News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Landscape photographer Gary Albertson continues his photographic work even though he has faced years of challenges with deteriorating sight. Albertson has pigment dispersion glaucoma, which occurs when pigment cells in the eye slough off from the back of the iris and float around in the aqueous humor. Gary ran his Sisters Gallery and Frame shop in Sisters for eight years. He has lived in Camp Sherman for 20 years and photographs the Metolius River and several of the local... Full story
Camp Sherman has a population of 250 residents and until recently had a resident Deputy Sheriff, Dave Blann. With his recent passing, local residents have worried about local police coverage. Many people in Camp Sherman felt the community was safe because of Blann, whether he was actually there physically or not. “I was unaware that Dave only worked the area part of the time — one thought he was around full-time,” said Peggy Anderson. Camp Sherman is in Jefferson Cou... Full story
Bingo players enjoyed an evening at the restored Community Hall. photo by Conrad Weiler The refurbished Camp Sherman Community Hall, closed for the past four months, hosted a chili feed benefit on Sunday evening for local boys Jarett Hancock and Chad Horning. The two Sisters High School students will participate in the Oregon People to People Student Ambassador program in Europe this summer (see The Nugget, January 5). "They did it right," said local resident Jack Walker, commenting on the hall. Gone are the harsh fluorescent... Full story
Snowshoers rest during a weekend excursion. photo by Conrad Weiler Recent snows have encouraged more snowshoers to get out to local parks. Last week a group of 10 toured the new snowshoe trails at Virginia Meissner Sno Park in Bend, located off Century Drive. Led by Mark Murzin, the snowshoers trekked 5.5 miles in four plus hours, stopping at the Meissner shelter for lunch. Weather was overcast with sun breaking through in the afternoon. One of the highlights of the trip was Kim Boddie, former Forest Service worker, locating... Full story
This roundhouse is a relic of Sisters' logging days. photo by John Hayes The historic Sisters roundhouse still stands across from the western end of Trinity Way as a reminder of earlier logging days. Built in 1947, the structure served for about a decade for the storing and repairing of railroad equipment for Brooks-Scanlon logging operations in the area. Those operations reached as far as Fly Creek, east of Green Ridge in Jefferson County, through Sisters and connecting with the mill in Bend. Fred Gibson was construction... Full story
Work crews have restored the Camp Sherman Community Hall to all its rustic glory. photo courtesy of Bob Shaull Camp Sherman's grand old Community Hall is rounding back into shape and will be ready for business later this month. The historic building will have its official grand re-opening party on Saturday, January 22, with a community potluck dinner. "About 50 volunteers have donated over 1,500 hours of work at the hall over the last four months," said Bruce Shaull, Camp Sherman Community Association (CSCA) President. Many... Full story
Parker Bennett took sixth place. photo by Kris Kristovich Five local runners qualified for regional finals at the State Junior Olympics cross-country meet in Salem last month. Qualifying at Bush Park were: Parker Bennett, Emi Conrads, Courtney Johnson, Seth Schneider, and Benton Urquhart. All are from Sisters Middle School except Schneider, who attends Sonrise Christian School. This is a club sport and the youngsters practice after school with coach David Glick and volunteers Ron Ketchum and Kris Kristovich. "We run against... Full story
Benjamin and Nick Chappell are tops on their bikes. photo by Conrad Weiler The Chappell brothers, Benjamin and Nick, came away with Oregon State Motocross (MX) championships sponsored by Albany Supercross over Halloween weekend in Salem. Benjamin (number 111) competed in the peewee age 7-8 class championship and Nick (number 66) took the peewee age 3-6 class event. The brothers raced over three weekends at Albany, Madras and finally at Salem. "The two outdoor events in Albany and Madras had good outdoor weather," said their... Full story
Charlotte Nitcher finds inspiration for her art in nature and symbols. photo by Conrad Wieler Many Sisters area residents have met Charlotte Nitcher working behind the desk at the Sisters Library and many have enjoyed her holiday window paintings at the library. Most don't know the extent of her art works. Currently, Nitcher has several of her paintings displayed at the Sisters Library following their showing during the recent art stroll in town. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Charlotte later lived in Arkansas and Florida... Full story
Sue Fisher and Hal Salwasser at a forest health discussion. photo by Conrad Weiler Mike and Sue Fisher, part-time residents of Black Butte Ranch (BBR), have donated money to start a graduate fellowship program at Oregon State Univaersity to assess forest health research in and around residential areas like the Ranch. Hal Salwasser, Dean of Forestry at Oregon State University, discussed the program at a meeting at the Ranch last week. Since the initial money for starting the program came from BBR, "the program will start at... Full story
Scott Cotter of the Sisters Ranger District talks about salmon with Sisters Middle School students. The students gathered along the Metolius River for the Salmon Watch program. photo by Conrad Weiler Five classes of Central Oregon students learned about the life of the Metolius River last week through Salmon Watch, an Oregon Trout-sponsored educational program. The program raises awareness of fish life cycles, ecology and protection of river resources. Tom Tattum, educational coordinator for the conservation group Oregon Trou... Full story
Arranging dried flowers at Sisters in Sisters. photo by Conrad Weiler Sunny, warm weather greeted nearly 300 women last weekend for the seventh annual Sisters in Sisters event. Headquartered in a large tent at Main Avenue and Spruce Street, the women also used Sisters Elementary School for Saturday workshops or had options for walking along the Metolius River and touring the Old McKenzie Highway during their busy weekend. Incredible Edibles Catering served dinners under the tent on Friday and Saturday evenings and a wind-up... Full story
Hal Salwasser, OSU Dean of the College of Forestry, will speak on Thursday, October 14 at 3 p.m., at the Black Butte Ranch (BBR) Fire Hall. His talk will focus on forest health. The presentation is the first in this season's series of presentations by Friends of Black Butte Ranch. "Western forests with historic short-return-interval fire regimes, i.e., ponderosa pine and mixed conifer, are in very dangerous conditions regarding insects and uncharacteristic fires drought and bugs actually make the fire risk even... Full story
Lee and Marti Kufchak. photo by Conrad Weiler Co-chairs Marti and Lee Kufchak of the Black Butte Ranch Art Guild recently announced two local schools will each receive $1,000 awards from their group. Sisters Elementary School's award will be used for obtaining art supplies and supporting visiting artists to work with children's art projects at the school. Parent Lauren Stoery heads the parent group at the school. Sisters Middle School's award will support the Caldera visiting artists program, which provides art projects and... Full story
Tom Craven works with his fire-mapping software. photo by Conrad Weiler A new tool for fire lookouts has been undergoing testing this past summer at the Black Butte fire lookout tower. Located at 6,500 feet on top of Black Butte, the tower gives a panoramic 360-degree view of Central Oregon. For over 70 years lookout towers have used Osbourne fire-finders to report location data information about fires. Now, with the help of a computer and DragunPlot software, lookouts are integrating spotting with the Osbourne and more... Full story
Jack Baxter caught a picture of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960. photo by Jack Baxter Jack Baxter's May, 1960, picture of Dwight Eisenhower addressing the people of Pittsfield, Maine, may bring back memories of a gentler time for some mature readers. Baxter has his large, framed black-and-white picture displayed in the Sparks room at the Black Butte Ranch Lodge along with other prints. The photograph came about when Eisenhower cut short a Maine fishing trip and was headed to the airport for a flight back to Washington... Full story
Labor Day weekend will bring two major public functions to Camp Sherman. First, there's the long-established Saturday night, September 4, barbecue at the General Store hosted by Chef Roger White. The summer barbecues are traditionally held on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekend Saturdays, featuring burgers, chicken and wursts with all the trimmings. Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. on the outside patio lawn and beverages are available. Musical entertainment will be provided during the evening at the downtown... Full story
Jack Baxter with some of his "People and Places" photos. The photographer is displaying his work at the Lodge at Black Butte Ranch this summer. photo by Conrad Weiler Veteran photographer Jack Baxter has been displaying his worldwide photographs at Black Butte Ranch (BBR) this summer in a show titled "People and Places From Around The World." Each month (June-September) a new collection of Baxter's work is on display in the Sparks room at the BBR Lodge. Baxter, having traveled to over 40 countries in his 60-year photography... Full story
Marti Kufchak (left), Lyn Jacobs, Barbara Mowers and Ruth Ingham, members of Peggy's Pin Pals, display raffle quilt. photo by Conrad Weiler Peggy's Pin Pals, a quilting group at Black Butte Ranch (BBR), will raffle off a one-patch quilt. The raffle will be part of the Art at the Ranch activities on Labor Day weekend, September 3-4. This is the fourth year the group of 10 women has been together and the fourth quilt they have offered. Proceeds help support Sisters High School art students and Art Guild projects at the Ranch.... Full story
Gabe Reitmann hit the pool for his first big race last week. photo by Conrad Weiler The Sisters Athletic Club youth swim team dived into its first official meet on Tuesday, August 10. A large crowd of several hundred people enjoyed the two-hour swim meet at The Athletic Club of Bend. The event also included a hot dog, hamburger and salad lawn buffet. Competing with Bend and Sunriver in the three-way swim meet, five Sisters youngsters held their own with other Central Oregon swimmers. The five were Emily Christen, age seven, G... Full story
Doug Gyllenskog and his wife Sue read Doug's award plaque. photo by Conrad Weiler Camp Sherman residents gathered at the local Post Office Wednesday morning, August 11, to honor Doug Gyllenskog for his service at the transfer station (dump). Vaughn Willoughby presented a plaque to Gyllenskog for his dedicated community work. Gyllenskog has been in charge at the local site for the past several years having taken over from Vic Johnson, who was the first volunteer to run the successful operation. During the middle 1990s, the... Full story
Lauren Anderson. photo by Conrad Weiler Sisters High School senior Lauren Anderson recently returned from her 16-day visit to Australia. She traveled with a People-to-People group of 40 students acting as young ambassadors for the United States. Flying to Sydney, visiting Darwin, Cairns, Kakadu, and the Capitol at Canberra, was a whirlwind of activity for the youthful group. "Australians are the nicest people in the world," said Anderson. "People we met were so interested in everything about our lives in the U.S. Actually,... Full story
Russ Burke releases fish into Hand Lake. photo by Conrad Weiler Three small lakes in the Corbett State Park area were stocked last week with fingerlings and adult cutthroat trout from Camp Sherman's Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery. The fish were transported by a three-member team of fisheries specialists: Doug Curtis and Mike Sims, along with volunteer Russ Burke. Two trucks were used in the operation, one large fish hauler and a smaller vehicle to navigate the narrow lake roads. After early morning fish loading at the hatchery,... Full story
Tonye Phillips and Susan Shaull at work on a quilt during the Camp Sherman show. photo by Conrad Weiler More than 600 people visited Camp Sherman's historic Community Hall for the annual summer Pine Needlers quilt show last Friday, July 9. Colorful quilts were hung from the rafters, on walls and the loft overhang as locals, out-of-staters and foreign visitors mingled with each other and the quilts throughout the day. Quilt tags described each quilt and told of the love and joy each quilt brought to the maker and other family... Full story
Kelsey White and Toni Foster. photo by Conrad Weiler Kelsey White of Camp Sherman took first place honors in National History Day competition at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, this month. Residents of Camp Sherman turned out for a big party at the General Store last Wednesday evening, June 23, to celebrate White's achievement. "I was so surprised," said the Black Butte School (BBS) eighth grader. "We had just arrived back from the Redmond airport in the evening and my sister Lauren asked if the store... Full story
