Opinion

This week's letter comes from Michael Funke who hits the nail on the head with this slow-burn blast of the city council. Thanks for the letter Michael, you can pick up your winner's prize, a bag of freshly ground strictly ground Strictly Organic coffee at our office, 704 NW Georgia.
Three new Bend City Councilors have ushered in an era of secrecy and backroom deals. It started before Kathie Eckman, Jeff Eager and Tom Greene took office-when they held an invitation-only meeting with local business leaders-and continued through the selection of Eckman as mayor and now the surprise appointment of Oran Teater to fill a vacant seat on the Council.

I was in the audience at the last city council meeting and what I saw and heard caused me a great deal of concern.
I am very sorry to see city councilors Peter Gramlich and Linda Johnson depart. They brought a different perspective to the table and contribute to the council's diversity.

Re: Bob Bates letter "Do The Math"Well Bob, let's apply your logic to another area – food. McDonald's can supply food at lower cost than eating healthier alternatives. Unfortunately, it's high in sodium and fat, and also lacks in some key nutritional value. But hey, by your logic it's the cheapest, so that's what everyone should eat. We'll conveniently ignore the byproducts of that decision – obesity, heart disease, diabetes and all the other costs that stem from a poor diet. We just won't count that, put our collective heads in the sand. But that doesn't mean there is no cost associated with that decision.

I would like to respond to the two letters referring to the author's belief in studded tires. The letter written by Dave McRae (Jan 1), has his personal belief in studs based on his experience with black ice and a slide through an intersection. In both instances his was the fault because he was not driving according to possible conditions at the time. The meteorological statements of his can be discounted, as he provided no objective references, which can be checked. The second letter by Paul Biskup (Jan 8), was so disjointed and rambling that one has a difficult time trying to figure out what the majority of the letter was about. One thing was clear however. He also likes studded tires.

This week's letter of the week comes from Thomas Ware who contemplates the fate of a recently felled tree. We're not sure if this falls into the philosophy or poetry category, but we liked it. Thanks for the letter Thomas. You can pick up your winner's spoils, a freshly ground bag of Strictly Organic coffee, at our office, 704 NW Georgia.
We live in a unique place, and we who live here are a unique bunch of people; hell, even our homeless, so prevalent in today's news, are well-groomed avid bicyclists. Ain't no mall walkers around here, and not because we don't have "malls." We used to, now they're parking lots, because nobody walked in them anyway (which is why they're now parking lots!).

The letdown after Christmas is a natural time to think about some questionable American customs and thought processes, and perhaps to see the fallacies therein. The following comparison list might be helpful in sorting things out.
Myth: Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and has flying reindeer. Reality: Santa is a fantasy so he owns no flying reindeer.
Myth: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Reality: Christmas is a most stressful season and often a very disappointing time of year.

I thank Ken Czepelka (Jan. 29 issue) for responding to my Jan. 22 letter, "The Solution." I don't personally argue with Ken on what he presented, but it's in conflict with Robert Bryce's 2008 book, "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence." Bryce deals extensively with the "solar" issue. In Chapter 16, "Solar, the 1 percent solution," he provides an analysis by Raymond James and Associates that solar power in residential applications costs $0.37 per Kilowatt-hour, nearly four times conventional sources! Simmons and Company International estimated that even a growth rate of 25 percent a year of solar power capacity would only provide about 1 percent of global electricity demand by year 2020 at a cost of $0.22-$0.84 per Kilowatt-hour. By 2030, the Energy Information Administration estimates that solar power will provide about five billion Kilowatt-hours of electricity to American consumers per year, a mere fraction (0.0015) of the 3,351 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity the agency expects from coal. It's true that the Sun is an unlimited source of power, but cloud cover is also unlimited and is a "killer drawback" according to Bryce, along with a lack of "high-density electrical storage." "Solar power can never be relied upon to provide large quantities of base load power."