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Wednesday, October 11, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Car crazy
By William Power
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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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:
We have one vacation rental that we previ-
ously rented out on a month-to-month basis.
This home is one way for us to fund higher
eduction tuition costs for our six kids and
hopefully help fund our retirement in the
future.
One extremely unfortunate experience
with a very difficult tenant who cost more
than $15,000 out of our pockets caused us to
rethink our strategy with this house. The tim-
ing of this event was when most people had
left our area (2010/11) due to lack of jobs and
the great recession. We could scarcely find
anyone interested in renting this home. After
the financial and emotional stress from exten-
sive cleanup, repairs, replaced flooring and
lost rents we had to think of other options.
There are few ways that Sisters is a sound
economic choice for families; especially
families with children. But we love it here
so much. The mountains, the outdoor experi-
ences, the community. What better than to try
to share what we love so much about our area.
Our neighbors love this new arrangement.
They are no longer subjected to the instabil-
ity of possibly questionable tenants. We, or
our housekeeper, are now able to inspect the
property almost weekly for any needed repairs
or maintenance. We have someone mow, edge
and weed weekly during the busy summer
months to keep up curb appeal not only for
our guests but for our neighbors, too.
I would ask that the City of Sisters leave
the affordable housing options to the big
developers and large-scale real estate owner-
ship. Please consider an exemption for small-
scale landlords like ourselves as is being done
See LETTERS on page 11
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Remember when you got
your first car? How excited
you were! A long-awaited
milestone was reached. You
could take your girl to the
movies. You could show off
to all your friends, and if
you survived that, you were
ready to be an adult.
Soon, though, you needed
to impress other adults. You
added a good-looking car
to your self-identity. You
bought ever more expen-
sive vehicles — sports cars
that could weave in and out
of traffic, SUVs, pickups —
aside from the station wag-
ons that safely carried your
kids and their friends to all
of their many activities.
Vehicle manufacturers
added conveniences and
safety features, but they
didn’t include a button that
provides for common sense.
Even though you your-
self continued to survive as
a driver, you too often heard,
saw and dreaded the sound
and views of ambulances
picking up the remains of
vehicles and people who
didn’t, due mainly to human
frailties of being distracted,
drunk, on drugs, sleepy, full
of road rage, heavy-footed-
ness, poor judgment, etc. —
which are all due to making
bad choices, of course.
Drivers travel in a hurry
to get to some place where
they can waste time. Is it
worth the consequences? So,
we choose to kill ourselves
and innocent others? It isn’t
our intent. Perhaps it is a lack
of planning that includes the
route, distance and time for
unexpected events.
Recent studies tell
us most of us are sleep-
deprived. Accident rates
increase with vehicle speeds.
Everyone is tempted to use
a cell phone while driving
since it is glued to their ears
and eyes at all other times.
A recent study in Utah indi-
cated that people take their
eyes of the road to program
the many improved fea-
tures present in new cars —
radios, phones, GPS, lights,
heat, air conditioner, cruise
control, fog lights, defrost-
ers, and windshield wipers.
Wi t h c o n v e n i e n c e
devices comes complexity.
With human aging comes
a need for simplicity. How
many people study their
manuals and dashboards
well enough to know how
these things work before
they take the wheel? How
can they possibly ignore the
call on their cell phone?
Not to forget the emo-
tional baggage carried. What
happened just before this
trip and what is the expected
happening at arrival? Is the
baby crying, the wife upset,
the kids fighting in the
back seat? How frustrating
and aggravating is all that?
Could we pull over and set-
tle it?
Many accidents happen
on Highway 20 between
Suttle Lake and Bend. Why?
Where is there a straighter
road with many places to
stop? It almost has to be
driver error. It is probably
mostly due to excessive
speed. When in a hurry, push
down on the gas. Get where
you are going faster and
solve your time problem?
Wrong!
The distance between
Sisters and Bend is about
20 miles. At speeds aver-
aging 55 miles per hour, it
takes about 22 minutes. At
60 mph, about 20 minutes.
At 65 mph, it takes about 18
minutes.
Isn’t it insane to want
to gamble their life and the
lives of others to save two to
four minutes on the restful,
beautiful way from Sisters
to Bend?
Unfortunately as more
and more drivers with bad
habits crowd our roads and
city streets, we can’t expect
fewer accidents. Bring on
the robots so we can sleep,
play with our toys, eat, drink
and be merry, while we get
safely to our destinations!
Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson
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Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.