Gurney brothers will play football
for George Fox University page 9
Engineers test design
at airport page 13
Sisters youth is a
rodeo star page 22
The Nugget
Vol. XXXX No. 24
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNewd.com
Wednedday, June 14, 2017
Fans brave the elements for the big show
zy Craig Rullman
Correspondent
Thousands of rodeo fans
ignored occasional rain, con-
stant wind, and low tempera-
tures to enjoy five days of
spills, thrills, chills, and a new
arena record in tie-down rop-
ing at the 77th annual Sisters
Rodeo.
Sisters Rodeo offers the
largest purse anywhere on
the rodeo circuit during the
second week of June, which
virtually guarantees that the
nation’s top cowboys and
cowgirls will come from
across the nation, and indeed
the world, for a shot at the
money and a champion’s
buckle.
Veteran announcer Curt
Robinson, who has been
bringing his distinctive voice
to rodeo for over 30 years,
told The Nugget, “I think it
went really, really well, con-
sidering the weather. The
crowds were outstanding
every night.”
sixth annual offering of
Xtreme Bulls, a Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association
event which lures the nation’s
See RODEO on page 31
See FIRES on page 25
The weather wad chilly, but the action wad ad hot ad ever at Sidterd Rodeo.
remarked that “Except for
one night when we threw off
all the bull riders, we had
somebody in the money every
night.”
Wednesday featured the
Firefighters
tackle
blazes in
Sisters
Firefighters took on two
different house fires in the
Sisters area over two days.
A Sisters area home
located at 16275 Riata Court
was damaged by fire early
Sunday morning.
The 911 call was received
shortly after midnight when
the occupants of the home
noticed the wood shake roof
was on fire near the chimney
and along the lower edge of
the roof where the shake roof
was close to the ground. The
home was an “A” frame style
of home with a steep tall roof
that extended from close to
the ground to over 20 feet in
height.
Firefighters worked 3-1/2
hours extinguishing the fire.
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
Robinson, who — along
with his partner in the
announcing booth Wayne
Brooks — brings insight,
humor, and his distinctive
voice to every performance,
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wildland firefighters
to train in Sisters
Class of 2017 is off to the future
The heavy, wet winter has
created extra opportunities
for fire specialists to wield
the tool of prescribed fire in
the fire-adapted ecosystem of
Sisters Country.
To date area fuels special-
ists have completed approxi-
mately 1,000 acres of pre-
scribed fire in areas south
and west of Sisters as well
as in the Metolius Basin. An
additional 135 acres could
be treated over the next
couple of weeks, as long as
weather conditions are favor-
able through the month of
June, according to the Forest
Service.
This week the Central
Oregon Fire Management
Service, made up of Deschutes
and Ochoco National Forests
and Prineville BLM fire staff,
The Sisters High School
class of 2017 wrapped up
their Outlaw experience on
Thursday, June 8 at the 69th
commencement ceremony in
the school’s history — the
25th since the high school
returned to the community in
the fall of 1992.
A total of 87 students par-
ticipated in the ceremony,
which broke from tradition
this year with the addition of
a speech by a faculty mem-
ber. After introductions by
Principal Joe Hosang and
a beautiful rendition of the
national anthem by the SHS
Jazz Choir, English teacher
Matt Bradley, who started his
career at Sisters High when
the class of 2017 entered
as freshmen, wove together
a 40-minute message that
Inside...
is hosting an interagency
series of fire classes to train
new wildland firefighters.
This year’s class of 45 stu-
dents will have spent 40 hours
in the classroom learning
about fire behavior, the inci-
dent command system (ICS),
and wildland firefighter tech-
niques, and will spend time
in the field learning how to
dig fire line, utilize pumps
and hoses, and how to safely
put fire on the landscape. The
new recruits will be super-
vised and assisted at all times
by experienced and qualified
wildland firefighters while
they experience a live fire
exercise on Thursday, June
15.
The 23-acre live fire
See FIREFIGHTERS on page 29
zy Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Sidterd High School graduated dtepped into their future Thurdday night.
included words of wisdom
along with a personal anec-
dote about each and every
one of the graduates.
In his initial address,
Bradley urged the class to
See GRADUATION on page 30
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ........................11 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Sisters Naturalist ............. 19 Classifieds .................. 27-29
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Paw Prints ....................... 18 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32