Killing coyotes for the fun of it page 25 Food bank feeds hundreds in Sisters page 23 The evolution of the fat-tire mountain bike The Nugget Vol. XXXVIII No. 3 P OSTAL CUSTOMER PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com Wednesday, January 21, 2015 Shootout in Sisters... Planners approve assisted living facility page 4 Downtown food cart decision stands By Jim Cornelius News Editor By John Griffith Correspondent On a 7-0 vote, the Sisters planning commission approved the master plan and site plan review for an 82-room assisted living facil- ity (ALF) to be built on 7.2 acres of the “Carpenter prop- erty” just south of the post office, between Locust and Larch streets. Community Development Director Pauline Hardie pre- sented staff findings to the commissioners with a recom- mendation to approve applica- tion. The commission’s recom- mendation to the City Council will be taken up at a future meeting, offering a second See approVal on page 20 photo by Jerry baldoCk sisters park & recreation district’s shootout drew basketball teams from across oregon, bringing hundreds of people to town. Mayor raises concerns about Asson’s actions By Jim Cornelius News Editor Over the past several weeks, re-elected city coun- cilor David Asson has released to the public commu- nications that were supposed to be internal city council communications. At a council workshop Thursday, Mayor Chris Frye expressed his con- cerns about Asson’s actions. “My hope is that some of these were done in the goal of being transparent,” said Frye. “It’s a big focus for us going forward. But I think there’s a line that you can go too far … where the respect of Inside... your other councilors and the trust of the other councilors can be crossed. And in these instances I think you went too far.” Frye detailed three actions of concern: In writing the city coun- cil’s letter to the citizens of Sisters, published as an ad in The Nugget, Asson revealed information and discussions conducted in the execu- tive session regarding City Manager Andrew Gorayeb’s annual performance review. Asson’s letter was ultimately not published. See CoNCerNs on page 24 It took just about one minute on Thursday for the Sisters City Council to deter- mine that it will not intervene on a staff decision allowing food carts at a downtown business. Brad Boyd applied and won staff approval to site food carts on his property at Eurosports. The food-cart operators will pay Boyd an annual lease. He hopes to establish whatever number is viable as permanent fixtures — though he acknowledges that there may be turnover among the individual carts. The approval proved con- troversial, with critics ques- tioning the process by which See food Carts on page 30 No snow on horizon in Sisters Country With the exception of a little rain, Sisters Country enjoyed some lovely weather last week. Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-to- high 50s made it feel like spring and enabled hikers and cyclists to get out and enjoy sports that they might have thought retired for the season. But all Sisters Country folks know that a warm, dry January is not really good news. The Cascades’ snow pack is far lower than it should be at this time of year, and backcountry recreation and the businesses that supply it have taken a hit. Hoodoo Mountain Resort remains closed, and Outlaws ski rac- ers endured extremely sloppy conditions at Mt. Bachelor on photo by Jim Cornelius Mighty pretty, but where’s the snow? Saturday. The weather forecast indicates that we should not be expecting any snow in Sisters Country through the rest of the month. There is a slight chance of rain show- ers over the weekend, when temperatures will climb into the 50s again — and possibly approach 60 degrees. Folks in Sisters Country can enjoy the relatively balmy conditions and look with a wary eye toward fire season that may come early this year. letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ................12 At Your Service.............16-18 Business at Glance........... 26 Classifieds .................. 27-29 Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Sisters Salutes ................ 24 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................30-32