SPRD boosts cycling culture
in Sisters Country page 4
Outlaws come from
behind to win page 6
The Nugget
Vol. XXXVIII No. 12
Stengel earns Eagle
Scout rank page 9
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
City of Sisters bans feeding deer
Potential
community
projects
to go on
display
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
There are probably many
people in Sisters who will
not like the new deer-feeding
ordinance passed last week,
but those with gardens and
landscaping they treasure may
well be ecstatic.
Ordinance 457, addressing
pestiferous dogs and reptiles,
and given the identification
codes 6.12.105 Feeding of
Deer Prohibited reads:
(1) A person, who know-
ingly places, deposits, distrib-
utes, stores or scatters food,
garbage or any other attractant
as to constitute a lure, attrac-
tion or enticement for deer,
may be issued a written notifi-
cation by an agent of the City
of Sisters requiring the person
to remove the food, garbage
or other attractant within two
days of notification.
(2) A person who receives
a written notification under
subsection (1) of this sec-
tion shall remove the food,
garbage or other attractant as
directed.
City Recorder Kathy
Nelson explained, “The
By Diane Goble
Correspondent
photo by Jim Cornelius
Deer congregate in Sisters, but they can no longer be deliberately fed.
Council directed staff to craft
the ordinance in response
to concerns for safety (both
for people and pets) and the
unintended consequence
of also inviting prey (coy-
otes and cougars) into our
neighborhoods.
“The ordinance outlines
specific concerns. With
regard to enforcement, like
much of it in Sisters, it will
Sisters to take on
paved trail again
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
The Sisters community is
poised to take on the touchy
topic of a paved trail between
Sisters and Black Butte Ranch
again — this time through
a collaborative consensus-
building process.
Deschutes County
Commissioner Alan Unger
convened a meeting of com-
munity leaders with represen-
tatives of Oregon Solutions
on Thursday, March 19, to
explore a Collaborative Local
Agreement-Seeking Process
(CLASP).
Oregon Solutions is a
Inside...
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
neutral entity operating out
of the College of Urban and
Public Affairs at Portland
State University. The CLASP
will bring together a small
working group of eight to 10
people representing a vari-
ety of groups and interests
in Sisters Country to work
through the issues surround-
ing paved multi-use trails in
Sisters Country. If the group
can come up with a proposal,
it will then go through a series
of community meetings where
the broader community can
weigh in, and eventually on to
the Forest Service, which has
See pAVeD trAIl on page 31
be complaint-driven. The
ordinance does indicate it is
Class B violation which car-
ries a $250 fine. The City
would first send notification
to someone and attempt to get
voluntary compliance prior to
citing them.”
Corey Heath, district wild-
life biologist for the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s Deschutes Wildlife
District said, “We are pleased
with the passage of the new
ordinance; feeding deer
causes damage problems for
neighbors, and creates human/
dog safety issues by fostering
‘aggressive’ deer. Feeding
unnaturally concentrates deer,
making disease transmission
easier, and it can focus preda-
tors in areas of unnatural deer
concentrations.”
After months of work, a
citizens’ committee is ready to
roll out its analysis of poten-
tial community projects.
As the result of a town
hall meeting concerning
the announcement from the
City of Sisters about a pro-
posed amphitheater proj-
ect in February 2014, the
Community Assets Committee
(CAC) was charged with ana-
lyzing four potential projects
that received the most votes
from those in attendance at
that meeting. The commit-
tee was asked to describe
how each idea might look in
Sisters, get feedback about
See proJeCtS on page 29
City recorder has a big job
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Kathy Nelson is one of the
hardest-working people at the
City of Sisters.
As city recorder, she is
responsible for preparing
information packets and agen-
das for city councilors and
others for weekly workshops
and meetings. She handles the
recordings and minutes for
those meetings. She serves as
the administrative assistant
for the city manager and the
city council.
She’s also the city’s elec-
tions official and the officer
responsible for providing eth-
ics information and resources
for councilors and other city
officials. And all requests for
photo by Jim Cornelius
Kathy Nelson headed into City Hall, where she spends a lot of her time.
public records of any kind go
through her.
One Sisters resident opined
that “Kathy may have the
hardest job in Sisters. Not in
the City of Sisters but in (all
See NelSoN on page 24
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Business at Glance............. 8 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Sisters Saver ................... 25 Classifieds .................. 27-29
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Real Estate Report ...... 13-20 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32