Letters to the Editor

Re: New Leadership Steps Into the Tower’s Spotlight (Aug. 6)

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about the Tower Theatre. We value community input and want to clarify a few points while also extending an invitation to experience what’s happening on our stage. The Tower is proud to serve as a nonprofit community hub, offering not only concerts but also venue space to rent, arts education programs, and community events that enrich Central Oregon. Our calendar currently has over 100 events through January ‘26 with more being added weekly. Our Act 2 season with over 98 events (January-June 2026) is being announced this October. As the new Programming Director for the Tower, I am actively expanding programming into new genres which will broaden our audiences, with the goal of making the theatre a premier destination.

In addition to theater, comedy, movies, our LessonPLAN Program, Community Engagement Program and other cultural events, we are bringing in a very diverse range of music from nationally recognized performers like Sam Bush, Keller Williams, Ron Artis II, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Blind Boys of Alabama w/Cory Henry, and Samantha Fish, to local favorites such as Blackstrap Bluegrass, Paula Dreyer (with Holly Bowling), Skillethead (with Jacob Jolliff), and DJ Ells (with SugarHill Gang). We are committed to supporting local artists and organizations. The more our community embraces and supports these shows, the greater the opportunities we can create on the Tower stage.

In 2006, I built Central Oregon’s only multi-day family music festival which continued through 2024. I am bringing that same creativity, diversity, and energy to the Tower. We hope you’ll join us at an upcoming performance. You may be surprised by just how much variety and vibrancy is already here. Please visit towertheare.org for our full array of Tower Theatre Foundation events, and rental events. Thank you to our community for naming us The Source Weekly’s Best Indoor Venue!

Stacy Koff, Programming Director / Tower Theatre Foundation

RE: Sundays on the Green (Aug. 21)

Thank you so much for covering Sundays on the Green in your last issue. The Source has always done an excellent job at promoting locally owned businesses and their community building efforts. I appreciate it as a business owner and a community member. I love to support local. And Cosmic Depot appreciates the attention highlighting our summertime weekly canned food drive. So thank you!

I would love to highlight the involvement of Eileen Lock who is the Intuitive Astrologer and Spiritual Minister who partners with Cosmic Depot to host this event. Eileen has been holding healing fairs and canned food drives in Central Oregon for 47 years and counting. She is an invaluable community resource who has volunteered her own services to help others and put food on the table of Central Oregonians for a very long time, nearly half a century. Eileen and her One Heart Ministry is responsible in large part for Sundays on the Green and the tremendous good it has done in our community. The Cosmic Depot would like to shout out her support and take a deep bow of public appreciation for Eileen Lock’s tutilage and tremendous integrity, kindness, enlightened inutition and enormous heart. Thank you Eileen for all you do to support the healing and spiritual well being of everyone you meet. This world benefits greatly from your kindness.

Christy Nickey from Cosmic Depot

Re: Letters to Editor (8/14)

I think the new library building looks like books lined up on the shelf! I love the way the design lets light in all the angled windows so it’ll be bright and airy inside, but without direct sunlight that can damage books. I also appreciate that our community is making such a significant investment in a public resource designed to encourage thinking, exploration of new ideas, and the importance of the stories and experiences of others!

Becky Boyd

CASA Volunteers Needed

I hear it all the time – we only see bad news when we open a newspaper or website or turn on the TV each night. Some people choose to tune out, put their heads in the sand. Others choose to try to make a difference.

If you’re one of the people who isn’t content to look the other way and want to make a tangible difference in your community, I encourage you to sign up for one of CASA of Central Oregon’s fall volunteer trainings. Your volunteer work could help break cycles of violence, abuse, and poverty – and keep our most vulnerable children safe and healthy.

CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. When a child ends up in the foster care system because their parents cannot or will not care for them, there is a whirlwind of court dates, lawyers, caseworkers and often resource families that can be overwhelming for the child. A CASA’s volunteer job is to be an advocate for the child in court and ensure that they don’t fall through the cracks. These volunteers are often the only consistent person throughout the case – a caseworker may change; they may stay with multiple families during their experience. But a CASA sticks with the case from start to finish, getting to know the child and advocating for what is in their best interest.

It’s not easy. But children in care who have a CASA are more likely to find a safe, permanent home, succeed in school, get the medical and educational services they need, and they’re also half as likely to return to foster care. Maybe most importantly in these situations, they report higher levels of hope than kids in foster care who don’t have a CASA.

As a CASA, you can help these children succeed and potentially break out of the generational patterns that can stymie our community and result in all that bad news you see when you check the latest headlines.

I currently serve on the board for CASA of Central Oregon, and I volunteered as an advocate with the nonprofit for about seven years before that. It is one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. All these years later, I still sometimes run into families and children I worked with during my time as a CASA, and there is nothing so gratifying as seeing these kids healthy, succeeding in school, and safe.

CASA of Central Oregon serves children throughout the tri-county area, and the two fall trainings reflect that. In-person trainings will begin in September in Prineville and in Bend. Right now, there are more than 100 children waiting for a CASA in Central Oregon. You can learn more and sign up today at www.casaofcentraloregon.org.

Your decision to give your time to vulnerable children in our community will mean so much — I hope you’ll join us.

Sheila Miller, CASA of Central Oregon board member

Letter of the Week:
Thanks Sheila for your dedication to the children of this community. As letter of the week, you can stop by the Source in downtown Bend for a gift card to Palate coffee. — Managing Editor Nic Moye

This article appears in the Source August 28, 2025.