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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2020)
14 Wednesday, December 23, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon LETTERS Continued from page 2 As a women, I don9t think you ever get over the nervousness you get when encountering a man while you are alone in the woods. While I have volunteered with the Shepherd9s House in Bend and interacted with many homeless, I have come to know that, while for the most part some of them are ordinary people going through a hard time, there are others I did not feel comfortable with even in a controlled environment. I urge you to contact the Sisters Forest Service 541-549-7700 if this concerns you also. Michelle Baldessari s s s To the Editor: I want to talk about false liberty. False liberty is when a person thinks that their individual rights take precedent over the rights of everybody else. An example might be smoking cig- arettes. Some people thought that they had a right to smoke anywhere they want. It turned out that the facts were that second-hand smoke turned out to be just as dangerous as direct smoke. Did smokers realize that it wasn9t fair to endanger the server at the bar or the other passengers on the plane with their exhalations and hold off on their habit until they could smoke somewhere better? Some did, but many very vocal and persistent people would refuse claiming that their rights were being infringed on. We9ve all seen those people. The same thing was true about seat belts. Some people felt that it was their right to get their head stuffed into the windshield leaving a mess for some- body else to clean up. The same thing was true for wearing motorcycle helmets. Was the right to have the wind blowing through your hair more important then the rights of the emergency responders to not have to clean up your brains off the highway and for your children to not have a daddy anymore? You could say the same thing about guns but I9m not talking about guns today. I9m talking about masks. I promise you that nobody likes dealing with wearing a mask. Some of us, however, understand that the facts say that wearing one lowers the case rate and deaths considerably. That should be good enough for everyone. Instead the mask wearers are called <sheep.= Don9t forget that sheep are the ones that follow their leader off the cliff, not the ones who take the safe route. Your right to not wear a (God knows) annoying mask is not more important than everybody else9s right to health. That9s a fact. If all the folks who don9t wear masks just hung out together and never went out in public then I think we9d see Darwinism at it9s finest. But those of us that are wearing masks are trying to keep everybody else safe because that9s what human beings do for each other. The greatest strength of our species and the reason that we dom- inate on this planet is the fact that we cooperate, otherwise we would still be looking fearfully out of a cave somewhere watching some other species building their first pyramids. Take care of each other, people. Bruce Campbell s s s To the Editor: This is in response to the Letters to the Editor on December 16 from JK Wells. Although this missive was chock full of lies and conspiracy theory rhetoric (what if this, what if that), I want to focus on the ref- erence involving Johns Hopkins that <U.S. deaths, from all causes, is on track to be average for 2020.= The article they reference was published by the John Hopkins student newspaper on November 22 and was not endorsed by the University or Medical Center. In fact, when Johns Hopkins discovered it, they forced the student newspaper to retract the article on November 26 and apologize for spreading misinformation. They admitted that there has been <almost 300,000 excess deaths due to COVID-19,= com- pared to previous years. I want to make two points. First, people who spread these lies and conspiracy theories have no common sense. Obviously, any serious person would realize that there is no way you could have zero excess deaths while the pandemic is ravaging our country and the world. Unless, of course, you believe the pandemic is a hoax and then I submit you have much larger problems than misrepresent- ing a source such as John Hopkins. Second, I believe The Nugget editorial staff has an obligation to check references involving such a prestigious institution as Johns Hopkins University. The <zero excess deaths= reference shocked me so much that I spent 45 seconds to discover that they had quickly published a retraction and apologized. You certainly could have verified that information before publishing it. You cannot hide behind your belief that <letters to the editor are the opinions of the writer= as stated by the editor in chief in response to another letter in the same Nugget. This reference to Johns Hopkins is not an opinion and is from a source that could be easily verified, which is the bedrock of news- reporting, fact-checking responsibilities. Jay Juhrend s s s To the Editor: It no longer suffices that the education system from university to kindergarten is the domain of the anti-American left and the mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the government party. It now comes down to the proposed censoring of conversation in our local community. We should now be required to embrace leftist orthodoxy or be brought to heel. Mr. Mackey, myself, and millions of like-minded Americans should be relegated to a re-education gulag. Larry Benson s s s To the Editor: Well, it9s post-election time here in America, and our divisions are more acute than ever. I9m an American, believe in democracy and the Constitution. So my question to everyone is: Are you an American? If you answered yes, then now you must accept that Joe Biden is the next president, See LETTERS on page 16 Health, wellness and quality of life are top priorities for people in Central Oregon! Having a healthy, active lifestyle is just the tip of the iceberg. Besides our individual physical health, overall wellbeing depends on other aspects of life as well like mental, oral, ocular, environmental, educational, fi nancial, family, and pet health. e l p m a s Advertise in Focus On Health if you offer: Fitness programs and gear • Beauty treatments Spa and massage services • Chiropractic, acupuncture and physical therapy Healthy food and supplements • Home cleaning services Senior living communities and programs • Veterinary and pet training services Financial and retirement management guidance FOCUS ON HEALTH is a 2-week promotion in The Nugget Newspaper January 20 & 27, 2021 Each participating business receives a full-color ad both weeks and a 150-word mini-story with photo in one issue. Space and ad content deadline is Friday, January 8, 2021. Ad size: 2.85" wide by 3.52" high. Space is limited and this popular section sells out! Call Vicki at 541-549-9941 to reserve your space.