Wednesday, December 30, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
2020 YEAR IN REVIEW
The proposed development
includes up to 28,000 square
feet of commercial build-
ing area, up to 28,000 square
feet of ground-floor multi-
family building area, a pub-
lic street, and associated site
improvements.
Chamber, City
negotiate future
marketing funding
PHOTO BY CODY RHEAULT
A bonfire lit up the slopes during Hoodoo’s annual celebration of the spirit
of winter.
Winter Carnival
celebrates season
Hoodoo9s premiere annual
event kicked off on Saturday,
February 8, amid winter9s fury,
but that didn9t deter crowds.
Festivities began at 9 a.m.
where families participated in
a number of activities ranging
from face-painting, pie-eating
contests, axe throwing, tub-
ing, and the famous Dummy
Downhill contest.
For those seeking the plea-
sures of the mountain, skiers
and boarders enjoyed a fresh
powder day after the previ-
ous night9s and early morning
snowfall.
Jean Wells Keenan
honored with award
Jean Wells Keenan is
renowned in Sisters as an art-
ist, a quilter, an entrepreneur
and savvy businesswoman 4
and the founder of the Sisters
Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS).
At heart, she is a teacher and
mentor, wife, mother and
grandmother. Last Wednesday
night, she added the title
Recipient of the Eighth Annual
Ben Westlund Memorial
Award.
Jean believes that 8If you
can dream it, you can do it.9
Jean9s leadership has inspired
the SOQS to expand its vision
from a local event to an inter-
national attraction. An author
of 30 books, Jean is widely
recognized in this country and
around the world.
Shooting is major
forest recreation
activity
Recreational target shoot-
ing is an increasingly popu-
lar activity on the Deschutes
National Forest. That popular-
ity has an impact on local resi-
dents who are not happy hear-
ing frequent gunfire.
Shooting is allowed across
the Sisters Ranger District,
except within 150 yards of
residences or developed camp-
grounds and across roads. The
Forest Service does not main-
tain shooting ranges or even
recommend specific shooting
areas 4 but it has identified
numerous areas as suitable for
safe, responsible shooting.
A good backstop is the top
criteria for a safe shooting
environment, District Ranger
Ian Reid told The Nugget.
New Sisters
development can
move forward
The road is cleared for
development of a six-acre
parcel of land located behind
Bi-Mart at the west end of
Sisters, though such devel-
opment has raised concerns
among local residents about
the impact on Sisters9 character
and quality of life.
With a unanimous vote of
5-0 following a public hear-
ing last Thursday, February
20, the Sisters Planning
Commission approved the
5.911-acre Master Planned
Development (MPD) for the
proposed Threewind project.
Two commissioners were not
in attendance.
City of Sisters and Sisters
Area Chamber of Commerce
are plotting a course into the
future for marketing Sisters as
a tourist destination.
The contract between the
City and the Chamber is expir-
ing June 30, 2020. Negotiations
have begun to craft a new visi-
tor information and marketing
contract with the Chamber
serving as the destination mar-
keting organization (DMO)
and Sisters Country Visitors
Bureau.
Limited wilderness
entry starts this
spring
Beginning this May, the
Deschutes and Willamette
national forests will imple-
ment the limited-entry permit
system for day and overnight
use in the Mt. Jefferson, Mt.
Washington, and Three Sisters
wildernesses. Permits will be
available at www.Recreation.
gov beginning April 7.
Outlaws
swimmer is
state champion
Senior Lydia Bartlett
capped a stellar high school
career in her final event at the
OSAA 4A/3A/2A/1A state
swimming championships in
record-breaking fashion.
Bartlett led wire-to-wire
in the 500-yard freestyle and
set a new 4A/3A/2A/1A state
meet record in the process with
a time of 4:58.58, breaking
the previous record of 4:59.12
set in 2015 by Lucie Davis of
Sweet Home.
Making the effort even
more impressive is that Bartlett
was never challenged and won
by nearly 22 seconds.
Attendance in focus
for Sisters students
Sisters School District is
implementing an initiative
called <Strive for 95= this year
to encourage students to have
no more than two absences a
quarter, which equates to eight
total in a school year to achieve
a 95 percent attendance rate.
Work started on the goal
from the beginning of the
school year, with a number of
incentives and initiatives put in
place to help encourage good
attendance and draw attention
to its importance.
Local filmmakers
win movie awards
In 2019 Nathan and Emily
Woodworth, both award-
winning actors and writers,
finished crafting a short film
that honored absurd ideas
and themes that were hugely
influenced by Monty Python.
The brother-sister team from
Sisters recently won three
awards for their surreal com-
edy, <The Purse: A Dream In
Two Acts,= from Maverick
Movie Awards, one of the most
widely respected film competi-
tions in the world.
MARCH
Contract will
give Sisters
more deputies
More deputies will patrol
Sisters under a contract that is
currently awaiting approval by
Sisters City Council.
In a workshop on February
26, council members weighed
two contract options 4 one
that would provide for a dedi-
cated Sisters lieutenant and
four deputies and one that
would provide for a lieutenant
and three deputies. The consen-
sus was to go with the three-
deputy option for an annual
contract cost of $771,200. The
current contract costs the City
$661,000. Going with four
deputies would cost $852,300.
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