22
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FOLK FESTIVAL: Nugget
will update status
of festival online
Continued from page 1
forecasts and making con-
tingency plans, assum-
ing that smoky conditions
will continue to impact
Sisters to varying degrees
as the September 8-10 event
approaches.
In a Facebook post and
email to patrons, the Festival
announced:
“Folk Festival board &
staff, in close consultation
with local, regional and state
health, fire and weather offi-
cials, are continuing to moni-
tor the air quality and espe-
cially the weather forecast
for our area.
“We want to hold a
Festival as much as you all
want to attend. We have a
contingency plan to move
our outdoor/open air venues
to indoor locations, but we
hope we don’t have to do
that.
“We are watching a
weather system that could
improve air quality towards
the weekend. We expect to
have the best weather infor-
mation by late Wednesday
morning and will make
a final decision mid-day
Wednesday regarding any
changes to the Festival.
“Right now we ask for
your patience and under-
standing as we take the
time to make the best deci-
sion possible for our art-
ists, patrons, volunteers and
community.”
The Nugget will provide
updates on the status of fes-
tival events and venues at
www.nuggetnews.com and
on The Nugget’s Facebook
page.
The festival has a diverse
lineup of musical styles —
ranging from the blues of
Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton
to the Western Swing of Hot
Club of Cowtown; from the
bluegrass-hip-hop mash-
up of Gangstagrass to the
Mexican-American infused
music of L.A.’s Tremoloco.
Island music from Hawaii
and Cuba will fill the air,
along with the music of some
of North America’s finest
singer-songwriters, includ-
ing Justin Townes Earle
and Grammy-winner Sarah
Jarosz (see related stories,
pages 10 and 7).
The festival is sold out,
but free performances will be
hosted at Fir Street Park and
a workshop venue at Sisters
Coffee Co.
For more information
on the Sisters Folk Festival
and a complete lineup, visit
www.sisterfolkfestival.org.
Oregon
hazelnut
company
celebrates
shift to solar
HUBBARD (AP) — A
hazelnut company in north-
west Oregon has been push-
ing out nuts on nothing but
the power of the hot, summer
sun.
The Statesman Journal
reports NW Hazelnut
Company’s plant is operat-
ing entirely on solar panels.
The company on Friday held
a ceremony to celebrate its
sustainability shift, which
was attended by Gov. Kate
Brown.
The panels come from
Earthlight Technologies,
which produces solar panels
from recycled material.
Company co-owner Larry
George says the project,
including the replacement of
halogen lights in the facility
with LEDs, ran up a bill of
roughly $1 million. With the
energy savings and govern-
ment incentives, however,
George plans to offset the
costs within five years.
Task force seeks
pension deficit ideas
EUGENE (AP) — Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown’s special
task force is looking at ways
to ensure the state has enough
money to pay pensions for
eligible state employees amid
a multi-billion-dollar pension
fund deficit.
The state is considering
commercializing its state-run
liquor system, pulling money
from public reserves or
imposing new surcharges of
up to 10 percent on all state-
issued permits, licenses and
registrations, The Register-
Guard reported Tuesday,
August 29.
The advisory task force,
made up of seven private-
and public-sector executives,
is charged with drafting a
plan to take $5 billion off the
Oregon Public Employees
Retirement System’s $24.5
billion unfunded liability
without touching govern-
ment workers’ retirement
benefits.
The task force stressed
that Oregon school dis-
tricts, local governments and
universities should take a
greater stake in paying down
individual pension unfunded
liability.
“I know some of these
things are very sensi-
tive,” said Don Blair, a
former Nike chief finan-
cial officer. “I think that’s
unavoidable.”
The task force is floating
a new state tax of between
1 percent and 10 percent on
liquor sales with the proceeds
— between $10 million and
$50 million — being dedi-
cated to the pension fund.
The task force also is
looking at state govern-
ment’s two big reserve
funds — the Rainy Day and
Education Stability funds —
that currently contain more
than a combined $1 billion.
Between $100 million and
$500 million of that could
be used for a pension down
payment.
Traditionally, however,
those funds have been left
untouched in good times,
so the state can tap them to
temper budget cuts during
downturns.
“None of our choices
are free from down-
sides,” task force member
and former state agency
director Cory Streisinger
said.
“I was just going in
for 10 minutes.”
But then the check-out line was so long.
Even with the windows partly
down, the heat can rise from
80º outside to 102º inside
the car in a short time.*
Parked cars are deathtraps for dogs: On a 78-degree day,
the temperature inside a parked car can soar to between
100 and 120 degrees in just minutes, and on a 90-degree
day, the interior temperature can reach as high as 160
degrees in less than 10 minutes. Animals can sustain brain
damage or even die from heatstroke in just 15 minutes.*
FURRY FRIEND S
501 ( c )( 3 )
FOUNDATION
www.furryfriendsfoundation.org
t
’
n
o
d
s
d
n
e
Fri friends in
leave ked cars!
par
*www.peta.org