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Wednesday, February 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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
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50/33
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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.
