News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 92
I attended the screening of "Final Pose," an award-winning BendFilm 2014 documentary directed by Karen Mellberg of Bend at The Belfry last week. The film concerns the end-of-life journey of Sisters yogi Myra Lani Fisher through her own voice and was filmed during the last few weeks of her life as she was preparing to use Oregon's Death with Dignity (DWD) Act. I didn't know Myra and only learned about her a few weeks before she transitioned. I wish I could have had a conversation with this very strong woman to learn how she... Full story
I wanted to write something about being thankful, but I'm not feeling very thankful as I'm writing this. My life sucks right now and my mind won't go there so, for inspiration, I googled "thanksgiving quotes" and clicked on a page of picture quotes. By the time I got halfway through reading them, I was feeling much more grateful. So I thought if your life sucks right now and you're not feeling very thankful either, maybe if I wrote a bunch of thanksgiving quotes for you to read, it would improve your mood, too. So here goes.... Full story
An Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Troop 139 was held on Saturday at Aspen Lakes to recognize their newest Eagle Scout, 18-year-old Christian Hunt, who is a student at Sisters High School. Troop 139 Scout Master Ryan Roy welcomed the scouts and guests, and presented the Eagle Scout award to Hunt. Matt Cyrus, committee chairman, introduced the guests and described the path to become an Eagle Scout. A formal Eagle Scout Court of Honor is held after an Eagle Scout board of review... Full story
On Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m., a school bus drops off a group of eager students from Sisters High School Special Education teacher Josh Nordell's life skills class at the Community Garden next to Sisters Eagle Airport, to learn about planting and caring for flowers, vegetables and trees. With help from his educational assistant Bill Mitchell and volunteers like Kim Manley, Nordell shares real-life adventures in learning with the group of seven children from all three Sisters schools. Last week, they learned from garden manager Mar... Full story
It is important for Sisters voters to understand there are two distinctly different marijuana-related measures on the ballot this year. Local Measure 9-101 is specific to the city of Sisters and asks simply whether to permit legally licensed medical marijuana dispensaries to be located within the city limits. State Measure 91 asks a totally different question - shall the recreational use of marijuana be allowed in the state of Oregon, in addition to the already-allowed medical uses. As members of the city-appointed committee... Full story
Alpenhimmel Creative Arts Emporium welcomed Sisters' creative crowd to an open house last week to introduce this exciting new multi-craft center. There were a variety of tasty refreshments on hand, frequent prize drawings for craft supplies, and demonstrations of free and easy Make-N-Take projects, including paper flower arrangements, paper-wrapped pencils, and a handy mini-notebook with a picture of the Sisters horses racing into town as the cover. Owners Charity Alva and her... Full story
Fall is in the air. The leaves are turning yellow, orange, bright red. They are letting go of their branches and flying around with the winds; rising, falling then littering the ground. Pine needles are dropping by the ton from the tall pines, covering the ground in a sea of tan and brown, piled high by those with rakes. The air is crisp during my morning walks, with temperatures going from the 30s into the 70s by mid afternoon. Dress in layers; peel them off as the day warms up. But now the days grow short, I'm in the autumn... Full story
Ever since Ben Franklin warned us, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail," we've been diligently planning for everything - college, career path, marriage, children, home buying, vacations, retirement - everything, that is, except our inevitable end of life. We don't want to think about that so we tend to ignore it or postpone dealing with it, often until it's too late. We live in the state of denial that keeps us oblivious to the unthinkable fact that this day could be our last on earth. At some point, we are all... Full story
Ebola is only a plane ride away as recently demonstrated by an infected person who flew into Dallas from Liberia, was turned away from a hospital, interacted with 20-some people before he was finally diagnosed, isolated and subsequently succumbed to the virus. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said in an interview with NPR last week that airlines leaving West Africa are now taking the temperature of passengers before they can board a plane and if they have a fever, they will not be allowed to f... Full story
The newly constructed St. Charles School-Based Care Center (SBC) of Deschutes County Health Services, adjacent to Sisters High School, expects to begin accepting patients from Sisters School District (SSD) on October 9. The center will provide affordable, convenient healthcare - medical, behavioral, and dental - to any child, newborn through 20 years of age living in the district. This project is the result of a partnership that has been evolving over about five years following school board approval. The school-based care bui... Full story
Last month turned local attention to Oregon's Death with Dignity Act with two events: A reception at Circle of Friends Art Gallery in Tumalo introducing Compassion & Choices to Central Oregon; and a Frontiers in Science lecture at The Belfry in Sisters entitled "What is Death with Dignity?" At the Belfry, Dr. Edward Weiser, a gynecological oncologist, and his wife, Peg Brand, PhD, offered a slide presentation and lecture covering the history of suicide from Greco-Roman times, including Socrates and his decision to drink... Full story
A town hall meeting held at Sisters Middle School in the wake of heightened citizen interest over a proposed Sisters amphitheater earlier this year resulted in the formation of the Community Assets Committee. Mayor Brad Boyd has appointed 10 members to the committee, charging them with vetting the top four ideas developed on by attendees at the town hall and presenting their best plan for a successful project at a follow-up meeting. Further feedback and suggestions are to be gathered from attendees, then discussed further in... Full story
Deschutes Public Library's Know Wilderness series came to Sisters Library with a program about some unique places in Oregon's high desert. Gena Goodman-Campbell from the Oregon National Desert Association (ONDA) led the discussion. ONDA is a grassroots organization committed to protecting, defending and restoring the health of Oregon's native deserts for present and future generations. The subject is in honor of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act by President Lyndon Johnson on September 3, 1964.... Full story
I've only been here for five years, and during this entire time Sisters has been a community in transition, but it seems lately to have stalled and lost its compass. It seems to me, a community psychologist, that it lacks a sense of community and the visionary leadership to carry the town forward into the 21st century. Since I'm retired and have the time to volunteer, I've gotten involved in city politics a bit over this past year. I've been involved before, on city, state and national levels, although I'm not passionate... Full story
Mustangs to the Rescue, an all-breed equine non-profit founded in 2012 to provide care, rehabilitation, training and re-homing of unwanted, abused and neglected horses, will be holding a Trail Course Playday Fundraiser on Saturday, September 13, at Shari Maguire's Rolling M Ranch near Aspen Lakes. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone can haul their horse in and practice on the course. It is not a competition: just walk your horse through the horse wash, over a water... Full story
What can one guy with a laptop and a smartphone accomplish while camping in his Westfalia beside the Metolius? If you're Shawn Kirkeby, you could create social media sites for artists and musicians, and program your weekly jazz conversation show for Sisters radio KZSO 94.9 FM. That's exactly what Kirkeby will be doing now that he's retired from his day job of 30 years delivering packages for UPS in Vancouver, Washington, and taking a break from 30 years of jazz programming at... Full story
Fall is in the air, frost is on the tomatoes, and changes are coming for the 2014-2015 school year at Black Butte School (BBS) in Camp Sherman: New teachers, new books, new students, new ideas to make learning fun while staying on task. Head teacher Carol Dixon has been back at work preparing for the new year during the week before Labor Day. At her side, except for the time she had to run out the back door to fetch him, was Truman, her one-year-old white Whoodle (Wheaton Terr... Full story
Volunteers are the "heart-and-hammer" of Sisters Habitat for Humanity. To show how much they are appreciated, the Habitat board and staff honor their contributions with an annual volunteer appreciation barbecue. Late afternoon thundershowers last week forced this year's event from Village Green Park indoors to the fire station community hall. Kevin Neary, board president, welcomed the volunteers and thanked them for their service in the Thrift Store, the ReStore, and on the... Full story
There has been a voluntary recall of certain kinds of almond butter and peanut butter that may be contaminated with salmonella. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified the potential contamination during routine testing at the manufacturing facility and notified nSPIRED Natural Foods, Inc. about the affected products. The company announced the voluntary recall of certain lots of Arrowhead Mills peanut butters, MaraNatha almond butters and peanut butters, and specific label nut butters packaged for Safeway, Kroge... Full story
Fill a glass with water and hold it out in front of you. How heavy would you guess that glass of water is? 8 ounces? 20 ounces? Continue to hold it out at arm's length while you're reading this. The absolute weight doesn't really matter. It depends on how long you hold it out in front of you. A minute or two is probably not a problem, but hold it out there for an hour, and you'll likely have an achy arm and shoulder. Hold it all day, and your arm will probably be numb. The... Full story
"Fizz! Boom! Read!" at Sisters Library finished the summer reading and science series for kids 6 to 11 years old last week with "Splashtastic and Waverific!" About 20 curious and eager kids listened as Josie Hanneman shared experiments, stories, songs and fun with H2O. Hanneman, who has a degree in library sciences, read to them from a book about the water cycle and explained how evaporation, condensation, and precipitation work together to recycle water on the planet. To remi... Full story
Hundreds of Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show visitors were treated to a fun, high-energy "flash mob" dance Saturday morning at the intersection of Cascade and Elm in downtown Sisters. Thirty-plus dancers ranging in age from 5 to 73 showed up at Sisters Dance Academy on Friday morning for a 90-minute rehearsal choreographed by owner and dance teacher Lonnie Liddell. Along with two of Liddell's children, Charley and McKenna, several of her dancers brought along family members to take... Full story
My grandfather Frank, my father's father, popped in to say hello the other day, and I was reminded how much I regretted not talking to him more about what life was like for him and Grandma Jo back in the early 1900s. He used to write me long letters, many pages on both sides, in pencil on yellow legal paper, over the years because after about age 16, I rarely saw them when we moved from Long Island, New York, to Miami Beach, Florida. All I remembered hearing as a child was that they had many adventures traveling across the co... Full story
Does a funny-looking little dog have the power to change people's hearts and minds? It would seem "Ugly Benny" does. The adorable family movie had its second screening in Sisters Sunday evening to a packed house at The Belfry. Producer Michael Gough started off the program by thanking Angeline Rhett for her support. Gough told the audience that he and his friend writer/director Richard Brandes were vacationing with their respective partners in Napa Valley when Gough asked Brandis why he was taking so many pictures of small to... Full story
Sisters Habitat for Humanity has completed its fourth home-repair project. A dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Friday, July 3, at the Landis-Brandt home on Goldcoach, off Holmes Road. Cari Landis, Keith Brandt and two of their three children, Phylicia, a senior next year at Sisters High School, and Bastion, who attends COCC, had nothing but words of praise and gratitude for the home-repair program and all the volunteers who turned their aging modular home... Full story
