The Nugget Vol. XLVII No. 20
POSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Where and how will Sisters grow?
Roundabout takes shape...
Construction crews are making swift progress on the Highway 20/Locust Street Roundabout.
PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15
PHOTO BY CODY RHEAULT
The City of Sisters has kicked off a public process to help determine where the city will grow in the next 20 years. City of Sisters staff is working up a Sisters Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) Amendment proposal. A UGB is a line drawn on landuse planning maps to designate the area within which a city expects to grow over a 20-year period. The purpose of UGBs in Oregon is to protect the state’s farm and forest lands from the pressures of urbanization and sprawl — the UGB is where the city ends and the farms and forests begin. Within a city’s UGB, growth can occur in the form of new houses, industrial See GROW on page 21
RV park zone change back before planners
High Desert Heroines: Toni Foster
Proposed code changes to facilitate a boutique RV park at the former site of the Conklin Guest House on the corner of Barclay Drive and Camp Polk Road/Locust Street are back before the Sisters Planning Commission on Thursday, May 16. The Planning Commission will carry on with a continued public hearing, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Sisters
The words people use to describe Toni Berke Foster paint a picture of a formidable woman: words like tough, skillful, committed, honest, focused, relentless, taskmaster, and “passionate maniac.” Foster was a teacher at tiny Black Butte School in Camp Sherman for 28 years serving as educator, bus driver, custodian, and superintendent. Her other identities included being a deeply committed defender of the Metolius Basin. She drove the Forest Service to unprecedented levels of partnership and collaboration with her focus on the Metolius Wild and Scenic River, and was the force behind creating the Metolius Conservation Area. In her spare time, she worked as a local volunteer firefighter, EMT, and on the Jefferson County Planning Commission. If there was something going on in the Metolius Basin, she was in the middle of it. Her friend Kent Gill
City Hall, 520 E. Cascade Ave. The changes, which would allow an RV park as a use in the Sun Ranch Tourist Commercial zone, would have to be in place before a formal plan for the site can be filed. The property developers propose a “boutique, higher-end RV Park that See RV PARK on page 20
Girls track and field district champs By Charlie Kanzig Correspondent
A well-balanced day on the track, coupled with bright spots in the field, earned the Outlaw girls’ team its second consecutive 3A Special District 4 title after two days of action at Reed Stadium May 9-10.
Inside...
Sisters amassed 148 points to easily outdistance second place Siuslaw (109) in the team race. La Pine finished third (97), followed by Creswell (90), Elmira (66), Glide (56), Pleasant Hill (55), and Sutherlin (29). See CHAMPS on page 6
Letters/Weather ............... 2 Meetings .......................... 3
By Maret Pajutee Correspondent
Announcements...............10 Entertainment ................. 11
PHOTO PROVIDED
The late Toni Foster with students at Black Butte School. Foster was a passionate teacher of generations of students. said “She was the identity of the community for many years, everybody knew her.” A native Oregonian, born and raised in Lake Oswego, Toni was from an old Oregon family. Her love for rivers came from growing up along the Willamette and she excelled in sports including being a water-skiing champion. Educated as a teacher, she moved to Camp Sherman to teach in 1978 and married
Mark Foster in 1987. Toni ruled over the tworoom school house. Her students uniformly describe her as the hardest teacher they ever had. She did not coddle students. Her tough-love mentality motivated kids to find their potential, understanding they were directly responsible for their own lives and never a victim.
Life Is A Game .................. 17 Sudoku ........................... 20
Crossword .......................21 Classifieds................. 22-23
See FOSTER on page 4