Still time for students to join
sports teams for fall page 7
SHS graduates taste
culinary success page 16
Cloverdale firefighters knock
down coop blaze page 29
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 35
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Milli Fire changes Sisters’ landscape
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Sisters’ landscape will be
altered by the 18,000-plus-
acre Milli Fire. Areas of the
forest will be deeply scarred
by the flames that have roared
across it for more than two
weeks now.
But the effects of the
blaze are not uniform. Some
areas burned very hot and
are severely damaged; oth-
ers saw low- to moderate-
intensity burning that may
prove ultimately to be benefi-
cial. Firefighting strategies to
introduce low-intensity burn-
ing to prevent high-intensity
fire will leave portions of
landscape burned over — but
not too severely.
Reports and observation
from a distance indicate that
Trout Creek Butte — a cen-
tral swath of green on the
Sisters skyline — burned in a
classic “mosaic” pattern. That
means that despite appearing
to have been consumed by the
the fire had passed through
during a hard run to the east
See MILLI FIRE on page 27
See DELAY on page 29
Fire moving into unburned fuels near Black Crater on Sunday night created an eerie swath of deep red and orange
across the nighttime skyline.
Fire information officers
Jinny Reed and Stacey Lacey
took The Nugget on a tour
of some of the areas where
School
delayed
by fire’s
impacts
Disrupted by the Milli Fire,
Sisters schools have delayed
the start of the academic year.
In a message to the dis-
trict, Superintendent Curt
School announced a plan to
push back the start of school.
Currently, 1st-9th grades will
start on August 30; 10th-12th
grades start on August 31. The
lost days will be added back
the Monday and Tuesday of
Thanksgiving week.
Scholl said he made the
decision due to loss of pre-
paratory work time for teach-
ers. He saluted them for their
efforts in the face of poor air
quality conditions.
“The most important guid-
ing principle for me is the
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
ravenous fire, there will be
areas of green trees left intact
and relatively undisturbed by
the fire’s passage.
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
City, schools compromise on trees
Body of Sisters man
recovered at Suttle Lake
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The Jefferson County
Sheriff’s Office reported on
Tuesday, August 22, that the
body of Ben Hendrickson,
the Sisters resident who was
last seen August 12 at Blue
Bay Campground at Suttle
Lake, was recovered from the
lake on Tuesday morning.
The sheriff reports that
no foul play is suspected and
alcohol is believed to have
been a factor in the drowning.
Family members have been
notified and the sheriff asks
“everyone to respect their
privacy and pray for them, as
they deal with this tragedy.”
Hendrickson, 33, was
reported missing from the
Blue Bay Campground near
Suttle Lake on Sunday after-
noon, August 13. He had not
been seen since late Saturday
Inside...
night.
Jefferson County deputies
responded to a missing per-
son’s report, and conducted
extensive searches of the
area.
They found Hendrickson’s
kayak and some personal
property on the first day of
searching east of the camp-
ground along the south side
shoreline
A GoFundMe page has
been set up to assist Ben’s
family. Go to GoFundMe.
com and search Ben
Hendrickson - Help Heather!
A fundraising benefit
for Ben’s family is planned
on Saturday, September 2,
at Hardtails Bar & Grill on
Larch Street in Sisters.
See DROWNING on page 29
The Sisters School
District (SSD) and the City
of Sisters have reached a
compromise regarding the
removal of trees on school
district property.
As part of the current
parking lot remodel project
at Sisters Elementary School,
a number of large ponderosa
pine trees were recently
removed from a public right-
of-way located between East
Cascade Avenue and the
school parking lot.
The trees in public rights-
of-way are under the juris-
diction of the City of Sisters
under the advisement of
the Urban Forestry Board
(UFB) and the city forester.
No request was made of the
City for approval by either
the school district or their
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
A large ponderosa is marked for removal due to leaning, stem pressure,
and heaving causing hazard to the adjacent building and SES playground.
contractor, Bear Mountain
Fire, to remove the trees.
That incident prompted
the City to request of the
school district a copy of
their Tree and Forestry
See TREE REMOVAL on page 20
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries .........................4 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Crossword ....................... 23 Classifieds ..................24-26
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Bunkhouse Chronicle ....... 14 Paw Prints ....................... 23 Real Estate ................. 27-32