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Wednesday, August 26, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Beware of apathy
By diane goble
Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
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To the Editor:
Teflon Andrew & his complicit Nugget.
Interesting use of the straw man argument
so prevalent with the Obama Administration
— all my unnamed, silent supporters agree.
According to Miriam Webster’s online dic-
tionary “litigious” is defined as: “ too ready
or eager to sue someone or something in a
court of law; tending or likely to engage in
lawsuits.” In that Mr. Gorayeb’s conduct is
presently the subject of at least one present
litigation and further that he has also lawyered
up over his egregious conduct with Outlaws
Lacrosse one finds his use of that adjective ...
ironic.
I’ve read the letter in question & I’ve also
read several of Mr. Gorayeb’s strident rants in
this forum over the years. Andrew’s calling
anyone else a bully is beyond irony.
It’s time for the city council to address this
consistent nuisance.
Ted Carlson
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Our family was stunned and devastated
when we received SPRD’s notice of Andrew’s
resignation from the Outlaws Lacrosse organi-
zation earlier this summer.
While my son has benefitted from scores
of great coaches throughout his sports career
(he will be a senior at Sisters High School this
fall), it was Andrew who was the topic of his
“Individual who has been an inspiration…”
essay assigned in his sophomore year.
He had chosen Andrew as his ASPIRE
mentor for guidance toward his future college-
education plans. As a single mother, I sought
out Andrew’s advice more than a few times,
when I needed a little extra guidance in navi-
gating the sometimes tumultuous seas one
encounters raising teenage boys, and always
received the advice and encouragement needed
to keep my sails aloft and my ship pointed in
the right direction!
Thank you, Andrew — coach, friend — for
your years of service to Oregon lacrosse, our
youth, the Sisters community, and our family.
You continue to have our support, admiration,
respect and love. The field won’t be the same
without you.
Wendi Reed Jacques
See LeTTeRs on page 16
Sisters Weather Forecast
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After attending all the
Community Assets Commit-
tee meetings this past year
because I was interested in
observing the process, I can
say I was pleasantly surprised
at how well organized it was.
Everybody participated coop-
eratively, there was no dis-
sension, no politics, no ego
trips, and they accomplished
their goal of vetting the top
three projects voted on by the
people who attended a previ-
ous town-hall meeting.
Next they offered a fol-
low-up town-hall meeting to
explain the results and pres-
ent a survey, to get more
public input about how to
proceed. Only about 10 per-
cent of those eligible to vote
turned in a survey despite
intense outreach. Did the
other 90 percent just not want
anything to do with it? Did 12
people basically waste their
time for a year doing what
people asked them to do?
Maybe it’s apathy, not tox-
icity, that’s the problem with
Sisters.
A lot of changes have
taken place in Sisters since
the community’s “vision
statement” was written in
2010. Sisters is not just a
cozy little Western artsy
tourist town anymore and is
poised to come into her own
as a full-fledged self-support-
ing ... what?
Vision statement: “We cre-
ate our future through a strong
planning process that pro-
tects town character, encour-
ages environmental sustain-
ability, and defines future
development including hous-
ing options for all citizens.”
That didn’t happen. A
recession intervened with
loss of jobs, business clos-
ings, lower property values;
loss of homes, farms, live-
stock, savings; and many
families leaving the area and
emptying the schools. A lot of
old-timers left and new fami-
lies moved in bringing with
them different values and
ideas. So the old-timers left
are ticked off at the newcom-
ers, and the newcomers don’t
really care what the old tim-
ers think and see Sisters as a
blank slate they can write on.
City management seems
intent on grooming Sisters
as a mecca for tourists from
overcrowded cities along
the coast who have certain
expectations about amenities
and apparently like to drink.
Bud growers aren’t welcome
in spite of the plant’s medici-
nal and economic potential.
High-tech entrepreneurs
hope to make Sisters a hub
for small international online
businesses. Developers want
to make it a destination resort
or a health-and-wellness
center. The arts community,
which besides the environ-
ment is the biggest draw to
Sisters, struggles to find sup-
port amidst changing busi-
ness models.
Those who wrote the
vision statement didn’t antic-
ipate there might be work-
ing families who couldn’t
afford housing. Developers
complain there’s not enough
profit in it for them to build
affordable housing, much
less apartments for working
families, who would become
future homeowners with
school students.
T h e r e ’s t h e d i v i d e
between the rich and the
poor, the haves and the have-
nots; the property owners and
the renters; those inside the
city limits, those outside. We
have those who can afford to
own homes outside Sisters
and shop in Sisters and those
who have to commute to do
the jobs required to maintain
a tourist economy and service
the wealthy homeowners.
Vision statement: “We
have a strong tourism econ-
omy because of this beauty.
But we are also a diversified
entrepreneurial economy that
includes arts and culture, light
industry, natural resource-
based businesses, and small
retail. This economy espe-
cially supports locally con-
ceived and owned businesses
that provide a wide variety
of year-round family-wage
jobs.”
There are people at the
City working on making
changes and looking to the
public for input — so this is
your chance to get involved
in the new economic devel-
opment of Sisters.
Take your ideas to City
Council. They say they want
solutions, not problems.
Bring it!
Vision statement: “Highly
developed local leadership
and an active and informed
citizenry make Sisters a fine
example of community self-
sufficiency and grassroots
democracy.”
That hasn’t happened
either. I’d say both sides need
improvement — more edu-
cation about their jobs for
city manager, council, com-
mittee members and staff;
and more citizen education
and involvement. It takes a
community with a common
vision working together to
bring about change.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.