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Wednesday, June 3, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Editorial…
We’re all on edge
Here at the office of The Nugget 4 your
hometown newspaper 4 we consider our-
selves among the fortunate ones.
The press, like it or not, are deemed
essential in times of crisis, so we get to work
through this global pandemic.
So most of our work these days centers
around this crisis, and the pain and disruption
that it is causing.
All of us have seen friends and loved ones
lose jobs over the past two months. One in
four Americans have been forced out of their
jobs. That9s pretty depressing for the out-of-
work, who may struggle to find value in their
lives and to pay their bills. And it9s depressing
for those of us still employed.
But people who work in the media tend to
be different from most folks in that we thrive
on conflict. This newspaper suffers from the
same affliction.
And for good reason. It9s not that we relish
bad things happening to people, it9s simply that
conflict is what makes for good story telling.
So we hope you9ll believe us when we
state, things are not as bad as you see, read,
and hear in the national media, especially in
the electronic media.
Clickbait is a term that applies to the head-
lines in electronic media that are specifically
designed to get you to click on their link,
transporting you (they promise) to a story that
will change your life.
And with a fourth of us unemployed and a
third of who9s left working from home, we9re
all spending more time getting our news from
social media. This isn9t a harmless practice.
You know this when you lay down your smart
phone in anger.
But perhaps you already scroll past all
of the nonsense: speculation of what might
happen or a story about how one person is
incensed, usually on behalf of a third party,
for what they interpret to be an offense.
Well-intended people, masons of the
pathway to Hell, use social media as a plat-
form to rise to the defense of someone who
wasn9t actually offended. The Internet is
well-populated with both amateur-police and
amateur-journalists.
This has the effect of an Ouroboros, the
snake eating its own tail.
Anger begets more anger and modern tech-
nology spreads conflict virally (excuse the
pun), the effects of which are insidious, dam-
aging our souls rather than our flesh.
As we emerge from two months of shelter-
ing and begin the inevitable rebuilding of our
society, please be kind to the people whom,
for what ever reason, aren9t wearing a mask.
And be kind to those people who are wearing
masks.
We9ve all been cooped up for too long, get-
ting our news from sources designed to make
us angry. Our real-world social skills are a bit
rusty. Please be patient with each other and
rather than condemning someone9s actions,
try to help those in need.
Tom Mullen
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 a member of and volunteer with the
Sisters Rodeo for 14 years, my most special
memory is this:
A few years ago I was acting as an usher
during an afternoon performance and just
after our entertainer, John Payne the One
Armed Bandit, finished his act and left the
arena a woman came running up to me and
with the most urgency said she had to speak
to him. As we were near the main entrance
into the arena I tried to explain that there was
no public access but she continued to implore
me for help. She looked down to the little boy
at her side and my eyes followed hers. There
was this sweet boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old,
See LETTERS on page 23
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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
N
A response to
Richard Esterman
By Don Utzinger
Guest Columnist
Thank you very much for
your letter to the editor pub-
lished in the May 20 edition
of The Nugget. I sincerely
hope that all intelligent and
caring people in Sisters will
read, digest and remem-
ber it. Perhaps The Nugget
will even consider reprint-
ing it closer to the Sisters
City Council candidate fil-
ing date, and/or the election
date, to remind potential
candidates and voters.
It appears that you have
a mistaken understand-
ing of both the Oregon and
United States Constitutions,
as well as the legal defini-
tion of perjury. As arbiters
and ultimate interpreters of
the Constitution, the U.S.
Supreme Court has previ-
ously upheld the constitu-
tionality of orders designed
to protect public safety.
While the Constitution of
Oregon specifically grants
the Governor the power
to declare a <catastrophic
disaster= and take appropri-
ate actions for 30 days with-
out legislative approval,
she did not declare a cata-
strophic disaster. Instead,
she declared an emergency,
which she has the statutory
authority to do and to take
appropriate actions under
the constitution (without a
time limit).
I fully expect the Oregon
Supreme Court to continue
to uphold that authority.
As a military veteran
and a fourth generation
Oregonian, I9m proud to
have defended, and to con-
tinue to defend, her author-
ity to keep us safe. On the
question of perjury, I sug-
gest you look up the defini-
tion in the Oregon Revised
Statutes.
Governor Brown was
initially reluctant to order
any shutdown and, for a
time, resisted the calls of
medical professionals and
public officials to do so.
However, her early imple-
mentation of effective
mitigation is almost cer-
tainly responsible for the
significantly lower infection
and death rates in Oregon as
compared to neighboring
states and other states with
similar demographics.
Researchers at Columbia
University, applying stan-
dard scientific and statisti-
cal modeling to known data
of the county-to-county
virus spread within the U.S.,
estimated that if measures
would have been imple-
mented nationally one week
earlier there could have
been approximately 36,000
fewer deaths and at least
700,000 fewer illnesses.
(Only science deniers
would be dismissive of this
information.)
We9ll never know how
many fewer deaths there
could have been if Oregon
had shut down sooner. More
importantly, however, how
many more deaths would
there have been if Governor
Brown had acted later; or
worse, not at all?
How many more deaths
and how many more ill-
nesses would have been
acceptable to you in order
to defend your perceived
<right= to make money by
risking the lives and health
of others? Would you sacri-
fice members of your own
family?
So you9re asking busi-
ness owners to waste their
time to request that all
Oregon taxpayers contribute
to reimburse them for tak-
ing appropriate steps (albeit
mandated) to protect them-
selves and their customers?
In line with your invoicing
suggestion, please consider
this to be an invoice in the
very nominal amount of
$50 for my time and mate-
rials writing this response.
Rather than remitting that
amount to me, please donate
it to any person or persons
that are risking their lives to
keep you safe and healthy.
Again, thank you for
your letter. The people of
Sisters deserve intelligent,
knowledgeable and caring
leaders and I hope they can
find them.
Thank you for your
consideration.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
Creative Director: Jess Draper
Community Marketing
Partner: Vicki Curlett
Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May
Owner: J. Louis Mullen
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