Editor's note:
I feel like I've said, "just before this issue went to press" a lot recently—probably due to the fact that the governor and state agencies have seemed to enjoy issuing statements late in the afternoon all throughout the pandemic, and also due to the fact that we're a weekly paper with just one "press day" a week, and that makes us notice when things change last-minute. Up next in the ongoing "just before this issue went to press" saga: A new—or renewed—mask mandate is coming to Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown's office announced (late in the afternoon) Tuesday. Wherever you land on masks, one thing is certain: Having them required at the state level kinda makes moot all the wild and sometimes unruly recent discussions at the school board and county level about whether to require them, right?
I wanted to use the editor's note this week to muse about the recent United Nations report highlighting how human-caused emissions are a major factor in climate change, which is obvious again this week by this latest heat wave we're facing. There's less room for that now—but perhaps now that city and county and school board officials don't have to debate the mask mandates during public meetings, they'll have a little more time to focus on implementing local plans for emissions-free travel options—a la protected bike lanes and the like. Every car trip counts.
Keep calm, carry on and enjoy your week!
Yes to vaccines or weekly testing
County Commissioners: Please require county employees to be vaccinated or be regularly tested for COVID as a condition of employment. It just makes sense to protect ALL the employees in county offices. People don't just make their vaccine decisions for themselves; their individual decisions impact everyone around them in the workplace and in the community. Public service means serving everyone and choosing not to be vaccinated serves no one. It is a valid employment requirement to be vaccinated or tested weekly.—Marie Vandaveer
COVID vaccine for Deschutes County employees
The three County Commissioners are elected by county voters to ensure the well-being of county residents. Given that our St. Charles Hospital system is full with ER patients boarded in ER rooms until a bed is available, that our COVID cases are rising drastically again, and that we need healthy county employees to keep services running, it is reasonable to require all employees be vaccinated or at least to be tested weekly. This not only helps to protect them and their families but also the community. We have seen how the areas in our state with lowest vaccination rates are suffering increased incidence of COVID. Deschutes County can be a leader in helping to slow and defeat this pandemic.—Linda Burgel
RE: Parking Pains Are Only Beginning. Survey All Residents About How to Proceed With Old Bend Parking Program. Opinion, 7/15
RE: Parking Pains Are Only Beginning. Survey All Residents About How to Proceed With Old Bend Parking Program. Opinion, 7/15What you might not realize is that many people downtown and other so-called " rich neighborhoods" that bought their homes or built them 20+ years ago we're considered very affordable and the upkeep took a lot of time, money and effort. Is only by living here so long that they have appreciated so much in value because of all the people moving here. So don't paint everyone in those areas with the same brush please!
—Debbie Ross via bendsource.com
Survey all residents? Why not open it up to the entire PNW? They have just as much of a right to 'weigh in' as a Bend resident living off empire... I mean surely their vacation monies are supporting the local economy... and thus the park. It's mostly their money contributing to the downtown economy and thus congestion. Wait. I got a better idea. We should poll the homeless. Surely they'd 'feel' less homeless being able to set up camp in the neighborhood and park. This is an ignorant editorial. Just about every urban area across the U.S. has some form of parking/permitting process. The neighborhood around the park being polled because they are most affected is pretty basic logic. Careful your ideology doesn't continue to infect reason. In regards to the comments about wealthy residents... so moronic — does owning a home worth the above average price of other homes in the area make someone wealthy? In relation to whom? In relation to what other neighborhoods in the area? Tetherow? I bet folks in Aubrey Butte are super envious of those Old Bend folks' houses with 30 years of deferred maintenance and crappy parking. The more I write the more I think this article was written by a 20 something angry child who got a ticket and still lives in their parents' house.
—Joshua Hesseltine via bendsource.com
DA's office, Bend PD need to be on the same page. Opinion, 8/5
I am lukewarm on DA Hummel and Chief Krantz for similar reasons. I get that Bend is not the small town I moved to in 1972 and recently returned to after 15 years away. I came from a similar sized town in Idaho that is far more diverse in population and has a different set of problems. Homelessness is at the top of the list in our problems but it is really a symptom of the economy 'We" have built. I do not think that Bend can bring or is interested in many of those "Middle" jobs I hear about. The gentrification seems to be gaining speed.—Chuck Jay via facebook.com
Emerson's Cleared. Now What? News, 8/5
@The Source Weekly, please note that using terms "clearing" and "sweep" denotes things which are thrown away. Human beings were evicted and their personal belongings were swept away. There is a process in Oregon for removing humans and their belongings from property and the notices utilized to inform the public and the campers of removal are Eviction Notices. I mention this because all human beings have basic rights. When you don't use the word "evict" when referring to human beings and replace it with "clean" or "sweep," you've taken away basic human rights and trained the public to think of human beings without housing as trash. We then arrive at the question of evicting people during a pandemic when there has been a moratorium on evictions, whether or not processes were followed properly, and what we can learn going forward to ensure basic human rights and human dignity are addressed.—Kathleen Creel Leppert, via facebook.com
Letter of the Week:
Kathleen: Thanks for the food for thought and for the lesson learned. Come on by for your gift card to Palate!—Nicole Vulcan
