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Wednesday,December30,2015The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon
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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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or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
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Mostly sunny
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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.