16
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
AIRPORT: Long
history of aviation
in Sisters Country
Continued from page 6
cross-winds, were closed.
On July 6, 1978, the air-
port was deleted from State
ownership and control when
it went into ownership and
control of Brooks Resources
Corporation and the name
changed officially to “Sisters
Airport.”
Then, in 1982 our won-
derful Sisters resident Cliff
Clemens got into the picture
by purchasing the airport,
the Indian Ford runway ease-
ment from Brooks Resources,
along with another portion of
the runway easement from
the Arpkes in 1985.
Over the years, home-
owners adjacent to the run-
way have used the airport for
their personal and business
comings and goings. One
of the homeowners, Vern
Goodsell, aircraft builder and
rebuilder, used the airport for
his business. He built a rep-
lica World War II Spitfire
from the ground up in his
shop, and the aircraft is still
thrilling spectators today in
air shows around the U.S.
When Cliff went out
among the stars in 2008, his
sons Dave and Doug inher-
ited the whole shebang, but
not being aviators, they went
looking for a buyer and guess
what, the present owners, the
Benson family, got into the
picture.
But they weren’t Eagle Air
at the time, they were a grow-
ing environmental business,
ENERGYneering Solutions,
operating out of a spare bed-
room of Julie and Benny
Benson’s home. It took some
time, and a lot of: “You bet,”
and “Awh, I don’t know,” but
in 2011 “You betcha!” came
out on top and the Bensons
became owners of the Sisters
Airport.
In 2013, the Bensons
repaved the runway and
hosted a grand opening of
the new runway, new han-
gars, offices and refuel-
ing equipment at their first
July 4th Fly-in. At this time
they announced the Flight
Science program starting
at Sisters High School. In
2014 the Bensons facilitated
the annexation of the air-
port into the City of Sisters
with unanimous county and
city approval after 7 public
hearings.
Dorro Sokol, who recently
went out among the stars,
flew her Twin Bonanza to
and from the airport for many
years. In the 1970s a glider
operation was hopping rides
and giving flight instruc-
tion at the airport. Dorro’s
daughter, Cris Converse,
was a student at that time.
One day she and her instruc-
tor took an aerial tow off the
airport in a two-place sail-
plane, released from the tow
plane and soared non-stop to
Brothers and back in a 4-1/2
hour flight.
(The airport will host a
memorial gathering for Dorro
in July of this year; the date
to be announced soon.)
Today, the Sisters Airport
is the venue for flight instruc-
tion in conventional single-
engine aircraft, tail-draggers,
instrument training and heli-
copters. Sisters High School
has the FAA-qualified Flight
Science flying course going
full-bore, and soon there will
be a glider operating from
Sisters as part of training the
SHS flight students. There is
a parachute jumping opera-
tion going in summer, and if
we have any forest or range
wildfires in the future we can
expect the airport to be very
busy with the aerial arm of
firefighting.
In time, the only privately
owned fixed-base opera-
tion in Oregon, Sisters Eagle
Airport would like to see
the airport become a leading
center for all types of flight
operations, and the facility to
look like the artist’s rendition
of the future.
Retirement proposal under fire
PORTLAND (AP) —
Public employees and union
leaders are criticizing propos-
als to reduce benefits in order
to help fund Oregon’s public
pension system.
Workers on Monday spoke
to members of the Senate
Workforce Committee, asking
the lawmakers not to “raid”
the retirement plans of newer
employees in order to pay off
a $22 billion deficit attrib-
uted in part to generous and
unfunded benefits promised
to retirees, The Oregonian/
OregonLive reported.
“I think it’s immoral that
there are some that want to
reduce the retirement ben-
efits of people like me,” said
Barbara Walsh, who has
worked as an office specialist
for the Child Welfare office in
Medford for five years. “It’s
immoral and, frankly, insult-
ing. What we do is essen-
tial for our community. The
private sector isn’t going to
take care of these vulnerable
children.”
The workers called on the
Legislature to instead raise
business taxes to pay for the
unfunded pension system.
Committee Vice Chair Sen.
Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has pro-
posed two reform bills to deal
with the pension troubles.
One would redirect employ-
ees’ contributions to sup-
port the pension fund, rather
than supplemental retirement
accounts. The other would
redefine the final salary used
to calculate a member’s ben-
efits from a three-year aver-
age to five, which will tend to
lower employee benefits.
Knopp said he is pushing
hard for a reform to the public
employee retirement system to
avoid a collapse of the system.
“It may not happen next
year, but in three or four bien-
niums from now, the rates are
going to be double what they
are today,” he said. “Our local
districts and state agencies and
school districts are already
having trouble paying the
PERS costs they have today.”
Nevertheless, public
employees focused on the
fairness of reducing benefits
for newer public employees
who already have smaller
benefits packages than their
predecessors.
Melissa Unger, a lobby-
ist for the Service Employees
International Union Local
503, said that Knopp’s propos-
als could cut retirement bene-
fits for new employees by as
much as 40 percent.
Unger urged lawmakers to
“do the right thing and reject
these proposals that are illegal,
unfair, and extreme, break the
contracts you made with pub-
lic workers and create other
problems of either reduced
services or increased costs.”
FREE
Spay/Neuter for
Your Cat or Dog
Easy as 1-2-3
1 Stop by The Nugget offi ce to fi ll out a short form
Let me
fi gure out what
can help with
your “mystery”
health complaints.
FREE CONSULTATIONS
MEANINGFUL
M
NINGFUL
MEDICINE
DICINE
2 Call Bend Spay & Neuter for the appointment
3 Take your pet — Furry Friends pays. Done!
THE LOCALS’
CHOICE
Call Jeff Today!
The Hair Cache
Kim Hapke, Naturopath
— Your Barber Shop —
971-409-0908
Jeff, Theresa, Ann, Jamie, Shiela,
Terri, Shanntyl, Brittany
Sisters Art Works Building
152 E. Main Ave. / 549-8771
FURRY FRIEND S
501 ( c )( 3 )
FOUNDATION
Ask about our vaccination
sponsorships too!
541-549-9941
www.furryfriendsfoundation.org