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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2016)
2 Wednesday, June 1, 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: Last week there was a glowing reference to the Australian gun confiscation which was portrayed as a buy-back. There was also the ongoing attempt to attach the evil of the Sandy Hook creature to millions of decent law-abid- ing gun-owners. Governments have massacred tens of millions of people and they have used bullets that can penetrate walls, car doors and human skulls. But Terry could have an ammu- nition buy-back. If the serfs could be totally disarmed, it would be such a wonderful thing for the government party. Larry Benson • • • To the Editor: Thank you, Andrew Gorayeb. I really appreciate what you did for the City of Sisters during your three years as city man- ager. We have lived here since 1961, part-time, and you did more in three years for Sisters than any other city manager in a similar period. First of all, the city looks better than ever, with flowers, new street work, the Fir Street Park (on the site of the old City Hall) and a City-sponsored program to subsidize the upgrading and painting of all the businesses on the main drag. That has translated into civic pride, good retail business, and growth in Sisters. Secondly, the City finances have never been in better shape, with your assistance. That is especially true of the debt refinancing, where you saved the City over $800,000 in interest expense over time ... Well done! Thirdly, on the matter of severance, you received what your predecessor Elaine Stein received, one year’s pay. While some com- plain about that, the reality is every one of us who has ever been fired or forced to resign, or quietly retired, has tried to get the best deal we can on our way out the door. So did you... Finally, regarding the “Gorayeb Report,” I am scratching my head after reading the arti- cles in The Nugget and Bulletin (similar). The investigator, Ashley Driscoll, said there was “no cause” for termination, but that a “nega- tive environment” was present at times. Given your outstanding results it is too bad that all of this could not have been resolved “at home,” inside City Hall, rather than raised to the State level. Looking back, that seems like a bad decision and we all lost a good city manager as a result. Bruce Rognlien See LETTERS on page 11 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Mostly sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Mostly sunny 80/47 77/46 83/49 89/53 92/53 82/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 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 — The leftists who came of age in the counterculture revolution- ary movements of the ’60s and ’70s are now in charge in both Europe and the U.S., and facing a populist back- lash. They failed to learn the lessons of their own experi- ences, and it’s time for them to be dropkicked into the waste bin of history. In the wake of World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany, there was a mas- sive movement in Western nations against anything that smacked of authority. At first it was more social than political. In the U.S, the hippie movement promoted the idea of “free love” in the shadow of the Vietnam War and the civil rights move- ment. On the other side of the Atlantic, in May 1968, French communists and socialists staged protests that brought the country to a standstill under the guise of denouncing the traditional social values exemplified by President Charles de Gaulle, who had led France through World War II. The killing of Che Guevara by troops in Bolivia added political jet fuel to vague social unrest. Intent on fomenting revolu- tion across Latin America, Che was faithful to a brand of radicalism that espoused the sort of guerrilla war- fare promoted by China’s Mao Zedong. This alarmed even Marxists like Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev, who considered themselves reasonable by comparison. Radical Western terror- ist groups adopted Che and Mao’s tactics. Germany’s Baader-Meinhof Gang, France’s Action Directe and America’s Weather Underground ran amok until their members were cap- tured or killed. Why is all of this important now? Because the same pattern is about to repeat itself. Today’s establishment elite in Western democra- cies consists of members of the May 1968 generation. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton cut her teeth on civil rights activism, as did President Barack Obama as a com- munity organizer. French President Francois Hollande has said of that generation: “Their utopia was that of a fraternal society that would respect humans and nature, and refuses to make material prosperity the measure of all things.” The May 1968 generation created a climate of inse- curity by replacing actual authority with feel-good emotional fluff. They were so determined to erase any trace of authority that they allowed left-wing terrorist groups to proliferate. In the U.S., there was no authority figure to control the class- room until President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. In France, there was a crack- down on terrorism follow- ing the 1981 election of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, but not before the country was jolted by 114 terrorist attacks over a two-month span in 1982. The “free love” genera- tion still believes in pursu- ing its failed utopia of weird values and leftist social engineering, conveniently forgetting the terrorist hor- rors they unleashed through their own unrest. They’re still convinced that social integration just magically happens despite their insis- tence on radical diversity. Barely a week goes by now in France when there isn’t a major protest involving police cars being burned and violence against authorities. That’s the social move- ment part of the equation. Now, here comes the terror- ism — except this time it’s not domestic radicals who are serving as the military handmaidens of the leftists, but rather jihadists. Lax immigration policies perpetrated by leftist politi- cians have led to an influx of migrants from terror-rid- den countries, even while authorities struggle to keep up with homegrown terror- ists, who have perpetrated recent major attacks. The May 1968 genera- tion is on the verge of being shoved through history’s exit door, and not a moment too soon. The only question is whether the power-wield- ing members of the “free love” generation have rigged the system in ways that will further delay their peaceful, democratic removal. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.