The Nugget
Vol. XLIII No. 11
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Local
healthcare
providers
act on
COVID-19
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Rental
regulations
having an
effect
Women build...
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
In response to the emerg-
ing risk associated with the
spread of COVID-19, local
first responders and health-
care professionals are taking
protective steps.
Sisters-Camp Sherman
Fire District personnel are pre-
paring for the possibility that
infected patients may call 911
and request ambulance trans-
port to the hospital.
The Fire District has
recently provided enhanced
training for its emergency
responders on appropriate
infection control measures,
including personal protec-
tive equipment and safe work
practices. The Fire District has
also made some operational
changes to protect emergency
Sisters Habitat for Humanity and Lowe’s of Redmond
partnered for a work project on local homes last week. See story, page 11.
See COVID-19 on page 22
New rules created in 2019
to regulate short-term rentals
(STR) in Sisters are having an
impact.
The Sisters City Council
received an update on those
impacts at their Wednesday,
February 26 workshop.
According to planner Patrick
Davenport, current active
licenses for short-term or
vacation rentals in town stand
at 88, down from more than
100 a year ago. Eleven per-
mits were issued in 2019,
down from a high of 44 in
2018. Davenport noted that
there was <a flurry of activ-
ity= in 2018 because property
owners were aware that new
regulations were coming.
See RENTALS on page 8
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Partnerships key to protecting forest
Historical Society
announces new museum
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
By Helen Schmidling
Correspondent
The historic bungalow
at 410 E. Cascade Ave.
(next to Suttle Tea) will be
the new home of the Three
Sisters Historical Society.
A museum, office and gift
shop will open in late spring
or early summer in the build-
ing most recently occupied
by Sisters Dental, which has
moved its offices to 491 E.
Main Ave.
Floyd Leitheiser, presi-
dent of the Historical Society,
made the announcement at
the organization9s annual
meeting Thursday night,
following a Fireside Talk at
FivePine by Jarold Ramsey
of Madras. Ramsey, a long-
time board member of the
Jefferson County Historical
Society, embraced the idea of
Inside...
a museum in Sisters.
<I commend your tim-
ing, as there is a real sense
of local history in the three
counties of Central Oregon,=
Ramsey said.
George and Virginia
Wakefield, who originally
purchased the property on
the corner of East Cascade
and Larch from R.J. Skelton,
built the home in the mid-
1930s. Chris Boxwell and
Belita Palu-ay now own the
property, and will rent a por-
tion of the historic home.
The museum will occupy
four rooms, and will feature
a display of local history, a
museum gift shop, and the
organization9s office. A gen-
erous gift from John and
Jan Hodgers is making the
museum possible.
See MUSEUM on page 14
As Fred Perl moves on
from a 32-year career in law
enforcement with the National
Parks Service and the U.S.
Forest Service, he offers a
singular takeaway: partner-
ships are the critical element
in protecting and preserv-
ing America9s public lands.
Those partnerships are
not only between and among
agencies tasked with protect-
ing public lands; partnerships
with members of the public
are equally important.
<It9s incumbent upon the
community to take care of
public lands,= Perl told The
Nugget. <There are warriors
and guardians in the commu-
nity, and they do incredible
things.=
It was a love for the out-
doors that drew Perl into
public-lands stewardship 4
starting with seasonal work
PHOTO PROVIDED
Fred Perl has retired after serving as the USFS law enforcement officer for
the past 17 years.
at Crater Lake National Park.
<It was actually a classi-
fied ad that my mom found
in the newspaper about Crater
Lake National Park hiring,=
he recalled.
While working in visi-
tor services, he saw rangers
patrolling the Park and it set
his feet on a particular path.
<I thought, 8Well, that9s
kind of a cool job,9= he said.
He entered college at
Southern Oregon University
with an eye to a career.
<It was through that
See FOREST on page 17
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Stars Over Sisters .............. 8 Entertainment ..................13 Crossword ........................17 Sisters Job Walk ...............20
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Obituaries ....................... 16 Classifieds .................. 18-20 Real Estate ..................21-24