The Nugget Vol. XLVII No. 35
POSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Three-car crash closed Highway 126 By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief
For the second time in the space of a week, a wreck closed a major highway into Sisters from the east. A three-car pile-up on Highway 126, at the intersection with Camp Polk Road near Aspen Lakes, blocked traffic for a time in the late afternoon of Friday, August 23. Cloverdale Fire District personnel responded, along with an ambulance crew from Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District. According to Captain Tr a v i s B o o t e s o f t h e Cloverdale District, one woman was transported to the hospital complaining of neck and back pain. It appears that her vehicle was rear-ended as traffic was stopped for a vehicle turning onto Camp Polk from the highway. “She got hit from the rear pretty hard,” Bootes reported. Cloverdale firefighters cut the car — a Toyota RAV4 — open to extract the driver from the top so that they could remove her without twisting her, Bootes said. The RAV4 driver was the only one transported to the hospital in the incident.
Editor in Chief
Sheriff Shane Nelson announced last week that Captain Paul Garrison had been named Undersheriff in the midst of an election that pits two current Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office personnel against each other. In a message posted to Facebook, Sheriff Nelson said, “The Deschutes County Sheriff ’s Office has two internal candidates for the Office of Sheriff, Captain William Bailey and Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp. Like many political matters, this dynamic can be divisive for our Office and employees. When Captain Bailey
Inside...
Trapped in a ‘blind shaft’ in Dallas Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief
PHOTO BY ERIK DOLSON
Cloverdale firefighters cut a driver out of a wrecked Toyota RAV4 on Highway 126 on Friday, August 23.
Garrison named Undersheriff By Jim Cornelius
PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15
See TRAPPED on page 17
High Desert Heroines:
announced his candidacy, I endorsed him. Once Sergeant Vander Kamp announced, I delegated all authority to decide election-related issues related to the sheriff’s election to Captain Paul Garrison. Captain Garrison has remained neutral throughout the process. We also engaged the Deschutes County Legal Department and the Deschutes County Clerk to advise us on election-related issues as we moved forward in this election year.” The position of Undersheriff has not been part of the DCSO organizational chart since 2007. Larry See GARRISON on page 7
Letters/Weather................ 2 Meetings........................... 3
Jeri Fouts and her son Ryan were on the 24th floor of the Westin Downtown Hotel in Dallas, Texas, last Friday, August 23, waiting for an elevator to take them down to a birthday dinner with a family friend. They waited. And waited. “We almost considered walking down because we were going to miss the dinner,” Jeri recalled. Finally, an elevator pinged, and a door opened onto an express elevator filled with football players from the Los Angeles Chargers. Jeri and Ryan stepped into the elevator car — and into a long, harrowing ordeal. The Fouts were in Dallas for a preseason game. Jeri’s husband Dan Fouts is a sports broadcaster — and a Hall of Fame Chargers and
Claire McGill Luce Maret Pajutee Correspondent
It is hard to imagine what Sisters and Burns, Oregon, Time Magazine, China, a shootout at the Tex Saloon in 1894, a gold rush at Windy Point, and actor William Hurt might have in common. The answer is that they all have ties to Claire McGill Luce, a “child of the west,” a woman who worked around the world, but never forgot her roots in the high desert of Harney County. She is responsible for a treasure trove of western history that holds almost forgotten tales and secrets of the past, including stories tied to Sisters’ history
Announcements................. 8 Neighbors.......................... 9
with larger-than-life characters who roamed the desert between Sisters and Burns in the early days of the last century. Claire McGill was born in Andrews, Oregon, in 1923, a town in a wild, sagecovered stretch of the world between Steens Mountain and the Alvord Desert. Her mother moved her east after her parents divorced, but she returned to the high desert at the age of 12 to live with her grandfather and help out on his cattle ranch, hunting stranded cattle in the snow, and cooking for twenty ranch hands. A bright spirit, she inexplicably rose from the isolation of a one-room school house in the desert to
Entertainment..................16 Roundabout Sisters..........18
Claire McGill Luce.
PHOTO PROVIDED
living with a teacher in New York, getting a crash course in arts and culture, and finishing high school a very good student. A photo of her at 15 shows a sweet smiling face with curly hair and a direct gaze. As World War II depleted the male workforce, she became a financial See HEROINES on page 4
Crossword . ..................... 20 Classifieds...................21-23