Wednesday, June 10, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Black leadership group
active in region
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Riccardo Waites was
moved to act by the May
25 death of George Floyd
in Minnesota at the hands
of police officer Derek
Chauvin. The incident,
which was captured on
phone footage by bystand-
ers, sparked protests across
the nation and now across
the globe. Some of those
protests were marred by riot-
ing and looting.
Waites is seeking con-
structive action for con-
structive change through
the founding of the Central
Oregon Black Leadership
Assembly. The Assembly has
figured prominently in ral-
lies in Bend and Redmond,
and has been included on the
citizens advisory committee
that will seek a replacement
for Bend Police Chief Jim
Porter, who is retiring.
<I started this Assembly
the day I saw the video of
George Floyd,= said Waites,
who is the father of two
daughters and a 20-year
resident of Bend. <I liter-
ally cried as I watched the
video. It made me think,
what generation is this going
to stop so they (his chil-
dren) don9t feel the pain I9m
feeling.=
Waites has significant
goals for the organiza-
tion beyond the activism
of the moment. He hopes
<to unite every black per-
son in America= and help
build black-owned business
as a foundation for genuine
equality in American society.
Waites, a U.S. Navy sub-
mariner veteran lived in
major metropolitan areas
and came to Bend from Las
Vegas at the suggestion of
his brother. Like so many
who have come here, he was
seeking a place to be rooted,
a safe and welcoming place
to raise a family.
<I took a trip out here for
a week to see what9s going
on, and I just fell in love
with the place,= he said.
<When I got here in 2000,
people waved at me and they
didn9t even know me.=
The experience of living
in Central Oregon and start-
ing his own business here
has been positive 4 yet he
acknowledges that he is liv-
ing in a place with very few
people of color, and that
does have an impact.
<My daughters are defi-
nitely a lot safer in Bend,
Oregon,= he said. <It9s hard
for them not to see people
who look like them.=
Waites told The Nugget
that he has been <pulled over
for driving= when people in
Bend neighborhoods called
police.
He wanted to convey a
message to Central Oregon.
<Don9t be afraid of the
Assembly& we9re a peace-
ful organization.=
He said that <the
Asse3mbly is for black
people because we9re the
most oppressed right now.=
However, he noted, support
memberships are available to
anyone.
Waites said he is currently
focused on Bend, Redmond
and Prineville, but, he said,
I will eventually get out to
Sisters.= He foresees a role
in Sisters schools.
<I9m definitely going to
get with all the local school
systems and try to get them
to understand more black
history, beyond slavery and
Martin Luther King, Jr., so
they understand how impor-
tant black people were to
creating this country and
how we contributed,= he
said.
For more information
visit https://mycobla.com.
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Pandora moths
are back
When I rolled into Bend
on my Harley in 1951 I
didn9t know a Pandora
moth from a monarch but-
terfly. It wasn9t until 1986
that they both entered my
life, but the first to arrive
was the moth; the monarchs
came later when my wife,
Sue, started monitoring the
butterflies at Lava Beds
National Monument south
of Klamath Falls.
During the summer of
that year the state highway
department had to begin
sanding Highway 97 south
of Bend because of motor
vehicles smashing big, fat
Pandora moth caterpillars
trying to cross the high-
way, causing the pavement
to get as slick as snot on a
doorknob.
Right this minute 4
based on the phone calls
and emails I9ve received
4 there9s a whole bunch of
these moths wandering all
over the forests of our area.
They9ve reached their
maximum size as caterpil-
lars, quietly pigging out on
pine tree needles the last
year, and are now down
from their forest café look-
ing for a place to bury them-
selves in the earth where
Gypsy
Wind
Clothing
NOW OPEN AT OUR
NEW LOCATION!
they will undergo what I
call the <Miracle of Nature,=
aka metamorphosis.
Just think, that fat and
juicy slug-like animal will
bury itself in the soil, weave
a silken nightshirt (cocoon)
and change into another
animal. What gets me is the
caterpillar doesn9t die.
The life that9s in it is
transferred to the new ani-
mal that will emerge from
the cocoon. But unlike it9s
predecessor, the caterpil-
lar, the new animal has
three body parts: head, tho-
rax and abdomen, plus sex
organs to reproduce, wings
to fly, a different breathing
mechanism, but no chewing
mouth.
Anyway, if things go
as the moth planned, next
summer (or the one after,
depending on weather) there
will be adult Pandora moths
all over the place, flying
around the night lights and
roosting on the walls of our
buildings during the day.
The beneficiaries of this
bounty are the predators
that eat them, such as squir-
rels, martens, and a number
of birds. However, there9s
just enough yellow on the
caterpillar to warn birds
they may not taste very
good, and might even make
them sick.
Then there9s the para-
sites. If you don9t like the
idea of caterpillars eat-
ing your pine tree needles,
please don9t go out and buy
a bunch of chemicals. There
are a host of parasites that
just love to lay their eggs
in the caterpillars and they
take a pretty good toll, and
using chemicals will kill the
predators and parasites as
well.
Bats will think they
have died and gone to
heaven with all those deli-
cious moths flying all over
the place, and you9ll have
something to entertain you
if you have your supper out
on the back deck.
PHOTO BY TED SCHROEDER
Pandora moth caterpillar.
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