Wednesday, April 18, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
firefighting from state and federal government offi-
cials, but no support when fire potential is identified.
I’m disappointed. We are encouraged to take
action to prevent fires around our homes and com-
munity since the firefighters can’t do it all. Clearly,
in this instance there is no support. I hope we don’t
have another year of lost revenue by our local busi-
nesses, evacuations of homeowners, and the poor
air quality. With fire season quickly approaching, it
is a BIG concern.
Vivian Buelt
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Sisters schools are the pride of our town.
We support the renewal of the local option
school levy. The levy has been in place since 2000.
Still, Sisters residents are paying the lowest total
educational tax and are the best district in Central
Oregon. Our school has the highest graduation rates
in Central Oregon.
The local option provides salaries for 12 teachers
and maintains our low class sizes.
What better investment could the community
make than to support our youth receiving an out-
standing education? Please join us in voting YES to
renew the local option, Measure 9-121.
Jim & Debbie Barnes
s
s
s
To the Editor:
I heard for eight years that Obama was going to
take our guns. Never happened. In 1994, President
Clinton banned assault rifles, and our country did
not collapse. The idea that stricter controls and bet-
ter, more thorough background checks, along with
the removal of military-grade weaponry, will not
destroy our nation.
You are not allowed to have grenades, claymore
mines, or LAW rockets. I also don’t hear anyone
complaining about the restrictions on magazines
and rounds for hunting in this state.
I am tired of hearing the notion of the “good guy
with a gun” argument. The Violence Policy Center,
in 2015, released an analysis of federal crime
that explores how often potential victims actually
turned the tables. In 2012, the center counted 259
justifiable gun-related homicides, or incidents in
which authorities ruled that killings occurred in
self-defense. “In a nation in which there are some
300 million firearms, there were 1.2 million vio-
lent crimes, defined as murder, forcible rape, rob-
bery and aggravated assault. Or, put another way,
1.2 million scenarios in which there was potential
for someone to kill in self-defense. The notion that
a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy with a
gun is a romanticized vision of the nature of violent
crime. And that the sea of guns in which we live
causes exponentially more danger and harm than
good.”
The other issue that I find appalling is the adult
response, of those touting the second amendment,
while demeaning the young men and women who
have survived the school shootings of recent. Either
you have more love for your guns than compassion
for the children in our schools, or you are afraid of
teenagers who just want to go to school without
flack-jackets.
Police were on scene, at Parkland. Trained,
armed individuals who hid in the face of danger.
Two teachers, the week after, brought guns to school
and bumbled with them, injuring a student and dis-
charging in the classroom. And we are supposed to
believe arming teachers is a better solution. Some
states have found money in their budgets to arm
teachers. Florida put up $4 million to do so. Where
was that money before, as teachers have been ask-
ing for more counselors and supplies so they can
actually do their jobs, helping those in need before
tragedy?
Michael Valoppi
s
s
15
s
To the Editor:
I am writing to ask and encourage the voters of
Sisters School District to VOTE YES on Measure
9-121 on the May ballot.
This vote is a renewal of the current local option
levy and is not a new or additional tax.
It is important for the Sisters School District
because these funds can be used for the opera-
tional budget for our schools, which helps keep our
class sizes small and provides important programs
and electives. This keeps our schools strong and
improves the lives of the children who live here.
Sisters is growing, but we are still a small com-
munity who care for each other and support one
another. I see evidence of this in all aspects of life
here. We are all invested here in the success of our
community and the renewal will help in many ways.
I urge anyone with questions to visit the renewfor
sisters.org website, there is a wealth of information
there in support of this measure.
Thank you!
Jennifer King
s
s
s
To the Editor:
I thought that Terry Weygandt had an interesting
idea for gun control in last week’s letters. While I
appreciate anyone looking to make suggestions, I
found the argument for a “complete and unequivo-
cal ban on large-capacity magazines” to be unclear
and unsupported. First, limiting magazine capacity
to five rounds, as suggested by Weygandt, would
render virtually all semi-automatic handguns use-
less as even the micro .380 caliber handguns gen-
erally hold at least six rounds. Although not men-
tioned by Weygandt, this proposed limit on maga-
zine capacity would effectively eliminate handguns,
which happen to be the most popular and effective
See LETTERS on page 24
