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The Nugget
Vol. XLII No. 43
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Local authors shine at Festival of Books
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
Authors from the local
community got their moment
in the spotlight in the inau-
gural Sisters Festival of
Books this past weekend.
Local authors kicked off the
weekend with a reception at
FivePine Lodge on Friday
evening.
Twelve local authors
brought themselves — and
their diverse books —to the
kickoff event.
Sisters-based author Julia
Huni, author of the “Space
Janitor” series, spoke about
how her book series started
originally as a set of science
fiction short stories.
“My friend who read it
told me I had to write the
story and so they became a
series,” Huni said. “My books
are heavy on the fun and light
on the science.”
The festival was Huni9s
first author event, and she
enjoyed being able to rub
shoulders with other authors.
“Writing is a very solitary
profession, so it9s nice to get
out and socialize with fellow
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Permit No. 15
Sisters
schools
state
scores
announced
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
She has written poetry
books, books on the history of
The Oregon Department
of Education (ODE) released
state assessment scores last
month with little fanfare, and
Sisters School District once
again scored above the state
average overall. However
Oregon, as a whole, did not
have a particularly good
showing compared to other
states that use the Smarter
Balanced assessment.
Like other states, Oregon
requires state assessments as
a gauge for learning prog-
ress. In Oregon students take
Smarter Balanced assess-
ments in grades 3-8 and in
grade 11 for language arts
See BOOK FESTIVAL on page 20
See ASSESSMENTS on page 29
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Paul Bennett was one of a dozen local authors featured in the opening night of the Sisters Festival of Books.
writers,” she said.
Jill Stanford, author of the
“Cowgirl Cookbook” series,
was presenting with her
seventh book.
“I write books about cow-
girls and everything that goes
along with them,” she said.
Woman recounts harrowing ordeal
Sisters woman
arrested in graffiti case
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Law enforcement inves-
tigators have arrested an
18-year-old Sisters woman
in connection with a series of
vandalism cases in the Sisters
area. Deschutes County
Sheriff9s Office personnel
have been investigating the
cases since July.
The vandalism involved
graffiti both inside and out-
side the city of Sisters that
had occurred over a several
week period. On Tuesday,
deputies arrested Sofia
Affatati in connection with
this investigation. Affatati has
been lodged in the Deschutes
Inside...
County Sheriff 9s Office
Adult Jail on two counts of
Criminal Mischief I and five
counts of Criminal Mischief
II, the sheriff9s office reports.
The spate of vandalism
last summer prompted a num-
ber of Sisters citizens to take
up patrolling the community
at night to report on any sus-
picious activity.
The investigation is still
ongoing and additional
arrests are possible. Anyone
with information about this
investigation is asked to call
non-emergency dispatch at
541-693-6911.
In a split second on
August 5, Dawn Cooper
found herself in the path
of a drunk driver who had
fled from police miles down
Highway 20 and into Sisters.
According to an Oregon
State Police report, at about
3:40 p.m., on that summer
day, an OSP trooper reported
a reckless driver on the east
side of the Santiam Pass
on Highway 20 traveling
eastbound. He was unable
to catch up to and stop the
reckless vehicle, which was
picked up a short time later
by another OSP officer as it
PHOTO COURTESY DAWN COOPER
Dawn Cooper of Sisters was hurt when a man fleeing police hit her nearly
head-on on West McKinney Butte Road last summer.
was approaching Sisters.
There was a short pur-
suit, which the OSP trooper
terminated.
It turned out that the
driver, Troy Brandon Harris,
See ORDEAL on page 30
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ......................... 6 Announcements ............... 10 Sisters Naturalist ............. 23 Classifieds ..................26-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Sisters Salutes .................. 8 Entertainment ..................11 Crossword ....................... 25 Real Estate .................29-32