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Wednesday, August 26, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Letters to the Editor…
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PHOTO BY SUE ANDERSON
Jim A. and Jim C. — old pals and newspaper colleagues for 27 years.
The world’s all right
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
It must have been the
haze of wildfire smoke.
When I sat down at my
desk at The Nugget over the
weekend to open an email
from Jim Anderson, my eyes
got a little watery.
The message was one
I knew was coming, but it
was mighty poignant all the
same. The message read:
<OK, here it is Good
People, the Last Story, all
2,700 words of it. I hope
you9ll run it, perhaps in two
editions...or whatever. It9s
going to be a very sad day
for me when Sue and I walk
out of our home of almost
50 years and leave this land
of Central Oregon that I
love, but the one constant in
Nature is change...=
Jim and Sue are heading
to the Willamette Valley to
be closer to family. It9s the
end of an era.
Who am I fooling? It
wasn9t the smoke.
Jim9s message was poi-
gnant, sure, but also funny.
It9s just like Jim to leave his
editor with a massive 2,700-
word column. He9s known
since before I became his
editor that columns really
should max out at about 800
words. So& the <last story=
will have to be three.
I don9t think Jim would
mind me telling you that
he is a bit of a handful for
an editor. Word counts, like
the Pirate Code, are <more
guidelines than actual
rules.= And he was never
really comfortable with the
distinction between a news
story and an opinion col-
umn. Keeping his opinion
and voice out of a piece
wasn9t something that came
naturally, and Jim could be
mighty set in his ways&
But, after all, Jim
Anderson has a wonder-
ful and distinctive voice,
and strong passions for the
things he holds dear: avia-
tion; family; the bounty of
Nature. Come right down to
it, it9s a voice that shouldn9t
be muted. And it9s a voice
we9ll miss.
Jim is a man of strong
principles and a caring heart.
I9ve seldom met anyone so
genuinely warm-hearted,
so thrilled to see others
thrive and succeed. He was
so proud of his children9s
accomplishments 4 and
he was proud of yours, too.
About the only thing that
could obviate his compas-
sion and love for his fellow
man was seeing Man dam-
age and destroy his beloved
natural world. For those
who would deliberately and
wantonly destroy Nature, he
reserved a fiery and righ-
teous anger.
But even when he had
to be a warrior, he was a
happy one 4 and he knew
that the best way to combat
a destructive mentality is to
educate people and imbue
in them an understanding
and appreciation for its joys
and wondrous beauty. Jim is
a teacher, perhaps above all
else 4 formally, through his
writing and simply through
casual conversation.
We should all do so well
as to fill 92 years of life with
real living, as Jim Anderson
has. We shared a love for the
poetry of Robert W. Service,
and it9s fitting that he signed
off with a favorite passage:
The World9s all right;
serene I sit,
And joy that I am part of
it;
And put my trust in
Nature9s plan,
And try to aid her all I
can;
Content to pass, if in my
place
I9ve served the uplift of
the Race.
Truth! Beauty! Love! O
Radiant Day 4
What ho! The World9s all
right, I say.
Editor9s note:
We are entering the cauldron of an elec-
tion cycle that may be as heated as any in
American history. The Nugget welcomes
opinion from across the political spectrum,
and we expect those opinions to be vigor-
ously expressed. Argue for persuasion, not
for provocation; refrain from name-calling or
personal attacks on other letter-writers.
Letters addressing local and regional
races/issues will be given priority. Repetitive
or form letters will not be published and vol-
ume may dictate that the number of letters
from a single person be restricted.
Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
s
s
s
To the Editor:
NO on Bonham.
By now, we9re all probably less than
enthusiastic about another Zoom meeting. We
miss our friends and family and colleagues.
Seeing them on a screen just isn9t the same
as being with them in person. But the reality
is, videoconferencing or virtual meetings are
drastically reducing the spread of COVID-19
and saving lives.
This is why I9m really disappointed in
Representative Daniel Bonham (HD 59), for
voting NO on HB 4212, which authorizes
public governing bodies to conduct all pub-
lic meetings by phone or videoconference.
Fortunately it passed without his vote, as all
Democrats and a majority of Republicans
voted for it.
Does Mr. Bonham not recognize that
we have a serious crisis and we need to act
accordingly? Meeting remotely will slow the
spread of a COVID-19, which has already
killed more than 150,000 Americans. There is
no logical reason to vote against such a bill
during a worldwide pandemic, while case
numbers are still increasing here in Oregon,
unless he is ignoring medical science. Perhaps
Mr. Bonham believes the president when he
See LETTERS on page 6
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