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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2018)
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 9 Zinke to reconsider Oregon drilling? By Andrew Selsky Associated Press PHOTO PROVIDED Panel three depicts the ascendancy of the Spanish in colonial Mexico. “He had the benefit of mythology working for him,” Armstrong mused. The mythic stature of the new arrivals gave them a foothold in Mexico, and when the conquest turned militant, their technology — especially armor and the horse — gave them a mili- tary edge. The Spaniards also formed alliances with native peoples eager to throw off Aztec rule. The action and violence of the conquest roars across the panels in a diagonal line, with mounted conquistadors fairly bursting out of the wood. “This is the story of cul- ture clashing with culture,” Armstrong said. “It’s a big, epic story. The horse and the rider became the dominant battle differentiation between the two cultures… The diago- nal is the action line.” Bringing the clash to an individual level allows the valor of individuals of both cultures to shine through. “I couldn’t depict it any other way than just chaos,” Armstrong said. “The battles are not equal, because tech- nology is on the side of the Spanish.” The second panel depicts the Aztec world, with the top of the panel dominated by the great city of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that would become Mexico City. Across the bottom of the triptych runs the Mayan underworld, which becomes smaller and more compressed as the might of the Spanish state and especially of the Church is brought to bear. Through the depiction of such deep cultural elements, the story becomes more than a historical tale and delves into the realms of the spiritual. “It’s an imaginative, cre- ative work, and it requires a creative mind to read it,” Armstrong said. The third panel repre- sents the ascendancy of the Spanish aristocracy in colo- nial Mexico, with the danc- ing figures in the center rep- resenting the client and his wife in a Mexican hacienda. Not only does the carving tell an epic tale — the work itself is epic in scope. The three panels are made of alder wood from Mill City, Oregon — beams that are glued and clamped together to make up the panels. Alder is a “soft hard- wood,” very stable and per- fect for carving. The panels will have to be crated up, then trucked to a port and put on a ship for Belize — no small undertaking in and of itself. “It’s epic all around,” Armstrong acknowledged. Before the work departs for its ancestral home at the end of the month, Armstrong plans to host an open house and unveiling at his studio, so that the public can see the art in person and hear the story behind it. The open house is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 21, at 68105 Peterson Burn Rd., 2.5 miles up Edginton Road southwest of town. SALEM (AP) — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke agreed to consider exempting Ore- gon from the Trump admin- istration’s offshore drilling plan after speaking with Ore- gon Gov. Kate Brown, her office said Friday. Brown previously criti- cized Zinke for the plan to resume drilling for oil and gas off the shores of the United States, saying it would endanger Oregon’s coast. Several other states have objected, but so far Florida has been the only one to receive an exemption. Zinke spokeswoman Heather Swift said Friday his office would provide no further information about the conversation with Brown. The Interior Department said earlier in the day that Zinke had set up calls with the governors of Rhode Island, Oregon, California, Washington, Delaware and North Carolina to get their input. Zinke and Brown, a Dem- ocrat, spoke for 28 minutes, said her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday. “Regarding the offshore drilling ban, Gov. Brown asked for the same consider- ation for Oregon’s ‘people’s coast’ as was given Florida,” Hockaday said. “Secretary Zinke agreed with concerns about the economic risks that offshore drilling could bring HEAVY EQUIPMENT REPAIR and t n i a M e c n ena to Oregon and committed to work with the governor.” Brown, in an interview with CNN earlier this week, noted that Oregon’s 362- miles (583-kilometers) of coastline have been publicly accessible for over 100 years and are important to the state’s economy, with 22,000 jobs on the coast. “We are outraged; this is absolutely unacceptable,” she said of the drilling plan. “There has been no drilling off the Pacific Coast for three decades.” The governors of Califor- nia and Washington have also told Interior they strongly oppose any new leasing off their coasts and asked to be removed from the plan. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said he spoke Friday with Zinke and reiterated his opposition to the offshore oil drilling proposal. “I told him the concerns of Washingtonians and West Coast residents deserve (to) be treated with the same consideration and delib- eration as those in Florida,” Inslee said in a statement. “Secretary Zinke did not provide that commitment, unfortunately.” In California, Gov. Jerry Brown’s office would not say what Zinke told Brown about offshore drilling during their 20-minute phone call on Friday. White House press sec- retary Sarah Sanders denied the administration gave spe- cial treatment to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, an ally of Presi- dent Donald Trump who is considered a likely Senate candidate later this year. Industry groups praised the announcement to drill offshore, while environmen- tal groups denounced the plan, saying it would harm America’s oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life. The Trump administra- tion’s plan would open 90 percent of the nation’s off- shore reserves to develop- ment by private companies. Most Democrats oppose the plan. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has also requested that his state be withdrawn from the plan. M c M a s t e r, o n e o f Trump’s earliest supporters, told reporters that risks asso- ciated with drilling pose a serious threat to South Caro- lina’s lush coastline and $20 billion tourism industry. Frontiers In Science MONTHLY SYMPOSIUM IN SISTERS The New Genetics: cs: Promises and Pitfalls tfalls Barbara Pettersen, MS, S, CGC Genetic tests: What can they tell ell you? hich are What do they NOT tell you? Which pe? legit and which are mostly hype? Barbara Pettersen, MS, CGC, is a certifi ed Genetic Counselor in Bend. She is an expert on the benefi ts and risks of genetic testing for inherited medical conditions, and her talk will address the pros and cons of available direct-to-consumer genetic tests, including those for ancestry, health-related risks, diet and exercise, matchmaking, and others – separating those based on le- gitimate science and those that are mostly hype and marketing. She’ll also explain the very new genetic tools such as CRISPR that can actually edit human genes. Please join us for this fascinating discussion on the frontiers of genetic science and the ethical issues raised by powerful new technology. Tuesday, January 30 At The Belfry, 302 E. Main Ave., Sisters One-hour lecture begins at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. for community hour! 506 N. Pine St. 541-549-9631 Sales • Service Rentals • Accessories www.sistersrental.com Admission: $5; Science Club Donors, Teachers and Students - FREE Save the Date: Tues., Feb. 27 Dr. Jerry Freilich, aquatic biologist Bring your curiosity and an appetite for food, drink & knowledge!
