Environmental Quality has stood by and allowed the river to be harmed. At its April […]