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