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I have known Ray Miao for over 25 years. We met when he was organizing the homeowners in Woodside Ranch to make our neighborhood safer from wildfire. We are now a nationally recognized FireWise Community thanks to Ray. This is just one example of his dedication to making Bend a better place to live.

My grandchildren have fun reading and learning through programs such as summer reading. Ray was a strong advocate for making the children’s library even better. Every library now has an Early Learning Center, preparing kids for reading, school and learning and showing parents how to help.

Ray earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University. His education and experience provide him with the insight and ability to make sound decisions based on facts.

Deschutes County is a unique place. We could use a central library, but a 100,000 square-foot building, which is almost the size of Home Depot, is oversized for our community. Ray advocates for a more modest-sized library that fits with our community. His proposal makes sense.

If you love your library, you have Ray to thank for that. Let’s keep Ray on the library board where he has dedicated 25 years to growing our library system.

— Lilian Chu, Bend

Regarding the recent letter about the parking places downtown still being lost to restaurants, I am in 100% agreement that it is time to rethink this program. I commend the initial decision to allow this but downtown Bend, Oregon, parking is too valuable to continue with this. At the very least, I would like to see accounting to make sure they are being paid for.

— Stuart LaFranchi, Bend

Many of us watched with disappointment and concern at the situation surrounding the resignation of Oregon’s secretary of state. I learned that, in addition to being next in line of succession, should something happen to our governor, the position has a great deal of responsibility for many other important issues impacting the lives of everyday Oregonians. I learned these facts from Jamie McLeod-Skinner. The position has responsibility for the reliability of our elections, the auditing of public accounts and the administration of public records. Also, the secretary serves on the State Land Board and chairs the sustainability board.

I learned about the role of this important position when I attended town hall meetings when Jamie was campaigning for the job. It was obvious that she had spent a great deal of time and effort learning what her duties and responsibilities would be were she elected as our secretary of state. Her background makes her a natural fit for the position. Having known Jamie for several years I have absolute faith and confidence in her judgment and integrity. And, as someone living in Central Oregon, I believe it would be outstanding to have a person who has clearly demonstrated the ability to breech the “urban – rural” and “I-5 Corridor and east of the Cascades” divides in a position of great responsibility in Salem. I have urged Gov. Kotek to appoint Jamie to fill the remaining term, and she is eminently qualified. Please do the same.

— William L. Carwile, Bend

Recently I attended Oregon state Reps. Emerson Levy and Jason Kropf’s Bend town hall. I have been impressed with both from what I had read in the news, and meeting them for the first time in person was even better. What I most liked about these two intelligent, hard-working, respectful representatives was their common sense, bipartisan, and optimistic approaches to their jobs as our elected officials in the Oregon Legislature. I came away from the town hall feeling better educated about the legislative process and feeling proud of myself for participating in our democracy. To have such access to our elected state representatives was a great feeling. I highly recommend it.

— Suzanne Butterfield, Bend

Sen. Tim Knopp, please do the job you were elected to do. Go to work on the Senate floor and respectfully and responsibly debate and engage in legislative practice. Over 68% of Oregonians voted for Measure 113 last year to disqualify any legislator from reelection following the end of a term if the lawmaker is absent from 10 legislative floor sessions without permission or excuse. And yet you are leading the current walkout to prevent, as you term them, 20 “hyper partisan” bills from being passed. Your demand is that “we get back to passing bills that fix real problems facing our constituents.”

Let’s consider gun safety, just one of the issues you will not debate. When guns are the leading cause of death for American children how can you be unwilling to admit a very real problem exists and look for answers? Oregon voters also passed Measure 114 last year, a clear acknowledgment that a majority believe we need to take legislative action to address this real problem and save lives. Now. How can you possibly characterize advancing gun safety as anything but a critical public health crisis, hiding instead behind your own partisanship?

In next year’s elections, we must vote for people who care about your kids’ lives. If your candidate cannot care enough to prioritize that your children will be safe at school every day, or ensure you’ll be safe going to the grocery store, question whether that is the best candidate for your community.

— Jean Carlton, Bend

As flags fly at half-staff over the nation from recent mass shootings in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee, it is worth considering the appropriateness of a national permanent flag half-staff regulation. We have clearly demonstrated over the past 10 years that the national belief system supported primarily by the right has been a failure. More guns simply and conclusively do not produce fewer crimes or deaths. More guns have produced more deaths, more aggressive behavior, more incivility and less national safety. Congressional discussion has been remarkable by its near complete absence, producing a feeling of national helplessness. There is a strong national sentiment from both the left and right public polling that steps to alter the course of current trends are both acceptable and needed, including red flag laws, age of ownership regulations, magazine sizes and background checks. Yet those polls have produced no meaningful impact on our national leadership as should be expected in a democracy.

Once such laws are in place and we have witnessed the trend lines of gun violence incidence head downward, it might then be safe to allow flags to once again be at full pole level, but until that happens, flags should remain at half-staff nationally. At the very least, there should be a national half-staff day this 4th of July and every one following until our nation returns to firearm sanity.

— Bruce E. Becker, Bend

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