The Nugget
Vol. XLI No. 48
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Tree lighting kicks off holiday season
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
The City of Sisters kicked
off the most wonderful time
of the year with the 15th
annual Christmas tree light-
ing in Fir Street Park. The
weather outside was frightful,
but that didn’t keep people
from turning out to celebrate
the onset of the Christmas
season.
This American holiday
tradition continues to bring
residents together to share in
a message of hope and peace.
It’s part of getting into the
Christmas spirit, getting the
kids involved and watching
the Sisters community gather
together.
Sisters Mayor Chuck
Ryan got the festivities roll-
ing by thanking the City for
all their hard work this year,
the Sisters Area Chamber of
Commerce for continuing to
make Sisters the go-to des-
tination for Central Oregon,
and the public works depart-
ment for stringing up 1,600
bulbs on the live Christmas
tree.
Jerry Buckmann, Sisters
Area Chamber of Commerce
events director, asked the
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Sisters
volunteers
see horizon
in vision
work
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
The Victorian Carolers sang Sisters into the holiday season at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
crowd if they’ve seen the
Capitol Christmas tree this
year.
“The Capitol Christmas
tree stopped in Bend and
drove through Sisters. It
was a pretty awesome sight
and we should be proud that
Oregon is going to be part
of Christmas back in our
nation’s capital,” she said.
A popular custom is to
bless the Christmas tree
before lighting. Troy Meeder,
co-founder of Crystal Peaks
Youth Ranch (CPYR), took
See TREE LIGHTING on page 21
The Sisters Community
Fire Hall was abuzz one after-
noon last week with the sound
of over 30 Vision Action Team
(VAT) members working on
crafting a final draft of the
Sisters Horizons Visioning
project.
There are four teams, each
addressing one of four focus
areas about which data was
gathered through a series of
interviews, meetings, and
online surveys starting last
spring and running through
the summer. Thousands of
data points were collected,
recorded, analyzed, and
grouped into four categories:
Livable Sisters, Connected
Sisters, Resilient Sisters, and
See VISION on page 31
Winter driving conditions arrive
Search still on for
SPRD executive director
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The recently completed
search for a new executive
director at Sisters Park &
Recreation District came up
empty.
The preferred candidate,
selected by both the board
and the citizen committee,
received an attractive offer
from his current employer
when they found out he was
considering a position with
SPRD — an offer that he
couldn’t refuse. He notified
SPRD he was withdrawing
his name from consideration.
Courtney Snead, the cur-
rent interim executive direc-
tor, told the board it is impor-
tant to keep looking to find
Inside...
a person who is the right
fit and suggested that now,
being holiday time and the
end of the year, is not a good
time to begin another search.
Snead is able to stay on
and continue to implement
the transition activities and
programs she has under-
taken, including getting all of
the financial records in good
order, and initiating needed
maintenance projects on the
physical plant and grounds.
She is also assisting the
board in establishing a retire-
ment plan for all full- and
part-time employees.
Finance Manager Kris
Harwell, who served for a
time as the interim executive
See SPRD on page 22
It doesn’t take multiple
inches of snow to make for
winter driving conditions in
Sisters Country.
A bit of rain and below-
freezing overnight tempera-
tures can turn roadways into
ice rinks. Traction tires and
all-wheel or four-wheel drive
can only marginally improve
your chances on the roads
when they’re slick. Four-
wheel drive does not equate
to “four-wheel stop”; increase
your following distance and
above all, slow down.
Even when the tempera-
tures rise, icy conditions can
persist on shaded curves and
over bridges.
Twilight falls early over
Sisters Country — right on
time for most people’s com-
mute home from work. At
this time of year, pedestrians
are especially hard to spot.
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Roads can be very slick in the early morning hours, as a driver learned in
a single-vehicle wreck at the east end of Sisters on Thanksgiving morning.
Shoppers rushing home with
their treasures are especially
vulnerable on Sisters’ streets.
It is often difficult to discern
pedestrians even in a cross-
walk at this time of year, and
there have been incidents in
the past of pedestrians being
hit while crossing Cascade
Avenue.
Residential streets can be
even darker.
See DRIVING on page 30
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Sisters Salutes .................. 6 Entertainment ..................11 Art & individual identity ... 23 Classifieds ..................28-30
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Holidays in Sisters .......12-21 Crossword ....................... 27 Real Estate .................30-32