Two years later, Sisters jerky stand owner fights city citations in court

A former business owner in Sisters was in court on Thursday, two years after his roadside stand was taken down. Ky Karnecki owned Wild Mountain, a produce and Jerky stand on Cascade in downtown Sisters.

Karnecki said he moved to Sisters like many do, to retire. His plan was to open a produce stand and eventually hire others to run it. He’s a stone carver and was looking forward to focusing on his art.

In 2011, he applied for a temporary use permit to get his business up and running. He says his TUP was fashioned after another local produce-stand business, Richard’s Produce.

“I featured elk, range game jerky, buffalo, venison,” Karnecki said Thursday.

During his trial, Karnecki said the code written in his initial permit required him to build a permanent structure. He sold his travel trailer for $4,000 and borrowed the rest from his mother. It cost a total of $10,000.

“I had morels and chanterelle (mushrooms) that I harvested myself from the mountains surrounding Sisters,” Karnecki said.

His permit lasted for 180 days. He applied for another in 2012. He says the second permit had some unwelcome changes. He says the code requiring a permanent structure changed to one that require a removable stand.

Too late for him, he had already spent thousands on the one there. He did not move it in 2012. In 2013, he applied again and again was asked to move his permanent stand. When he did not move it, the city began to fine him a $500 citation a day, now totaling $28,500, sSomething, Karnecki said Richard’s Produce did not have to do.

Today, Karnecki said he is homeless and trying to sell what he can from the back of his truck, trying to make ends meet. He’s hoping the fines will be waived as a result of Thursday’s trial.

He also has a 2-year-old federal lawsuit against the city, seeking $2.5 million. The jerky stand was dismantled days after the suit was filed, in December 2013.

He said he still feels he was discriminated against.

“I learned my lesson about doing business in the city of Sisters,” Karnecki said.

City officials declined to comment about the matter