2 Wednesday, August 12, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Life in the new normal By Carey Tosello Guest 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: Central Oregonians deserve leaders who understand how to protect our communities from wildfires 4 and who will take deci- sive action. Commissioner Henderson is not such a leader. In The Nugget9s August 5 story, <Defending Sisters Against Wildfire,= he blames inadequate wildfire preparedness on one factor 4 too few days to implement pre- scribed burns 4 and suggests that additional funding will not make a difference. In these statements, Henderson has missed two other important ways that we can reduce hazardous fuels near Sisters: thinning small trees and mowing dense brush in the under- story. In 2019, the Deschutes National Forest reported that it has 141,000 acres of thin- ning and mowing through environmental review and ready to implement when fund- ing becomes available. So when Henderson says that burn days are the key bottleneck on reducing fuels to make us safer, he ignores the fact that thinning and mowing don9t depend on available burn days. Prescribed fire is an excellent final step after thinning and mowing, but even on their own, thinning and mowing are proven to be helpful in containing the spread of wildfires. Insufficient funding for thinning and mow- ing is already making us less safe. For exam- ple, this March the Forest Service reported to the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project Steering Committee that they have insuffi- cient funds to offer a contract for a steward- ship project (called Peso) west of Bend and south of Sisters in 2020. Implementing those thinning and mowing treatments in 2020 could mean the difference between being able to contain a fire in that area next summer, or that fire escaping and burning towards our homes. See LETTERS on page 18 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Monday Sunday Partly Cloudy Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Partly Cloudy 77/46 82/49 89/54 95/59 96/59 92/55 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 Newspaper’s 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 slow strangulation of American life as we knew it continues, as the govern- ment imposes lockdowns/ restrictions on businesses they deem <non-essential.= To a small business owner, the business they have poured their life into is essential. To the people they hire, and who depend on that business to support their family, that business is also essential. While our Governor has managed to avoid the disas- ter that Washington and California have imposed on their population (to her credit), there are many other states that are under the rule of what is essentially mar- tial law. One person (the Governor) in these states has complete control over civilian life with no check and balance on them. To keep the population from revolting against this authoritarianism, the gov- ernment floods the econ- omy with cash. Stimulus checks, forgivable loans to businesses, and unemploy- ment benefits that allow 2/3 of those receiving them to earn more by NOT work- ing. May have been a good idea at the time, but now we see the unintended consequences. Some examples of Governors needlessly ruin- ing the lives of Americans include: California is forc- ing schools to go online, but told private schools (with smaller enrollments and easier to social distance) they could receive a waiver. Then the county denies the waivers because of a lack of testing. Minnesota allowed restaurants to re-open at 25 percent capacity 4 regard- less of social distancing policies that were instituted. New York allowed strip clubs to reopen, but not bowling alleys. Seriously. Where is the <science= in any of this, or just common sense? For those that say we are in an existential crisis and need to give government complete authority over our lives, I would remind you of what FDR did to Japanese Americans in World War II. These citizens were stripped of all their rights and prop- erty and were forcibly relo- cated to internment camps. It was a crisis they said, and the press ginned up enough fear of the <yellow peril= that good people remained silent. Even our Supreme Court, in their supreme wis- dom, gave their approval. Allowing our govern- ment to pick winners and losers is called central plan- ning. It is what they do in Cuba, Venezuela, and yes, Russia. What if, instead of central planning, the government simply said that you must do <these things= to open your busi- ness. <These things= might include wearing masks, social distancing, sanitiza- tion procedures, etc. Doesn9t matter if you run a taco stand or breed zebras, if you can comply you can be open. Allowing one person, a governor, to have absolute authority over which businesses can remain open, and dictating how they must run their business, ends up destroy- ing people9s livelihoods, and jeopardizing the well- being of their employees. Each of us would be free to decide whether we want to patronize these busi- nesses. If you have one of the comorbidities that 94 percent of all COVID- 19 deaths have, you may choose to stay home and shelter until there is a vac- cine. The rest of us could return to work and school to help support the economy, as a strong economy will be needed to continue to aid and care for those who are unable to work. But the choice would be yours. Pandemics like COVID- 19 sweep thru the world population, always have and always will. It took the 1918 pandemic about 18 months to work its way through the population and ended up infecting 1/3 of the people on the planet. Our health care system is vastly supe- rior today, and the survival rate for those that contract COVID-19 is close to 99 percent, which is far higher than in 1918. Remember that shelter- ing at home was to <flatten the curve= so that our medi- cal system would be ready to handle the pandemic. It was never intended for us to hide until the virus passes by, or until we found a cure. Our health system has had plenty of time to be ready to care for the influx of patients. We can re-open all parts of our economy, if we pro- vide clear safety rules that apply equally to all, not just to those with the biggest political clout. Time for Americans to return to life in the new normal. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.