Letters to the Editor, Week of Dec. 25

Re: Beyond the Banner: Why a Non-Partisan Approach is Essential for Deschutes County (Dec. 11, 2025)

Chris Piper published a letter to the editor on Dec. 11 calling for a nonpartisan approach to local governance. We already have such a candidate in this race: Maddie McKinney.
Maddie has been quietly working in this community for nearly 20 years, getting the job done without chasing clout or publicizing her accomplishments. She has long been dedicated to improving the lives of working families in our community. Maddie is a solid team player — she has been with Deschutes County’s WIC program for the past 13 years and consistently develops innovative, creative solutions to challenges. She adapts quickly when new information arises and always seeks expert opinions and the latest research. Maddie is a problem solver. She will not stop until there is a budget-friendly solution on the table that works for everyone. She is reasonable, thoughtful, and committed to advancing policies for the greater good rather than catering to special interests.
She does not have prior experience as an elected official — she is a civil servant, not a politician. And we don’t need more politicians; we need good, smart, committed citizens. Maddie is running for the right reasons.
She chose to enter this race as an unaffiliated candidate because she believes voters were clear when they made the Board of Commissioners nonpartisan in 2022. Partisan politics doesn’t serve us here. In Deschutes County, we have more voters who are not registered with a major party than those who are. It’s time we choose candidates committed to solutions, not party lines. You can visit votemaddie.com for more information about her platform.
Maddie’s candidacy is a refreshing shift in an age when we have become increasingly divided by party affiliation. Running without party support is a difficult feat, and I applaud her for choosing the hard road and striving to do things differently.

—Jax Dolezal

Re: Peter Madsen’s article “‘Implausible,’ ‘Inconsistent’ and Unsubstantiated by Evidence (Dec. 16, 2025)

In response to Peter Madsen’s December 16 article “‘Implausible,’ ‘Inconsistent’ and Unsubstantiated by Evidence, I’m saddened by the story’s lack of depth surrounding the recent departure of the city of Bend’s equity and inclusion director.
Honest reporting would attempt to take a step back with broader context, starting with why this position is needed: Bend’s population is almost 90% white, a demographic that speaks to the state of Oregon’s legacy of racist exclusion laws.
The next step could have been to remind readers about the overt racist hostility that’s been on full display at Bend city council meetings since the pandemic – public comments all too easily accessible if you care to remember. In that context, it wouldn’t have been far-fetched for your reporting to display a little more critical thinking about the experiences of a black employee in an almost predominantly white city administration.
Instead, you create the false illusion that equity is alive and well in Bend. Make no mistake: simply relaying facts isn’t good reporting; taking a step back to see broader dynamics at play is. This story failed to do that. My guess is, as an almost exclusively white media outlet, the Source Weekly is still learning how to take its own privileged blinders off.
—Karim Bouris

This article appears in the Source December 25, 2025.