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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 2020)
The Nugget Vol. XLIII No. 9 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Jean Wells Keenan honored with award By Helen Schmidling Correspondent Jean Wells Keenan is renowned in Sisters as an artist, a quilter, an entrepre- neur and savvy business- woman 4 and the founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. At heart, she is a teacher and mentor, wife, mother and grandmother. Last Wednesday night, she added the title Recipient of the Eighth Annual Ben Westlund Memorial Award. Cate O9Hagan, co-chair of the Deschutes Cultural Coalition, presented the award, an original ink-and- watercolor drawing created by artist Pat Clark. Titled <Landscape Bits and Pieces/ An Oregon Memory,= it is a study for an engrav- ing in rich shades of blue. The Westlund Award also includes a gift of $1,000, which Wells Keenan des- ignated toward the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, cel- ebrating its 45th anniversary this July. It remains unique in the world of quilt shows because it9s held outdoors, and it9s not ticketed. Dawn Boyd, the Quilt Show9s Correspondent A recently retired teacher from the Sisters School District had a saying for stu- dents when it came to the importance of school atten- dance: <I9m good, but I can9t teach you anything if you9re not here.= Data underlines this truth, as students with poor atten- dance form gaps in learning and tend to lag behind their peers in school performance. Sisters School District is implementing an initiative called <Strive for 95= this year to encourage students to have no more than two absences a quarter, which equates to eight total in a Inside... New Sisters development can move forward By Sue Stafford Correspondent PHOTO BY HELEN SCHMIDLING Jean Wells Keenan consults with fellow artist Paul Alan Bennett. Wells Keenan’s enormous impact on Sisters’ arts community was recognized with the Ben Westlund Memorial Award last week. executive director, accepted the check. O 9 H a g a n r e m a r k e d , <Jean Wells Keenan founded the quilt show after starting her quilt store business, the Stitchin9 Post, the prior year. When I think about starting a retail business 45 years ago in Sisters, on top of raising Attendance in focus for Sisters students By Charlie Kanzig PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 school year to achieve a 95 percent attendance rate. Work started on the goal from the beginning of the school year, with a number of incentives and initiatives put in place to help encourage good attendance and draw attention to its importance. The elementary school drew attention to the atten- dance initiative in a big way to start the school year when police, fire and other emer- gency vehicles descended on the campus at the start of the day with emergency and police personnel handing out donuts to parents and thank- ing them for getting their kids to school on time. See ATTENDANCE on page 22 a family, and on top of that, a quilt show, I wonder what that must have taken! As her sister June says, Jean believes that 8If you can dream it, you can do it.9 And she does! <The Stitchin9 Post, now in daughter Val9s capable hands, has thrived and grown,= O9Hagan said. <Jean9s leadership has inspired the SOQS to expand its vision from a local event to an international attrac- tion. An author of 30 books, Jean is widely recognized in this country and around the The road is cleared for devel- opment of a six-acre parcel of land located behind Bi-Mart at the west end of Sisters, though such development has raised concerns among local residents about the impact on Sisters9 char- acter and quality of life. With a unanimous vote of 5-0 following a public hear- ing last Thursday, the Sisters Planning Commission approved the 5.911-acre Master Planned Development (MPD) for the proposed Threewind project. Two commissioners were not in attendance. The proposed development includes up to 28,000 square feet of commercial building area, up to 28,000 square feet of ground- floor multifamily building area, a public street, and associated site improvements. The application See AWARD on page 23 See DEVELOPMENT on page 16 Outlaws swimmer is state champion By Charlie Kanzig Correspondent Senior Lydia Bartlett capped a stellar high school career in her final event at the OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A state swimming championships in record-breaking fashion. The meet was held Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22 at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton. Bartlett started the day in the 200-yard freestyle and came up just short of a victory. After posting the sec- ond-fastest time in Friday9s prelims at 1:53.27, behind district rival Megan Hager of Sweet Home (1:50.29), Bartlett knew who to focus on in the finals. The Saturday final was a battle throughout, with Hager holding on to a slim lead through each of the first three laps. After the final turn, Bartlett closed a bit, but Hager was able to hold her off by a mere .15 seconds to claim the crown in 1:50.63 against 1:50.78 for Bartlett. The pair finished nearly nine seconds in front of third place. <What a race!= said Coach Bryn Singleton. But by no means was Bartlett finished as the senior led wire-to-wire in the 500- yard freestyle and set a new 4A/3A/2A/1A state meet See SWIM CHAMP on page 23 PHOTO PROVIDED State champion Lydia Bartlett with Coach Bryn Singleton. Letters/Weather ................ 2 Of A Certain Age ................. 8 Entertainment ..................11 Outlaw Calendar ...............17 Classifieds .................. 19-20 Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ............... 10 Portraits of Sisters ...........12 Crossword ....................... 18 Real Estate ..................21-24