Operations manager
is moving on page 5
Sisters Hometown Realty
sets up shop page 11
The Nugget
Vol. XXXIX No. 24
Chush Falls hike continues
to evolve page 15
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Great rides, good times at Sisters Rodeo
By Craig Rullman
Correspondent
The 76th Annual Sisters
Rodeo bucked, snorted, and
scrambled through Sisters
June 8-12, with cowboys,
cowgirls, and fans from across
America packing the arena for
a week of rodeo fun.
The rodeo kicked off
Wednesday night with an
Xtreme bulls performance,
with many top-ranked bull
riders from around the nation
competing for a solid purse
and a chance to move up in
the world standings. Eight
riders survived the first-go-
round-pounding delivered
by top bulls from the Flying
Diamond Stock Company,
and two additional cowboys
were drawn back for a top-10
final round.
Sisters’ favorite rodeo
clown, J.J. Harrison, and
highly respected bullfight-
ers Rowdy Barry and Danny
Newman were busy all night,
keeping the bulls and bullrid-
ers separated and safe.
The final round shaped
up as a showdown between
crowd favorite Derek
Man arrested
after short pursuit
An Albany man was
arrested Saturday after he
attempted to elude police
after a traffic complaint.
According to law-enforce-
ment sources, the Deschutes
County 911 Dispatch Center
received a call of a dan-
gerous driver eastbound
on Highway 20 near Innes
Market Road. At about 1
p.m. on Saturday. Dispatch
was able to determine this
call was possibly related
to an earlier traffic com-
plaint near the Sisters Rodeo
grounds.
Oregon State Police (OSP)
had an aircraft in the area and
was able monitor the vehicle
Inside...
time at the Sisters Rodeo.
Bertus told The Nugget he
felt “lucky to draw two great
bulls.” Bertus said he loved
See Rodeo on page 18
See fIRe on page 20
photo by gary miller
from the air, giving frequent
updates as to the location
and direction of travel. The
Volvo SUV was observed
on the north end of Bend by
a Deschutes County deputy
sheriff. The deputy attempted
to stop the vehicle but the
driver attempted to elude
southbound on Third Street.
The pursuit was almost
immediately discontinued
due to unnecessary risk to the
public.
The OSP aircraft was able
to maintain observation over
the Volvo until the driver
stopped in an apartment
See aRReST on page 20
bull—Cash Out—for 83.5
points, giving him 164 in
the aggregate and an Xtreme
bulls champion buckle and
almost $3,800 in prize money.
For Bertus, it was his first
First fire of
the season
beaten
back
Firefighters have got
a good handle on Sisters
Country’s first large fire of
the season.
The lightning-sparked
Akawana Fire broke out on
June 7 about 13 miles north
of Sisters and quickly grew
to 2,000 acres on private for-
est land managed by Oregon
Department of Forestry. The
blaze was burning in heavy
brush and beetle-killed pon-
derosa pine fuels. The quick
spread threatened approxi-
mately 1,200 homes in the
Three Rivers subdivision
near Lake Billy Chinook.
Gov. Kate Brown invoked
the Oregon Conflagration
Act to provide added pro-
tection to homes and other
structures. The Conflagration
Act authorizes structural fire-
fighters and equipment from
The rodeo action was intense throughout the weekend at The Biggest Little Show in the World.
Kolbaba, out of Walla Walla,
Washington; Chase Robbins
from Marsing, Idaho; and
Jeff Bertus from Avon, South
Dakota. In the final go Jeff
Bertus covered his second
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Bomb tech blows open suspicious box
An Oregon State Police
Bomb Unit technician
deployed a water cannon to
blow open a suspicious con-
tainer outside Sisters’ fire hall
on Thursday, June 9.
Deschutes County 911
received a call regarding a
suspicious container outside
the Sisters fire department
office at about 6:47 a.m.
Deschutes County Sheriff’s
deputies responded and deter-
mined that due to the time-
frame and out-of-the norm
location to block off the area
for one block in sight of the
container.
The City of Sisters Public
Works Department took
care of all the road closures,
detours, and maintained man-
power at the intersections to
photo by Jim Cornelius
a suspicious box turned out to contain a router.
ensure no one disregarded the
closure.
The Oregon State Police
Bomb Unit was contacted,
advised of the container
and examined photos of
the container. The Oregon
State Police Bomb Unit (a
See SuSpICIouS on page 31
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ................12 Obituaries ....................... 16 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32
Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Looking Outward ..............20 Classifieds .................. 27-29 Sisters Salutes .................31