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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2018)
22 Wednesday, June 13, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon So long Rowdy... TREES: Advocates want to leave boles along roadway Continued from page 1 PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK Legendary bullfighter Rowdy Barry marked his final turn at Sisters Rodeo in fine style. CAT: Stunt campaign will raise animal welfare funds Continued from page 21 Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach — who’s also running for governor — drew the line at a dog on the ballot. Leonard, too, won’t be able to run for office, Bend City Recorder Robyn Christie said. The city requires that candidates for City Council seats be reg- istered Oregon voters who have lived in Bend for the past year, and only humans who are at least 18 years old can register to vote. Leonard will demand to see the laws preventing him from running to make sure they weren’t adapted after his campaign started (they’ve been in the city’s charter, a governing document that functions as the city’s con- stitution, since at least 1995), according to Dubief and Breidenstein. If he can’t run officially, he plans to orga- nize a write-in campaign. The cat kicked his cam- paign off with a fundraising brunch with about 30 attend- ees. He plans to have at least one more fundraiser before November, with proceeds from the fundraisers and sales of Leonard merchandise donated to animal-themed organizations, including the Bend Spay & Neuter Project and the Humane Society. Leonard and his campaign managers are also prepared for negative campaigning, Dubief said. He has a birth certificate and siblings — Sheldon, Raj and Penny — who can vouch for his Bend residency, and he’s prepared to dispute any allegations of biting. Other past comments about dogs could come back to bite him as well. “He has said some nega- tive things about dogs,” Dubief said. “He has denied it, so there’s potential scandal there.” No matter how the cam- paign ends, Leonard has already vowed not to con- cede the mayoral race. “I imagine he’ll demand a recount no matter how many votes they say he got,” Breidenstein said. Perspective where trees are growing. ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy said that the agency will comply with the public records request from Central Oregon Land Watch. “We’ll provide the docu- ments they’re asking for,” he said. It is, however, unclear that there is specific docu- mentation regarding how and why the decision to use Perspective was made. “ T h e r e ’s n o w r i t t e n record,” Murphy told The Nugget. “That’s part of the problem; we don’t have that as far as I can find.” Many of the people involved in the project have retired from either ODOT or the Forest Service, Murphy noted. The agencies were to meet on Monday to get new players fully up to speed on the issue, he reported. While Central Oregon Land Watch is interested in finding out more about how the debacle along the high- way happened, and want to see an investigation, Dewey said that the primary inter- est is in mitigating the situa- tion and ensuring that some- thing like it doesn’t happen again. “Essentially, we’re try- ing to make the best of a bad situation,” he said. Last month, the Sisters Ranger District sought pub- lic comment on plans to cut down and remove dead and dying trees that pose a hazard to public safety along 11.5 miles of Highway 20 begin- ning at the City of Sisters and travelling northwest and a one-mile section southeast of Sisters. Whatever Your Dream Destination… Pack Y r Ba And I’ll Plan Your Trip Of A Lifetime! — Luxury & Ad Adventure dveen ture S Specialist p ecialist — 30 years worldwide travel experience Custom itineraries off the beaten path Concierge level services tailored to your interests & special needs Central Oregon Land Watch is suggesting that, rather than cutting down and removing trees, they be topped and left partially standing in order to preserve the “corridor” feel of the highway. “Our primary suggestion is, at least leave the boles of the trees,” Dewey said. “The snags are attractive in them- selves, as well as providing wildlife habitat.” Dewey said that leaving the boles would also honor a compromise that was struck back in 2006, when ODOT sought to widen the high- way for passing lanes west of Sisters. Considerable public pressure was brought to bear to preserve the tree-lined corridor leading into Central Oregon, and ODOT ulti- mately decided to build only a westbound passing lane, although ODOT officials said then that they would eventu- ally build the eastbound lane as well. ODOT’s Murphy told The Nugget last week that he has heard “not one word” about any plans to widen the high- way further. Sisters District Ranger Ian Reid told The Nugget that the Forest Service has not determined how the dead trees will be handled yet. The agency is wrapping up its post-Milli Fire work and will soon turn its focus to the highway corridor, he said. Reid said that Central Oregon Land Watch’s letter detailing its suggestions has been received along with other public comment, which the agency solicited last month. That commentary will be weighed in deciding how to proceed. “I did read Paul’s letter, and I appreciate their con- cerns,” Reid said. Asked about the viability of topping the trees, Reid told The Nugget that he has heard a rough estimate of $500 per tree for topping. Depending on how many trees were handled in that manner, the cost could run into the hun- dreds of thousands of dollars. Reid noted that whatever the agency ultimately deter- mines to do, they’ll have to be able to afford to do the project. In addition to mitigation, Dewey’s letter suggests that “the Forest Service should change its policies so that all future proposed applica- tions of pesticides on Forest Service lands at least in scenic corridors and in the Metolius Conservation Area go through a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process and are not categori- cally exempted from NEPA. If the application of the harmful herbicide that led to the need for the current proj- ect had undergone full public review, interested members of the public would likely have noticed the warning on the herbicide label that indicated that harm to pon- derosa pine trees is likely to occur.” Veterans’ Services Serving those who’ve served. 541-585-VETS (8387) | www.deschutes.org/vets THE GALLERY RESTAURANT AND BA R . . . . ls a e D t o H r o f Hurry in Classic Burger BOGO! Tuesday nights in the backroom, buy one classic burger, get one free. Exp. 6/26/18 Happy Hour 3 to 6 p.m. $1 BEERS! SOUP OF THE DAY June 13th-19th Wed ............... Beefy Mushroom Thurs .............Cream of Spinach Fri .. Clam Chowder & Vegetable SUSAN WAYMIRE CTC, TRAVELSTORE 541-719-8997 Susan.W@travelstore.com Sat .....................Tomato Rice Sun.............Caulifl ower Swiss Mon ...................Beef Noodle Tues . 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