36
Wednesday, November 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
DARK SKIES: BBR is
seeking certification
for community
Continued from page 3
Specifically, Black Butte
Ranch is seeking certification
from IDA as an International
Dark Sky Community. To
qualify, a town, city, munici-
pality or other legally orga-
nized community must show
exceptional dedication to the
preservation of the night sky
through the implementation
and enforcement of a qual-
ity outdoor lighting ordi-
nance, dark sky education
and citizen support of dark
skies.
The dark sky survey is
only one of a number of pre-
requisites necessary to earn
IDA recognition. According
to McDermott, the resort
is working on developing
guidelines that would require
fully shielded outdoor lights
that produce warmer amber
light instead of the greater
glare emitted by white and
blue light. Black Butte Ranch
is also asking for letters of
support from other Central
Oregon communities, such
as Bend, La Pine, Redmond,
Sisters and Sunriver.
Community outreach has
already been offered by the
Sisters Astronomy Club,
to help conduct on-site star
parties and impart knowl-
edge about other aspects of
astronomy, emphasizing the
importance of maintaining
dark skies. Such support will
likely come from the Pine
Mountain Observatory and
the Oregon Observatory at
Sunriver as well.
“We believe IDA’s certi-
fication will attract conser-
vation-minded vacationers
to Black Butte who will tend
to appreciate our dark skies,”
said McDermott. To further
entice such visitors, Head
and McDermott are consid-
ering pouring concrete pads
at several locations through-
out the resort from which to
view the sky with telescopes
or conduct astrophotography.
McDermott hopes the
resort can earn its certifica-
tion sometime during the
summer of 2019. If Black
Butte Ranch is successful
in securing IDA’s endorse-
ment, it will become the
first community to do so
anywhere in Oregon or
Washington.
Several other Central
Oregon communities would
do well to follow Black
Butte’s lead by establish-
ing more stringent lighting
guidelines of their own that
require outdoor lamps to be
fully shielded behind opaque
coverings. If this issue isn’t
aggressively addressed soon,
growing light pollution will
cause our precious dark skies
to vanish.
TICKETS: Early-bird
tickets available
through lottery
Response to stress
affects brain health
By Michelle Klampe
Correspondent
CORVALLIS – Taking
typical daily annoyances such
as a long wait at the doc-
tor’s office or a traffic jam
on the freeway in stride may
help preserve brain health in
older adults, while emotional
reactions could contribute to
declines in cognition, a new
study from Oregon State
University has found.
“These results confirm
that people’s daily emotions
and how they respond to their
stressors play an important
role in cognitive health,” said
Robert Stawski, an associate
professor in OSU’s College
of Public Health and Human
Sciences and the study’s lead
author. “It’s not the stressor
itself that contributes to men-
tal declines but how a per-
son responds that affects the
brain.”
Brain health and cognition
are important as we age. They
contribute to one ability to
function in day-to-day life and
can reflect diseases including
dementias and Alzheimer’s.
The findings were
recently published online in
Psychosomatic Medicine,
the journal of American
Psychosomatic Society.
Co-authors include OSU stu-
dents Eric Cerino and Dakota
Witzel, and Stuart W.S.
MacDonald of the University
of Victoria.
In the overall comparison,
those who responded to stress-
ful events with more negative
emotions and reported a more
dour mood in general showed
greater fluctuations in their
performance, which suggests
worse mental focus and cog-
nitive health among the more
strongly negative and reactive
people.
But by following each per-
son over time, the scientists
also could track what hap-
pened on an individual basis,
and striking age differences
emerged. For the oldest par-
ticipants — late 70s to mid-
90s — being more reactive to
stressors than usual also con-
tributed to worse cognitive
performance.
In contrast, people in their
late 60s to mid-70s actually
did better on the test if they
reported more stressors.
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wood floors, 2 spacious bedrooms &
2 masters, 3.5 baths. Inviting living
room has high vaulted ceilings &
wood stove. Dream garage w/room
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PRICE REDUCED!
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Happ y Thanksgiving
from th e Kennedy
family to yours!
Ross Kennedy, 541-408-1343
Principal Broker | Luxury Home Specialist
Serving Black Butte Ranch & The Greater Sisters
i
Area
Continued from page 3
one had to sit at their com-
puter waiting for the clock
to tick down and then relent-
lessly pushing a button only
to be disappointed,” said
Managing Director Ann
Richardson. “So we’re stick-
ing with that approach again
this year and giving people a
couple of weeks to enter the
lottery before the random
drawing.”
Patrons have until 8 a.m.
on Monday, December 3 to
enter the lottery. Winners will
be notified by email by 5 p.m.
that day and have until the
end of December to finalize
their pass purchase.
Early Bird passes are
priced at $145 each, and full-
price passes are $170.
Full-price passes will be
available on December 3, and
can be purchased at www.
sistersfolkfestival.org/tickets.
The 23rd annual festival
will feature over 40 acts,
11 stages and three days of
world-class music.
For more information visit
www.sistersfolkfestival.org
or call 541-549-4979.
GET STUFFED!
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i
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i
g
s
k
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a
h
Happy T Marsh and
ey
From Shel V l an Landuyt
Tiana
220 S. Pine St., Ste. 102 | 541-548-9180