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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2016)
2 Wednesday, August 24, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N You really do have to choose wisely By Andreas Pedersen Guest 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 no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: In response to Bonnie Malone’s letter in The Nugget, August 17, pages 18-19: She brought vague, unwarranted criticism of the nation’s law enforcement for crimes against minorities, yet did not point to a specific example or provide any evidence to support her claims. She cited cell-phone videos as the supreme authority on an officer’s use of force being justified. However, these cell-phone videos are often incomplete, and only repre- sent one piece of evidence. She still did not refer to any specific video and I am sure that readers would love to hear which cases she was referring to when she accused officers of murder. Are police no longer allowed to defend themselves against criminals? Are we now referring to these criminals, as she says, “productive and good people?” She claimed, “Black Lives Matter is a just cause.” I ask, what is just about burning down the businesses of one’s fellow minority citizens, assaulting police officers, and stealing, all because one feels there is some ghostly, racial prejudice out there haunting them? Is the rule of law so far eroded in this coun- try that we have lost all faith in our justice system, leaving rioting and looting as the only way to redress supposed injustices? Please show us one example where a police officer targeted a minority individual solely based on the color of their skin. Please show us one case where a police officer murdered a minority individual and went unpunished for the crime. If there is racism and injustice, let us fight it together. However, yelling “racism” and making vague claims, unsubstantiated by factual evidence, is destroying law and order in our nation. The next time she proceeds to exalt herself as judge and jury, I hope she will at least have the respect to provide some evi- dence to her claims. Jensen Newton s s s See LeTTerS on page 16 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny 79/38 80/43 85/46 79/44 78/43 77/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. As a Dane who was an exchange student in Sisters at SHS last year, living with the Bachtold family, I read with great interest the letter to the editor written by Bruce Carpenter in The Nugget and would like to correct some of the inac- curacies in that letter about my country. No country in Scandinavia has a 70 per- cent tax rate. The highest tax rate is 59 percent and it only applies under special circumstances. If someone makes the local equivalent of $200,000, they would have to pay 45.7 percent in Sweden, 45.6 percent in Denmark and 45 percent in Norway. And that gets them free education through col- lege and trade school, free healthcare, paid family leave, retirement, and aging care for all our seniors. In addition, everyone can afford basic necessities, regardless of income. Our crime and suicide rates are much lower than those in the United States. The aver- age full-time employee in Denmark works 38.3 hours a week, 39.7 in Sweden, and 38.8 in Norway. Not quite the 28-hour work week Mr. Carpenter is describing. I consider us a hard-working people. I think it is interesting that healthcare is mentioned in the letter. In Denmark we spend 10.6 percent of our GDP on healthcare; the U.S. spends 17.1 percent, a larger percentage than any Western industrialized country (and this started way before Obamacare). In Denmark, all citizens get free healthcare yet in the U.S., medical debt is the largest cause of personal bankruptcy. How fair or just is that? There is no free hous- ing for college students, at least not in Denmark. Mr. Carpenter is right how- ever that college is free. Scandinavia has a lot of social mobility. So even if your parents are not rich, you can still get a college degree. He is also right that stu- dents don’t have a lot of money. Do they have more in America? Where does he get his facts? I would say that Danish people don’t necessarily have to save as much as Americans because we have a robust social net- work that cares for people’s needs in all stages of life. And, with all people spend- ing money, it feeds the economy and helps provide jobs for everyone. Lastly, at age 18 I have a very sound savings account and I will not have massive student debt like many students in America. Americans also complain that the youth are not saving enough and are spending too much money. This is not unique to Northern Europe. The Danish government has invested billions of dol- lars toward energy indepen- dence, and is on track to becoming fossil-fuel-free by 2050. By 2020 nearly half of Danish electricity will be provided by wind power alone. This expan- sion of renewable energy is financed by fees-in tar- iffs paid by consumers of electricity. So, interestingly, the transition is relatively cheap, and business com- petitiveness not harmed. And, the less you consume the less you pay, encourag- ing all citizens and busi- nesses to become more energy efficient. We think it is a social and moral duty to do this for the world with climate change, and we want to lead the way. There are different social and economic systems throughout the world and many of them are good and highly functional. There is not one “right way” to go about running a country or managing an economy. Our system is not perfect and neither is yours in the United States. Different systems work for different countries and values. I don’t know why our Northern European countries had to be criticized in this newspa- per for our society’s strong attempt to care deeply about the economic, social, politi- cal, and health rights we feel belong to all of our citizens. I do agree with Mr. Carpenter about one impor- tant thing: you really do have to choose wisely. Andreas Pedersen is writing from Slagelse, Denmark Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
