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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

School site hit by thieves
By Jim Cornelius

Work on the new Sisters High School is on schedule for a September opening. People should stay away from the site and report any suspicious activity. Photo by Bruce Merrell

Sometime Friday night, May 16, thieves swept in and stole large numbers of hand tools stored in gang boxes at the site of the new Sisters High School.

"They came in between the hours of about 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. (Saturday) and cut them all open and stole the subcontractors' hand tools," said project superintendent Rob Ring.

There was no damage to the building.

Ring is appealing for help from the Sisters community to keep the site secure as construction crews finish their work over the summer.

"We kind of need some community effort to watch over the school," Ring said.

He urged anyone who sees activity on the site after 10 p.m. to call the sheriff's office.

Ring also noted that people from the school district -- naturally curious to see the progress on the building -- have been going out to the site.

Construction crews have chased kids out of the building. They don't belong there and they'll be treated as trespassers.

"If you're found on the property, they're going to prosecute you for trespassing," Ring said.

The stolen tools included equipment such as cordless drills and other power tools. The thieves were thorough and the theft left many people unable to do their work.

"It's about a two-day delay in schedule just to get re-tooled up," Ring said.

Fortunately, crews are progressing swiftly on the 152,000-square-foot structure.

The school district expects to move into the new building at the start of the school year in September.

A mild winter and few hitches in the schedule have enabled the construction team to ramp up the schedule from the originally projected January move-in date.

Crews are already installing ceiling tiles and floor coverings in some sections of the building.

The current high school, which covers 96,300 square feet, will be converted into a middle school and the district will abandon the downtown middle school site.

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