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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
To the Editor:
Good things happen in Sisters.
I went to Sisters Bakery a few days ago to get
some of the famous pastries for a special treat for
my wife and visiting daughter. While waiting in
line to go in, there was a young man behind me that
appeared to be a painting contractor. I offered to
him to go first because he was working person and
I am retired. We both proceeded to get our goodies
and when I went to pay, the lady said that the young
man had already paid for my purchase. What a very
nice thing for him to do.
If you read this I would say; May God Bless You.
Gary Kutz
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To the Editor:
Last week, Jeff Mackey wrote:
<Who would benefit from erasing the truth about
what and who was the reason behind the civil war?=
Wrong question. The correct question is: Should
soldiers and generals from the Confederacy, a trea-
sonous regime whose goal was to preserve slavery,
be glorified, celebrated and honored by statues,
names of streets and names of U.S. military bases?
The obvious answer is no. These monuments to
slavery were erected well after the civil war ended
and their purpose was clear: to continue to oppress
blacks and take away their rights as Americans. The
Confederate flag has become a symbol for white
supremacy. It also should be banned from public
places, as should the Nazi flag. These are symbols
of hate and oppression.
He also wrote:
<Shouldn9t we at least continue to honor and
celebrate the thousands who gave their lives to end
slavery?=
Certainly. This is why it is so important to
remove the names and statues of those who were
pro-slavery and replace them with those who actu-
ally legislated or fought to end slavery, like those
liberated slaves who actually fought in the civil war.
The history books and museums will still reflect the
history. This is all about honoring and glorifying the
right people in public places, not about preserving
history.
He also wrote:
<Where are the poverty, homelessness, and crime
highest? Who has been in charge of those cities for
50-plus years...=
Let9s see. You are trying to insinuate that it9s
Democrat left-wing leadership that is at fault here.
Blaming Democrats, so called <elites,= and big cit-
ies does not help. It turns-out that the highest crime
rates in the nation per capita are: Bessemer, AL.;
Monroe, LA; St. Louis, MO; Detroit, MI; Memphis,
TN; Flint, MI. Five of the top 10 cities are in RED
states, which have Republican leadership. Those
plus Michigan voted majority for Trump. There
are bad people everywhere, including in Central
Oregon, where unfortunately even here there is a
white supremacist presence. The blame game solves
nothing, particularly if you don9t have your facts
straight.
He also wrote:
< &is our nation better off since kicking God
totally out of school classrooms?=
Our democracy claims that we are all equal
under God, but it also requires that there is a sep-
aration between church and state. In the Bible it
states <Give back to Caesar the things of Caesar,
and to God the things of God.= Even the Bible says
that government and church should be separate.
Preaching a particular gospel in classrooms is fine
for evangelical schools, but not public schools.
Religion is a guide for principles and morals, not
a solution. The solution is a societal change in cul-
ture, which requires leaders in both the government
and churches to lead with the right policies and by
example. We are not getting any moral leadership
or policies that will fix this from our government.
This why people are in the streets protesting, for
that cultural shift that is so badly needed. We are
better than this.
Steve Nugent
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To the Editor:
I must take issue with the writer of Facts Matter
which you featured in page 2 of the July 1 Nugget.
While I agree, wholeheartedly, with the author9s
contention that facts must form the <foundation
from which we make our decisions,= they must also
be put in proper context and reported accurately.
The writer makes two serious errors in reporting
<facts.=
First, the author contends that number of deaths
associated with COVID-19 is comparable to deaths
caused by two earlier flu pandemics, the Asian flu
and Hong Kong flu, neither of which, the author
contends, caused a national lockdown. If this cur-
rent pandemic were over, the author might have
a point but, from what the experts tell us, this flu
could continue to spread and kill at even higher rates
for another 18 months resulting in a far higher death
total than either of the earlier cases. The author9s
assertion is a classic case of comparing apples to
oranges based on sloppy thinking.
In many ways the author9s second assertion, that
just <10 unarmed Black men were killed by police
in 2019= is even more poorly constructed. The
Washington Post database, upon which the author
bases this claim, does not report the number of
unarmed Black men killed by police, it only reports
on the number of unarmed Black fatally shot by on-
duty police officers. The killing of George Floyd
will never be reported in that database as he was
suffocated by a police officer. Neither are deaths
caused by police beating, tasering, neglect, choking
and off-duty officers counted. Perhaps there9s a case
to be made that the killing of Black men by police is
not endemic but the author fails to make it.
Jeff Tryens
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To the Editor:
The Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank has always been
a community effort. While the Kiwanis Club pro-
vides the building, organization and many of the
volunteers, it heavily relies on the Sisters commu-
nity for the money to purchase the food and sup-
plies. But COVID-19 radically changed the needs
of the food bank. And WOW 4 has the Sisters
Independence Day...
community responded!
On behalf of the Sisters Kiwanis Club, We want
to acknowledge the incredible community effort
to support the Sisters Food Bank. The community
generosity over the last five months has been noth-
ing short of amazing. Individual and organizational
contributions are far greater than they have ever
been. The community not only responded with
more donations, but community volunteers also
responded with their time.
Operating the food bank is now difficult because
most of the volunteers are in the COVID-19 <at
risk= category because of age. Special safety and
social distancing procedures were needed to pro-
tect all the volunteers and food bank customers.
And, when our normal group of Kiwanis and com-
munity volunteers needed help to operate the food
bank, extra volunteers stepped up to fill the void.
Volunteers donated a huge amount of time and took
on extra risk to keep the food bank operational.
The gratitude of people using the food bank
made it all worthwhile.
Obviously, there is a lot of uncertainty over the
future demands on the food bank. While we all hope
that demands will slow this summer, there is even
more uncertainty over what will happen this win-
ter. But, after much deliberation, Sisters Kiwanis
believes the food bank is adequately funded for the
summer and early fall.
So, the Club wants the community to know it
will be OK to hold off donations at this time. We
are concerned there are other un-met social needs in
Sisters. You might consider supporting other Sisters
charities instead. However, we ask you to keep the
Food Bank in mind for your traditional Christmas
giving. Kiwanis will let the community know if
there is a need for more funding.
Again, thank you so much for the outstanding
support! You made a difference!
Doug Wills, on behalf of Kiwanis officers and
board
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To the Editor:
I see each weekend the signs <Black Lives
Matter.= I hope these refer to Black-on-Black mur-
ders in all the big cities and the breakdown of Black
families, poverty, up to 70 percent abortion rate in
some areas.
The Black community says it9s not the White9s
problem, but theirs to address and fix.
The radical <Black Lives Matter= movement is
fully funded by the Marxist socialist movement and
agenda in America.
Fox News had a <BLM= leader of New York
City and he said he would burn America down if he
didn9t get his way. Terrorist threat?
In the Bible with the three sons of Noah 4
Japheth, Shem, and Ham 4 all humanity began.
Now Black, Brown, White, God says each life mat-
ters to Him! Our society needs reforms on social
injustices and other problems.
We are battling a wild pandemic, also. I would
and others challenge the Christian churches as a
whole to meet at the middle school grounds for a
time of calling on God in prayer for help we criti-
cally need.
Chet Davis
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