Typewriter

It is my opinion that the political cartoon in the Nov. 15 Bulletin was caustic, ugly and so untrue. Our country is not in shambles, as the torn flag seems to indicate. As it is predicted, a sitting president and his/her party usually loses House seats in the midterm elections. In contrast to this cartoon’s depiction, President Biden and the Democrats have accomplished many things during their two year term — a strong economy, The American Rescue Plan, offering COVID and economic relief, The Inflation Reduction Act, addressing health care costs, climate change and raising corporate taxes. President Biden has been resolved in helping the Ukrainians, investing in infrastructure, research development and expanding veteran benefits.

Our democracy is intact since the last election. It has survived the January 6th insurrection because more people voted; the election deniers were defeated.

Enough said.

— Naomi Murphy, Bend

Lemon Gulch deserves deeper review

The Lemon Gulch Project in Lemon Creek is a bad idea because it will damage land and vegetation, disturb wildlife, reduce forest resilience and increase wildfire threat in Oregon’s driest, most at-risk-of wildfire region.

How does this project not warrant an EIS, environmental impact statement, vs. EA, environmental assessment?

I’m an avid outdoors man, as well as avid mountain biker who rides trails in the Ochoco region. I oppose the creation of parking lots, restrooms, or the use of machinery to build trails that alter the natural complexion of the forest floor in the Lemon Creek drainage. The environmental sensitivity of Lemon Creek drainage will be easily damaged by large groups of riders drawn to it by advertising and publicity. Natural forest-loving riders can eventually find already-existing trails on their own in smaller numbers, not in throngs being shuttled to the tops of trails by school buses, as is planned at Lemon Creek.

The Lemon Gulch Project demands an EIS!

I say this from experience riding in the Ochoco National Forest, as well as from riding throughout the now vastly human- and machine-altered Cascades.

Respectfully,

— John Frachella, Mitchell

Transform justice

“Every year the United States spends about $80 billion to imprison people and another $123 billion on policing. Yet we still have high rates of violence. Today over 1.8 million people are locked away. Instead of a system based on criminalization and retribution, we need transformative alternatives rooted in healing and human dignity. Our justice system should be grounded in dignity, restoration and community. Imagine if we had systems in place to help people heal from harm, systems that support both accountability and transformation.”

— Our North Star Quaker Action Fall 2022

People should not be shut away just to “do time.” We need transformative alternatives.

— Thiel Larson, Bend

We need serious measures for our children

Trump and Bolsonaro. There, the two losers in the just concluded elections: midterms in the U.S. and presidential in Brazil. Both countries seem to have survived, at least for the time being, as the losing sides lick their wounds. All the pre-election preparations to pull off all the extra-legal stops to contest the results did not produce any tangible results other than further fanning the fires of the extreme right.

To say that Republicans shot themselves in the foot is amateurish — Trump’s over the top style infected even the not yet declared “crazies”. They wanted to elect senators, House representatives, governors, secretaries of state supported by the losing former president so that “next time” election certification would be done by “trustworthy” Rs. In Brazil, the retired Army captain turned president had been denouncing the existing electronic voting system for months; who would keep a close eye on those devilish machines? But no troops in the streets as Bolsonaro had envisioned. Now then, since that it is settled, can we all try to get along?

There are so many issues to be solved that only with collective effort with respect to each other’s reasonable positions we could continue to be the beacon of hope we all aspire to. Minorities will not disappear and actually will continue to grow; our poor will continue to live among us in hopefully decreasing numbers; the environment will need serious measures to survive for all; our children must be able to go to school safely to learn and become great citizens. Shall we try?

— Carlos “Charlie” Wysling, Bend

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