The Nugget
Vol. XLIII No. 26
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Trumpeting a Sisters success story
By Jim Anderson
Correspondent
There9s good news for
swan lovers and those who
believe in private land-hold-
ers helping species at risk.
There are now more wild
trumpeter swans to go into
the breeding pool. Several
residents of Aspen Lakes,
under the leadership of Robin
Gold, have been helping the
two trumpeter swans, Eloise
and Pete, raise a family.
A small group of Aspen
Lake neighbors have pitched
in to help the breeding swans
ever since they arrived. The
group also purchased Pete,
a new cob (male swan), and
paid for his transport from
North Carolina to Oregon.
Gold is the main caregiver
and Pam Olivier backs her up.
Residents have also pur-
chased a bubbler to keep a
portion of the lake unfrozen
in the winter so the swans can
keep swimming 4 which,
Gold says, <Is vital to their
health.= In addition, the resi-
dents have supplied auto-
matic feeders stocked with
waterfowl maintenance food
for juveniles and adults, and
waterfowl starter for cyg-
nets (baby swans). Gold has
named the supporters <The
Friends of Eloise/Pals of
Pete.=
Over 150 years ago, John
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
Sheriff’s
office
adapts in
time of
tumult
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
America, future generations
of bird lovers today are con-
tinuing to be mesmerized by
these impressive birds.
Law enforcement account-
ability and reform are at
the forefront of a tense and
anguished national conver-
sation in recent weeks. For
Deschutes County Sheriff
Shane Nelson, these are issues
that have drawn his office9s
attention 4 and action 4 for
several years.
The sheriff9s office is in
the midst of a selection pro-
cess for three deputies and
a lieutenant to serve consis-
tently in Sisters under a new,
enhanced $725,000 per year
contract with the City of
Sisters.
According to DCSO pub-
lic information officer Sgt.
William Bailey, three current
DCSO deputies have applied
for the positions and one
lieutenant is interested in the
position. Sgt. Bailey 4 who
will be promoted to lieutenant
See SWANS on page 17
See TUMULT on page 22
PHOTO BY AL KRAUSE
Trumpeter swans Eloise and Pete and their six cygnets produced this nesting season at Cyrus’s Aspen Lakes
Community.
James Audubon wrote about
how inspired he was watching
trumpeter swans as they go
about their business, untrou-
bled by the doings of humans
4 but the humans were
blowing them out of the sky
for their delicious meat, beau-
tiful feathers, and tough skin.
However, thanks to the
determined efforts of con-
servationists across North
Caught in an avalanche Folk Festival planning live music
By Carol Statton
Correspondent
In the early morning
hours of May 23, Danielle
Rudinsky and Shelby
Lowman set out to climb
the southwest aspect of
Mt. Hood. Rudinsky and
Lowman started up a route
unpopulated by other climb-
ers and what awaited them at
the top was every climber9s
worst fear.
Mt. Hood had long been
on Rudinsky and Lowman9s
list of desired accomplish-
ments. Growing up in
Sisters provided Rudinsky
a unique opportunity to
experience the natural out-
door world through a Sisters
High School program
called the Interdisciplinary
Environmental Expedition
(IEE) program. Through IEE,
Inside...
she was taught critical think-
ing skills to understand the
surrounding environment and
develop a sense of steward-
ship for all natural places, as
well as what can be accom-
plished through developing
community partnerships and
building solid relationships.
The program also showed
Rudinsky that she could cre-
ate a career within the natural
world that she loved; knowl-
edge which gave her a foun-
dation to begin working to
build her resume as a multi-
faceted guide.
With roots established
right here, her reach grew
far beyond the Cascades and
yet the Cascades were still
calling.
Leading the way on that
May morning, with the top
See AVALANCHE on page 14
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
Staff at Sisters Folk
Festival are in the begin-
ning stages of planning to
offer some small-scale music
events during the summer.
Due to the constraints
of COVID-19 regulations,
Sisters Folk Festival (SFF)
cannot move forward with
the 2020 festival. The
staff and board of direc-
tors of Sisters Folk Festival
announced at the end of May
the difficult decision to post-
pone the 24th annual festival
4 originally scheduled to
take place September 11-13
4 to September 10-12,
2021.
However, organizers and
staff at SFF are in the begin-
ning stages of planning to
offer some live music later
PHOTO BY ROB KERR
Traditional tent-filling shows are off for 2020 — but SFF staff is working
to deliver smaller, physically-distanced events later in the summer.
in the summer.
Executive Director Crista
Munro said SFF is working
towards an all-day concert in
the back lawn at Sisters Art
Works on August 1.
<We are working towards
a ticketed all-day event
on August 1 as a trial run
and then again during
See FOLK FESTIVAL on page 23
Letters/Weather ................2 Sisters Salutes ..................5 Announcements ............... 10 Crossword ....................... 18 Classifieds ..................19-20
Meetings ...........................3 Paw Prints .........................6 Coloring Contest Winners ..11 Fit for Sisters ................... 18 Real Estate ................. 21-24