Heritage Square is a vibrant yet simple plan for a civic and cultural area in downtown Bend. In the middle, a large public green space would lie between Wall Street and Bond Street. Around the square would be City Hall, the Historical Museum, the library, a play area and small businesses. Heritage Square was first […]
Editorial
Posted inOpinion
Editorial 3/2-3/9
Troy Field is of Long-Term Value
As Bend’s development races forward, preserving open space in the heart of downtown is crucial, for once that space is gone, it won’t be coming back. The swift pace of development just reached Troy Field, a little parcel of land, less than one acre, located next to Old St. Francis School. Putting this property on […]
Posted inOpinion
Editorial 2/24-3/2
Hemp Legislation – It’s Time
Hemp sails brought Europeans to the new world. The Puritans grew it. George Washington grew it. Thomas Jefferson grew it. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on it. Covered wagons were made of it. U.S. currency was printed on it. During World War II, the U.S. government even launched a “Hemp for Victory” campaign. So […]
Posted inOpinion
Endorsement: Yes on Measure 9-105
Motor vehicle fuel tax
Ballots were mailed on Wednesday for the City of Bend Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax, Measure 9-105, a five cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline that would be dedicated to road repairs and improvements in Bend. A city fuel tax is not a new concept in Oregon, where state and federal funding for roads has stayed stagnant for […]
Posted inOpinion
Editorial 2/3-2/10
Mental Health Crisis in Oregon
In 2016 Oregon ranked worst in the nation on a report released by the non-profit Mental Health America. This problem has deep roots, and not just in Oregon. In its 2015 report, the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that private insurers undercut federal mental health parity laws by denying coverage, limiting treatment, and imposing […]
Posted inOpinion
Editorial 2/3-2/10
Counseling Crisis in Bend – La Pine Schools
A local father counts a half-dozen teen suicides in recent memory in the Bend-La Pine Schools, at both the middle school and high school levels. Classmates, parents, teachers, and the families of the deceased will never forget these students, and it underscores a dire situation. Cuts to counseling services in our school district that happened […]
Posted inOpinion
Editorial 1/27-2/3
Getting Off of Coal
Oregonians take pride in the state’s natural beauty, but few of us realize more than one-third of our electricity comes from out-of-state coal plants. According to the Oregon Department of Energy, 37 percent of electricity in Oregon comes from coal. As it stands today, Oregon is an importer of coal power and an exporter of […]
Posted inOpinion
Editorial: Minimum Wage
Let the voters decide
Nearly 200,000 low wage workers in Oregon require public assistance in the form of SNAP (what was once known as food stamps). That is to say, they are not earning enough to be able to afford food. On Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown’s office fired off a press release with a proposed plan for legislation to […]
Posted inOpinion
Boot 1/13-1/20
A Call For Peace
Although Ammond Bundy claims that his armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Harney County has been in the works for decades, he doesn’t seem to be thinking too far ahead. There’s no way this ends well for the Bundy brothers and their militant movement to reclaim federal lands and return them to the […]
Posted inOpinion
The Boot 1/7-1/13
This is Not Your Land “This land is your land, this land is my land.” The self-styled “militia” that initiated an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge near Burns seems to be misinterpreting the meaning of Woody Guthrie’s classic American folk song, “This Land (Was Made for You & Me).” Rather than suggesting that […]