The Betty Gray Gallery at the Lodge presents an exhibit of quilts and whimsical watercolors through the first of the new year
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Nature Center................ 8 Love Wine Inc.............. 10 Calendar...................... 13 Women’s Club.............. 17
SROA News............. 22-23 Public Safety................ 30 Classified..................... 37 Commentary................ 39
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean there’s not fun to be had at SHARC. See what’s being offered throughout the season
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S U N R I V E R
S C E N E A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSOCIATION
DECEMBER • 2012
volume xxxVIII • Number 12
SROA maintenance fees to increase 5 percent in 2013 On Nov. 17, the Sunriver Owners Association Board of Directors approved a 5 percent increase in members’ maintenance fees. The 5 percent increase is $4.90 per month bumping the monthly maintenance fee to $103 per month or $1,236 per year. The new fee takes effect Jan. 1, 2013. Even with the fee increase, Sunriver remains the lowest cost large homeowner community in the Central Oregon area. Monthly maintenance fees in Broken Top, the next comparably priced association, are $115 not including recreation access fees. Eagle Crest currently charges its members $147 per month plus recreation access fees. Brasada Ranch’s maintenance fees are $231 monthly, Crosswater $303 and Black Butte Ranch $374. The SROA board had lengthy discussions about raising the monthly maintenance fee 6 percent, the maximum allowed without a vote of the owners, however in the end, opted for less. The 5 percent vs. 6 percent debate “I would support a 6 percent increase because we’ve told owners we intended to go 6 percent for a number of years,” said director David Jendro at the board’s Nov. 16 work session. “Six percent amounts to $50,000 in revenue… we can use it to research new cost and fee structures for SHARC. I don’t think $12 a year — the difference between a 5 or 6 percent increase — is giving owners anything.” “I agree the $12 difference isn’t significant,” said Bob Wrightson, SROA treasurer. “It’s a feel good gesture. In my mind, the loss of 1 percent and the compounding interest on the $50,000 isn’t that significant to our long term budgets.” Director Patti Klascius recalled the difficulties SROA encountered the last time it reduced maintenance fees. In 2003, the year the Sunriver Service Turn to Fees, page 3 SUNRIVER SCENE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSN. VOLUME XXXVIII • NUMBER 12 P.O. BOX 3278 SUNRIVER, OR 97707
Happy Holidays from SROA!
Photographer Mike Jensen captured this time lapse image of the stars and holiday lights at Sunriver Resort.
New Generations recovering from financial crisis
Mary Catherine McMurtry passes Sunriver lost one of its best when Mary Catherine McMurtry passed in November at age 79. During her 17year residency in Sunriver she convinced owners to pull weeds, take organized hikes, restore environmental damage and helped launch a campaign to rebuild Sunriver. There are two events planned to celebrate Mary Catherine Murtry’s life and contributions to Sunriver. A Celebration of Life will be held Wednesday, Dec. 19, 3 p.m. at SHARC, and the Sunriver Nature Center will remember her during its Dec. 28 Nature & the Performing Arts event in the Pozzi Center. Mary Catherine was born in Woodland, Calif., in 1933. She attended Colusa High School and San Jose State where she earned a teaching credential and met her husband, Jim. She taught 5th grade in West Sacramento schools while Jim was a graduate student at the University of California, Davis. The couple moved to Riverside, Calif., where Mary Catherine taught advance placement courses at Moreno
Valley High School while Jim was a member of the faculty at UC Riverside where he researched biological pest controls. Mary Catherine and Jim had two children, Pat, who was born in 1959 and lives in Salt Lake City, and Lynn, who was born in 1960 and resides in
From Sunriver Scene news sources Halloween was scary at New Generations Early Childhood Development Center in the Sunriver Business Park. As parents dropped off their children for what they thought was just another day of childcare and education, they were told of the center’s closure effective Nov. 2. Teachers were laid off, donors informed and the state notified of the center’s immediate closure. Donations and tuition the nonprofit organization relied on had been stretched to the breaking point. New Generations board members, comprised of Sunriver business owners and long-time residents, worked to keep the center open with grants, fundraisers and, at times, donations from their own pockets. After long deliberations, they saw no way to continue. But in the ensuing days a flood of support from parents, grandparents and local businesses affected by the center’s closure
Turn to McMurtry, page 6
Turn to Crisis, page 3
Susan berger photo
Mary Catherine McMurtry was crowned the War on Weeds queen in 2006.
PRSRT STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID BEND, OR PERMIT NO. 213