Wednesday, February 13, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 29
SHELTER: Steering
committee met
with public
Continued from page 21
each month is around 30,
some months more, some
months fewer. Cases include
things like nuisance dogs,
assault, driving while sus-
pended, burglary, possession
of a controlled substance,
theft, DUII, robbery, felon in
possession of a firearm, and
neighbor disputes. Reports
of major crimes like murder,
rape, and arson are almost
non-existent.
Thirty cases a month
amounts to well over 300 a
year. That makes the seven
cases involving a transient or
homeless person less than one
percent of all cases reported.
Sharlene Weed, executive
director of Sisters Habitat
for Humanity, asked, <Please
can the sheriff distinguish
between transients and home-
less? Some homeless live here
permanently. Transients are
passing through. Correct?=
An employee from the
Shepherd9s House shelter in
Redmond spoke about their
experience operating their
shelter. He said that when
shelter guests are able to
make connections with the
monitors and trust is built,
they come to see the shelter
as a safe place with positive
people.
<The more contact there is,
the safer it is for everyone,=
he told the audience.
The church is safer
because the guests view it as
a place of comfort and to be
respected, he indicated. The
guests are safer because they
are off the streets and out of
freezing temperatures. The
community is safer because
guests are not out on the street
doing drugs, hurting them-
selves, or committing crimi-
nal activities like breaking
in somewhere to find shelter
from the cold or shoplifting
food.
The point was made that
sometimes when a person is
suffering, the only way to get
help is to harm himself, like
the man in January. Self-harm
is often a cry for help.
Chairman of the group,
George Myers of Sisters,
offered, <Those who have
ideas and want to see some-
thing happen would be wel-
come.= Myers can be con-
tacted at george@gwmyers.
com.
There was an inquiry
regarding what the City
Council could do to support a
shelter, possibly helping find
alternate locations. Other con-
cerns raised were about more
garbage in the neighborhood,
guests lingering in the church
parking lots after leaving the
shelter in the morning, and
are the guests being enabled
to remain homeless by pro-
viding them shelter.
<Beginning at our next
steering committee meet-
ing, we are definitely going
to prioritize the neighbors9
concerns as to what we can
immediately take care of,
what can be done later, and
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
items beyond our jurisdic- Over 100 community members filled the Sisters Fire Hall last week for
tion and mission,= co-chair a meeting convened by the Sisters Cold Weather Shelter to provide
Eidsmoe said.
information to the public and hear neighbors’ concerns.
Co-chair Shuler added,
Shuler indicated she
<At this point, information and generalizations following
had only spoken with a few
about operations and deci- the January incident.
<In communicating with guests. <They expressed
sions will be posted on our
Facebook page and sent out some of our shelter guests, sadness, concerns for their
via email to our mailing list. they were concerned with the safety, and concerns about
We will also consider plac- negativity from that one inci- their acceptance as part of
ing information on the Sisters dent. They understood some the community. They go to
Community Watch Facebook of that negativity, but mainly work, church, local events,
page if folks desire. We will worried that they would be and patronize local busi-
certainly provide updates more disliked and more apt to nesses and they are worried
to The Nugget and ask that not be welcome in some busi- they will be viewed or judged
negatively or unfairly.=
information be shared with nesses.= Eidsmoe reported.
the community. The steer-
ing committee is open to
any other means of commu-
nication that the community
would like. Anyone who pro-
vided us with contact infor-
mation will be added to our
mailing list and if contact was
requested, one of us will be in
touch with them.=
The shelter guests have
been impacted by the neigh-
bors9 concerns, comments,
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