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Wednesday, April 18, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Editorial…
Local option sustains Sisters schools The devil’s details of
firearms regulation
In a national climate that is ever more
divided and divisive, where more and more
people feel completely disconnected from
the institutions that purport to serve them, it’s
nice to be able to make a decision that makes
sense regardless of where you stand along
the cultural/political divide, a decision whose
positive results can be seen every day in class-
rooms right here in Sisters.
Sisters voters should vote “yes” on measure
9-121 to renew Sisters School District’s five-
year local option levy. The key word there is
“renew”; the local option is not a new tax — it
extends a levy at the same rate approved by
local voters in elections since 2000.
There’s a good reason voters have repeat-
edly signed off on the 75 cents per $1,000
levy: It keeps Sisters schools functioning at
a level that has earned them a strong reputa-
tion across the state. Local option keeps teach-
ers in classrooms, keeps class sizes down
and sustains innovative programs — includ-
ing the Sisters Eagle Airport-partnered Flight
Science program, Chinese language, IEE
(Interdisciplinary Environmental Expedition),
the Sisters Folk Festival-partnered Luthier
Program and Americana Project, Seed to Table
and other agriculture-related projects.
Students come out of Sisters High School
well prepared for the next phase of their lives.
And Sisters schools continue to be a vibrant
part of a local culture that values the arts
and sciences and creating well-rounded and
engaged citizens.
The downside risk of failing to renew
local option is clear. Sisters schools continue
to struggle to maintain and grow enrollment.
Without local option — which supports
approximately 15 teaching positions — that
situation would become dire.
Support for 9-121 means support for local
families, the local economy, and the Sisters
culture. It’s hard to find a tax measure that
delivers the kind of payload that local option
has, one that has such immediate and profound
local impact, or one that is so easy to support.
Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
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:
These past few months we’ve had infor-
mation provided to us from the Community
Planning Assistance for Wildfire and most
recently Paul Hessburg on living with wildfire.
Both of these have a common thread, which
is to be responsible to protect our homes and
community by creating a safe environment
around us from wildfire. I’ve been on a mis-
sion to do just that since late last fall.
Our development and one other on Wilt
Road backs to some private property that has
had hundreds of trees that were cut down by
a local fire-suppression company. The com-
pany was hired by a private landowner, who
acquired a grant to clear trees. The permit
was issued by the state forestry department,
allowing the clearing.
To date, there has been little activity to
clean this up. The permit expired December
2017, with no follow-up from the state. I
started trying to get something done by talk-
ing to our local fire chief a couple of times,
the state forestry department five times over
a period of time, along with state and federal
representatives with no assistance in resolving
this fire potential.
The most help I received was from Patrick
Davenport, our community development
director, who provided me with some names
and possible avenues to explore.
We receive a lot of talk on the expense of
See LETTERS on page 15
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By Steve Nugent
Guest Columnist
Since the Florida high
school shooting, there
have been many gun-con-
trol proposals and even
state legislation passed,
at least in Florida. I am
truly encouraged by the
actions of so many high
school students across this
country and their growing
influence.
The thing that concerns
me about proposals to ban
or restrict so called “assault
weapons” and “high-capac-
ity magazines” is that these
terms are not explicitly
defined. I am concerned
that gun legislation, by
using these terms, is risk-
ing the exclusion of many
equally lethal weapons.
What needs to happen is
a determination of exactly
what capabilities and char-
acteristics make certain
long guns particularly
deadly, compared to a typi-
cal rifle used for hunting.
By deadly, I mean chances
of survival if humans are
shot, chances of taking the
gunman down before mass
carnage takes place, and
capability to kill from long
distances and at high rates.
If one analyzes the lethality
of all long guns based on
these criteria, several spe-
cific attributes that make
some guns more lethal than
others become obvious:
• Semi-automatic or
automatic actions in rifles,
combined with high-caliber
ammo.
• Removable maga-
zines, on-the-fly.
• High-capacity
magazines.
• Folding or remov-
able stocks or fully plastic
construction.
• Certain types of
ammunition, such as
armor-piercing, fragment-
ing, explosive, etc.
I would argue that none
of these five attributes are
necessary for hunting or
sport target-shooting. If a
hunter needs to pepper a
deer in order to kill it, he
should not be hunting. For
those who live in fear and
paranoia from some threat
from the U.S. government
and have amassed caches
of weapons and ammuni-
tion: give it up. The U.S.
military has you outnum-
bered, out-gunned and
out-trained. This is why we
have a good Constitution
and the rule of law in this
country.
These five long-gun
characteristics must be
banned, instead of some
weak definition of an
assault rifle. An impor-
tant thing to point out is
that many rifles that are
not technically “assault
weapons” are still semi-
automatic and can accom-
modate removable and
sometimes high-capacity
magazines. Folding stocks
and fully plastic construc-
tion can allow weapons to
be brought into buildings
and venues undetected.
My point is that simply
focusing on banning or reg-
ulation of “assault weap-
ons” and “high-capacity
magazines” is insufficient
and leaves too many loop-
holes open. Anyone with a
will to do carnage will still
find a suitable tool for that
unless these loopholes are
closed. Gun manufacturers
will still make semi-auto-
matic rifles with removable
magazines that can do the
same thing as an AR-15,
they just won’t look like an
AR-15.
In order to significantly
reduce the incidents of
mass-killings in the U.S.,
we need intelligent, com-
mon-sense gun reform. I
propose that the following
attributes in long-guns be
outlawed:
• All semi-automatic
rifles, except for .22
caliber.
• Removable magazines
on ANY rifle, except for
.22 caliber.
• Folding or removable
stock on ANY rifle.
• Fully plastic or mostly
plastic construction of any
rifle or handgun.
I believe the federal
government has a duty
to outlaw long guns with
these attributes and buy
back all weapons with
these attributes from legal
owners. This should be
done anonymously, so no
gun owner is recorded. No
driver’s license should be
shown etc., just exchange
the gun for money. I believe
this would actually make
a difference in our chil-
dren’s and our own safety,
and it would not threaten
our Second Amendment
rights.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
