The Nugget
Vol. XLI No. 35
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
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Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
It’s like herding geese......
The cattle on the Cole Ranch made plain their claim to their pasture and saw off a gaggle of geese last week.
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
Fires, wreck closed
two highways
Sheriff addresses policing issues
A series of small but active
fires along Highway 126 —
likely sparked by a mechani-
cal problem with a passing
vehicle — led to the closure
of Highway 126 between
Sisters and Redmond on
Friday afternoon.
Quick attack from ground
and air quelled the fires
before they grew too large,
but their location meant that
traffic east of Sisters was dis-
rupted severely for much of
the afternoon.
The traffic situation was
Deschutes County Sheriff
Shane Nelson came to last
Wednesday’s City Council
meeting to address a concern
raised by Mayor Chuck Ryan
in an August 15 story in The
Nugget regarding record-
keeping by the DCSO of their
patrol activities in Sisters.
Nelson acknowledged,
“I always say, whenever the
sheriff’s office makes a mis-
take, my face will be the first
one you see; and we have
made an error on these statis-
tics we have been providing
worsened by a traffic colli-
sion at Fryrear and Highway
20 that same afternoon. The
crash, which caused seri-
ous injuries and required
extrication from one of the
vehicles involved, closed
Highway 20 from Cloverdale
east.
The fires, which appeared
to have three to five ignition
points, burned about 11 acres
before being corralled and
mopped up by firefighting
crews.
City looking for new
City Manager
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
An application process is
underway through August 31,
following the departure on
August 16 of Brant Kucera
from his position as Sisters
city manger. Kucera accepted
the position of city adminis-
trator in Ashland, Wisconsin,
a town of 8,000 on Lake
Superior.
There will be no interim
manager between now and
when Kucera’s replacement
is chosen, as he felt strongly
— and the City Council
agrees — the City staff is
Inside...
totally capable of running the
City while the search takes
place. Each department head
will continue to make the
day-to-day decisions neces-
sary to keep the City func-
tioning properly.
According to Mayor
Chuck Ryan, “Staff gives me
a heads-up on all key issues,
and I give them guidance
if needed. If a big decision
needs to be made, that will go
to the full Council.”
Ryan said he meets with
City Recorder Kerry Prosser
every Tuesday, like he met
See MANAGER on page 18
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
you over the last few months
… We’ll continue to work that
out, but the last three months
he (Capt. Paul Garrison) has
provided you tonight are the
updated numbers that are an
accurate count. That’s just
something we need to get
dialed-in to the best of our
ability.”
He expressed frustration
with hearing about the con-
cern via the media, rather than
with direct communication
from the mayor. However, his
officers have been aware of
the Council’s concerns.
At issue for the past
several months have been
inaccurate monthly reports
presented to the Council by
Deschutes County officers
regarding traffic-stop warn-
ings and citations issued.
There have been complaints
from citizens about speeding
in town, and the Council has
made repeated requests of the
reporting officers for stricter
enforcement of speed limits
in Sisters.
Requests were made for
physical presence of a patrol
car and the blinking speed
monitoring equipment to
hopefully slow drivers down.
See SHERIFF on page 9
Quilters earn national recognition
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
East of the Cascade
Quilters (EOCQ) in Sisters
was invited by the U.S.
Forest Service to send 15
Christmas and/or Western-
themed tree skirts to go inside
Federal building lobbies in
Washington, D.C. Each of
the quilted tree skirts will
be labeled with the maker’s
name, city, and state.
“The quilters were busy
but took time to quilt such
a wonderful variety of tree
skirt styles to represent our
community,” said Jean Wells,
owner of Stitchin’ Post and
founder of Sisters Outdoor
Quilt Show. “This is such a
PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER
Quilts from Sisters will adorn the nation’s capital.
Mecca for quilting.”
Early in 2018 Jeanette
Pilak, Sisters Outdoor
Quilt Show executive
director, received a phone
call from Catherine Bell, a
See QUILTERS on page 17
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Jim Anderson ................... 10 Entertainment ..................13 Hike ................................. 16 Classifieds ..................24-26
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Obituary ...........................17 Crossword ....................... 23 Real Estate .................26-32