A number of Bendites are disgruntled with the City Council regarding the council considering a mandatory home energy inspection prior to selling of their homes, at the cost to the homeowner. If homeowners refuse to get the inspection, they are subject to a $750 fine for every 45 days out of compliance.

What I’m wondering is, how many of the disgruntled Bendites voted for the council members who are advocating this new policy?

— John Sabo, Bend

Protect the Owyhee

Known for its picturesque landscape, with thousand-foot sheer cliffs and volcanic tuff formations, Oregon’s Owyhee Canyon country is home to native redband rainbow trout, chukar, mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, and California bighorn sheep. The Owyhee region is also recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as one of the last remaining strongholds of intact sagebrush steppe habitat, which supports Oregon’s largest population of greater sage grouse.

On Dec. 1, the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act (S. 4860), was heard in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The bill, reintroduced by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden earlier this year, would resolve long-standing conflicts over land designations throughout the Owyhee landscape while also providing local development opportunities, increased flexibility for grazing permittees, and improved habitat for fish and wildlife including native redband rainbow trout, sage grouse, pronghorn and California bighorn sheep.

Hunters and anglers value this wildlife-rich landscape and believe that the Owyhee Plateau is a landscape that should be safeguarded for future generations of American sportsmen and women. For this reason, in 2019 a group of hunting and angling focused conservation groups and businesses formed the Owyhee Sportsmen’s Coalition. The coalition has been working with, Sen. Wyden, local stakeholders, U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, the administration, and others to develop this bill. Our coalition will continue to work towards refining the final bill to secure long-term conservation policies that protect the Owyhee’s rugged character, solitude, and the hunting and angling opportunities that drive our family traditions and local economies.

— Michael O’Casey is a deputy director of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and lives in Sisters.

Article didn’t give enough voice to concerned parents

Your recent story on the controversy surrounding LGBT books in Crook County contains quotes from six people. Five of them— April Witteveen, Todd Dunkelberg, Buzzy Nielsen, Jennifer Fischer, and Emily O’Neal — oppose the concerned parents efforts to force the library to label the books or place them in their own section. Just one unnamed parent is quoted and her line is from a comment she made in a meeting. Why didn’t The Bulletin’s reporter interview any of the concerned parents in order to better understand what specific books they are concerned about and to learn what content in those books they don’t want their children exposed to? Bookstores have LGBT sections so I don’t see why this is necessarily a bad idea for a library. I also wonder if the library system stocks conservative themed children’s books such as Johnny the Walrus and Pro-Life Kids? Please write a more even-handed follow up story so we can better understand the origins of this controversy and the concerns of the parents. Thank you.

— Dave Seminara used to live in Bend and now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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