The Nugget
Vol. XLV No. 5
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, February 2, 2022
Editor in Chief
Sisters
Trails
Alliance
welcomes
new board
members
Sheriff Shane Nelson is
satisfied with the way the
nearly two-year-old revised
law enforcement with the City
of Sisters is going.
“I feel like we’ve got
excellent coverage,” he told
The Nugget. “And, most
important thing about it is
having the relationship with
the community.”
The City of Sisters and the
Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Office (DCSO) agreed to a
$711,200 annual contract in
March of 2020. The contract
allows for a DCSO lieutenant
The Sisters Trails Alliance
(STA) welcomed Kathy
Campbell and David Duehren
to the board of directors
at their January meeting.
Campbell and Duehren, both
Sisters residents, bring a
wealth of nonprofit expertise
to their new roles.
Campbell has a long-
standing interest in preserv-
ing recreational opportunities
with an environmentally con-
scious approach. She and her
late husband, Steve Ponder,
had supported STA in vari-
ous ways, and Campbell was
Law
enforcement
contract
seen as
success
Winter coat...
By Jim Cornelius
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
Icy fog creeps into the bones, but it makes for a spectacular landscape, including this
scene in Indian Ford Meadow. Sisters enjoyed a couple of icy mornings last week.
See SUCCESS on page 21
See STA on page 14
New SES building
project on track
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
Ground will not likely
be broken for the new
Sisters Elementary School
until early spring, but
Superintendent Curt Scholl
confirmed that the project is
moving forward as expected.
“Yes, the building sched-
ule is ambitious, but we are
sticking with the plan to
open in the fall of 2023 at
the new site,” he said.
The general plans for
the K-5 building are largely
complete and Scholl hopes
to be able to share some
drawings and designs with
the public in the upcoming
weeks.
“We are hoping that when
we get what are called the
‘50 percent designs’ done
we will be able to make
them available for everyone
to see,” he said.
Scholl had some good
financial news about the
money generated by the
bond levy. Thanks to the
sale of bonds at a premium,
Inside...
the amount available to the
district grew from the origi-
nal $33.8 million to $39.2
million.
“So even though we
didn’t get a state grant that
we applied for, to go toward
the building, the extra $5
million-plus covers what we
were hoping to get from the
grant,” said Scholl.
The architecture firm for
the project, BLRB, which has
offices in Tacoma, Spokane,
Portland, and Bend has built
schools in Gresham, Cottage
Grove, and the Portland
area, as well as North Star
Elementary School in Bend.
When asked about any
concerns regarding the sup-
ply chain or labor shortages,
Scholl indicated that short-
age of building materials has
improved and that builders
are confident they will have
the personnel to get things
done.
Scholl did concede that
money concerns can always
pop up and inflation is
Water problems? What water problems?
By Bill Bartlett
Correspondent
The Nugget9s Sue Stafford
is doing extensive reporting
on the effect of long-term
drought in Sisters Country,
and specifically on the
impact to homeowners with
water wells running dry. As
she has reported, residents
within the city limits are
served municipally. The City
is projecting more than ade-
quate capacity to meet grow-
ing demand with no foresee-
able shortages.
Outside the City’s bound-
ary it’s an entirely different
story, since property owners
must drill their own well if
they are not part of a com-
munity system provided by
private water companies,
like Avion Water Co., for
example, who serves Squaw
Creek Canyon Estates.
Depending on location,
private wells are plumbed as
little as 300 feet in depth or
up to 800 feet in the vicin-
ity of Mountain View Road
to reach water. The cost of
a 750-foot well is between
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
See ELEMENTARY on page 14
See WATER on page 22
Well drilling is a demanding job.
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Obituaries ........................ 4 Entertainment ................. 11 Crossword .......................18 Real Estate ................ 22-24
Meetings .......................... 3 Announcements ...............10 Fun & Games ....................16 Classifieds .................. 19-21 Sisters Naturalist ............ 23