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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2016)
2 Wednesday, January 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Rachel Marsden American Voices 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 no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: Recently I had a larger propane tank installed, which required running a new gas line. I decided to do it legally so I had it inspected by the county. They charged me $150 for a 10-minute inspection. This defeats the whole purpose of inspec- tions, because next time I will think twice before I call for an inspection. We pay substan- tial property taxes, and in my opinion it would benefit the general public if such inspections were done for no charge rather than revenue- producing fees. Drew Berding s s s To the Editor: Say what you want about the knuckleheads out by Burns, but they do have a point. If, for example, the portion of forest around Sisters Country would belong and be managed by a more local entity, maybe it would employ a few people AND some dollars would help fix the schools (why they don’t budget for main- tenance is a mystery to me). But as it is, T2 (a logging company that is currently doing a job south of town) only gets to thin a little parcel here and there at the pleasure of the Overlords from the Cirque du Forest, if you would pardon my French. And before you get yer knickers all in a bunch, let us discuss the pros and cons of thin- ning and responsible logging. We can do it, and sequester some carbon, or Mother Nature will “thin” it for us a la Pole Creek and release more pollutants than a fleet of VWs. Maybe you’re of the opinion that WE messed up the natural cycle fires; read the book about the Big Burn in 1910. Or perhaps the school district can sell some land it has on Locust/Cascade to ODOT See letterS on page 27 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Mostly cloudy Rain Rain Chance snow shower Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy 49/35 51/35 43/26 36/17 34/na 34/17 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 Advertising: Karen Kassy 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. ©2016 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. PARIS — Iran effec- tively rejoined the inter- national community a few days ago, as longstanding U.S. and European sanc- tions were lifted and the country was granted access to $32 billion of its previ- ously frozen assets. It’s the razing of the Berlin Wall all over again, as another country is opened up to the global market without any shots being fired. But why isn’t there nearly as much celebration over Iran’s economic libera- tion as there was with the fall of the Soviet Union? Russia even kept its nukes. In Iran’s case, there’s been much hand-wringing over the mere possibility it will develop nuclear weap- ons. Some argue that Russia isn’t a rogue state but Iran is. I agree that Russia isn’t a rogue state, but it was cer- tainly portrayed as one dur- ing the Cold War era, which was rife with drills involv- ing children hiding under their desks in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. Could we consider the possibility that perhaps the hyperven- tilation and fear has been overplayed in both cases? The difference in Western attitudes toward the Soviet glasnost and per- estroika (that is, economic opening and restructuring) and today’s Iran is that when the Soviet Union broke apart, there was a feeling that the communists had lost and the West had won. With Iran, there’s a feeling that the Iranians are the winners, because apparently getting Uncle Sam’s boot removed from your neck means that you’ve succeeded in screw- ing him over. Why are some people so insecure as to always frame things in a binary win-lose paradigm? It’s quite pos- sible for Iran and the West to benefit equally from an economic détente. Iran just participated in a prisoner exchange with the U.S., and last month it handed over its enriched ura- nium to Russia under terms of the nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. The concept of face-saving is particularly important in Iranian culture. How much more could be asked of Iran right now? U.S. presidential candi- date and international busi- nessman Donald Trump, who’s made it clear that he thinks the Iran deal is hor- rible, has expressed discon- tent that one of the first eco- nomic overtures Iran made after the lifting of sanctions was to Europe’s aerospace consortium, Airbus, for 114 new commercial aircraft. The loser in that deal would be American competitor Boeing, which had lobbied against the tightening of sanctions on Iran. Look, you can’t act harshly toward a country for years, then demand that it do business with you — particularly in a free market. The whole idea of free trade is that you get to choose who you want to deal with. Some people are already complaining that lifting sanctions and granting Iran access to previously frozen money will mean that it has more to spend on weapons and “exporting terrorism.” But Iran doesn’t throw its weight around anywhere except in the Middle East, which isn’t exactly full of choirboys unequipped to fend for themselves. Besides, the “export- ing terrorism” fear hasn’t stopped the sale of bil- lions of dollars in U.S. and European military equip- ment to Saudi Arabia, a genuine exporter of terror- ism. That country’s support of the so-called “Syrian reb- els” gave rise to the Islamic State terrorists, who are now being targeted most effec- tively by Russia, with criti- cal assistance from ... Iran. Misconceptions and double standards currently abound in the Iran situa- tion, with hot takes by pun- dits and political candi- dates distorting the truth. I’ve even heard some say that U.S. President Barack Obama is “giving” the Iranians money, or that Iran will simply spend its new- found windfall on bombs or terrorists. Maybe everyone should just give it a rest for a while and focus on trying to make some money. © 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
