Outlaws post Homecoming
win over Elmira page 5
Woman copes with
storms of life page 14
Sisters lifters set
records page 15
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 42
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Crowds flock to Harvest Faire
Sisters
company
makes a
big impact
in disaster
zones
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
The sunny autumn weather
helped attract thousands of
treasure-seekers into town
for the 42nd annual Harvest
Faire hosted by Sisters Area
Chamber of Commerce on
Main Avenue last weekend.
Folks from all over the
Pacific Northwest came to
browse through an abundant
harvest of handmade items,
from handcrafted dried floral
arrangements to whimsical
cloth dolls. And with over 165
juried artisan vendors, there
was something for everyone’s
taste.
First-time vendor Randy
Snow, from Sutherlin,
Oregon, kickstarted a metal
art project two years ago after
retiring as a general contrac-
tor and hasn’t stopped since.
SnoCoArt became Snow’s
new business in his barn
where he handcrafts metal art
into unique Western themes
in wooden frames he designs
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
News Editor
There’s nothing unlucky
about Friday the 13th as far as
Richard Skupa is concerned.
For the Sisters man, who
serves as the treasurer of the
Sisters chapter of the veter-
ans’ organization Band of
Brothers, Friday, October 13,
is a very good day indeed.
He was reminded of that last
Friday.
“It was about 9:30 in the
morning when I thought it
was October 13, Friday and I
thought, ʻWhoa! Wait a min-
ute…’ and I started doing the
math.”
Friday, October 13, 2017,
was the 50th anniversary
of Skupa’s departure from
Vietnam after a year’s tour of
Inside...
and shape it.”
Musical entertainment
Disaster after disaster
struck in the U.S. this summer
— hurricanes that caused epic
flooding and wildfires that
ravaged landscape and lives in
much of the West.
A Sisters-based company
has made a big impact in the
response to many of these
disasters.
GFP Response, a division
of Eclipse Global, dispatched
See HARVEST FAIRE on page 31
See DISASTER on page 30
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Visitors to the Sisters Harvest Faire got to explore dozens of booths featuring unique wares.
himself.
“My very first design was
a head of a horse made from
horseshoes,” Snow said.
Sisters veteran recalls
leaving Saigon
By Jim Cornelius
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
duty in-country.
Skupa, now 72, was in the
U.S. Navy.
“I joined up,” he recalled.
“I wanted to see something
besides the wheat fields of
Kansas.”
He completed boot camp
in 1966 and shipped out for
Vietnam, where he ended
up assigned to the Mobile
Riverine Force in the Mekong
Delta. His job was to help
maintain the river patrol boats
that were used by the Army’s
Ninth Infantry Division
for amphibious operations
against the Viet Cong guerril-
las in the area.
Skupa served in the area
for his year-long tour. Just two
weeks before he was to leave,
See VETERAN on page 24
“Now I start all my pieces
with a big square sheet of
steel or other metal and I
trace my outline, cut it out
Gunnarson earns art educator honors
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
Sisters High School
(SHS) art teacher Bethany
Gunnarson has been named
the secondary Art Educator
of the Year for 2017 by
the Oregon Art Education
Association.
She learned of the honor
in September, but the official
ceremony was held Saturday,
October 14, in Portland.
Gunnarson, herself a
graduate of SHS, is in her
ninth year working for Sisters
School District.
A press release by the
Oregon Art Association
said, “The Oregon Art
Education Association rec-
ognizes Bethany Gunnarson
for extraordinary achieve-
ments and service of state
and national significance
and awards her the 2017 Art
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Bethany Gunnarson is Oregon’s secondary Art Educator of the Year.
Educator of the Year Award.
Bethany will be recognized
at the Oregon Art Education
Association State Conference
on Saturday, October 14.
This honor is awarded to
See GUNNARSON on page 23
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Announcements ............... 10 Obituaries ........................12 Sisters Salutes ................ 23 Classifieds ..................26-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Focus on Health .......... 13-20 Crossword ....................... 25 Real Estate .................29-32
