Elections The elections are over, thankfully! The vitriol seems to get worse and the lies are exponential. For example, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade did not mean the end of abortion availability. Trump won! We can save the planet by eliminating fossil fuels. How many votes were purchased with the promise of cancellation of […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
At the Holidays, Make Redistribution of Wealth a Personal Task, Not Just a Governmental One
Workers and volunteers helping our houseless neighbors are tired. Those who benefit from the increase in housing values need to step up.
This time of year is typically a time for people to count their blessings and focus on a measure of gratitude. For homeowners, one needs only to look at the property tax statement that arrived in the mail not long ago to see a dose of that gratitude played out. While it’s true that some […]
Posted inOpinion
Home Energy Scores Offer Economic and Environmental Benefits
By having someone tell us where our homes are most inefficient and what we can do to improve it, people will have tools to do those fixes and save money.
Whether you’re a person who’s motivated by economic concerns or environmental ones, there’s something to appreciate about the new Home Energy Score program coming to Bend. Those who have bought or sold a home—or have thought about it—have probably heard various statistics about how much more they can garner from a home if that home […]
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Letters to the Editor 12/14/2022
RE: Nurses Overwhelmed and Understaffed News, 12/8 Thank you for raising attention to the nursing shortage and the toll it takes on nurses and patients. It reinforces the need to figure out how to keep ourselves healthy using nature’s medicine so that we don’t need to lean on nurses/doctors so much. A portion of the […]
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Letters to the Editor 12/08/2022
RE: Concealed Carry Laws in Oregon Need to Change. Opinion, 12/1 Your editorial on concealed carry laws is spot on. There are music venues, bars and other businesses in Austin that post signs telling patrons that they cannot bring their guns inside, concealed carry permit or not. That’s deep in the heart of Texas, folks. […]
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American Cities Were Built to Accommodate the Automobile. Help Them Accommodate People Instead.
What we are seeing right now, in our city and in so many cities in our state and nation, is a shift to a different way of thinking that could result in a different way of life.
If there’s anything that gets people in Bend fired up, it’s talking about parking. Whether it’s the relatively recent addition of paid, permitted parking around Drake Park or the recent conversation happening among the Bend City Council about eliminating parking minimums in the city, people are passionate about the topic. In order to comply with […]
Posted inOpinion
Concealed Carry Laws in Oregon Need to Change
Had Oregon had common sense laws that barred people with concealed-carry permits from carrying guns while drinking, Barry Washington might still be alive.
In the wake of the verdict and now sentencing of Ian Cranston for the killing of Barry Washington outside a bar in Bend in September 2021, Cranston has become a martyr of sorts among the people who believe that he was simply “a white man defending himself” against a purportedly stronger (and outnumbered) Black man […]
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Letters to the Editor 12/01/2022
Guest Opinion: Public Trust and the Deschutes River In October, irrigators began the annual drawing down of the Deschutes River to the point where fish and other wildlife die or are threatened. Good people have tried to save fish stranded in pools of water. I do not want to denigrate their efforts, but the fact […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters to the Editor 11/24/2022
RE: Jury Reaches Verdict in Cranston Trial. Web version, 11/16 The jury heard all the evidence and had the proper instructions from the Court before going into deliberation – 2nd Degree Murder was a charge grandstanded by outgoing DA John Hummel – and the evidence to include video evidence from four stationary security cameras showed […]
Posted inOpinion
Sheriffs Need to Follow the Laws. All of Them.
It’s exhausting to see what sheriffs around the state—including those in Jefferson, Crook and Deschutes counties are saying in regard to Measure 114
After an election, as voters, we hope to take a collective breath, look around at the changes on the horizon due to our collective decisions and as winners and losers move forward with those changes, knowing they came from our collective will. That’s democracy, plain and simple. Many had a collective sigh of relief after […]
