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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2020)
2 Wednesday, February 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Closure of Book Corner is a disservice A hint of spring... Balmy, clear air bought the Three Sisters into sharp relief last week, but long-time Sisters residents know that it’s just a tease. By Wendie Vermillion Guest Columnist PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: On behalf of the Sisters Kiwanis Club, I want to thank all those people in the Sisters community who once again supported this year9s See9s Candy Sale event. A special thank-you goes to Ray9s for all the years of allowing Kiwanis to set up our trailer in their parking lot. This is one of our most popular fundraising events. This is a clas- sic win-win situation 3 the community can buy some delicious See9s candy and Sisters youth programs will benefit from the proceeds. ALL the proceeds, after the candy9s cost, are distributed to youth programs. All the candy must be prepaid and unsold candy can- not be returned. So, without community sup- port, this event could end up losing money. So once again, your support resulted in Kiwanis raising several thousand dollars to distribute to Sisters scholarships, youth clubs and other various youth events. Doug Wills, President, Sisters Kiwanis s s s To the Editor: Charlie Kanzig made me laugh out loud. His <Running Commentary= column about dog poop bags was epic. As a frequent user of trails, the proliferation of dog poop bags the last few years has been an interesting phenomenon. Maybe they think the trail Dog Poop Fairy is going to swoop in every evening and pick them up. There are garbage cans on either end of PRT where they can be disposed. See LETTERS on page 20 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Showers Showers Partly Cloudy Showers Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny 46/39 48/39 50/33 44/30 44/27 48/30 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, $55; six months (or less), $30. First-class postage: one year, $95; six months, $65. Published Weekly. ©2020 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. Many folks in Sisters are lamenting the loss of our Book Corner, the long- time source of used books and DVDs, etc. Of course we all cheer the prospect of library expansion in any of the Deschutes Library branches, but I think a few aspects of the reorganiza- tion need to be highlighted. The Nugget article (January 20) didn9t men- tion that Director Todd Dunkelberg ordered dis- solution of all <Friends of the Sisters Library= (FOSL) groups because he felt the funds raised were <not significant enough= to merit continuing the non- profit endeavor at any of the branches. However, the Sisters group pulls in sev- eral thousand dollars each year, largely because most of us thought it was directly used to benefit our library and all its endeavors. He basically negated all of the countless hours, books and dollars donated by so many over all these years. The article also didn9t tell us that all accumulated funds in our Sisters Friends account would be trans- ferred to the new Deschutes Library Foundation, to be administered from Bend, nor the amount accumulated in our local fund. However, instead of explaining exactly why our FOSL non-profit groups were being dissolved, some of the local library staff have apparently been trying to rationalize the closure by telling volunteers and other members of the public that the library needs the space for remodeling, and further, that we volunteers were get- ting too old and there were not enough of us to keep things going. In effect, they seemed to be trying to put the blame for closures in all branches on the volunteers! One individual attempting to justify the ending of the non-profit FOSL organi- zation even explained to me that although our local group was doing OK, <One branch had only three vol- unteers and two of them were in wheelchairs; it9s just sad.= My reaction was, how wonderful! Mentioning age as a factor in the closures is a hurtful disservice to our volunteers and all others in Sisters, as if we don9t all know our own limits 4 and strengths! In this com- munity, it is the retired age group who staff most of the volunteer ranks of any community events, and we love being useful. Yes, a few folks cannot lift heavy boxes of books, but most of us have managed for many years to paw through bags and boxes of peoples9 dona- tions and get them shelved for browsing. One volunteer said, <What age must one be to lift a book?= In my nine years I only recall hav- ing to close once for lack of a volunteer! But what Mr. Dunkelberg doesn9t understand is that the Book Corner, besides being an important funding source, became a cozy haven for folks to drop in, chat maybe, share in the greater purpose by purchasing or donating books, thus feeling a part of a community good- will endeavor. We have not only raised many thousands of dollars, but also have contributed to our commu- nity9s literacy needs with book donations to groups, free coupons and certainly affordable reading, particu- larly for children. I doubt any of us will feel the same devotion toward a vague <foundation= without the personal connection. I believe all volunteers accept the need for change as Central Oregon grows, and we cheer the retention of our wonderful art endeavors under Zeta Seiple9s experi- enced hand. However, the library and FOSL leader- ship might have shown respect for all Book Corner current and past volunteers with the actual reason, com- ing straight from the top, rather than propagating the myth of age and inad- equate numbers. Those two simple words, <thank you,= tacked on to the recent arti- cle would have been a nice touch. So I will add a spe- cial thanks to all past and present managers (Lisa Shaddox), and volun- teer workers, donors and <Friends.= Jim Anderson, folks still request your beautiful nature bookmarks! Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.