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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 2019)
2 Wednesday, November 20, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Expansion of Sisters benefits few By Josh Groves Guest Columnist 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: About a month or so ago, after hearing about the criminal event where an individual broke into a home in our neighborhood, I vis- ited the sheriff9s substation here in Sisters and talked to the admin lady at the counter, asking about the incident. Note this was about two days after the incident. She said she had not heard anything. I told her at least three law enforcement cars were there and you have no information? Then I asked, do you furnish crime reports to the public/newspaper? She stated she does but she sometimes is a day or so behind (can9t remember the last time I saw this in The Nugget). Then I asked her if I could obtain a <crime statistics report,= not a crime log for the city of Sisters, since I had heard awhile ago, a report that there was a crime a day in and around the city of Sisters. Her response was hard to believe. She stated <she could not furnish that informa- tion= to me. I said <what?= this is public infor- mation. She then stated that the only way to obtain that information was to get it from the Sisters City Council, that9s who they provided that information to. So why does the City Council not volunteer this information to the general public? Are they not wanting the people of Sisters to be aware of how bad crime really is in Sisters? Do the realtors lobby against it so they can sell homes? We should be able to see how the stats break down on an ongoing basis throughout the year. This is not just a weekly crime log that is basic and vague. Let9s see what is really happening in our town of Sisters. Marvin Inman s s s To the editor: A recent showing of the movie Saving the Dark by the Sisters Astronomy Club and a local chapter of the International Dark Sky Association showed how much of the dark skies we have lost due to light pollution. As a result of this pollution, 80 percent of See LETTERS on page 23 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Partly Cloudy Sunny Sunny Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy 42/26 42/25 54/29 56/33 53/26 45/27 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 & Lisa May Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Kema Clark 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. One of the side effects of democracy is that a small, very vocal minority can grab the podium when the major- ity of folks are too busy, or maybe too apathetic, to fight for their voices to be heard. It happens in national elec- tions and it happens in small communities. This phenom- enon is manifested in the development and expansion of the Sisters township. As I talk to fellow neigh- bors and other residents, they are overwhelmingly opposed to the develop- ment that is currently tak- ing place 4 and planned to take place in the future 4 in Sisters. This is not a sur- prise when you think about the population of this town. Most residents are trans- plants that moved here for the small, mountain-town lifestyle. The expansion of Sisters only benefits a select few: Local business own- ers, city officials, and land developers. The best I can estimate from census data, this constitutes about only 30 percent of the population at most. Yet, the three interested party types I just listed are disproportionately vocal and active on this issue. This is because their liveli- hood flourishes as they add more warm bodies spending money to this tiny moun- tain town. Most of us, on the other hand, reap no eco- nomic benefit from expan- sion. And, though most of us are very much against expansion, we are reluc- tant to give up our nights and weekends to fight in the town hall or picket for a cause that doesn9t hit us in the wallet. The two primary argu- ments I9ve heard in favor of growth simply don9t hold water with most of the population of Sisters. <There will be more stores and activities, so you won9t have to drive into Bend to shop or for a night out.= Most of us very deliber- ately don9t live in Bend and are fine with having to make the trek every once and a while. <It will bring a shot-in-the-arm to the local economy.= Let9s not pretend Sisters is a down-on-its-luck logging town 4 you can hardly cross the main drag most days there is so much tourism. And, anyways, the supposed <economic boost= would largely only apply to the interest groups previ- ously mentioned. I realize that most every- one wants the gate to lock behind them once they enter paradise. We need to avoid this characterization; it will make the issue at hand an easy target for would- be social-justice warriors. Instead, I would frame this as a need for preservation versus an attempt at exclu- sion. If one needs to refer- ence an example, look to our national park system. A number of our country9s national parks now have limited access so that the beauty of the parks 4 the whole reason that people want to visit the parks 4 may be preserved. So, what action can we, the less-vocal majority, take to preserve our little com- munity? Fortunately, we live in a democratic society where the majority can win out, as long as there is focus and coordination. I recom- mend two fairly passive, but time-tested, steps. Step one, vote out all commu- nity leaders who are aligned with the sort of special- interests mentioned above. (Getting the facts may involve a little Googling and maybe some asking around.) Step two, signifi- cantly throttle the issuing of all future building permits. To be clear, this will invoke the ire of the special inter- ests minority 4 that9s to be expected. But this is how democracy is supposed to work. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper. UPDATED DEADLINE ANNOUNCEMENTS Friday by 5 p.m. Submit to lisa@nuggetnews.com