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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 2022)
2 Wednesday, February 2, 2022 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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. Column was propaganda To the Editor: I am a resident of Oregon, but not of Sisters. I obtained a copy of The Nugget from my motel. I appreciated the letter to the editor from Russ Flavel. He expressed my political view regarding the current status of politics in our great country. Simply put: patriots versus leftist, socialist liberals. In contrast, I was disturbed by the guest columnist, Monica Tomosy. No doubt she is a professional colum- nist. Her treatise on politics is well-prepared although distorts the truth. The lengthy dia- tribe against the GOP and the January 6 frac- tured rally (now politically labeled an insur- rection) is simply propaganda. The column is See LETTERS on page 8 Sisters Weather Forecast Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Feb. 2 • Partly Cloudy Feb. 3 • Partly Cloudy Feb. 4 • Partly Cloudy Feb. 5 • Partly Cloudy 40/27 48/27 53/29 51/27 Sunday Monday Tuesday Feb. 6 • Partly Cloudy Feb. 7 • Partly Cloudy Feb. 8 • Partly Cloudy 53/30 54/32 53/34 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 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: Beth Jacobsen Proofreader: Kit Tosello 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, $70; six months (or less), $45. First-class postage: one year, $110; six months, $80. Published Weekly. ©2022 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. A marquee act... The Sisters Jazz Choir shone in a performance last week at Bend’s Tower Theater. They made the marquee at the landmark theater. PHOTO BY RICK JOHNSON N Change is due and worth a try By Ross Flavel Guest Columnist A guest columnist had her say a while back. A second letter in support was published the follow- ing week. I wrote a rebuttal a week after that. I9d have been fine simply leaving it there, 2 to 1. Last week, however, she came back. The writer who, lest we forget, spent time in the Soviet Union over 40 years ago (among other biographical trivia) now singles me out, several times by name, saying that my initial response reminds her of what she encountered in the USSR! Really? Well, memories fade, I guess. A major difference, ignored or forgotten by Ms. Chaffin, between news media in the former Soviet Union and those of the United States is that both print and broad- cast (radio and television) media within the USSR at the time cited were oper- ated under strict control of the government. National print operations were gen- erally limited to Isvestia, published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and Pravda, the official news- paper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Quite different than in this country. Regarding what she calls <Whataboutism=: When criticized for abuses of human rights by their governments, their citizens often cited our own failings in this regard. To telling effect. It is a key to expos- ing hypocrisy, with which the left is, of late, rife. In her original let- ter, as only one example, among other statements, Ms. Chaffin had this to say about 40-year-old Soviet and <right-wing= propa- ganda: that <they both rely on their domination of mass and social media.= Contrary to her assertion last week: 1. I can refute this. 2. I do so now. 3. It is untrue. By almost any measure, the media in this country, with very few and, thus, notable exceptions, is domi- nated by the left. To whom do they make political con- tributions? Which candi- dates do they support? What stories do they run with and which do they ignore or trivialize? Where are they from and where did they obtain higher education? To what party are they affili- ated? What causes do they support? Who do they aid and abet and who do they accuse of <treason,= <sedi- tion,= and <insurrection=? (Although none have been charged, let alone con- victed, of such crimes.) Curiously, and merely as an aside, how many have served in the armed forces? When one accuses a vast segment of our population of misconduct and neglects to attribute the same behav- ior when exhibited by another, the clear implica- tion is that they are blame- less in these regards. Such is not the case and to support such a claim, examples are a pretty standard require- ment. I provided examples. These, of course, were not things Ms. Chaffin said, nor were they attributed to her, but rather things noted lead- ers among the left had said (H. Clinton, Pelosi, Biden) and common knowledge to those of us familiar with the subject. Finally, a very general observation regarding her lengthy defense of cur- rent Oregon governance: Although I love what the state has to offer, Oregon is an embarrassment in many regards 4 PERS, Portland riots and senseless destruc- tion, homelessness, foster care, health care, unem- ployment insurance payouts (months delayed!), prison releases, education, even COVID response in some cases. It is difficult to place specific blame, but it is clear who9s been in charge 4 for a long time. I9d just say a change is due and well worth a try. I don9t think placing others in the driv- er9s seat for a change poses any undue risk but presents an opportunity to improve things and is easily reversed at the following election cycle. Ross Flavel, four-year resident of Berlin 4 yeah, that Berlin, the one occu- pied by and surrounded by the Soviet Union9s Red Army 4 since Ms. Chaffin deems such information pertinent to the discussion. Views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.