Outlaws beat South
Umpqua page 4
Sisters company
makes ‘Best 100’ page 9
The Nugget
Vol. XXXVIII No. 9
SPRD lines up youth
activities for spring page 20
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Truckers take on ‘roundabout rodeo’
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Truck drivers ran through
a mockup of the proposed
Highway 20/Barclay Drive
roundabout last Friday
at the Deschutes County
Fairgrounds.
Oregon Department of
Transportation (ODOT) engi-
neers laid out a simulation of
their design for the round-
about and invited a crew of
eight truck drivers to run the
course.
“We’re looking to see that
it’s an adequate design for
the speed that’s proposed,”
said ODOT spokesman Peter
Murphy. “It’s the comfort
level for trucks going through
it.”
The test run was designed
to allow the ODOT engineers
to evaluate their design in
a “live” setting and for the
drivers to give their feedback
based on multiple runs.
“Our engineers are con-
fident that the design will
work, but we’re partners with
the trucking industry and we
want to hear what they have
to say,” Murphy said.
photo courtesy peter Murphy, oDot
Davis Towing was one of several trucking companies that navigated a mock-up of a proposed roundabout.
Art Davis of Davis Tire
and Towing in Sisters gave
the proposed roundabout a
thumbs-up.
“It’s a good design,” he
told The Nugget. “It gives
us room for the trucks to get
through there.”
He said his team navi-
gated the roundabout at 10
to 15 mph. The overall speed
limit in that zone is 35 mph.
The drivers ran it six to eight
times, simulating an approach
eastbound going halfway
around the roundabout and
continuing down the highway,
which, for Davis, would be
the most common maneuver.
The vehicle and trailer
Davis used was 106 feet long.
A similar test of a round-
about for Highway 47 is
scheduled in Portland soon.
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Roundabouts on highways are
not common, but these two
projects indicate a growing
comfort level with their use.
The roundabout for Sisters
is scheduled for construction
in 2016.
“It’s still going to be con-
gested in town,” Davis noted.
“This isn’t going to do any-
thing for that. It does help that
intersection, though.”
Golden a
finalist for
Albany job
Sisters
School
Superintendent Jim Golden
is one of two finalists for the
superintendent’s position in
the Greater Albany School
District. The Albany School
Board announced the final-
ists in a February 24 educa-
tion update. Members of that
board were in Sisters for a site
visit on Thursday.
Sisters School Board
Chair Don Hedrick said that
the district is awaiting word
on whether Golden wins the
post, which they expect to
hear early this month.
“We don’t do anything
until he actually announces
that he has a job,” Hedrick
said. “Then we have to do a
superintendent search.”
Contrary to earlier reports
that Golden had applied at
three district, the Albany posi-
tion is actually the only job he
is seeking.
See GolDeN on page 18
Council tries to navigate Sisters students pursue passion
food cart controversy
By Sianna Flowers
Correspondent
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The City Council took no
new action at their February
26 meeting to unwind
the Planning Department
approval granting former
mayor Brad Boyd the right
to have food carts on his
Eurosports property on Hood
Avenue.
They did, however, indi-
cate willingness to look
at possible changes to the
Development Code regarding
food carts, which are not cur-
rently specifically regulated.
Despite continued urg-
ing — occasionally angry
Inside...
— from the public to redo the
application process, or at least
to rectify the failure of former
senior planner Eric Porter to
provide the decision to the
planning commission, the
Council has let the approval
stand.
The Council is caught
between a rock and a hard
place. Any decision made in
this matter is sure to anger
someone. Some citizens per-
ceived that Porter had made
errors in his interpretation of
the development code and
in his failure to forward his
decision on to the planning
See FooD CarTS on page 30
“We go into school hoping
to find a job, but why not cre-
ate one?” says Sisters entre-
preneur Bill Willitts.
This is the spirit behind
one of Sisters’ many unique
high school classes — Pursue
Your Passion.
Pursue Your Passion
(PYP) has been offered at
Sisters High School (SHS)
for three years now. The
course is taught by six com-
munity members and teacher
Jon Renner. PYP gives teens
the opportunity to pursue
their passion — be it waffles
or drones — in a business
setting. Local business own-
ers come to the high school
photo by Jeff Wester
Cammi Benson, with parents Julie and Benny, won a cash prize in Pursue
Your Passion.
and teach students how to couple weeks it is a lecture-
estimate start-up costs, use style class until the students
marketing techniques, and
sell their idea. For the first
See STuDeNTS on page 28
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ................12 Paw Prints ....................... 14 Crossword ....................... 24 Classifieds ..................26-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Sisters Salutes .................15 Sisters Naturalist ............. 24 Real Estate .................28-32