Letters to the Editor, Week of March 26

Privacy belongs in Bend’s public conversation

I recently attended my first Deschutes Democrats meeting and came away with a simple conclusion: Bend needs to start talking a lot more seriously about privacy.

At the meeting, I asked U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum what national privacy bills are worth tracking and who constituents should contact to better understand these issues. She encouraged people to follow her office and request meetings with staff. That was useful, because many people know something feels off about the direction of surveillance and data collection, but they do not know where to begin.

I also asked Andrew Caruana what he would do to protect the privacy of Oregonians if elected. Afterward, I spoke with Rep. Jason Kropf about privacy, automated license plate readers and emerging technology. Whatever people think of their answers, the larger issue is clear: this topic is not going away.

Privacy is not some abstract concern for policy nerds. It affects whether ordinary people can move through public life without being tracked, logged, profiled and stored. Data brokers, tech platforms, retailers and government agencies are all part of that expanding system.

Bend residents should be asking much harder questions about surveillance, data retention, information sharing and real safeguards. If we do not push for accountability now, we should not be surprised when convenience and technology keep outrunning liberty.

—Jonathan Westmoreland

Choose Character for County Commission

My husband and I came to Bend six years ago, drawn by the feeling of a big, small town – friendly, active and involved, with a few perks from city life too (like great restaurants!). It’s a place that’s been easy to meet people and feel part of the community.

Before Rick Russell announced his candidacy for Deschutes County Commissioner, I met him when I attended his compelling talk as the leader of a local nonprofit. He was speaking about the work his organization was doing to build safe, community-oriented temporary and permanent housing. Rick immediately impressed me with his knowledge and compassion. Even more so because he’s actually taking action and getting real results.

Rick’s a local guy, not a politician. He’s just someone who gets stuff done and cares deeply for people he’s serving. Rick finds common ground with whomever it takes – from housing experts, law enforcement, veterans’ groups, faith communities, and business partners – to deliver for our community. That’s how he’s attracted $23.7 million in state funding for a village of 75 small homes in Redmond designed to help people get out of homelessness.

Rick’s experience taking on critical challenges in our community has shown how he will lead in the County Commissioner role—with courage and collaboration to really make a difference for all of us. I’ll be voting for Rick Russell in the May election, and I hope you’ll join me.

–Lee Ann Johnson

Is Trump the Boy Who Cried Wolf?

Ezra Klein interviewed Trump’s former deputy national security advisor, Nadia Schadlow, in the NY Times. Her logic was clear – Iran’s government vows “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” so if there’s any chance they can still build an atomic bomb we must stop it.

But what if they can’t build a bomb? The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that our own military experts say such a threat is a decade away or more. What if this is just another boogie man – like “the Domino Theory” or “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Then this becomes a war of choice, just like those others. A military escapade dressed up in a hollow rationale.

Who can we trust to tell us the truth about that? Donald Trump?

Trump said Iran was “two weeks” from developing a nuclear weapon when he launched his attack. But “two weeks“ is a recuring Trump rhetorical device – two weeks for a new health care plan, two weeks to solve peace in Ukraine, two weeks to prove that President Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower.

And those are just a few of his false statements(lies),disputed claims, exaggerations, or mischaracterizations. Let’s not forget his claiming “widespread fraud in the 2020 election,” or calling the crowd size for his 2017 inauguration “the largest ever” or admitting that COVID was “deadly” after he had told the public it was no worse than the flu.

Lies built on lies seem to be masking the truth about Trump’s Iran War. Or do they? How real is the threat right now? If we can’t trust Trump to tell the truth about it, maybe looking at history would be a way to answer that question.

It’s fair to say that before this war, nothing else has worked to stop this nation that hates America and Israel from working on development of the ultimate terror weapon. Negotiations have failed. Inspections were incomplete. Jawboning and threats only seemed to strengthen their resolve.

So Trump took stronger measures. He sent “bunker buster” bombs to Iran less than a year ago, and he declared their nuclear program was “completely and totally obliterated.”

It was a lie.

Not “totally” came the assessment of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the group known as the world’s nuclear watchdog. They cited “severe damage, but not total damage.” It seems the attack did little to weaken Iran’s intentions to continue its nuclear program, or its nuclear know-how, and it left in place a big stockpile of enriched uranium.

So Trump walked back his “obliterated” claim in this year’s State of the Union and switched from atomic bombs to missiles, saying that Iran “has already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States.” True or false? Who knows?

Trump would like us to believe that his attack this week simply means we’re going back to finish the job we started – the job of destroying what could be shaping up as putting nuclear weapons in the hands of the world’s major sponsor of terrorism

If that’s true we should all be thankful for his forceful measures to wipe the threat out once and for all. But what if it’s not true? How are we to know? Trump’s web of lies makes me want to compare him to the Boy Who Cried Wolf — the boy who the townsfolk learned to ignore.

But we have to remember how that story ends. The wolf ate the sheep.

—Louis Capozzi

This article appears in the Source March 26, 2026.