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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2015)
2 Wednesday,December30,2015The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon O P I N I O N Be wary of marijuana By Susan Tunno Guest Columnist The Nugget will be closed on Friday, January 1 Early deadline for display advertising and the events calendar for the issue of January 6 is Thursday, December 31 at 5 p.m. Deadline for classified advertising, announcements, letters to the editor and press releases for the issue of January 6 is Monday, January 4 at noon. Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces- sarily 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 no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. TotheEditor: Piedad and Steve Kingsland would like to thank the Sisters community, friends, and family for the prayers and support we received during Piedad’s illness. Piedad received a life-saving liver transplant at OHSUonSeptember8andisdoingremark- ablywell. A special thank-you to Zoe and girls at Shibui, and Jeff and Theresa at The Hair Caché. Withgreatappreciation, PiedadandSteve s s s TotheEditor: Re:Roundaboutvs.signal: Letusnotforgetthisisamajoreast/west corridor.Trafficsignalswork.Thereisarea- sonBendbuiltaparkway.LaPinehasalight, notaroundabout. Maybe we can make the bypass around Sistersuser-friendlyifwehadalightatthe otherendoftown,also. AlanMorris s s s TotheEditor: Onceagain,it’stimeforNewYear’sreso- lutions,particularlythosetoimproveourdiet andexerciseroutine. Although gun violence and traffic acci- dents remain the leading causes of death among young people, the most danger- ous weapon for the rest of us is still our fork. Well over a million of us are killed each year by high blood pressure, dia- betes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, See LETTERS on page 29 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Mostly sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny Mostly sunny Partly sunny Mostly cloudy 28/1 26/0 26/2 27/5 27/10 30/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2014 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. Deschutes County and its proudly protected com- munities of Bend, Sisters, Redmond,TerrebonneandLa Pinehaveareputationacross thecountryasbeingamong themostdesirableplacesto liveandworkinthecountry. Businessandindustryvie fortheopportunitytomove their entire operations to thisareaandtheybringtheir entire employee staff with them. Itisanextraordinaryphe- nomenon that comes as no accident.OurOregonwayof justsayingnotoshort-term profitsoutofeconomicdes- perationandinsteadchoosing long-termgains. We have chosen most recently a University, a Facebook Data Center, a major airport expansion, an urban growth boundary expansion in Bend for resi- dentialhousinggrowth. Historically our biggest industryhasbeenthedestina- tionresortindustry.Itisour biggesteconomicengineand thevehiclethroughwhichthe outsideworldhasbeenintro- ducedtoourbeautifulCentral Oregon. Deschutes County decided to turn around the standingjoke“povertywitha view”andharvestthatview foraneweconomy. But the end of that era was just announced. It arrivedthroughthedefeatof the Thornburg Destination Resort Application. As a result of the federal list- ingofthebulltroutandall thatensuesfromthatlisting combined with the results ofanewscientificstudyof the middle and lower basin converged in a two-punch knockout for any future growthinthebasininvolving majorwaterextraction. And now comes what GovernorTom McCall said would always come knock- ingatOregon’sdoor,seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of Oregon’s eco- nomic, environmental, and socialhealth. Todayitistherecreational marijuana-growingindustry that has come knocking at Oregon’sdoor. Thanks to our extraordi- naryland-usesystem,which hasevolvedfromSB100to thewell-wornpathofcitizen involvement at the grass- rootslevelformingthefirst plankofscrutinytoallnew land-useproposals.Therural community came forward and took their place in the process. The hundreds of testi- monials, written and oral, accompanied by rich data andscientificstudiesrelevant totheanalysisoftheimpact ofallowingthisnewindustry intoDeschutesCountywere submitted.Thequalityofthe public input was extraordi- naryandcompelling. Of particular value, the Colorado reports submitted whichprovideuswithhard dataontheeconomiccosts, the property devaluations, thesocialandenvironmental impactssincetheCannabis- Industrial Complex estab- lished itself. Eerily similar to Oregon’s enabling legis- lation,Coloradohadjustsix monthstocreatealegaland regulatoryframeworkforthe growing, sale and distribu- tionofrecreationalcannabis. TheresultsforColorado are there for all to see and know what to expect as the probable outcome for Oregon.Thereportsofprob- lems with Colorado mari- juanagreenhousesreadlike theoraltestimonyfromthis community. And we have onlyjustexperiencedasmall taste of the industry from the early arrivers who have rushed in, bought property, setupoperationsandappro- priatedourfederallyandstate regulated basin waters for their recreational marijuana growing. The mantle of deci- sion-making now passes to our Deschutes County Commissioners. They must choose the path which will forever mark the future of thisregion. If they choose to allow andregulatethegrowindus- try,canthecountyguarantee that a no-net-loss standard appliedtotheenvironment, the property tax base, the existingbusinessesandusers canbeguaranteed? Does that choice fit in withourOregonway? CanourDeschutesCounty Commissioners guarantee that what has happened in Coloradowon’thappenhere? Today’s choice reminds us of when it all began; Governor Tom McCall’s inaugural speech upon tak- ingtheoathofofficeJanuary 9, 1967: Health, economic strength, recreation — in fact, the entire outlook and imageofthestate—aretied inseparablytoenvironment. Water, air, land and scenic pollutionthreatentheseand othervaluesinOregon… Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
