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We bought our house January 2017. The main reason we bought it was as advertised with having a beautiful canal with wild animals in it. If the canal is piped it will change the beauty and thus cause significant property value loss. Anyone living on the canal should be compensated for our value loss. This is our retirement house and are devastated, to say the least.

We looked into selling but would have to disclose the piping and sell for far less than if the canal was there. Our trees would be removed and those still there would die do to lack of water from the canal. I feel there are other alternatives than piping. Piping will have cracks and would cost significant money. We are losing our life savings due to this. We would have never bought here if we knew the canal would be piped.

— Brad Wilson, Bend

I have spent time on the Arnold Irrigation District canal and have been amazed by the wildlife there. I cannot believe that they are considering piping it and ruining the habitat for the ducks and geese that live there. And the deer nearby! Please do not ruin this amazing ecosystem.

—Tim Pitts, Portland

Arnold irrigation canal piping is everywhere, and everywhere that the piping is wildlife has been destroyed. Of course, people need every last drop of water they can get, but so does the wildlife. How about if people cut back on building more golf courses or cut back on watering more marijuana plantations. Come on people. When are we going to let the wildlife win one of these votes? People just keep taking and taking — never giving back. Please don’t destroy more wildlife in Bend by piping more canals. Let the wildlife win this one time!

— Cindy Nichols, Bend

As a Jefferson County resident, may I add a few words regarding the Arnold irrigation project? Farmers here have been sorely tried by water shortages, some no doubt forced out of business. Just because the worst of the drought may be past we must not relax our efforts to use water more wisely. I agree with all of Mike Hayes’s arguments for piping versus canals but he could have said more.

A few years ago there was a Bulletin article about a teenager who fell into a canal and died. If memory serves, the canal was empty for the winter yet still claimed a life. How many others have died over the years? And how many cats and dogs have disappeared near canals? Some of those likely fell into the nearby canal and drowned. Canals look pretty, but they are hazardous to people and pets. The water is fast-moving. It needs to be: any stagnant ponds would breed mosquitos unless the water contained insecticide, a poison which would get into our crops.

As for arguments that the neighboring trees need the water from a canal’s leakage, it isn’t fair for all of us to pay for someone’s free water. The freeloaders need to pay for the water they use and possibly plant trees that are more drought-tolerant.

I also remind everyone of the massive water loss into a lava tunnel in recent years. Pipes aren’t guaranteed to be forever leak-free but are less prone to failure than that canal.

— John Jefferson, Madras

Saw Paul Dewey — founder and now consultant at Central Oregon LandWatch — at Bill Smith’s memorial service. Senator Ron Wyden talked about the “Oregon way.” Paul — a thorn in the side of Bill Smith’s and developers everywhere — joined elbows with Bill during the great recession to oppose the city’s grandiose municipal water supply scheme in Tumalo Creek. Paul didn’t like the project on natural resources grounds. Bill didn’t like its grandiosity during a time of economic extremis. They created some difficulty for the city, in a good way.

We will miss the guts, vision, and clear-headedness of Bill Smith.

— David Alexander Blair Jr., Bend

In a nutshell, these elected officials are avoiding their constitutional duties, shirking the responsibility to represent their respective electorates, and basically pulling a modern-day Marie Antoinette move: “Let them eat cake.”

Oregonians deserve better. Walking out is a sophomoric approach to ignoring legislation these politicians disagree with. It’s also a dangerous approach that undermines the democratic process. I’m glad they can’t be reelected. Self-elimination from the political arena is probably the best outcome of their antics.

State Sen. Tim Knopp needs his PACs looked at with a microscope. He is not trustworthy.

— Mimi Jones, Bend

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