8
Wednesday, August 18, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
a mask, she became happier, more confident, and
engaged in the learning process. She never com-
plained about wearing a mask and was willing to
make the sacrifice needed. I am really proud of her.
Besides having the parent perspective of mask
wearing, I am also a teacher in a local school dis-
trict. Luckily, our students and staff were able to
do in-person learning, either hybrid or full time,
for the entire 2020-21 year (except for a four-week
distance-learning break around the holidays). We
wore masks the whole time. Was it hard? Yes, it
really was at times ... AND ... it was a great oppor-
tunity to teach our students that we can all do hard
things. That we can persevere through adversity
and make sacrifices for others. Did our students
learn and grow last year? Absolutely!
It was a year full of challenges and laughter,
math and fun. And we did it ALL with our masks on.
Shawn Steele
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Thank you for the careful, extensive reporting
on the recent School Board meeting. We have such
a need, in these trying times, for clear and clean
journalism, free of spin or propaganda.
I was saddened to hear of this eruption of hate-
ful, arrogant, belligerent bullying and badgering.
This has become a common attitude among a
certain crowd, but remains a shocking affront to
responsible civil behavior. My condolences to the
board members, taking a beating while dealing as
best they can with a complicated and challenging
pandemic. How does this end, all the yelling and
screaming and fighting? Can9t we do better than
this?
John Rahm
s
s
s
To the Editor:
I cut out the <Tensions over masking at school
board meeting= report in last Wednesday9s edition.
I taped the article to my refrigerator. I don9t think
it will age well. The shrill rhetoric and bombastic
threats from anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers were,
as usual, over the top. Most impressive was the
inclusion of plenty of right-wing code words in
their attacks on Board members: CRT, commu-
nism, Marxism, BLM, transgender.
However, there was one indisputable fact miss-
ing: The virus doesn9t care about your politics,
your race, your gender, your sexual orientation,
or your age. What needed to be discussed was the
rapid deterioration of our healthcare system in the
face of the delta variant of COVID-19. I trust that
the unvaccinated will stay home when they con-
tract the <hoax.= Our hospitals are reaching capac-
ity. Nine out of ten COVID-19 patients are unvac-
cinated, therefore the coming crisis could have
been prevented.
Dean Billing
s
s
s
To the Editor:
After reading the report of a recent Sisters
School Board meeting, I was motivated to express
my view regarding the mask mandate for K-12
students.
I am guided by public health experts in this mat-
ter. I write to support School Superintendent Curt
Scholl and elected members of the Sisters School
Board. They are obeying the law and trying to pro-
vide a safe environment for children and youth to
attend school in person.
To protect myself and others, I obtained the
vaccine at the earliest opportunity. Most reason-
able people would agree that it9s irresponsible for
people to drive while drunk. Innocent people can
be harmed. Likewise, when citizens decline the
vaccine or decline to wear a mask in public, indoor
spaces, they can harm innocent people by spread-
ing the virus.
Carolyn Gabrielson
s
s
s
To the Editor:
Reading the August 11 articles by Mr. Kanzig,
Bartlett, and Editor Cornelius regarding the nega-
tive resistance to mask-wearing indoors, as ordered
by our governor, disappointments me!
Mr. Kanzig quoted nine people, even a
Redmond resident who had no business taking
our School Board9s time, railing against masks for
unsupported reasons. They used excuses like <tor-
turing kids, mental and physical health dangers, no
dead kids from summer school, oxygen depriva-
tion= and accusations that the School Board had
not done research. Then Mr. Bartlett emphasized
the <frustration= of mask-fatigue and the <confu-
sion= of changing CDC recommendations, again
quoting negative remarks to cast doubt.
However neither of these authors acknowledged
the virulent nature of this evolving virus that even
science cannot fully predict, nor how few loud,
negative voices are really resisting what the medi-
cal and scientific experts urge us to understand.
Neither reinforced the high rate of transmission of
the delta variant that is now hitting young children
across the U.S., the benefits of masks that prevent
the aerosol droplets from breathing, talking, and
laughing from spreading, the risk unvaccinated
people pose for others, and the fact that vaccinated
folks can carry and spread the virus without having
symptoms themselves.
How about some reasons why the Governor
is trying to keep us safe? How about the fact that
Oregon had lower rates of infection through the
months BECAUSE of her mandates.
Then Editor Cornelius fanned the flames by
using inflammatory language like <pushing masks=
and <causing people to doubt the vaccine,= when
he too could have supported the lean toward safety
for all instead of pandering to the naysayers!
How about recognizing that less than a dozen
voices rudely disrupted the Board meeting and
many of the same 20 people rallied on Sunday
to protest masks? How about interviewing the
hundreds or maybe thousands of folks in Sisters
Country who dislike masks but care enough about
others to willingly wear them again. How about
my 3-year-old granddaughter who has worn
a mask since age 2 with no complaints? How
about a headline stating, SISTERS COUNTRY
SUPPORTS MASKS, quoting only people who
understand the need for and value of masks. I
can rattle off dozens of names without even try-
ing, and maybe the hospital directors and health
Do you have the coverage you need?
We underwrite
all types of
insurance for
contracting
and general
trades.
AUTO • HOME • HEALTH • LIFE • BUSINESS • FARM • RENTAL
• Large organic
produce selection
• Huge organic &
natural selection
storewide
OPEN FOR
INDOOR &
OUTDOOR
DINING
Local is
what we are.
Local is
who we love.
Phone orders for
coffee, pastries, and
box lunches.
541-549-3172
1-800-752-8540
Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
704 W. Hood Ave., Sisters
201 E. Sun Ranch Dr.
541-588-0311
Located in the Cascade Village
Shopping Center, Bend
Open every day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Isolated shopping hour: 6 to 7 a.m.
AND STACY CALDWELL, PA-C
Welcome You to our New Practice…
…providing individualized, high-level care
for Central Oregonians .
For more information, contact us at:
DIABETESANDOBESITY-CARE.COM
185 SW Shevlin Hixon Drive, Ste. 111,
Dr. Kevin Miller
Bend, Oregon l 541-388-6789
• Meat cut &
ground fresh daily
• Huge bulk-foods
department
• All your favorite
local brands &
items
• Only 20 minutes
from Sisters
DR. EDEN MILLER, DR. KEVIN MILLER,
Dr. Eden Miller
See LETTERS on page 15
This ad sponsored by The Nugget Newspaper
• Proud to be 100%
locally owned
& operated