What does nonviolence ask of us?
As we prepare for No Kings: Vote Early on October 17, we’ve been thinking deeply about what it means to create a genuinely safe and welcoming movement.
No Kings: Vote Early is part of a nationwide day of nonpartisan voter participation, turning people power into voter power. Here in Central Oregon, we’ll help eligible voters make a plan to vote and encourage people to participate in our democracy.
On October 17, we’ll gather at 1 p.m. at Drake Park for speakers, music, and community, then march to Peace Corner at 2 p.m.
We want people to be able to participate and express themselves without fearing physical harm.
At a previous No Kings gathering, a Black community member burned an American flag as an act of political protest. Some people in our predominantly white crowd became angry and attempted to physically intervene. He was not seriously injured; however, the situation could easily have ended differently.
What happened requires us to examine racism and implicit bias, including assumptions we may carry without recognizing them. Good intentions and shared political values alone do not guarantee that everyone in our spaces is safe.
The American flag can represent freedom, democracy, sacrifice, and belonging. It can also carry a profoundly different history for communities that have experienced genocide, forced removal, racial exclusion, discrimination, and state violence. We do not all encounter the American flag carrying the same history.
Nonviolence has to center human beings and their safety. On October 17, people may encounter political expression that makes them angry or deeply uncomfortable. Give one another room. Step away when you need to. Bring genuine safety concerns to our de-escalation team rather than physically intervening.
As a predominantly white organization in a predominantly white community, we have a responsibility to examine our own practices, listen to those most affected, and create meaningful ways for their voices and leadership to shape our work.
People power means thinking seriously about who gets to participate, whose voices are heard, and who feels safe exercising that power.
Lets take this opportunity to examine ourselves and create the community we truly want to see:
a safe, inclusive and empowered community that inspires us to vote early and thoughfully.
No Kings: Vote Early
Saturday, October 17
1 p.m. at Drake Park
March to Peace Corner at 2 p.m.
No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings. We decide.
—David Baker-Yuill
(Not!) ‘Central’ library an exercise in excess
My first visit to the new “Central” Bend Public Library posed a new destination for a pleasant Sunday afternoon bike ride down 27th Street. On this mild, late summer day one other bike rider doubled the number of bikes parked in front of this aircraft carrier-sized structure. My prediction is that those bike racks will spawn cobwebs.
Walking into this behemoth for the first time elicited a sense of awe that matched all the fawning hype that I’d been hearing since the library’s opening. The lobby contains the space of an airplane hangar. The coffee shop gives the atrium the vibe of a food court, with books on the side. Overhead, a gargantuan, trippy wood sculpture hovers over a grand stairway to heaven.
Does a library really need a coffee shop? Where’s my 30 taps and food carts?!
I took pictures on my phone as I took a self-guided tour of the three floors. I’d never seen a library like this. I was in awe of this superfluous spectacle. The childrens’ play area caught me by surprise. Does a library really need a kids’ play zone? Do kids have to play in the library? Aren’t all the books and a quest for knowledge enough to entertain young minds?
I was going to share my photos on my Facebook page, so all my out-of-state friends could see what a brand new, cutting-edge library looks like, Central Oregon-style. But on further reflection, I found the opulence and excess embarrassing, drowning out any false sense of pride that I might have initially felt.
A subsequent visit to the library by car was memorable due to cars and pickups cruising the too-small parking lot searching for the elusive empty spot — not a relaxing or enjoyable experience.
Was this library-gone-wild really necessary, or just someone’s perceived legacy? How many millions of dollars did this over-the-top miscreation cost? Was it really worth it? Was it worth losing our beloved and well-used eastside library? What about the other convenient satellite libraries around the county that were shut down? And the real central librarydowntown won’t reopen until sometime next year, or later.
In the meantime, enjoy the journey down south, if you have the means to do so.
Load up the car or truck, fill the tank and drive down to the Mothership.
It has cappuccino!
—Richard Sitts (Disclosure: Richard Sitts is an employee of the Source.)
Dogs inthe Wilderness
If the Forest Service’s goal is to protect our wilderness areas, it should consider limiting not only the number of people on the seventeen most popular trails, but also the number of dogs.
On a recent hike on one of those protected trails, I noticed dog droppings along the way and damage to the soft landscape from frolicking dogs. Also, a dog’s instinct to chase can harm wildlife and reduce everyone’s chance of seeing forest critters along the way. In addition, dogs have been known to chase and bite hikers who are seeking calm and tranquility in the wilderness.
If dogs are to be permitted at all, a year-round leash requirement should be considered.
But even during the leash season, some owners unleash their dogs as soon as they leave the trailhead, so that policy isn’t working. And dog droppings, bagged or not, are still a common sight along the trail.
I realize the Forest Service is experimenting to see what works.
I encourage readers to share their thoughts with the Forest Service, as I have. They welcome your ideas, documented observations, and photos.
—Calli Madrone
Big Biz = Big Problem
Here is the thing. For a town that thrives on phrases like, “We love visiting and checking out all the cute shops downtown,” there is little being done to protect those moments and the shops they reference. Another big hit recently with Tactics closing its doors, sure this is no one associated with Downtown Bend’s fault but what happens next is. The shops that have unique items, handmade treasures, stories, neighbors that own them, shops with true personality. Stores that those visiting from PDX, Seattle, or all the way across the pond are excited to venture into rather than see the same old items they left behind at their failing local mall or an open tab on their phone, waiting for a sale before they order. The small, locally owned and operated places are the ones we need to hold tight to. The small business owners we see at the grocery store on the sidelines at kid’s sports games -— we need our city to show up and support them before they too become a story of days gone by. Supporting small businesses rather than chasing $$ signs makes you a winner every time. We can do better. Places like Tactics are few and far between. ‘Third spaces’ build on community, gathering, commonality while honoring differences. The loss of that place and that crew is big and it scares me to think this might be a pattern, pulling the soul out of downtown and the connections made there and bringing in brands that look at Bend simply as another box to check rather than a community to be part of. Residents and visitors alike love our local shops, let’s not remove these treasures from our town but rather have the powers that be stand up and do more to support all the good they bring.
—Caitlin Bjornstad
There went the water
Water shortage is not coming. It’s here.
Last spring, I overheard farmers talk about pumping dry air from their wells. Then came news of Redmond securing water for the next 25 years by drilling deeper into its aquifers. In La Pine, data center development raised alarm about an already vulnerable water supply. To the north, Warm Springs had urgent calls for fresh water during the wildfires.
Meanwhile, Central Oregon keeps growing.
Large corporations, chain restaurants, commercial development and expensive outward expansion place increasing pressure on infrastructure and affordability.
If our watershed begins to resemble our economics, those who cannot afford to pay more for water may get a literal trickle.
What will water scarcity look like in a community already experiencing economic disparity and gentrification? Who will be protected — corporate industries and commercial interests, or citizens?
We treat money as a finite resource. We save it, budget it and worry about losing it. Yet we often live as though water will always be there.
The River Democracy Act, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden and co-sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, would protect Oregon’s rivers and public lands. More than 15,000 people have already joined the grassroots effort to protect our vital water resources.
We can each participate in this change. This is our micro-level Paris Agreement: an everyday commitment to consume less and protect more. You have time for this.
Because time is a choice.
Water isn’t.
—Jennifer Christine
Raised electric rates
Have you seen the notice that your electric rates are going up by almost 10% this month? Thank you, Trump! With diesel at $7 a gallon, even while draining our national strategic reserves, due to losing a war in Iran, it costs more to maintain and run electric utilities. With tariffs increasing the price of replacement vehicle and machine parts, we the consumers have to pay more. As Jesus noted in Mark 12:16, we now have the image of Trump on our coin and know who we are paying our wages to.
— Matieu Federspiel
Six months later
Last spring, I wrote a letter to the editor about how the economy looks different on a fixed income. Today, it looks worse.
In March, when I wrote that letter, gas in Bend had just passed $4.50 a gallon. By early summer it was over $5. Prices usually ease in the fall, but not this year. This week, gas in Bend averages $4.95 a gallon, almost a dollar more than a year ago.
People I know are quietly driving shorter distances and shopping at WinCo and Grocery Outlet instead of Safeway. I buy chicken now, not beef. The one thing I won’t give up is bison for my grandson’s chili when he visits.
Health care choices have narrowed. A few years ago, seniors in Deschutes County could choose among seven Medicare Advantage companies. Now there is only PacificSource. I pay about $250 a month for my Medicare supplement, and in Oregon, my plan’s rate also rises as I age. At the Larkspur pool, a friend in her 80s told me she can’t afford a supplement, so she depends on the one plan left. This year her monthly payment went up. Her cost-of-living raise covered that, but not the rising cost of food and gas.
In that letter, I wrote that for retirees on fixed incomes, the weight was real and growing. It has grown.
— Laurie Clark
Letter of the Week:
Thanks for your perspective, Laurie, and for following up on your previous letter. Come on by for your gift card to Palate! And readers: We’ve been getting a lot of election-related letters in recent weeks, and we are not ignoring them. Look to next week’s Election Issue, when we’ll expand the Letters section to make room for a lot more of your thoughts about politics and political candidates.
—Nicole Vulcan
This article appears in the Source October 15, 2026.
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Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley have no intentions on passing The River Democracy Act. Funny how every election cycle where they have no power and no chance of passing anything they release things like this for midterm votes only to let it die. Where was there so-called love for our rivers when they had the power to do something?
How many decades will this continue to go on before people see they are only in politics for themselves.
Re. Calli Madrone’s letter, “Dogs in the wilderness,” how Homo-centric! We share the Earth with millions of species, almost all of whom are better citizens than we are. Yes, there is dog poop here and there – left by the humans who accompanied the dog. I cannot count the times have my dogs cleaned up unburied human poop. Or would you rather step on broken glass? Yes, there is an occasional incident of a dog chasing a bike or a deer – not nearly as lethal as a drunken driver. Or a nuclear bomb. If any species should be leashed, limited, or excluded from the national forest, it is Homo sapiens, not Canis lupus familiaris.