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Wednesday, March 8, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Editorial…
Two dead cows; not a drop of milk
There is a parable from the perennially
strife-torn Balkans, where a farmer’s cow is
struck by lightning and killed. The farmer cries
out to God for justice and God asks him what
would satisfy the farmer’s thirst. The farmer
— who is feuding with his neighbor and can’t
bear the thought of being the poorer man —
beseeches God to “strike my neighbor’s cow
dead!”
Over nearly two years, we’ve watched this
parable play out in Sisters.
When Mark Adolf failed to secure financing
for a large-scale senior assisted-living facility
at McKenzie Meadows Village (MMV) after
several years of endeavor, the MMV partners
declined to renew his contract. Adolf went his
own way and secured a different property for
his own project near Sisters’ post office. MMV
brought in a new developer for their project.
So far, so good.
But Adolf did not simply go forward and
build his own project, despite a quick and
smooth approval from the City. Instead, he
filed multiple land-use actions against the
City and MMV, alleging unequal treatment.
It is hard to discern how Adolf was injured,
since he had a clear path to completing his
project — very possibly in advance of his
now-competitor.
The actions and appeals were time-con-
suming and costly. Meanwhile, despite Adolf’s
assurances that he had money in the bank and
was ready to break ground, his permits remain
uncollected at City Hall to this day.
Now the State of Washington has taken
action against Adolf for violations of the
state’s Securities Act (see story, page 1), cast-
ing the future of his project into further doubt
— and MMV has pulled the plug on their
assisted-living project.
There will be no large-scale senior assisted-
living facility in Sisters any time soon. Adolf
has lost a lot, MMV has lost a lot — and so has
an aging community of seniors who saw such
a facility as an opportunity to stay in the town
they love.
Sisters is left with two dead cows, and not
a drop of milk.
Jim Cornelius
News Editor
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:
My initial reaction to Yvonne Suckow’s
Letter to the Editor of February 22 was that
I would spend a considerable amount of
time writing a point-by-point rebuttal to her
trumped-up rhetoric, but decided that my time
would be better spent by exercising my right
as an American citizen to protest what I, and
millions of other Americans, believe to be a
corrupt, misogynist, xenophobic, racist, anti-
environmental, fascist-trending and skewed-
to-benefit-the-wealthy, government.
#NotLeaving.
Michelle Tormey
s
s
To the Editor:
Today I read two articles in The Nugget
(March 1), and what struck me between the
eyes was the stark difference in tone, words
used, intent expressed. The first was the article
on the front page about the Sisters Transition
Program and their award as Oregon’s
Exceptional Program. It spoke of a philosophy
of “no barriers,” a creative group of people, a
goal of meeting individual needs … while bal-
ancing the needs of the collective, a belief that
success comes from a cooperative approach.
The second article I read was headlined
“A Despicable Incident.” (Editor’s note: the
s
See LETTERS on page 18
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N
An understandable
reaction
By Steve Nugent
Guest Columnist
Eric Wattenburg was evi-
dently disappointed in the
reaction of the Ron Wyden
Town Hall crowd at Sisters
High School, when an audi-
ence member asked whether
Mr. Wyden accepted the out-
come of the election. Wyden
replied “yes.” The crowd,
which was primarily com-
prised of Democrats, was
reportedly silent and did not
signal that they agreed or
disagreed.
To understand this reac-
tion, it’s instructive to under-
stand what Trump represents
to Democrats and what the
position of president means
to them.
I believe I speak for most
Democrats when I say the
position of President is not
just another government
employee. This person rep-
resents our values and mor-
als and broadcasts these to
other countries across the
globe. He is a role model
for our children. If the
President does not represent
our values or is immoral in
our eyes, this reflects on us.
We are personally ashamed,
every one of us.
Trump has demonstrated
over and over through his
rhetoric that he does not
represent our values. He
has disparaged women,
Hispanics and the handi-
capped. He uses his posi-
tion of power to enrich his
family. He continually lies
and is vindictive toward
anyone that criticizes him.
He refuses to acknowledge
his failures and take respon-
sibility for them. He retali-
ates, trying to discredit those
people that dare to criticize
or oppose his policies.
Retaliation has been directed
at the press, Federal judges,
celebrities and even private
corporations. He created
scapegoats in illegal immi-
grants and Muslim refugees.
He has inspired violence by
white-supremacist radicals
toward blacks, LGBTs and
Jews. Hate crimes are all up
significantly.
If the president fails to
behave according to the
ideology put forth in the
Constitution, we are con-
cerned that our rights might
be taken away. Trump has
taken actions and published
Tweets that we feel threaten
our democracy and our free-
doms. He is already violat-
ing the Emoluments Clause.
We are concerned that the
separation of powers will
be compromised and he
will become a dictator, like
Chavez did in Venezuela.
We feel that Trump and
most of his advisors are too
inexperienced. Being the
leader of the free world is
not something you experi-
ment with to see what might
work. Being president is
serious, professional busi-
ness. Many of Trump’s
actions seem to indicate that
he is oversimplifying very
complex issues, including
trade, healthcare, military
strength and immigration
policy. He is not following
protocol when he fails to
consult with advisors from
all agencies before issuing
orders. He is not adhering
to security protocols. As
a result, there have been
several missteps in his first
month, with unpleasant and
unintended consequences,
including the travel ban,
ACA repeal and the Yemen
operation.
We have little confidence
in his leadership skills or
motives, because he has
made many attribution
errors. These include: attrib-
uting a fictitious major crime
wave on illegal aliens, ter-
rorist attacks having killed
huge numbers compared to
other crimes and all com-
mitted by Muslim aliens,
jobs being taken away from
whites by undocumented
Mexicans and mass migra-
tions across our borders.
None of it makes any sense.
You say that our elec-
tions are “the bedrock of
our Constitution.” If that’s
so, we have every right to
be unhappy with the out-
come of the election. Aside
from the fact that Trump did
not win the popular vote,
this election was rigged
more than any other elec-
tion in U.S. history. The
Republican Party used ger-
rymandering, voter ID laws,
voter suppression and even
illegal intimidation. Russian
hackers provided private
emails through Wikileaks,
and FBI Director James
Comey was unethical in dis-
closing ongoing investiga-
tion information. There are
the ongoing investigations
into possible collaborations
of the Trump campaign with
Russian operatives.
All of these things bring
serious doubt as to the
legitimacy or fitness of this
president.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.