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Wednesday, July 29, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
SPORTS: Plans are
not yet definitive
for fall activities
Continued from page 1
that fall sports of cross coun-
try, volleyball and soccer will
begin official practice at the
original start date of August
17 4 but contests will be
delayed until September 23.
That delay will give schools
more opportunity to get the
academic year underway
and for other details, such
as spectator policies, multi-
team events, and scheduling
considerations to be worked
out.
Football, along with
cheerleading and dance/drill,
are considered full contact
activities, and as such, are
currently prohibited under
Oregon Health Authority
guidelines. They do not have
a planned starting date at this
point. In its press release,
the OSAA stated, <Based on
strategies provided by the
OSAA Football Contingency
Group it is necessary that
any football restrictions be
lifted by September 28 in
order to have a modified
regular season this fall that
would include some type of
restructured postseason.=
The recommendations
came out of a three-day work
session that spanned July
20-22.
Sisters High School
Athletic Director Gary
Thorson, who recently
accepted the position as foot-
ball coach, said, <At first
glance I was disappointed
that there was not very much
detail to this plan, but then,
after re-reading it I realized
that there is so much we still
don9t know that the OSAA
was wise to not commit to
more specifics just yet.=
Wa s h i n g t o n
and
California, which have
laid out much more spe-
c ific p lan s, in clu d in g
Washington9s design of
doing four shortened seasons
during the school year rather
than three longer ones and
redistributing what time of
year different sports will play.
The OSAA press release
stated, <If fall activities
aren9t able to be held in
the regular time frame, the
OSAA Executive Board is
committed to working with
its contingency groups to
exhaust all options for these
activities including shifting,
condensing, or stacking sea-
sons, like our neighbors in
Washington and California,
with the fundamental objec-
tive of providing participa-
tion opportunities for stu-
dents. These changes may
ultimately force schools into
choosing which programs
they will offer and students
into choosing between activ-
ities, but the Board believes
that a potentially difficult
choice is better than no
choice.=
Thorson acknowledged
the planning done in neigh-
boring states.
<If health issues don9t
improve and we can9t get
started in the fall the way
that OSAA hopes right now,
the four season idea might
work in Oregon as well,= he
said. <We could start the year
with the lesser contact sports
and move things around in
hopes that the virus will be
much more contained as the
months pass.=
Thorson says he is get-
ting a lot of calls and mes-
sages from people wanting
to know the plan for fall.
<I wish I could be more
specific, but we all are going
to have to wait, be patient
and then work together to
make the best of whatever
plan is available to us,= he
said. <We are in uncharted
territory, but it is my hope
that we can offer as much
as possible, even if it means
shorter seasons and less
travel, rather than what hap-
pened this past spring.=
For cheerleading and
dance/drill teams, the OSAA
and contingency groups are
working to develop possible
modifications as to chore-
ography, stunting and lift-
ing that would make those
activities meet safe health
guidelines.
More information regard-
ing requirements for face
coverings for indoor sports
and other considerations will
be forthcoming, according to
the OSAA.
Other guidelines that
came out of the meeting
included limiting sports
practices to one per day not
to exceed three hours, and
athletes would be restricted
to one hour of weight train-
ing per day in addition to
their practice time. In addi-
tion, all fall sports athletes
will be required to complete
nine practices before being
eligible for competition.
The OSAA Executive
Board is scheduled to meet
again on August 3 as they
anticipate more information
to be available regarding the
reopening of schools.
CITY: Traffic
measurement
will provide data
Continued from page 3
year and the start of another
while meeting all guidelines
related to the COVID-19
pandemic. The City is also
temporarily down one full-
time staff member/depart-
ment head and others have
stepped in to fill that gap.
" The appointment of a
short-term work committee
is being considered to study
the City9s disbursement of
transient room tax receipts,
a major percentage of which
must go for tourist-related
services, activities, and mar-
keting. They will most likely
be meeting during the fall,
with an eye toward comple-
tion and recommendations
prior to the year-end holi-
days. The committee9s task
would be to draw up a stra-
tegic tourism plan for how
those TRT funds will be
spent.
" Traffic data recording
equipment was recently pur-
chased by the Public Works
Department to improve the
City9s ability to collect rele-
vant data regarding numbers
and types of vehicles trav-
eling on City streets, their
speeds, and the percentage
of different speeds traveled,
including the time of day or
night. This information will
help inform the Deschutes
County Sheriff 9s officers
assigned to Sisters where
and when to patrol for traf-
fic speed enforcement and
safety.
The data will also inform
the City regarding the need
for speed zone adjustments
and possible installation of
traffic mitigation equipment
such as speed bumps, traf-
fic calming installations, and
speed signs. The recorders
are initially scheduled to be
used on 12 streets, with more
in the future.
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