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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2016)
Celebrating canines in Sisters page 5 Seed to Table planning harvest dinner page 8 The Nugget Vol. XXXIX No. 35 Local organizations team up for kids page 15 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Sharing an Olympian moment in Rio District faces uncertain PERS cost increase By Charlie Kanzig Correspondent While most of us gath- ered before our television and computer screens to catch the Olympics earlier this month, Sisters resident Tate Metcalf was navigating Rio de Janeiro in real time, in part to wit- ness Ashton Eaton attempt to defend his Olympic gold medal in the decathlon. Metcalf coached Eaton at Mountain View High School in Bend. While it was not Metcalf’s first Olympics — he traveled to London in 2012 — the experience in Rio provided a contrast. “Transportation was a challenge … it was pretty slow,” he said. “Thankfully some venues were very close to where I was staying, so that was easier, but to get to the other track stadium often took up to two hours on bus or the metro. I think Rio did the best they could, and no one could have expected it would be as smooth as London. It was cer- tainly better than the media portrayed things, and I didn’t PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 By Steve Kadel Correspondent hear all sorts of other lan- guages, and I could feel the spirit of the Olympic Games around me. Sisters School District and others across Oregon are bracing for another increase in Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) costs during the 2017-18 biennium. Sisters Superintendent Curt Scholl acknowledged that public employers’ contri- butions to PERS will increase during the next budget cycle. The only question is by how much. Most estimates indicate Oregon’s public employers will have to pay an extra $800 million during the next bien- nium starting July 2017. “It’s going to impact us, but we’re still not sure how See OlYMpICS on page 29 See pERS on page 24 photo provided Tate Metcalf of Sisters shares an Olympian moment in Rio with Ashton Eaton. experience any of the negative stuff that the media had antici- pated before the games.” For Metcalf, the positive part of traveling to the ven- ues was being surrounded by people from all over the world. “Right away I felt that I was in some sort of Utopia,” said Metcalf. “I would be on the bus or the train and could SES students meet and Council approves roundabout options greet their teachers By Sue Stafford Correspondent By Steve Kadel Correspondent Isabelle Norman broke out in a big grin as she walked into her classroom at Sisters Elementary School last week. “I missed you,” she exclaimed upon seeing teacher Gretchen Lane, who taught the 7-year-old girl last year. “I missed you, too,” Lane replied, noting Isabelle will be her student again this year as a second-grader. Children reconnected with friends, parents chatted with teachers, and Principal Becky Stoughton roamed the Inside... building greeting new chil- dren and familiar ones on Thursday, August 25. It was the annual Stop and Drop event for first- through fourth-graders. The hour-long program gave kids a chance to see their new classroom and put supplies in cubbyholes in a relaxed atmosphere before the work of school begins. “This relieves the anxiety about the first day of school,” Lane said. “These little ones look forward to school all summer, and when it gets close they want to see their room and everything.” See SChOOl on page 22 Construction activity on the roundabout at the Highway 20/Barclay Drive/ McKinney Butte intersection is slated to begin in February 2017 with the installation of utilities, and will be com- pleted in time for the 2017 Memorial Day weekend, according to Mike Darling, project leader for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Sisters City Council received a thorough briefing on the project by Darling and three other ODOT employees at their August 25 workshop. During the regular Council meeting, they approved a photo by Jim Cornelius By Memorial day weekend of next year, the cars here will be going “roundabout.” A construction plan is in place. motion to adopt the traffic management, aesthetics, and landscaping options for the project. The attention to detail by ODOT was evident throughout the briefing. Like with the Cascade Avenue improvement project, ODOT has made extensive effort to See ROuNdABOuT on page 30 Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ............... 10 Obituaries ....................... 16 Sisters Saver ................... 23 Classifieds ..................26-28 Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Bunkhouse Chronicles ......21 Crossword ....................... 25 Real Estate .................28-32
