Small but appropriate decision made on courthouse restoration effort

Restoring and repurposing the historic Crook County Courthouse is going to take time, historically accurate oversight, plenty of engineering and, oh yes, money.

A small but very significant design decision was reached this week by the county commissioners to help protect the building’s foundation and to restore the gray basalt stone exterior. The exterior features of this iconic buildings are striking and I believe were intended to be on full display without being obscured by overgrown plantings. To that end, permanent removal of ivy has been done at the base of the building.

Soon, the six giant arborvitae trees that surround the building on the north and west will be removed. These overgrown plants obscure the building’s historical significance and many of the original architectural features. Their root system has been identified as a serious threat to the foundation. I’m certain that the original architect and builders intended for the courthouse to be landscaped with relatively low growing plant material and with trees spaced far away from the building’s foundation.

Historic photos of the courthouse from its first 50 years help verify the intent of the original landscape plan. For certain, the courthouse will look different when the arborvitae trees are removed, but replanting low-growing period-appropriate plants will compliment, not hide, the real and historically accurate architectural beauty of this beloved building.

On a related topic, our local historian emeritus, Steve Lent, accumulated a large book collection during the past several decades. This collection is focused on the history of our region and the entire state of Oregon. Steve offered his collection to the historical society a few years ago. However, after careful study, the society was not able to accept his gift because of the space requirements to display and protect this valuable and historic collection of books and documents.

The existing “James and Vivian Zimmerlee Memorial Research Library” at the Bowman Museum is completely full. In fact, this library is overfilled and actually requires more space to properly display and access its material. The Crook County Genealogical Society merged with the Crook County Historical Society a few years ago and their material is now stored in the research library at the Bowman Museum. Any library with overfilled shelves is awkward and difficult to use. Our library is now in that condition. County Commissioner Susan Hermreck is currently on task to find a suitable space in the courthouse for Steve’s collection as an extension and expansion of the Bowman Museum Zimmerlee Research Library.

The historical society is once again excited with the prospect of acquiring Steve’s gift and all of the work associated with cataloging and displaying this valuable resource. The library has agreed to help and supervise the cataloging of these 6,000 books. We will be forever indebted to Steve Lent for his very significant gift to our community. Now, if we can only come up with a name for this repurposed room at the courthouse for this important book collection? I think I have an idea.

Phil Burgess

Prineville

Lakeview biomass plant should serve as cautionary tale

Warning! Take a second look at the biomass project.

I would suggest our city council members and county commissioners should go to Lakeview, Oregon, and talk to their council people and Lake County commissioners about the biomass fraud scheme (Red Rock Biomass) that sucked millions of dollars from Oregon.

What’s ironic is the same schemers that ripped off Oregon did the same thing in Colorado a few years earlier. Who are our watchdogs? What do we hire our Congress people for? Do we have them so we can attend city hall chat sessions and listen to frivolous rhetoric (“we hear you”)?

All the hoopla concerning available fuel, logging contractors, site viability, available water and emissions were approved (at a cost). Lakeview was ready for a boom. Instead, they got a bust.

To facilitate progress, our governor at the time, Kate Brown, subsidized the project to the tune of $300 million (this is not a misprint). $300 million! Where do the kickers go?

After a period of construction Red Rock Biomass filed for bankruptcy – a repeat of the Colorado flop. The investors – Lakeview, Lake County and the State of Oregon – were left holding the bag. It’s easy to form dummy companies and change the name.

There’s no oversight. What Oregon needs is a state department of government efficiency (DOGE). Drain the swamp!

Dewey Dietz

Prineville

Giving kudos to recent letter writers

Thank you to Walt Bolton, Joel Komarek and Mark Maboll for the thoughtful, fact-filled letters that appeared in the June 17, 2025 edition of the Central Oregonian.

It’s refreshing to have the opportunity to read well-written letters that do not name-call or cast blame on one political party or another but instead encourage readers to seek out the facts themselves.

Priscilla Smith

Prineville

 

No Kings protests were not all peaceful

Recently the Supreme Court has made it unequivocally clear that our Constitution was written for the individual. Individuals have rights; groups don’t. Individuals can gather as a group to peacefully protest, but the group itself has no constitutional rights.

The organized No Kings protests across the country, however, act as if they do. The Democratic National Committee stands accused of being the organizer and financier of those protests. They are anything but peaceful, unless you consider burning cars, harming or attempting to harm law enforcement personnel, throwing fire bombs, looting businesses and miscellaneous confrontations as being peaceful.

No one debates the right to disagree with current administrations; I disagreed with nearly everything Biden’s administration did. My “protests” were limited to words on this page, and I don’t throw hate-bombs nor purposely insult opposing views. I stand as a proponent of a strong two-party system.

Trump has been in office five months, which is way too soon to assess the benefits of, or lack of, his agenda. Speculative results of Trump’s intentions and actions by opponents, however, gets portrayed as fact by most news outlets. Vitriol is all too common. But reasonable people can see the merit in what Trump does even when they disagree. He is rarely completely wrong.

Two things stand out for me in Trump’s agenda: 1) Iran will not attain nuclear weapons capability. 2) Nor will the millions of illegal immigrants that Biden’s administration allowed into our country attain the voting rights Biden’s administration had planned.

New administrations are not always good; not always bad, but always are different. Trump’s agenda is a major change. Most changes Trump’s administration is attempting make sense. Some seem unnecessary. But curtailing nonelected officials making decisions affecting the entire country certainly has merit. Insisting on financial integrity of agencies does as well. Returning our military’s priority to readiness and returning merit requirements to hiring processes across the US. makes sense. As does eliminating DEI efforts throughout the government. Diversity and Inclusion wherever without merit and competency is degenerative and foolhardy.

Like or dislike Trump one thing is very clear: he knows what he is doing. Even those who may not agree know he knows. He has few peers regarding money and prosperity and the fundamental values of each. He is adamant about leveling trading partnerships. He knows negotiation. He’s tough as nails and flexible at the same time. His priority is securing the U.S.’s economic place in the world and enhancing our national security. His overtures to acquiring Greenland and Canada in the name of security, however, seem overreach to me. I doubt I’m alone.

Canada’s Mark Carney is a competent leader with views different from Trump. He may also be Trump’s peer regarding money, but his world views are vastly different, i.e, assuming what I’ve read is accurate.

We all can wish for an end to the Israel/Iran conflict ASAP as well as the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Solving the R/U conflict permanently is proving difficult. The Israel/Iran conflict may prove easier but has not as yet. We can hope and trust that the right things will get done.

Al Phillips

Prineville