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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2020)
OUT - L L PU TION! SEC Partners in Real Estate 12 pages featuring the stories of the knowledgable professionals ready to help you fulû ll real estate dreams! The Nugget Vol. XLIII No. 29 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 Wednesday, July 15, 2020 Brightest comet in years soars over Sisters COVID-19 on the rise in Central Oregon By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief PHOTO BY RON THORKILDSON Photo taken July 11 from Dee Wright Observatory on McKenzie Pass. By Ron Thorkildson Correspondent A celestial visitor that hasn9t been around these parts in about 6,800 years is cur- rently putting on an impres- sive display in Sisters9 skies. The cosmic traveler is comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3, found on March 27 by the Near- Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) satellite, and it has turned out to be the brightest comet in years. Early last spring astrono- mers speculated that newly discovered comets Atlas and Swan might become easy naked-eye objects as they approached the inner solar system. Unfortunately, nei- ther of them could take the heat from the sun and broke apart. So far, third time seems to be the charm as NEOWISE is holding up much better. After cruising inside the orbit of Mercury, the comet made its closest approach to the sun on Friday, July 3, at a distance of approximately 27 million miles, when it became bright enough to see without optical aid. Although it is currently receding from the sun, NEOWISE will pass Correspondent The Sisters School Board voted unanimously to keep Jay Wilkins as chair and Don Hedrick as vice-chair for another year at the monthly meeting held at Sisters Middle School Wednesday, July 8 4 the first <in-person= meeting conducted since the pandemic shutdown began in March. After recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, one board member quipped. “That sounded a lot better than when we did that on Zoom and we were all speak- ing at different speeds.= Inside... toward the end of the month, it will still be a fine sight in a pair of binoculars. Some of the area9s ama- teur astronomers have already captured many strik- ing images of the comet, some of which can be viewed on the Sisters Astronomy Club9s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ sistersastronomy/). While it9s true that NEOWISE does not measure up as one of brightest comets ever to grace our skies, such as Hale-Bopp did in 1997, it9s still worthy of a good look. By Jodi Schneider Correspondent Designated as an organi- zational meeting, most of the business of the evening cen- tered around members agree- ing to appointments on dif- ferent committees on which the board has representation, as well as approving other institutional organizational appointments, though Curt Scholl did share a superin- tendent9s report that included some updates related to reopening of schools in the fall. The board enthusiastically endorsed Wilkins to take on a second year at the helm. David Thorsett said, “It The road to recovery kicked off for local businesses in Sisters when they unlocked their doors on Friday, May 15, the day Deschutes County moved into Phase 1 of the state9s reopening. On June 6, Deschutes County was approved to enter Phase 2 of the State9s reopening plan for Oregon. A the pandemic intensified, Governor Kate Brown has mandated that Oregonians are now required to wear face masks while in all indoor public spaces and outdoors if they cannot maintain six feet of separation. See SCHOOLS on page 31 See BUSINESSES on page 30 Letters/Weather ........................2 Meetings ...................................3 See COVID-19 on page 8 Local businesses on road to recovery Wilkins re-elected as school board chair By Charlie Kanzig closest to the earth on July 22, at which time the two bodies will be separated by a per- fectly safe 64 million miles. Earlier in the month the comet was located near the northeastern horizon about an hour and a half before sun- rise. But it is slowly tracking westward across the north- ern sky and, according to NASA, will be best viewed from mid-July on as an eve- ning object above the north- western horizon. The big question is for how long will NEOWISE remain bright? Even if the comet does drop below naked-eye detection Like much of the rest of the country, Central Oregon is in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases. On Sunday, Deschutes County reported 16 new cases, after reporting 15 new cases the day before. There were no new cases reported on Monday. While the numbers are not big in comparison to major surges in other areas, they nevertheless represent a sig- nificant increase from the days when Deschutes County added a case or two — at most a handful 4 in a day. Some of that increase is due to ramped-up testing and con- tact tracing, but the surge also represents growing commu- nity spread. St. Charles Health System reported peaking at 14 hospi- talizations on April 5, in the midst of the initial pandemic shutdown. On Friday morn- ing, the hospital reported 11 Obituaries ..............................6-7 Announcements .......................10 PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER Kent and Marla Stevens, owners of Painted Lady Antiques were in the process of expanding when closures hit. They are feeling pretty good about the way things have gone since reopening, seeing locals shopping local. Partners in Real Estate ........ 11-22 Crossword ...............................27 Classifieds ......................... 28-30 Real Estate ......................... 31-32
