Wednesday, March 28, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 13
Locals take part in March for Our Lives
Sheriff’s
office steps
up patrols
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
The Deschutes County
Sheriff ’s Office will be
increasing traffic enforcement
during spring break week.
The increased presence began
Saturday, March 24, and
continues through Sunday,
April 1. Spring break week
is expected to bring increased
vehicle traffic to the Central
Oregon area as families travel
to and through Deschutes
County on vacation.
These additional depu-
ties will be focusing on dis-
tracted and unsafe driving
behaviors utilizing marked
and unmarked sheriff’s office
vehicles. According to the
sheriff’s office, members of
the community have asked
for more enforcement in
specific driving behaviors.
These behaviors include the
use of cell phones while driv-
ing, following other vehicles
too closely, unsafe speeds,
and the use of off-road light-
ing on public roadways.
These driving behaviors are
often contributing factors to
motor-vehicle crashes, the
sheriff’s office reports. The
Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Office responded to 22 motor-
vehicle crashes during spring
break week in 2017.
The Deschutes County
Sheriff’s Office reports that
deputies generally focus
on education during traffic
enforcement, with the goal of
changing driving behaviors
for the better.
CORREChION
The photo on page 11 of
The Nugget of March 21 iden-
tified the girls lacrosse team
in error. They are a Sisters
High School team.
People of all ages —
including some from Sisters
— joined a March for Our
Lives rally in downtown
Bend Saturday, March 24 in
an event organized largely by
Central Oregon teenagers.
The crowd gathered first
at the amphitheater in Drake
Park, where students shared
music and speeches before
leading marchers on a one-
mile loop around downtown
Bend.
Similar rallies took place
around the nation in the
wake of the Parkland, Florida
shooting in which 17 students
and staff lost their lives. That
tragedy has galvanized young
people throughout the country
to speak up and take action
against violence in schools.
While the majority of the
focus on the issue has been
on stricter gun control, speak-
ers at the rally, as well as the
signs marchers carried, also
addressed the issues of more
comprehensive mental-health
care, increased resources
within schools, and other
ways to make schools, and
society, safer.
Marchers carried signs
reading such phrases as
“Enough is Enough!,” “Arm
teachers with resources, not
guns,” “Remove battlefield
weapons from our streets!”
and “Thoughts and prayers
don’t stop bullets.”
Susie Garcia, a Bend
Senior High School student,
addressed the crowd about
school safety: “A school is not
supposed to be a scary place,”
she said. “Students should not
be afraid to get an education.
Today we are standing up and
we are screaming ‘Enough is
enough!’”
Members of the Sisters
community took part in the
rally, including students Mia
Burton, Hana Schultz and
Lala Debare. Burton carried a
“Th e Fool” or Th e Living Hope
Who is this man?
Easter Celebration Service - 10:45 a.m.
Special activities for kids during service
Join us for a FREE Pancake Breakfast
Served from 9:30-10 a.m.
Community Easter Egg Hunt for Kids!
Immediately after service for elementary age & younger
Good Friday Service
Refl ections on the Cross - 6:30 p.m.
SISTERS NAZARENE CHURCH
67130 Harrington Loop, Bend | 541-389-8960 | sistersnaz.org
Directions from Sisters: Take Highway 20 toward Bend, turn right on
Gist Road, take fi rst left onto Harrington Loop, church is on the left.
sign with the scales of liberty
asking the question, “What
weighs more to you, kids or
guns?”
One adult commented on
how impressed they were
with the Central Oregon
youth who organized the
march, and also how elo-
quently they spoke as the
crowd prepared to get mov-
ing following the student
speeches: “Wow, these kids
are very well-spoken and
passionate.”
That is in sharp contrast
to a message put out by the
NRA to its members accord-
ing to numerous media out-
lets, accusing celebrities and
billionaires of manipulating
young people. Their message
said, “Today’s protests aren’t
spontaneous. Gun-hating
billionaires and Hollywood
elites are manipulating and
exploiting children as part of
their plan to DESTROY the
Second Amendment and strip
us of our right to defend our-
selves and our loved ones.”
Annie Winter of Sisters
attended with her eighth-
grade daughter, Chloe.
Winter, who is a school
teacher said, “We attended
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Mia Burton, left, and Hana Schultz, students at SHS, took part in the
March for Our Lives rally in Bend.
as we feel that gun control is
a critical issue, and only by
protesting nationwide can we
send a clear message to our
elected officials that enough
is enough,” she said.
She added, “People in
Sisters need to have honest,
open discussions with their
kids about school shootings
and let them know that there
are adults who they can trust
to talk to if they have con-
cerns about the behavior of a
friend who may be exhibiting
negative thoughts or actions.”
One of the speakers con-
cluded with a message to
those holding political office
by saying, “If those in power
will not take care of us and
our future, we, who are the
future, will take care of the
future.”
