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Wednesday, October 21, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
To the Editor:
Do you want to vote for a Sisters City Council
candidate who will offer us a fresh perspective and
new ideas? Easy! Vote for Elizabeth Fisher as one
of your three picks. She is the only candidate that
knows Sisters from the perspective of growing
up here and the reality that many of our working
families face trying to afford to make our city their
home. She just graduated with a science degree
from OSU, and has returned home because she
loves and cares for her hometown.
I have gotten to know Elizabeth from her work
on the Sisters Social Justice Network. Helping
to found an active, new advocacy organization
and running for a seat on council is not what she
planned to do in 2020. I have seen this young intel-
ligent woman has a heart that can9t let our world
stay the same, and she wants to serve on council to
fulfill that passion.
I9m casting my vote for Elizabeth to bring a
new and unrepresented voice to the council. We
need young people in our community, and they all
need to be able to afford to live and work here.
Elizabeth will support the vision to make sure that
Sisters is a welcoming place for all, and that work-
ing families can raise and educate their kids in this
wonderful town.
Vote for Elizabeth and watch what happens!
George Myers
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To the Editor:
It is exciting to see a great slate of candidates
this year for the three open City Council seats. I
urge you to re-elect incumbent Andrea Blum to fill
one of those seats.
I have served on Council with Andrea for four
years and she has a passion for the City and her
preparation for Council business is always thor-
ough. Her knowledge of the City and its unique
goals, priorities, and the laws that guide these
goals and priorities is superb. But most of all I am
impressed with her non-biased approach to every
issue and always thinking on what would be best
for the City and its residents.
Finally, the staff at City Hall respects her, and
that is a huge plus.
Chuck Ryan
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To the Editor:
This sweet town was once <Sisters - Tree City.=
But where did it go? A prominent long-time resi-
dent recently wrote in The Nugget, <I got lost in
Sisters!=
Is our once-beautiful City becoming overrun
by the rampant growth of housing developments?
How many <affordable= housing units are enough
to satisfy City planning? To growth we9ve lost
hundreds of old and elegant trees (one was recently
valued by the City at $26,845), maneuverability,
stressed our infrastructure to its limits (includ-
ing water usage 4 we are nearly 10 years into a
drought), and charming grace which is healthy for
residents.
Isn9t it time to put a lid on growth or do we want
to mimic Bend? Residents need to be allowed a
voice (vote) on this issue before their treasured liv-
ability is eroded into flatlands lacking the beauty
we and tourists all treasure so greatly!
Ruth Schaefer
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To the Editor:
I read, with great interest the October 7
Commentary, <The Windigo: The Evil Spirit of the
Great North Woods.= And I would like to pose that
this myth, of the flesh eating monster, is way more
than a ghost story.
The editor quotes from <The Manitous: The
Supernatural World of the Ojibway.= To continue
author Basil Johnston9s story, <As long as men and
women put the well-being of their families and
communities ahead of their own self-interests by
respecting the rights of animals who dwelt as their
cotenants on Mother Earth, offering tobacco and
chants to Mother Earth and Kitchi-Manitou [Great
Mystery] as signs of gratitude and goodwill, and
attempting to fulfill and live out their dreams and
visions, they would instinctively know how to live
in harmony and balance and have nothing to fear
of the Windigo.=
Among the Anishinaubae people, selfishness
was regarded as the worst of all human short-
comings. And, within many other Native peoples9
mythologies, the Windigo shows up as a warning
against greed. In cultures where interdependence
was akin to survival, this is not surprising.
Some anthropologists have surmised that it was,
in fact, white man9s colonization that brought the
Windigo into its true form.
I would add that modern capitalism, when it
exits with no regard for our basic interdependence
on each other and with all life, has come to per-
sonify greed for greed9s sake 4 unchecked and
insatiable.
Much more than a ghost story, The Windigo
serves as a cautionary tale for 2020.
Susan Prince
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To the Editor:
It appears the election issue (besides COVID)
is our economy and the jobs market. Your vote is
valuable. Please consider the facts when you cast
it.
Under President Trump9s leadership, Congress
passed historic tax cuts and relief for hard-working
Americans.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
The first major tax reform signed in 30 years. It
provided tax relief for 82 percent of middle class
families. It doubled the Child Tax Credit provid-
ing an additional $1,000, per child, in tax relief for
working parents.
Nearly doubled the standard deduction, a
change that simplified the tax filing process for
millions of Americans. Cut taxes for small busi-
ness by 20 percent, providing $415 billion in tax
relief for small business owners. It alleviated the
tax burden on over 500 companies who then used
those savings to fund bonuses and wage increases
for 4.8 million workers.
It spurred new investments into the American
economy. Once it was passed, those businesses
invested $482 billion into new American projects.
Repealed the burdensome individual mandate.
Made U.S. companies competitive on the world
stage by lowering the corporate tax rate from one
of the highest in the industrialized world at 35 per-
cent to 21 percent.
Our gross domestic product growth has soared
under President Trump, topping three percent in
four quarters under his administration.
Under President Trump six million new jobs
were created. The unemployment rate fell to its
lowest point in 50 years. Wages grew at three per-
cent for 10 months in a row.
African American, Asian and Hispanic unem-
ployment rates reach record lows under President
Trump.
President Trump signed an executive order that
expanded the federally funded Apprenticeship
Program.
President Trump launched the Women9s Global
Development and Prosperity Initiative which
advances women9s full and free participation in
the global economy and allocated $50 million for
the fund.
D.S. Findlay
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To the Editor:
About a year ago a close friend was diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer. His name was Bo Viking
Jacobson. Viking was born in Finland in 1943 and
emigrated here with his parents after World War
II. As his health declined there came a time when
he wanted to have one last wish granted to him.
His final wish was that he would live long enough
to vote for president in this election. Viking was
generally a quiet person who was often reluctant to
share his political beliefs, but one thing he firmly
believed was in the Constitution of the United
States and the importance of our Democracy as a
way of life. Viking never got a chance to have his
wish fulfilled.
He died on October 6 of this year.
In his book, <A History of Knowledge,= Charles
Van Doren wrote, <The Constitution is a piece of
paper. It cannot fight for itself. If Americans do
not believe in it, it will become mere paper. Most
Americans accept the Constitution as the law of the
land. They may disagree about everything else. But
they know they must not intentionally and know-
ingly act unconstitutionally. In that realm, they
agree they should always do right. Not to do so
is to challenge the basis of American government:
The Constitution has no protection except the
peoples9 belief in it. Soldiers and police could not
protect the Constitution if people ceased to believe
in it, although they might destroy it by turning the
American democracy into a police state. Belief
cannot be legislated. It is an act of free will of the
citizens.=
He goes on to say that only the nearly universal
belief of this sort can ensure both peace and free-
dom in our country.
Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to our
Constitution. He has done everything he can to
subvert the rule of law so that he can be re-elected.
Most Democrats and even some members of his
own party have (finally) come out and said that
if he is elected to another four years it could very
well destroy our democracy.
I think it is sad that Bo Viking Jacobson never
got the chance to vote for Joe Biden. I will cast my
vote in his remembrance in his and my belief that
our constitution is more important than any man
who believes that he is above the law.
Daniel Ramberg
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