Third-graders experience
agriculture field day page 6
Developing young
leaders in Sisters page 14
Lost dog found after
long search page 19
The Nugget
Vol. XXXX No. 13
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Dousing the flames...
ODOT
debands
repaybent
of grant
funds
Sisters
pioneer
Georgia
Gallagher
passes
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
The Oregon Department
of Transportation is demand-
ing from Sisters Airport the
repayment of $377,152 in
ConnectOregon V grant funds
and payment of an additional
$13,033 to meet the minimum
requirement for matching
funds for grants entered into
in 2015.
The state agency alleges
that the airport “misexpended”
grant funds allocated for spe-
cific airport improvement
projects.
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Sisters firefighters responded quickly to quell a small blaze that started in a wall near a fireplace at a
Sisters residence along Highway 20 last week. The residents called 911 at the first sign of fire, and the
quick response meant that it didn’t spread far.
See AIRPORT on page 31
Editor ’s note: One of
Sisters’ iconic residents,
Georgia Gallagher, died last
week. In recognition of her
life, The Nugget is running
an excerpt from a profile of
Gallagher written by free-
lance writer Bill Mintiens in
2008.
Georgia Gallagher was
born in 1922 on the 640-
acre Edgington Ranch,
which was located about two
miles south of Sisters, west
of South Elm/Three Creek
Lake roads and south of the
present-day Patterson Ranch.
Georgia Edgington became
See GALLAGHER on page 30
Legion Cobbander visits Sisters
A greenhouse rises
frob beneath the snow
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
By Erin Borla
Correspondent
In 2014, a kind of trag-
edy struck at Sisters Middle
School when the newly
refurbished greenhouse was
crushed under a snowstorm.
David Hiller of the Sisters
Science Club — who had
spent time, energy and money
restoring the 2002 structure
originally built by the Forest
Service — worked with the
Sisters School District per-
sonnel to discuss rebuilding.
Those discussions led to a
new greenhouse in a new
location.
“After discussion with
District staff we determined
it wasn’t feasible to have
high school students trek to
the middle school to use a
Inside...
greenhouse,” Hiller said.
So together, they came
up with a new plan: A green-
house behind Sisters High
School. In the spring of 2016
volunteers from the commu-
nity and the Sisters Science
Club graded the area and
installed electrical cable
and water lines, and then
began working on the new
greenhouse. Hiller, a retired
Merchant Marine with quite
the background in engineer-
ing and architecture of large
ships, developed the plans,
designed, and helped build
the facility.
By November 2016 the
30-by-50-foot structure
was complete. The brand-
new building was set to
See GREENHOUSE on page 23
Sisters hosted a distin-
guished guest on Sunday:
American Legion National
Commander Charles E.
Schmidt.
Commander Schmidt is
the first national commander
to hail from Oregon, and as
such his visit to Sisters was
a kind of “welcome home”
event for Oregon American
Legion members.
Legionnaires golfed, vis-
ited the High Desert Museum,
and strolled the streets of
Sisters
“My wife contributed a
bit to the local economy,”
Schmidt joked.
A banquet at FivePine
Lodge & Conference Center
capped the visit, and included
such distinguished guests
as Medal of Honor recipient
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Gene Hellickson of Sisters’ American Legion Post 86, welcomed National
Commander Charles E. Schmidt to town last weekend.
Robert Maxwell, of Bend.
American Legion veterans
in attendance hailed from
Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
New Mexico and Colorado.
Schmidt is an Air Force
veteran who enlisted in 1965
and served active duty until
retirement in 1993.
“I had a big brother who
was a post commander (in
Missouri) and he said I ought
to join the American Legion,”
Schmidt told The Nugget. “I
just wanted to get involved in
a post and give back.”
See COMMANDER on page 20
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcebents ................12 Sisters Salutes ................ 18 Obituaries ....................... 24 Classifieds .................. 27-29
Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainbent ....13 Bunkhouse Chronicle ........21 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32