The Nugget
Vol. XLII No. 9
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
‘The Snow Queen’ alights in Sisters
By T. Lee Brown
Correspondent
Great tufts of snow wafted
to the white ground outside
Sisters High School last
weekend as audiences made
their way inside to <The
Snow Queen.=
Produced by Missoula
Children9s Theatre (MCT), in
partnership with Sisters Folk
Festival and Sisters Schools,
the show was borne of an
interesting premise: that stu-
dents can learn their lines,
blocking, and several short
songs in just five days9 time,
then perform for the public.
Many kids arrived at audi-
tions with no prior stage
experience. As Brad Tisdel
of the Folk Festival acknowl-
edged in his opening remarks,
there is a shortage of theatre
education in Sisters Country.
More than 60 local kids
were cast to act and sing in
the show. Three were selected
to learn the backstage arts as
assistant directors: Norah
Thorsett, Kaidyn Wetherell,
and Jaxon Wetherell.
Correspondent
If the U.S. Forest Service
property housing the Sisters
Ranger District headquar-
ters at the west end of town
sells, what will be built on
that land? That has been a
big question on the minds of
Sisters citizens ever since the
Forest Service announced the
property was for sale.
City staff is continuing to
explore options to facilitate
and support future land-use
entitlements on the prop-
erty. The <middle= portion
of the property is approxi-
mately 32 acres and zoned
Public Facility (PF). The
Comprehensive Plan text
designation for this area
identifies three develop-
ment options, all of which
Inside...
Continued
growth
forecast
for Sisters
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe.)
<You are growing very fast
and changing fast and I know
I don9t need to tell you that,=
Brendon Buckley of Johnson
Economics told the Sisters
Planning Commission at their
February 21 meeting.
Since 2000, Sisters has
grown roughly 185 percent
with an increase of nearly
1,800 people, a much greater
percentage growth than either
Deschutes County or the state.
Buckley was explaining
the draft results of his firm9s
Housing Needs Analysis
(HNA), which analyzes the
20-year housing needs for
Sisters for the period 2019-
2039. The HNA will be com-
pared to the City9s Residential
See PLAY on page 16
See GROWTH on page 30
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
“The Snow Queen” came to Sisters with Missoula Children’s Theatre.
The classic tale hinges
on young Kay, a boy trans-
formed by an evil magic mir-
ror and lured away by the
What will become
of USFS property?
By Sue Stafford
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
indicate a desire for thought-
fully planned mixed-use
development.
Option A would include
relocating the Ranger District
to the 13 acres north across
Barclay Drive with mixed
use on the remaining land,
which could include highway
commercial, downtown com-
mercial, residential, and light
industrial. Option B would
be for residential with some
commercial and a buffer
along Highway 20. Option
C is another variation of the
same components.
At a variety of past pub-
lic forums on the best use
for the property, suggestions
have included a perform-
ing arts center, a community
swimming pool, affordable
See PROPERTY on page 29
Snow Queen. (If you9re more
familiar with Narnia than
fairy tales, think Edmund
and the White Witch in The
Big winter storm smacks Sisters
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Folks in Sisters Country
might be forgiven for looking
askance at anyone who says
<better late than never= when
it comes to winter storms.
After a relatively mild
and dry January and early
February 4 and after several
predicted storms fizzled out
or skirted the area 4 Sisters
got hit with a mighty wal-
lop Sunday and Monday as a
heavy winter storm dumped
more than two feet of snow.
Massive snowfall in the
Cascades caused avalanches
that blocked all or part of
Highway 20 near Santiam
Pass on Sunday and Monday,
delaying or halting travel.
Commuting to Bend and
Redmond was possible 4 if
you could get out of your
PHOTO BY GARY MILLER
See WINTER on page 31
Smokey Bear’s hat turned into a snow gauge as about two feet of snow (in
places, more) fell over Sisters Country Sunday and Monday.
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ......................... 5 Entertainment ..................13 Nugget Flashback ............ 24 Classifieds .................. 27-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Sisters Naturalist ............. 14 Crossword ....................... 26 Real Estate .................29-32