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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2020)
The Nugget Vol. XLIII No. 36 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, September 2, 2020 Firefighters gain 75 percent containment on Green Ridge Fire City has a vision for Lazy Z land By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief PHOTO BY JASON DARRAH Fire crews battled tough terrain and weather conditions to gain 75 percent containment on the Green Ridge Fire as of Monday. Firefighters battled the Green Ridge Fire to a stand- still a week ago, and have since gained the upper hand. The fire area stands at 4,338 acres in size, a footprint that has been held for days as firefighters secured 75 per- cent containment. Bulldozers and hand crews built the containment lines surrounding the Green Ridge Fire, which passed a major wind test Saturday afternoon. Holding the fire in place with no reported spot fires was a major milestone in a fight where difficult ter- rain, hot, dry temperatures and dry fuels challenged firefighters. F i r e f i g h t i n g c r e w s observed a private drone flying over the Green Ridge Fire area Sunday afternoon. The Oregon Department of Forestry9s Incident Management Team noted that while fire activity has diminished, aircraft is still being used to support ground operations. <Even a tiny drone can cause a serious or fatal accident if it collides with firefighting aircraft,= the team stated. In most situa- tions, if drones are spotted near a wildfire, firefighting aircraft must land due to safety concerns. Per the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 43 CFR 9212.1(f), it is ille- gal to resist or interfere with the efforts of firefighter(s) to extinguish a fire. Doing so can result in a significant fine and/or a mandatory court appearance. So, be smart and just don9t fly your drone anywhere near a wildfire. No amount of video or photos are worth the consequences.= Fire crews continued to have favorable weather for mop-up operations. The ODF team was to hand the fire back to local resources this week as the fire activity slowed down. Incident Commander Link Smith and his team were to transfer the fire to a Type 4 organization Wednesday, September 2. Sisters Country will return See FIRE on page 18 Habitat for raptors. Public walking trails. A safe high- way viewpoint. Those are elements the City of Sisters hopes to see in a new master plan for a por- tion of the 230.9-acre Lazy Z Ranch property that the City acquired years ago for efflu- ent disposal. <What we know,= said Public Works Director Paul Bertagna, <is that the western area of the ranch is not suit- able for effluent dispersal.= That9s because years of flood irrigation washed away soil that would absorb the effluent. <We have some habitat out there; we have water rights,= Bertagna said. <We have some raptors; we have bald eagles nesting out there. We want to protect that and have the public be able to enjoy it through a series of walking trails.= To that end, the City has issued a request for proposal for a Lazy Z Master Plan (see See VISION on page 23 Slowing of COVID cases Deputies selected for Sisters duty bodes well for schools By Sue Stafford Correspondent By Charlie Kanzig Correspondent A decline in COVID-19 cases in Oregon may mean good news for reopening Sisters schools. T h e O r e g o n H e a l t h Authority reported an update to the media on Thursday, August 27 regarding the latest metrics related to the reopening of schools in Oregon. OHA Director Patrick Allen led the telecon- ference with input offered also by Dr. Dean Sidelinger, an Oregon State Health Officer. Much of the news indi- cated that cases of COVID- 19 are slowing in most of the state, including in Deschutes Inside... County. The measurement most important to schools reopen- ing is the number of cases per 100,000 people. A ratio of 30 cases per 100,000 allows grades K-3 students to be considered for in-person school, while the standards for grades 4-12 is 10 per 100,000. More specifically, accord- ing to the Oregon Department of Education website, the metrics state that for schools to reopen the case rate for the county where the school is located must hold over a seven-day span for three con- secutive weeks. The test pos- itivity rate in the county also See SCHOOL on page 12 The three Deschutes County Sheriff 9s Office (DCSO) deputies who will be serving full-time within the city of Sisters start- ing September 12, were announced last week. Sisters City Councilors had ear- lier had the opportunity to interview candidates for the positions. The full-time permanent lieutenant will be announced later this fall. Until that time, Lt. William Bailey is acting as the interim supervisor. All three deputies are experienced members of the DCSO. Deputy Bryan Morris, a resident of Sisters Country, will have a much shorter commute to work, as his PHOTO PROVIDED Lt. William Bailey and Deputy Bryan Morris were on foot patrol in Sisters last week. Such patrols are going to be a regular part of the duties of the deputies who are assigned here under the revised City of Sisters/DCSO law enforcement contract. previous assignment was as the resource officer at La Pine High School. He has been assigned to the Sisters station since June 1. Bailey and Morris have conducted See DEPUTIES on page 18 Letters/Weather ............... 2 Sisters Naturalist .............. 6 Announcements ...............10 In the Pines......................14 Classifieds .................. 19-21 Meetings .......................... 3 Obituaries .....................8-9 Entertainment ................. 11 Crossword .......................18 Real Estate .................21-24