The Nugget Newspaper // Vol. XLV No. 15 // 2022-04-13

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The Nugget Vol. XLV No. 15

POSTAL CUSTOMER

News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

www.NuggetNews.com

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Youth plant trees in Sisters Country By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief

The wind was whipping off the freshly snow-clad Three Sisters, and the terrain was rocky and uneven, choked with fallen trees that have come down in the wake of the 2012 Pole Creek Fire. A small crew of tree planters strode across the rough country, shovel in hand and bags full of ponderosa pine seedlings on their hips. Mason and Ethan Gardner, both 17, and 16-year-old Kodee Sweat were in their second week of a planting project conducted under the auspices of the Sisters Ranger District. On Thursday, April 7, they had been working in balmy 70-degree conditions in the Metolius Basin. On Friday, they were on the wind-swept ridgelines south of Sisters and west of Three Creek Road, with temperatures in the low 40s. Working in less-than-optimal conditions was part of the gig for the crew from Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council’s (COIC) Youth Compass program. Matt Mahoney, a COIC youth employment counselor,

Schmidt seeks to be County Commissioner By Bill Bartlett Correspondent

Morgan Schmidt has spent the past 15 years in nonelected public service. That changed last September when she chose to take her advocacy to the voters by filing to run for Position 3 on the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners, a seat now held by Republican Patty Adair who has filed for reelection. Schmidt, who just ended her time as a pastor with the First Presbyterian Church of Bend to concentrate on her campaign, is 36 and a Democrat. She was motivated to run for office after watching a County Commission meeting last May where Adair proposed an ordinance that Schmidt interpreted as

Inside...

diploma. Josh Lagalo, youth employment and training manager, explained the program for The Nugget: See TREES on page 30

See COLD CASE on page 8

PHOTO BY CODY RHEAULT

stipulating the county would not enforce capacity limits for churches for public health reasons. “I couldn’t believe our elected officials would be working against the good of the people,” Schmidt said at the time. Schmidt has expressed further disappointment in positions Adair took with respect to COVID19 response. As the pandemic intensified, Schmidt launched a Facebook page — Pandemic Partners — that aimed to connect people in the community who needed help with those who could provide it. Since then she also has become a vocal advocate for Bend’s homeless population, and helped coordinate See SCHMIDT on page 25

best employee they can be — that’s the goal,” Mahoney said. “For this project, it’s more about being resilient.” The teenagers were working for $14 an hour — and credit toward a high school

Sisters woman helps resolve cold case Kylie Tigard of Sisters plans to bury her cousin Tammy on what would have been her birthday, April 18. The ceremony, which will be supported by the Patriot Guard of Oregon and other veterans groups, will bring “sadness and a sense of closure” to a long and tragic story that began in 1980, when Tamara (Tammy) Tigard went missing at the age of 20 from her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. She disappeared with no trace, leaving her family with only questions and loss. Her immediate family has since passed on. What would later be determined to be Tigard’s body was found on April 18, 1980, on what would have been her 21st birthday on an Oklahoma County,

Kodee Sweat was part of a COIC work crew out planting ponderosa seedlings south of Sisters last week. was out supervising the crew. He explained that the program builds job skills and work ethic, showing up on time and doing what’s asked of them. “To teach them to be the

PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15

New path installed on Pine Street By Sue Stafford Correspondent

The installation of an eight-foot-wide multi-use path along the west side of North Pine Street, from West Main Avenue all the way north to the City limits, is currently underway. The project is being done

by Odyssey Contracting LLC with a price tag of $170,247.50. A projected completion date is June 30. The project is funded by a $100,000 grant from Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and money from systems development charges (SDCs).

This project is part of the 2021 Transportation System Plan (TSP) to continue the existing eight-foot concrete sidewalk that runs in front of the Sisters Ranger District office a few more blocks and then become a winding eight-foot-wide asphalt See PATH on page 20

PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT

A concrete crew laid a winding path along Pine Street earlier this month.

Letters/Weather ............... 2 Announcements...............12 Of a Certain Age ...............14 Fun & Games ................... 24 Classifieds..................27-29 Meetings .......................... 3 Entertainment .................13 At Your Service............ 15-18 Crossword ...................... 26 Real Estate ................ 29-32


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