Reaction to Trump’s win

I got a big kick out of Mike Koonce’s letter on 11/14 surmising that “conservatives are better able to weather political setback than our more liberal brethren.” This from the party that brought us the January 6th attack on our Capitol because they could not accept defeat. Moving to another country would have been a better choice.

In time honored tradition, Harris called Trump to concede the election, and Biden invited him to the White House to aid in the peaceful transference of power, a hallmark of our country. Trump never made that call or invitation to Biden when Trump lost in 2020. He railed against bogus claims of a fraudulent election. Election workers across the country were demeaned and physically threatened. Now that Trump won, miraculously our voting system is sound. A further insult after the election is someone defaced the Harris sticker on my car. Winning isn’t enough?

— Rita Pearson, Bend

More to the story

The story headlined “Pendleton man sentenced to 90 days in prison” on page A2 of the Nov. 19 issue of The Bulletin cries out for a follow-up story. Under the same “Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Attack” kicker, an appropriate headline for that story would read “Instigator elected President of the United States.”

— Les Joslin, Bend

Water and choices

I have appreciated letters written in response to Commissioner Phil Chang’s guest opinion on drought in Central Oregon. The writers had other solutions to the conservation message of Commissioner Chang.

When my wife and I moved to Bend 14 years ago, we fell in love with the high desert climate. The low rainfall and low humidity were a pleasant change from Iowa where 50% humidity was the norm, and a rainstorm could bring 1” an hour.

I was surprised when we arrived in Bend to find so many yards with lawns and non-native trees and landscape plants. I’m sure newcomers were trying to find some comfort in familiar plants and trees. But we are in the desert, so we did research on native plants and low-impact water systems. We cut our water usage by more than 50% converting to native plants.

Through the on-line presentation by the City of Bend, “Our Water System: A Journey Through Bend.” I learned the sources of our drinking water, and the limits. A lawn requires approximately 30” of rain per season. In a desert that only receives 10” annually that seems unsustainable. With much of Bend’s water going for landscape uses perhaps the answer to a sustainable water system is use of conservation and native plants.

For those who choose to have lawns and non-native landscaping, the answer might be a higher water fee so that those users pay for their choices and the rest of us don’t.

— Jim Elliott, Bend

What the county should do about districts

Deschutes County Board of Commissioners had years to create political districts within our county. But they liked having just the three seats and refused opportunities to create a couple more seats or districts. So now, that the public decided with a super majority, to have two more commissioners for a better functioning board — oh, look — some commissioners want districts. What a surprise!

Thing is the creation of 5 districts ought to be done by an outside non-partisan group. This avoids the foxes making the hen house, as it were. Wouldn’t this determination — figuring out how redistricting will be accomplished in our county — be the first decision and better decided by five commissioners rather than three?

If you agree that the Board of County Commissioners should not be running about defining districts in a panic as we are about to increase the number of seats on the board and that they really need to wait until the two new commissioners take office in 2026 to then work on that effort, please, do let them know by emailing board@deschutes.org.

— Susan Gail Cobb, Sisters

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