2
Wednesday, August 14, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
N
Don’t give a pass to
false narratives
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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:
This letter is addressed to the low-life
who stole my garage sale signs around noon
on Friday, August 9, from the intersection of
east-bound Highway 126 and Holmes Road,
as well as Holmes and Fadjur Lane.
Good job!
Let me tell you what this sale was all about.
I, along with a lot of other amazing ladies,
came together to donate quilting, sewing and
crafting items to raise funds for another mem-
ber of our quilting group who has fallen on
hard times. She is losing the room that she
has rented for quite some time at the end
of this month and as of now has no idea of
where she is going to live. She also is on a
very limited budget, living on $900 a month.
She is a most giving person, volunteering for
Friends of the Library and the Senior Center
in Redmond.
I hosted the sale because I have a three-bay
garage. We set up over 20 tables loaded with
her fabric stash as well as that donated by oth-
ers. We did a bang-up job Friday morning but
only had three people show up that afternoon.
Thank heavens for their tenacity to take the
time to find us!
To make up for the dismal results on
Friday we discounted everything by 40
percent the following day. Our goal was
to raise $1,500. We barely made half that
amount.
Sisters is better than this! So to everyone
else, if you ever see really nice garage sale
signs made from unclaimed election signs,
covered with blank newsprint with a hot pink
sign in the center that says G SALE with an
arrow, just know that they will lead you to a
See LETTERS on page 27
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Mostly Sunny
88/56
83/48
84/50
86/52
86/53
85/54
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.
Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
Production Manager: Leith Easterling
Graphic Design: Jess Draper
Community Marketing Partners:
Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal
Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May
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. ©2019 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 Newspaper9s 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.
Two presidential candi-
dates did a very bad thing
last weekend: Kamala
Harris tweeted that <Michael
Brown9s murder forever
changed Ferguson and
America. His tragic death
sparked a desperately needed
conversation and nationwide
movement. We must fight
for stronger accountability
and racial equity in our jus-
tice system.=
Elizabeth Warren upped
the ante: <5 years ago
Michael Brown was mur-
dered by a white police offi-
cer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Michael was unarmed yet he
was shot six times. I stand
with activists and organiz-
ers who continue to fight for
justice for Michael. We must
confront systemic racism and
police violence head on.=
They are promulgating a
false narrative 4 a narrative
that was comprehensively
debunked by the investiga-
tion and report of the Obama
Justice Department in 2015.
The report is readily avail-
able online. Brown9s kill-
ing may have been tragic
4 nobody wants to see a
young man9s life snuffed out
4 but calling it murder is
inflammatory.
Harris and Warren are
intelligent, highly articulate
women; they know better.
They know exactly what
their words mean and the
effect they are seeking to
create with them.
The persistent narra-
tive that Brown was <mur-
dered= 4 as some persist
in claiming, shot in the back
while running away or with
his hands up (<Hands up!
Don9t shoot!=) 4 is clearly
debunked by the forensics
and witness testimony. The
report states:
<The physical evidence
establishes that (Officer
Darren) Wilson shot Brown
once in the hand, at close
range, while Wilson sat in
his police SUV, struggling
with Brown for control of
Wilson9s gun. Wilson then
shot Brown several more
times from a distance of at
least two feet after Brown
ran away from Wilson
and then turned and faced
him. There are no witness
accounts that federal pros-
ecutors, and likewise a jury,
would credit to support the
conclusion that Wilson fired
at Brown from behind. With
the two exceptions of the
wounds to Brown9s right
arm which indicate neither
bullet trajectory nor the
direction in which Brown
was moving when he was
struck, the medical examin-
ers9 reports are in agreement
that the entry wounds from
the latter gunshots were to
the front of Brown9s body,
establishing that Brown
was facing Wilson when
those shots were fired. This
includes the fatal shot to the
top of Brown9s head. The
physical evidence also estab-
lishes that Brown moved
forward toward Wilson after
he turned around to face
him. The physical evidence
is corroborated by multiple
eyewitnesses.=
Those who 4 rightly 4
criticize President Donald
Trump for his lies and
inflammatory rhetoric must
hold <progressive= candi-
dates to the same standard.
Apologists for Warren and
Harris may wave off their
use of the word <murder= as
mere semantics 4 but they
know better, too. At least
they should.
Condemning the rhetoric
of <their guy= while giving
a pass for the same kind of
rhetoric from <our guy= is
part of the reason we9re in
the divided, hyper-partisan
state of affairs we9re in.
Those who are promoting
civil discourse in Sisters and
elsewhere will never get to
goal unless they9re willing
to hold everyone in the arena
to the same standard.
Bad police shootings hap-
pen. Racism exists. A cop in
Charleston, South Carolina,
who really did shoot an
unarmed black man in the
back while he was running
away is sitting right where
he belongs 4 in prison for
20 years.
Facts matter. The rule
of law is a precious gift the
founders of the republic
gave us. It is the final protec-
tion of the smallest minority
4 the individual 4 from
the tyranny of the majority.
That we have failed to truly
apply the concept of <liberty
and justice for all= through
our history brings us shame
4 but you cannot fix that by
abrogating the concept in the
present.
Each case must be judged
on its individual merits and
on the facts as best they can
be determined 4 not on
what people want to believe
or, worse, what is politi-
cally expedient for them to
believe.
