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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2016)
Wednesday, March 23, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon VETERANS: Sisters outfitter offers hunting, fishing Continued from page 22 engaging with each other, and with outside entities who want, and need, their help, reviving a sense of brother- hood that many of them des- perately need. Ryan Lantta, an army vet- eran from Fresno, California, who was shot six times in the chest near Ramadi, Iraq, sur- viving only because of his body armor, and who never- theless had most of his ribs broken and a lung collapsed by the blunt trauma, said: “I love this. I love being around the guys. It doesn’t matter where we come from, or even if we know each other. We speak the same language. It’s like we are in the same squad.” Says Brett: “The hunting and the fishing, the engage- ment trips, they are the only thing I have found that can possibly come close to dupli- cating the esprit de corps and camaraderie of the brother- hood we left behind.” Hours after they had begun digging out the old Gray Ranch well in the relentless heat, and sunlight, eight feet lower than they had started, the veterans struck water. Taking five-minute turns down in the well, shoveling rock and sand, hauling it out one bucket a time, always guarded by a Park Service law enforcement officer who kept his eyes on the towering cliffs above, they had done it. A park ranger who was supervising the cleanup had said they would never find water. The veterans celebrated and laughed, good-naturedly mocked the ranger, then posed for pictures. Mike Pence, from Creswell, Oregon — hit by an RPG in Iraq and severely wounded — yelled loudly up into the Ajo Range, where the cartel scouts were watching: “You’re welcome!” And when the laugh- ter died down the veterans stretched out and rested their aching backs in the shade of a giant palo verde. It was quiet then, the quiet of physi- cal fatigue and deep contem- plation, the quiet of a remote desert canyon. And down in the well, the water, cold and brackish, but rapidly clearing, kept sound- lessly seeping upward through the sand. ORGAN PIPE: National Monument is country’s most dangerous Continued from page 24 wish to God that school kids could come down here to see how bad it can be.” He pointed south to Mexico, only 10 yards away through the pedestrian fence, where a ransacked collection photo by Craig rullMan looking into old Mexico down an active smuggling corridor. of houses and abandoned vehicles sat among the cactus, then slowly dropped his arm. “It’s about awareness,” he said, sighing. “On both sides of the border.” 25 COCC tries other tactics to fill new dorm BEND (AP) _ Central Oregon Community College is trying new marketing strat- egies and reducing rates to draw more students to a new residence hall that remains about one-third empty. College officials had high hopes for the $21 million, 330-bed hall. But the building opened in September only 76 percent full and is now down to 64 percent of capacity, The Bend Bulletin reported. Numbers do not include 10 beds set aside for resident advisers, which are full. The new facility was meant to help attract more students from outside Central Oregon and boost enrollment. A consultant hired by the col- lege had previously predicted an annual occupancy rate of 98 percent. “All the stars and moons aligned to say we should have been full,” Alicia Moore, COCC dean of student and enrollment services told The Bulletin. “For whatever reason — it’s incredibly challenging to identify — we didn’t hit those occupancy goals.” Only four community colleges in Oregon have on-campus housing. The college is now trying new marketing strategies to reach its target audience of new, full-time, out-of-district students. The students are typ- ically from rural and suburban areas, including pockets in Eastern Washington, Northern California and Southwest Idaho near Boise. Next month the college will run ads on Facebook and Pandora to reach these stu- dents and their parents. On Wednesday, the col- lege’s board of directors approved lower rates for next year to bring in more students. Ron Paradis, director of college relations, said recruit- ing local students will remain the college’s focus. Up to a quarter of local high school graduates go to the commu- nity college each year. But “to increase enroll- ment overall we’re looking to increase enrollment out of the area,” he added. Grant McDonald, a fresh- man from West Linn who wanted to live in the dorm to meet more people, said his roommate dropped out after fall term.
