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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 2021)
4 Wednesday, August 11, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Crime historian conducts dig for D.B. Cooper case evidence VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) 4 Nearly 50 years after skyjacker D.B. Cooper van- ished out the back of a Boeing 727 into freezing Northwest rain 4 wearing a business suit, a parachute, and a pack with $200,000 in cash 4 a crime historian is conduct- ing a dig on the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, in search of evidence. KOIN reports that Eric Ulis, a self-described expert on the infamous D.B. Cooper case, began a two-day dig on Friday. Ulis and four volun- teers are searching for evi- dence about 10 to 15 yards away from where a boy found $6,000 of Cooper9s ransom money in 1980. Ulis said his theory is that Cooper buried the parachutes, an attaché case and the money at the same time, but dug smaller holes instead of one large one. The case of Cooper has become infamous, not only in the Pacific Northwest but also in the country. The FBI Seattle field office called the investigation one of the lon- gest and most exhaustive in the agency9s history. On November 24, 1971, the night before Thanksgiving, a man described as being in his mid-40s with dark sun- glasses and an olive com- plexion boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea- Tac). He bought his $20 ticket under the name <Dan Cooper,99 but an early wire- service report misidentified him as <D.B. Cooper,99 and the name stuck. Sitting in the rear of the plane, he handed a note to a flight attendant after takeoff. <Miss, I have a bomb and would like you to sit by me,99 it said. The man demanded $200,000 in cash plus four parachutes. He received them at Sea-Tac, where he released the 36 passengers and two of the flight atten- dants. The plane took off again at his direction, heading slowly to Reno, Nevada, at the low height of 10,000 feet. Somewhere, apparently over southwestern Washington, Cooper lowered the aircraft9s rear stairs and jumped. He was never found. But a boy digging on a Columbia River beach in 1980 discov- ered three bundles of weath- ered $20 bills 4 nearly $6,000 in all. It was Cooper9s cash, according to the serial numbers. Over the years, the FBI and amateur sleuths have examined innumerable theo- ries about Cooper9s identity and fate, from accounts of unexplained wealth to pur- ported discoveries of his para- chute to potential matches of the agency9s composite sketch of the suspect. In July 2016, the FBI announced it was no longer investigating the case. Editor9s note: In 2011, Marla Cooper, who grew up in the Brooks-Scanlon log- ging camp in the early 1970s, visited town. She had par- ticipated in an ABC News interview in which she pos- ited the theory that her uncle Lynn Doyle Cooper of Sisters was the man known as D.B. Cooper. The interview and Cooper9s visit sparked a bit of Coopermania in Sisters. Read the story at bit.ly/ NuggetCooperCase. The Law Offi ce of JOHN H. MYERS, LLC — Downtown Sisters — In the PINES By T. Lee Brown Where is Sisters Country? Call it <the Sisters area= or go for <Sisters Country,= a successful marketing tag- line rolled out by the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce a while back. I like calling it Sisters Country. Our home. Where we live and work and play. Where the heck is it, exactly? Bill Bartlett mentioned in last week9s issue of The Nugget that it might be defined by the borders of Sisters School District. I respectfully disagree. Wherever The Nugget covers news and community? That9s Sisters Country, and it most definitely includes Camp Sherman, Suttle Lake, and environs. The term Sisters Country is big enough to encompass our neighbors in Jefferson County, zip code 97730, and Black Butte School District. Speaking of boundaries: Did you know that Sisters Parks & Recreation District (SPRD) and Sisters School District (SSD) do not share the same borders? Some local parents might not real- ize that, until they go in to sign up for SPRD camps 4 only to discover that their family9s address is con- sidered part of Redmond9s parks and rec. Even if you9re an active part of the Sisters community and your kids attend school here, you might not fall under SPRD9s rubric. Out-of-district people can still participate; it costs more. I asked Jennifer Holland, SPRD9s executive director, what9s up with that. <This is a very common question,= she assured me. <Sisters Park & Recreation District is called a 8special district.9 We have our own district lines that, while are similar to SSD, are not the same.= Apparently it9s often seen in special districts, including the one Holland worked for before moving to Sisters (Willamalane over in Springfield). SPRD9s bound- aries were determined back in 1998, when the special district formation was on the ballot for voters to approve. <Many factors go into NuggetNews.com is your online source for Breaking News Classifieds | Weather Get health insurance.. health insurance open enrollment is now! Individual & Family Health Plans Jonie Peck — Owner & Agent 503-807-2148 in Sisters sapphiremoonhealthinsurance.com SAPPHIRE MOON HEALTH INSURANCE THANK YOU, SISTERS COMMUNITY… Now Hiring All Positions! WILLS & TRUSTS Make it easy for you and your loved ones. Call for a free 30-minute consultation. Protect what you’ve worked for. 541-588-2414 204 W. Adams Ave., Ste 203 www.centraloregonattorney.com deciding the district bound- aries including needs for services and who is likely to support the measure,= Holland said. <As you know, Central Oregon has changed a lot in the last 20-plus years, so what was true then may not be true today.= To change district lines, SPRD would need to float a ballot measure to <annex= specific areas. Those specific areas would then be subject to SPRD-supporting prop- erty taxes. <There have been conversations with myself and the board on the poten- tial need for this, as there are pocket neighborhoods who are in the SSD bound- aries but not ours,= Holland explained. <Future steps remain to be seen,= she said. <However, I do believe it will be a topic during our next strategic planning process.= The board of SPRD cannot, alas, tell us where exactly Sisters Country is. Maybe we should put that question on the ballot, too. But who would get to vote on it? Only the residents of 97759? Or the wider swath of Sisters Country? That was a joke, folks. That9s not a ballotable issue. So I9ll just keep using the term in an inclusive and vague kinda way. Shout-out to my friends in 97730! www.skiinn.com …For your support and patience as we add staff and refi ne our service during the post-COVID tourist season. — The Ski Inn Team