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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2019)
The Nugget Vol. XLII No. 2 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 Wednesday Wednesday, January 9, 2019 Sisters gets two days of live fire training Man hurt himself outside shelter By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief “Train like you fight; fight like you train” is an axiom from the military to the martial arts community to the fire ser- vice. The more realistically you train, the better you will perform when it’s all on the line. Sisters- area firefighters got two days of invaluable experience fight- ing fire during a “burn to learn” exercise over the weekend. The exercise — which con- sumed two houses located at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Larch Street — involved firefighters from Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District, Black Butte Ranch, and Cloverdale Fire District. It simu- lated a “room and contents” fire. Developer Paul Holstege approached the Sisters fire dis- trict with the opportunity. “We knew we had to demo By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief One of the guests at the Sisters Cold Weather Shelter harmed himself after leav- ing the shelter at Westside Church on Saturday morn- ing, January 5. The incident sparked concern from nearby residents and a response from organizers of the shel- ter, which provides shelter to homeless people in Sisters during the winter months. “A male guest had spent the night and followed the shelter rules and behav- ior expectations, Sisters Cold Weather Shelter Steering Committee Chair Gary Eidsmoe wrote in a See FIRE TRAINING on page 17 PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK See SHELTER on page 15 Pay, benefits at heart of What it was like... St. Charles negotiations Growing up in Sisters By Sue Stafford Correspondent Nurses at St. Charles Medical Center Bend have been working on an expired contract for seven months. Local nurses and St. Charles executives are currently in federal mediation with the next two sessions scheduled for January 10 and 11. The almost 900 nurses at St. Charles Bend are repre- sented by the Oregon Nurses Association. Nurses at the other three St. Charles hos- pitals each have their own bargaining unit and con- tract and are not part of this negotiation. The discussions between St. Charles Bend leader- ship and the nurses has been long and contentious. The two sides have met 24 times to negotiate a new contract since June 2018. According to Iman Simmons, St. Charles Inside... Health Systems chief operat- ing officer, “At this point, the negotiation is down to essen- tially two things — wages and benefits.” According to a guest col- umn from the January 3, 2019 Bulletin newspaper by nurses who are leaders on the ONA’s contract negotiation team, “We disagree with Simmons and St. Charles executives on many basic facts – from St. Charles’ fuzzy financial math to what contract negotiations are about – and we think we understand why. St. Charles executives don’t have a problem talking, they have a problem listening.” The nurses contend they have been speaking up about staffing and safety issues at St. Charles Bend for years. “Since 2015, Bend nurses have reported more than 600 unsafe or inadequate staffing See ST. CHARLES on page 10 By Sue Stafford Correspondent Three Sisters Historical Society is offering it’s popu- lar Fireside Stories Evenings again this winter, begin- ning with Back in the Day — Growing Up in Sisters, on Tuesday, January 15, at FivePine Conference Center. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with the program beginning at 7 p.m. Five longtime Sisters resi- dents will share their stories of family, friends, neighbors, school, hijinx, and the fun and work of growing up in Sisters in the 1950s and ’60s. Be transported back to a simpler time when everyone knew everyone and lots of residents were related to one another. Floyd Leithauser, now of Camp Sherman, is the fourth generation of his family in Sisters. He will be the emcee for the evening and engaging former Outlaws in storytell- ing. Leithauser attended all 12 grades in Sisters, then graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. After serving in the Coast Guard, he worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, California, and Alaska. When he left Sisters after graduation, he thought he was leaving forever, but in 2006 he and his wife, Sue, returned to care for Leithauser’s mother, Edith, and they are still here. Joel Aylor moved to Sisters with his father, Bill, Aylor and his wife, Trudie, and younger brother Daryl. He graduated from Sisters See GROWING UP on page 14 Letters/Weather ................ 2 Sisters Naturalist ............... 8 Entertainment ..................13 Sisters Salutes ................ 18 Classifieds .................. 20-21 Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Obituaries ................... 15,19 Crossword ....................... 19 Real Estate ................. 22-24