2
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
Open the gate
WELCOME
PARTICIPANTS
& PATRONS!
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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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.
he doesn’t care about protecting us from big
banks. I believe she is referring to the partial
roll-back of the Dodd-Frank bill restrictions,
which in fact was the result of a bi-partisan
vote, 67-31 in the Senate.
As her last attempt of besmirching Greg’s
character, Paula is ruthless as she pulls out the
“global-warming card,” throwing poor Greg
completely under the bus where he is now
quite possibly responsible for fires, floods,
hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Where’s the LOVE?
Jeff Mackey
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Obviously things aren’t going to get any
better in town traffic-wise, regardless of the
current or next-gen (or next-next-gen, or
See LETTERS on page 13
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Partly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Sunny
AM Showers
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Sunny
79/49
77/43
76/46
57/37
60/37
73/44
The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
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.
abandoned when the path
proponents would not put
Guest Columnist
their path preferences on
Most of you probably do the table. Through all this
not know that McKenzie we were assured by the
Pass Highway 242 has been pathies that there were
plowed and is ready for no more secret bike paths
plans, big group hug.
traffic now.
Yet here we find our-
Unfortunately mem-
bers of the local bicycling selves again. Our local
community, a local politi- officials including Sisters’
cian and the (retiring) head then mayor/bike shop
of ODOT Region 4 have owner, trails club officers,
conspired again to secretly and bicycling commu-
block it off and again nity have again decided
secretly operate a local bike not to tell us about their
path. This time it’s State new bike path. Mr. Bryant
Highway 242 to McKenzie and former Commissioner
Pass. You didn’t know? Of Unger stonewalled, evaded
questions,
course not,
and offered
that was their
“fluid,”
plan.
W i t h o u t Want to ski or hike the inconsistent
explana-
any advance
public notice, trails? Sorry, bikes only. tions for the
ODOT, our Want to fish or hunt? closure.
M r .
county com-
B
r
yant’s
missioners
Sorry, bikes only. ...
most recent
(Unger and
Baney), and
It’s a state highway, s t o r y i s
this: ODOT
members
not a bike path.
now plows
of the local
McKenzie
bicycling
Pass TWICE
community
have locked us out of our every year “to save us
iconic natural landmark and money.” That’s right, he’s
national forests for months saving us money! ODOT
every spring. Want to take first deploys plows and per-
visitors to see the pass? sonnel as soon as possible
Sorry, bikes only. Want to in the spring to Highway
ski or hike the trails? Sorry, 242, but clears only one
bikes only. Want to fish or lane (a bike path), then
hunt? Sorry, bikes only. locks the gate again. For
Want to camp? Sorry, bikes the following months, until
only. In town for the Sisters late June, only bicycles are
Rodeo and like to see our allowed beyond the closed
most famous landmark gate; no motorized vehicles.
Sometime in June appar-
attraction? Well, you know,
ently ODOT deploys plows
sorry.
This isn’t the first time and personnel to McKenzie
the same players have run Pass a SECOND time and
a similar bike path scam on only then plows open the
us. Recall the failed Sisters- second lane for motor
to-Black Butte Ranch vehicles. Saving you and
paved bike path. For those me money all the while.
who don’t, a few local Unfortunately Mr. Bryant
bicyclists, trail club lead- tells me that ODOT does
ers, Bob Bryant of ODOT, not tabulate cost num-
Unger and the USFS local bers for plowing, and has
district ranger concocted a refused to —“cannot” —
plan to pave a path in the provide them to me. Does
forest. No notice, moles anyone reading this believe
on HOAs, etc. Once some that?
It’s time again for some
light was shone on the
“plan” and the tactics of its light to be shined on another
proponents, it became per- secret bike path and reverse
haps the most bitter pub- it. It’s a state highway, not
lic dispute I can recall in a bike path. We also need
to understand how this
Sisters.
John Allen, head of the has happened again after
Deschutes National Forest, being assured that it would
overruled the Sisters not. So would you please
District Ranger’s approval help me by contacting the
and decreed no more paths papers, the county com-
without a community pro- missioners, ODOT, USFS,
cess and a consensus. A and STA and insisting they
state effort to mediate the come clean and reverse this
failed bike path plan was fiasco? OPEN THE GATE!
By Glenn Brown
SISTERS
RODEO
To the Editor:
In the May 30 edition of The Nugget, Paula
Surmann submitted a Letter to the Editor chas-
tising Greg Walden for becoming more con-
servative and no longer caring about regular
people. I’m not sure what I’ve missed, but
aren’t lower taxes, smaller government, peace
through strength, rule of law, standing for the
national anthem, creating jobs, securing our
borders, support for the unborn, free speech,
right to bear arms, transparency at the highest
level of government and “One Nation Under
God” conservative values that “regular peo-
ple” voted for in the last presidential election?
Paula then goes on to blame Walden for
64,000 people losing health coverage. I
thought Obama Care was supposed to fix all
that; plus we were guaranteed to keep our cur-
rent doctor and healthcare coverage as well.
Millions lost their coverage and doctor.
Paula then reads Greg’s mind telling us
N
Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
Production Manager: Leith Easterling
Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken
Graphic Design: Jess Draper
Community Marketing Partners:
Patti Jo Beal & Vicki Curlett
Accounting: Erin Bordonaro
Proofreader: Pete Rathbun
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. ©2018 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. 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.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.