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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2017)
2 Wednesday, November 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Grateful and thankful By Phyllis and Bill Morris Guest Columnists g n i v i g s k n a h Happy T from the staff at r e p a p s w e N t e g g u The N at th y it n u m m o c a r fo l fu k We are than ! r e p a sp w e n l a c o l ir e supports th The Nugget Newspaper will be closed Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23. 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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 are long-time residents of Eastern and Central Oregon and we totally agree with the letter written last week by Ken Serkownek. We grieve that assault weapons are so readily available. When the ban on assault weapons was not renewed in 2004, we feared that the result would be bad. Had no idea how horrible it would be... and it just keeps getting worse! It is time to immediately halt the sale of the ammunition for assault rifles, and to make ownership of these weapons of mass destruc- tion illegal. We all ask what will it take? And 58 dead, 26 dead, 8 from one family, 21 dead including 15 or so children apparently is not enough, and that is not to mention so many other killings of lesser numbers! It is frightening to hear nearby rapid-fire gunshots from our front porch most days of the week. We need to keep pushing, and Ken has the right idea: it will take voting out any supporter of the NRA. This organization used to be a hunters’ organization, offering gun training for See LETTERS on page 39 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Rain Likely Rain Likely Slight Chance Rain Chance Rain Chance Rain Chance Rain 61/45 55/32 52/34 52/35 51/31 44/31 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. Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Karen Kassy Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro Owner: J. Louis Mullen 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. ©2017 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. My husband and I were one of three cars that hit black ice at mile marker 80 on the Santiam Pass on November 6 at 3:30 p.m. The roads were clear of snow, but the melting snow on the side of the road on that banked curve devel- oped into black ice and led to three separate vehicle accidents. I can only say we saw the car ahead of us hit the ice and I immediately said to my husband, “We are about to be in an accident.” Our F350 4x4 truck with studded snow tires skated across traffic, spun 360 degrees, caught some air and landed in a 15- to 20-foot ravine, right-side up. Although we have been coming to Sisters, Bend, and Sunriver for over 35 years without incident, the next 30 minutes showed me what amazing people work and live in Sisters. Randy, another driver, stopped his car, called 911 and came down to help us. Oregon State Police Trooper Scott Salisbury seemed to appear immediately afterward to come to our assistance. Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) arrived minutes later to sand the area so the emer- gency vehicles could arrive safely and keep other traffic from harm. Sisters’ ambu- lance arrived soon after, and everyone worked to get us out of our totaled truck. I knew I had a concussion, broken nose and sternum, but could not see much, for all the blood from my nose had gotten into my eyes. My husband was driving and had bruised his back and neck but was able to climb out of the ravine. Everyone worked quickly to get us up to the ambulance where we met Christine from Sisters Ambulance — what a wonderful lady. St. Charles Medical Center took great care of us, too. About 9 p.m., Trooper Salisbury showed back up to check in on us and let us know our truck was at Davis Towing. He was kind, jovial, consoling and seemed more like a concerned friend. Our airbags did not deploy, and he told us that if we had not been wearing our seat belts, we would have been ejected from the truck and died. We always wear our seat belts, but his comment really drove the point home what a serious accident we just survived. The next day, he and ODOT retrieved my hus- band’s suitcase and other belongings that had flown out of the truck, took them to Davis Towing for us to pick up. The morning after the accident, when we went to the front desk at Sunriver “Vacation International” at The Pines to find a way back into Bend to obtain a rental car, the manager and assis- tant manager insisted on driving us. They also took great care of us the remain- der of the week and arranged for meals since we lost our cooler. When we went to Davis Towing in Sisters to get the contents of what was left in our vehicle, we found all our valuable belongings still in the truck, and they gave us a hand to collect what we could and trash bags to transport the wet messy items that were also covered with beef stroganoff, marga- rine, mayo, soup and milk, etc. Kathleen Davis kept reaching out with warm comments, hugs, and made us feel as if we were family. When we finally left Davis Towing, I took my hus- band’s hand and we thanked God for all the amazing people who reached out to us and helped us through a very stressful experience. Thanksgiving and being grateful for those around you, for every day you wake up alive, for the opportu- nity to make today a better day for others and yourself, should not just happen on the holiday “Thanksgiving.” It should be every day. We are truly thank- ful for all the people who touched our lives the week of November 6. We are grateful to be alive, to have seen so much good in the world during a bad experi- ence that would have been worse without the amazing people in Sisters, Bend and Sunriver. We will be grate- ful and saying prayers of Thanksgiving to all of you for being there for us, the rest of our lives. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
