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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2020)
2 Wednesday, March 25, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Editorial… Shoulder to shoulder, six feet apart The battle against the spread of the COVID-19 virus is testing Sisters9 resilience as nothing has before. Wildfire, hard winters, road closures, housing crises 4 we9ve weath- ered them all, and yet none of them posed the long-term challenges that the events of Spring 2020 present. The Nugget remains committed to being the voice of the Sisters community. We will continue to provide accurate and reliable infor- mation to the community via our print edition and also through www.nuggetnews.com and our Facebook page. Perhaps even more impor- tantly, we will continue to paint the portrait of our community as it strives to overcome these hard times. As a small, independent newspaper, these times pose significant challenges to us as they do to all of you. We rely on advertisers9 and readers9 support, and we understand that those sources of support are under significant pres- sure and changing rapidly. Readers of The Nugget can support us by supporting our advertisers, as we will continue to do in any way possible through and beyond this crisis. Those readers who have signed on with supporting subscriptions are valued partners. We9re all keeping our distance physically, but we must still stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and together we will weather this terrible storm. Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is 10 a.m. Monday. To the Editor: In my very, very distant life I acquired my nursing license. Nursing 101 taught us all to wash our hands before seeing a patient, and after visiting that patient. We also constantly washed after handling charts, machines, and stethoscope and sphygmomanometer were cleaned even without touching patients. We were also instructed and learned to wash our medical/pharmacy keys after each visit with soap and hot water. HIV presented itself the second year of my nursing career. I volunteered to work that unit. We did not know at that time how it was spread, or who was or wasn9t a carrier, or how fatal it was. Many of those infected (blood test verification) demonstrated very little signs or symptoms. It was later tagged a <gay= disease, but that soon changed with blood transfusion cases. There really wasn9t much we could do then but make patients comfortable. Some peo- ple were concerned, and some weren9t. When children began getting HIV, mostly from trans- fusion or birth, people started to get <panicky, = I see similar societal characteristics with the current coronavirus. I urge everyone, particularly the young, to take this seriously. And I do urge people to follow hygiene guidelines, and don9t forget to add your keys to the wash list. As a nurse, keys were washed at the same time as our hands. I haven9t heard any medical person on the news telling people to wash their keys, but I would recommend it. You can wash house and work keys with soap and water. Sanitize the bob with a Clorox wipe. I do this at least once a day. I think peo- ple would be surprised the amount of dirt that comes off those keys. Stay healthy! Bill Anttila s s s To the Editor: I was at Bi-Mart and had just run in to grab a couple of boxes of trash compactor bags. Trying to balance them with my back brace on was a challenge. See LETTERS on page 4 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Mostly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Partly Cloudy 44/26 47/30 49/34 53/36 55/36 62/37 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Email: editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper & Lisa May Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Kema Clark Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $55; six months (or less), $30. First-class postage: one year, $95; six months, $65. Published Weekly. ©2020 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper9s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. Resilient, together By Mayor Chuck Ryan and City Manager Cory Misley We do not need to begin by underscoring how unprecedented and uncer- tain of a time we are in. The people at the City of Sisters 4 the Council members, committee members, staff 4 empathize with the chal- lenges and frustrations that our community is dealing with in a variety of ways. We are doing what we can, while acknowledging that we do not have health experts or emergency response manag- ers on staff. Last week, the City participated in count- less meetings and conversa- tions with all levels of pub- lic partners 4 local special districts, County, State, and Federal 4 to coordinate and align efforts. The City has already taken numerous steps to pro- tect the health and welfare of staff and community mem- bers. We closed City Hall to the public, canceled all board and committee meet- ings, and declared a state of emergency providing flexibility to respond more quickly to a rapidly chang- ing situation. The state of emergency declaration was not made to cause alarm, in fact just the opposite. It was a calm and calculated decision based on the information avail- able and our responsibili- ties at the forefront of our minds. It allows us to take many actions, and we do not yet know whether or to what extent they may be needed. We will continue to work with the best and most timely information from the most credible sources. City Council members and staff are in frequent com- munication, and Council meetings will continue via teleconference. This dynamic situation is like building an airplane in flight. There is no manual for how to make every deci- sion or address every con- sequence. You, loved ones, neighbors, and community members are already or may be impacted from a health or economic perspective or worse both. Instead of look- ing to the past or future, we must exercise courage and vigilance in each moment. This is truly a test of char- acter individually and col- lectively. Fortunately, as evidenced in the recent Sisters Country Vision work, this community knows how to band together to solve problems and move forward. The City is prioritizing essential services that it is solely responsible for: pri- marily water and wastewater. We see no cause for concern regarding those services and we have prepared contingen- cies. Beyond those, we are striving to maintain almost all other services at normal levels albeit in an adjusted way. We were assured by the Deschutes County Sheriff9s Office that our law enforce- ment will continue at cur- rent levels. Although we closed City Hall to the pub- lic last week, staff that can are telecommuting, working on a staggered schedule, or exercising social distancing within City Hall. City and county govern- ments have been consulted on some of the State9s measures, while some we have learned of through the media. This is a changing environment we are all sort- ing through together each day. The messages last week and continuing through the weekend from community members offering resources or looking to help coordi- nate efforts are inspiring and a testament to the compas- sion within Sisters Country. We must be in this moment for each other and work collaboratively to provide resources for those most in need. If you have questions, resources, or just need someone to talk to briefly, please contact City Hall at 541-323-5205 or www. ci.sisters.or.us/contact. It will take time for new pro- grams and resources to be organized. We are moni- toring County, State, and Federal actions along those lines, and exploring what we can do within our com- munity with partners such as Sisters Country Economic Development and Sisters Chamber of Commerce. Although we will not have all of the answers 3 we will answer the call and do our best to provide assistance. The City website will be updated frequently with City, County, State, and Federal information related to the Coronavirus: www. ci.sisters.or.us/coronavirus. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.