SHS yearbook program
on a roll page 4
Reed Rainey will take the field
as new baseball coach page 25
Keep your pets safe this
holiday season page 29
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 47
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.nom
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Nothing extreme about winter forecast
below normal.
On September 14, the
Climate Prediction Center
issued a La Niña watch. It
stated there was a 55-60 per-
cent chance of a La Niña to
develop during the fall and
winter 2017-18 season. At
See FORECAST on page 38
See HURTLEY on page 35
The Three Sisters have donned their winter blankets. Odds are on a nool winter, partinularly nhilly in Denember and February — but nothing in the
forenast is extreme.
Correspondent
As if on cue, the arrival
of September’s autumnal
equinox brought with it an
abrupt change in the weather.
Earlier in the month the heat
and smoke of summer was
still in play as temperatures
soared into the 90s. Then,
on September 19, the snow
level dropped to 5,500 feet
and blanketed the central
Cascades with its first snow-
fall — thanks to a shot of
chilly air from the Gulf of
Alaska.
And just like that, the
summer of 2017 was history.
Citizens question new
school bus facility
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
A new transportation
facility is slated to replace
the aged bus barn housed at
Sisters Elementary School.
Monies received from a state
matching grant to the district
will fund the project, utilizing
approximately half of the $4
million windfall.
There is general agreement
among Sisters School District
personnel and the commu-
nity that a new transporta-
tion facility is needed. What
seems to be open to scrutiny
by some community members
is the location and safety of
the planned facility.
According to site plan
documents submitted by the
school district to the City of
Sisters planning department,
the enclosed area, most of it
in chain-link fence, is 270 feet
in length from west to east
and 175 feet wide from north
Inside...
to south.
The metal building is
10,356 square feet, larger than
the current 10,160 square foot
Sisters Park & Recreation
District (SPRD) building, and
38 feet high at the highest
point. It would face in toward
the student parking lot. The
site plan shows removal of
23 ponderosa pine and juni-
per trees along the southern
edge, including some in the
Hyzer Pines disc golf area, to
be replaced with a chain link
fence.
The gated compound
would be situated 310 feet
from the scenic McKenzie
Byway, Highway 242, with
the backside and bus parking
area clearly visible from the
scenic byway.
The traffic flow for student
drivers, visitors to SPRD and
its bike and skate parks, the
disc golf course, deliveries,
See BUS BARN on page 35
The cool and wet weather
continued through October,
with the temperature bot-
toming out at 18 degrees F
on Halloween morning as
snow continued to fall in the
mountains. The first half of
November saw normal tem-
peratures, but rainfall was
more than 0.75 of an inch
Sisters
man badly
hurt in
horse
wreck
Sisters-area horse trainer
Chad Hurtley suffered seri-
ous head and facial injuries
on Tuesday, November 14,
when a horse he was working
with either kicked or stepped
on him in a round pen.
According to Hurtley’s
friend Beth Lynn Matanane,
Hurtley was working a big
draft cross horse in a round
pen, preparing to go out
on a trail ride with another
PHOTO BY CEILI CORNELIUS
By Ron Thorkildson
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Local trails volunteer honored
By Cody Rheault
Correspondent
Local resident and avid Forest
Service volunteer Gary Guttormsen
was awarded the annual Dr. David
L. Paulsmeyer Memorial Award for
Excellence in Service on November
9 at a dinner and awards ceremony
for volunteers from the Deschutes
National Forest.
Discover Your Forest, in partner-
ship with the United States Forest
Service, presented Guttormsen
with the prestigious award for his
years of service to the community.
The Paulsmeyer Award is named
after former volunteer Dr. David L.
Paulsmeyer, and awarded to only
those who have shown exemplary
performance and dedication. This is
the first year it has been awarded.
Working an average of over 500
hours a year, Gary is no stranger
to the outdoors. He is an avid user
— but a more passionate volun-
teer — stemming from an inspiring
upbringing.
His earliest memories of his love
for the outdoors started at an early
See GUTTORMSEN on page 36
PHOTO BY CODY RHEAULT
Gary Guttormsen has logged nountless hours doing the
hard work of building and maintaining trails anross Sisters.
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ......................... 6 Movies & Entertainment ....11 Crossword ........................31 Real Estate .................35-40
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Holidays ..................... 13-22 Classifieds ..................32-34 Sisters Salutes ................ 38