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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 2020)
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Research puts COCC educator on the map An international car- tographic award has put a Central Oregon Community College (COCC) educa- tor on the map. The British Cartographic Society9s 2020 Henry Johns Award, an annual recognition that honors the most outstand- ing mapping work pub- lished in the society9s peer- reviewed <The Cartographic Journal,= was recently co- presented to Patrick <Pat= Kennelly, Ph.D., the direc- tor of COCC9s geographical information systems (GIS) program. The British Cartographic Society, founded in 1963, is a leading global academic forum for mapmaking. The work, titled <Cartographic Symbol Design Considerations for the Space-Time Cube,= pro- poses a method of stacking a high volume of detailed data into a many-faceted, rotatable column that can be oriented on a map. <It has to do with how to visualize large datasets, such as 100 years of daily temperature data,= said Kennelly, who earned his doctorate in geography at Oregon State University. Kennelly and his col- league demonstrated the technique9s merit by visu- ally sharing, in a com- pressed 3D format, a cen- tury9s worth of maximum temperatures from weather stations across the U.S. and a year9s worth of New York City subway ridership infor- mation taken at four-hour intervals. They employed techniques used in topo- graphical representation, such as applying hue and saturation based on specific attribute values. <It9s an example of how cartographic design can refine operations in the space-time cube,= Kennelly added. The work was fea- tured on the cover of the May 2019 issue of the <The Cartographic Journal.= Kennelly conducted the research while serv- ing a professorship at Long Island University (LIU). Prior to joining COCC in 2019 as its GIS program director, he taught gradu- ate and undergraduate coursework at LIU, served as a GIS manager with the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, and held the role of GIS proj- ect manager for David Evans and Associates, a Portland-based engineering firm. 7 Hauling grass and taking names By Mike Zoormajian Correspondent Local Sisters9 business T&M Hauling started quite by accident when co-owner Thys (rhymes with peace) Kuitert was attending a residents meeting in Tollgate early this year. He clearly heard the need for pine needle removal ser- vices for both homes and com- mon areas. Having recently relocated to Sisters from the valley, Thys wasn9t looking to start a new business, but his history as general manager for Junk King started the wheels turning. For those who are unfa- miliar, apparently junk is big business. Thys had a crew of seven big trucks doing nothing but hauling people9s junk. In the valley, this was mostly dis- gusting things that Goodwill and Habitat wouldn9t touch 4 as well as big things like old cars, trailers, appliances and hazmat. Thys thought that after moving junk, pine needles would be a snap. And maybe there was opportunity in Central Oregon for junk removal as well. But Thys didn9t know anything about Central Oregon& Enter McKibben Womack, who knows everything about Central Oregon. McKibben is a Sisters local, who has served on the Sisters City Council and PHOTO BY MIKE ZOORMAJIAN Thys Kuitert and McKibben Womack. budget committee, coached youth sports, and led youth church activities for years. Thys and McKibben knew each other from coaching youth sports and began to brainstorm. After confirming that pine needles are, in fact, Sisters9 largest cash crop, and confirming no competition in the junk hauling business, the two went after it. Armed with a huge trailer, word-of- mouth marketing, and a huge supply of motivation 4 and community response has been overwhelming. <Our first job was a rental house where the tenant turned out to be a bit of a hoarder. Junk piled inside and out=, said Womack. <The landlord didn9t know where to turn to get rid of all the trash he left behind.= Womack continued with the understatement of the week <The neighbors were appreciative as well.= Spring in Sisters brings pine needles, and for T&M, this seems to be the busy season. Having previously owned a landscaping business, Womack knows needles. He told The Nugget that the aver- age lot around Sisters will drop five to 10 pickup truck loads of needles per year. So even if people can sweep them, it9s frequently more cost effective to have T&M just come pick them up after figuring in time, gas, and dump fees. So whether it9s junk, yard debris, construction debris, household chemicals, paint, rental cleanup, storage spaces or any other hauling challenge, T&M is worth a look to sup- port local business. Or in their own words, <You Call 4 We Haul.= For more information, see T&M Hauling classified ad in The Nugget and call 541-598-4345.