Change school start times

I don’t understand why the school start times in Bend cannot be changed at the start of the 2018-19 school year. My name is Jackson Keefer and I am an eighth-grader at Pacific Crest Middle School. I am tired at school every day.

I attended the school board meeting hoping to hear an update on the school start times. After waiting nearly three hours with my family to hear an update, I learned that the proposal, if implemented, would not happen until the 2019-20 school year. This feels like this process is moving immensely slowly. In January, I attended the community feedback session with my family, teachers and other students. Now the superintendent, Shay Mikalson, states that he needs more feedback from the community even though there were over 150 people in the last session. There is now another public feedback forum between April 9 and May 31.

I feel we can still implement new school start times for the 2018-19 school year. In order to do this, we need to start messaging the change to families, figure out the affected transportation routes and understand the budget impact and after-school activities impact. Therefore, we need to start now since the 2018-19 school year starts in five months. Can’t we get this implemented for 2018-19? I appreciate Mikalson and the school board for all of their hard work. This is a very important issue for all students.

Jackson Keefer

Bend

Jackson is the son of David and Christine Keefer.

Legislature should review water laws

George Wuerthner in his recent guest column poses a philosophical question: Why should anyone have the “right” to damage and impoverish public waterways for their personal profit? He states that the Deschutes Basin Study is refusing to ask that question.

Wuerthner lays this question on the wrong party. This is not a question for the Basin Study to address; rather it is a question for the Oregon Legislature. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to find a state legislator who is willing to discuss, much less raise, this question in the appropriate arena.

Wuerthner is correct that our laws on water rights are antiquated. They reflect a time when Oregonians placed a priority on production of food and fiber. This priority has changed with our increasingly globalized economy and shift from family to corporate farms, but our water laws remain unchanged from the early days of the last century and the impoverishment of our rivers continues to this day with the Deschutes River being a prime example.

What we desperately need is a review of our water laws and, specifically, updated legislation to better reflect society’s views, including today’s concern for the health of our rivers.

This legislation should revise our rules for allocation of surface water and better define the concept of beneficial use. Using endangered species, such as the spotted frog, to reallocate water is a backwards way to do this, but maybe the spotted frog has more guts than our legislators.

Herb Blank

Bend

Vote Tony DeBone

Since first elected in 2010, Commissioner Tony DeBone has been a strong supporter of sustainable agricultural practices and programs. I met Tony at that time while employed by the Deschutes Soil & Water Conservation District. Tony made an effort to attend our workshops, educational programs and board meetings to further his understanding and offer support of the issues and our commitment to providing landowners resource management based assistance.

As the current chair of the Noxious Weed Advisory Board, I’ve seen Commissioner DeBone “walk the walk” with his commitment to controlling invasive weeds and promoting educational practices. I admire Tony for his commitment to make time to meet with landowners and implement follow-through on important development and conservation issues that affect all residents in Deschutes County.

Tony DeBone continues to emphasize sustainable agricultural land use for Central Oregon. His policies benefit local farmers and others who are passionate about preserving our rural environment and providing economic stability for land use. As a small farmer, business owner, educator and volunteer here in Deschutes County, I recommend Tony DeBone for re-election as Deschutes County Commissioner, Position No. 1.

Spring Alaska Olson

Bend