2 Wednesday, April 29, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N What will survive the virus? By Erik Dolson BY KATHY DEGGENDORFER Columnist Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Letters 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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 10 a.m. Monday. To the Editor: As the district continues to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, I want to give an update from our last school board meeting. Sisters School District grew by 8 students as reported in the April board meeting. Bond work continues as our new transportation center construction moves forward and the walls are starting to go up. Additionally, the board approved the 2020-2021 school cal- endar with some modifications. As soon as those modifications are completed, we will post the calendar on the district webpage and send it out. Additionally, you can access my messages and those of our building principals from our district website, www.ssd6.org. The district submitted the Student Investment Account application to the Oregon Department of Education and we had our first official budget meeting. With the uncertainty of the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the Sisters School District is especially grateful for our community9s continued support of our local option. We continue to support students with grab-and-go breakfast and lunches that can See LETTERS on page 14 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Cloudy AM Clouds/PM Sun Mostly Sunny 72/46 57/36 67/41 Saturday Monday Sunday PM Showers Showers Partly Cloudy 65/38 50/33 56/33 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Email: 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 Creative Director: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partner: Vicki Curlett Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May 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 pro- hibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. 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 unconditionally 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. The coronavirus is a once-in-a-generation event. As it has ended many lives, going forward it will define many others. It will per- haps define our country, what we have become and who we will be. The virus is an insidious enemy, spreading among people who do not appear to be sick. It can attack in terrifying ways, causing blood clots and strokes in young and seemingly healthy people, invading the lungs in a way that does not cause shortness of breath until there is too little oxygen for life. But the damage is not suffered just by individu- als with the virus, and their families. Our econ- omy teeters on the edge as we try to limit a death toll that reached 50,000 in this country alone in about one month. We have had to change how we live. The coronavirus and its aftermath are threats to the whole country, a threat to the whole world. Diseases like this are wars between species, and ours is under threat. It9 s the type of threat that requires us to come together as a people, as humanity. It is a threat that should unite us in a battle where our col- lective will can overcome an alien species that takes individual lives and may destroy whole nations. Others here know his- tory far better than I, but phrases from past crises come to mind.