Letters to the editor: Respect on bike trails; Cutting the State Department

Published 10:28 am Wednesday, July 16, 2025

By Richard Coe

Don't gouge up the trails no matter what you ride. (Bulletin file)
Respect on the trails
I love biking through Bend and our National Forest, exploring new trails and paths away from cars. Lately, though, I’ve noticed deep gouges, like donut-shaped holes, dug into the middle of our walking and biking trails. The other day, I saw a young man on a fat-tire e-bike spinning in circles, his leg out like a protractor, carving one of these donuts into the grass. I realized this must be how these marks are appearing all over town. 
Much like graffiti or tagging, this is possibly a new trend with kids leaving their mark or maybe just having fun.  Then recently, I witnessed an older woman trip and fall hard, smashing her nose on the ground. I rushed over to help and saw that her face and shirt were covered in blood. She was shaken, apologetic, and clearly embarrassed. She insisted she was okay and could get back home on her own. That’s when I saw what caused her fall — another deep, gouged-out donut in the trail.
E-bikers have just recently been given a huge gift with many parts of our state parks and our forests opening their trails to us. About the number one objection to e-bikes is their potential to erode the trails. Whoever is making these donuts is giving all e-bikers a bad name and possibly losing our provisional status on these trails. 
If you or someone you know has a younger e-bike rider, please remind them to respect the land and the personal safety of others who are on foot and that trails are for sharing not for scarring! These e-bikes were not designed for destruction or enabling illegal behavior. Take pride in our amazing trail system. A little kindness could prevent unnecessary injury and keep our paths safe for everyone.

— Michael Zapp, Bend

Cutting the State Department compromises the country

This past Friday 1357 staff (1107 civil service employees and 246 foreign service officers) in the US State Department in Washington, D.C. received abrupt layoff notices. These terminations were not done with dignity, nor respect for the long, dedicated and valuable service of these individuals, working for the benefit of US citizens and US interests around the world. There were not done with transparency, nor were they based on performance. Rather whole sections were shuttered and those employees terminated without cause.

The functions of the US State Department are to advise the US President on international relations, to promote American interests in every country of the world, to administer 276 diplomatic missions around the world, to negotiate treaties and agreements with other nations, to protect US citizens abroad, and to represent the United States in the United Nations.

The State Department does this with an annual budget of about $17.4 Billion per year and 13,000 employees all around the world, including about 8,000 general foreign service officers. For comparison, the US Department of Defense has an annual budget about $842 Billion and 3,500,000 employees and military personnel. Now the Trump Administration is cutting 15% of the workforce of the State Department while significantly increasing the budget of the Defense Department. Just for comparison, there are as many band members in the US Military as foreign service officers working all around the world to promote American interests.

These drastic cuts to the State Department will mean the loss of much needed and vital experience in dealing with the critical conflicts around the world. It means Americans will have less help if they are traveling abroad and get into difficulty. It means relationships with the leadership of other countries, built up over years by these dedicated foreign service officers, will be lost and American interests abroad will be compromised. These cuts will not make America Great Again, but will lessen US influence around the world to solve critical problems. These actions are happening at a time of great conflict in many places in our world. Diplomacy is more critical than ever before and it is being compromised. Bombing the world to get our way is will not solve these problems.

— Ronald E. Carver, Bend

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