O
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send your thoughts to editor@bendsource.com.
Letters
RUNNING AGAIN?
RE: YEAR IN REVIEW, OREGON VOTERS SAID YES TO PSILOCYBIN FEATURE, 12/30 Measure 109, the Psilocybin Services Act, was adopted by voters in Nov of 2020. It will begin implementation in January 2023, following a two-year development period which is well underway. Please note: it is not limited to medicinal use (the article
states “legalized medicinal psilocybin”). Psilocybin does show efficacy in relieving a wide variety of mental health conditions, however, no diagnosis of a medical or mental health condition is required in order to receive psilocybin services. For those interested in the PSA, a public educational event will be held at the Deschutes County Library, Downtown, on Jan. 19, 6 to 7:00 pm: deschuteslibrary.org/calendar/ event/64540 —Kathryn L. Tucker, JD (on the campaign staff to enact Measure 109)
PATRICK STARNES I’m writing to encourage your readers to consider Patrick Starnes for the next governor of Oregon. In 2018 Starnes ran for governor on a platform emphasizing campaign finance reform, which is essential to getting anything done in Congress. His lobbying efforts resulted in the Oregon legislature putting Measure 107 on the ballot, an amendment to the Constitution authorizing the establishment of campaign finance limits (it passed with 78% voter approval), and though Speaker Kotek failed to get those limits codified, the Constitutional authority to do so is now in place. If Starnes is elected, he will ensure that the job gets finished. He practices what he preaches, refusing to accept campaign donations from PACs and corporations. A cabinetmaker by trade, Patrick has a decades-long history of being elected to government agencies; as a school board member he worked to improve the quality of education for our kids, and as Director of a Soil and Conservation District he worked with diverse elements to craft environmental policies that result in economic and environmental benefits. He has a demonstrated ability to work across party lines and find solutions. His platform, emphasizing campaign finance reform, universal health care, homelessness, wildfire response and recovery, and solutions to
climate change, is available on his website, and there are several in-depth interviews in the “In the News” section. Patrick is committed to Oregon, and familiar with issues that affect both urban and rural Oregonians. Please visit his website to learn more. —Daniel Page
RE: LISTEN: JEFF EAGER OF THE BEND HUMANITY COALITION PODCASTS, 10/14 There is no “fair or equitable” way to criminalize people experiencing houselessness. He mentioned enforcement around things that don’t focus on their housing status, but doesn’t seem to realize that people experiencing houselessness are disproportionately affected by basically every law. What policies are they fighting for? He also mentioned Twitter so I looked at their feed and their website where I can’t find a policy anywhere. The single action they have is to contact City Council to tell them to move people, but move them where? Shelter doesn’t work for everyone and nobody should be forced into one just so people don’t have to see them anymore. They don’t talk to law enforcement or service providers, but they claim to fight for fair and equitable policy. Do they meet often? What do they talk about? What are their goals? What does success look like for them? They also claim to care about the safety of housed and unhoused people, but everything they put into the world is negative toward people experiencing houselessness. Their name is misleading. —Mandee Seeley via bendsource.com
RE: HOUSING, POLITICS, CRT: LEARNING FROM 2021 EDITORIALS OPINION, 12/30 Enjoyed the year in review. It is highly disturbing that Cliff Bentz fails to vote in his constituents’ best interests. It’s even more distressing to note that he believes the election was stolen. Not sure how a person so disconnected from reality gets elected, and I’m pretty sure he will have the job as long as he wants it. Meanwhile, I do hope the Source’s views of Betsy Johnson are more accurate than mine. If you like Joe Manchin, by all means vote for Johnson. —Logan Currie via bendsource.com
Letter of the Week:
Our jury is still out on who we’ll endorse for governor, Logan, but we’ll keep you posted to help us all make sound choices during election season! Thanks for your comment and come on by for your gift card to Palate. —Nicole Vulcan
EXCLUSIVE THIS WEEK IN: THE SOURCE WEEKLY'S E-NEWSLETTER
Weather?! We have it. It’s winter, Central Oregon—and the Cascades Reader has you covered. Open up your daily dose of local news, and get a bite-size weather forecast for that day. Start your day with Central Oregon's best source for news & local events.
SIGN UP AT: BENDSOURCE.COM/NEWSLETTERS
@sourceweekly
Keep in the know of what's going on in Central Oregon, follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
5 VOLUME 26 ISSUE 01 / JANUARY 6, 2022 / THE SOURCE WEEKLY
America is looking straight into the eyes of a tornado-style political year in 2022, and an even bigger one in 2024. How did democracies in the past handle situations where deeply divisive personalities on the political scene were disruptive to peace and good order? Ancient democracies like Athens and Rome practiced preventative medicine. Their legal systems required that populist demagogues interested in personal rule be sidelined from political activity. Those excitable personalities were actually required to leave their native soil for a number of years until they could remember how to act like good citizens. A famous case of ostracism/exile was Marcius Coriolanus in Rome. The practice was so important to ancient democracies that even the best leaders who stumbled badly just once were affected. For example, Moses in ancient democratic Israel was excused from the Promised Land when he alienated God and civil society near the end of the Exodus journey in the wilderness. Modern America did a similar thing in the early West. Sheriffs “warned out” disruptive criminals, advising them to leave town and territory or face more severe consequences. Even monarchies like that of Queen Elizabeth I understood the need for wild political figures to be reined-in, or, actually, reined-out. When Sir Walter Raleigh got too rambunctious on British soil, the Queen essentially exiled him to explore the New World. —Kimball Shinkoskey
Letters must be received by noon Friday for inclusion in the following week’s paper. Please limit letters to 250 words. Submission does not guarantee publication. Opinions printed here do not constitute an editorial endorsement of said opinions. Letter of the week receives $5 to Palate!
