News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 276
The Bend Parkway overpass to Sisters opened on Friday, July 20. The new loop reduces the number of intersections, turns and stop lights faced by travelers to Sisters from Highway 97 North. The new loop joins Highway 20 westbound on the south side of the Mountain View Mall. The Oregon Department of Transportation moved the mall access from Highway 20 to Robal Road. It's a clear road to Sisters. In addition to interfering with the Sisters loop, ODOT says the old mall access from Highway 20 was a traffic hazard and the site of... Full story
The Oregon Department of Transportation has filed for condemnation of the access from the Mountain View Mall to Highway 20. The action, called a "Proceedings in Eminent Domain," was filed on June 25 and followed months of failed negotiations between ODOT and SIMA Mountain View LLC, of Santa Barbara, California, owner of the Mountain View Mall. Closing the access will allow ODOT to open the overpass from the Bend parkway to Sisters, according to Cliff Houck, Right-of-Way Supervisor for ODOT . ODOT has said that the existing... Full story
Folks in Sisters have seen their health insurance costs rise swiftly this year. At least one major carrier in Central Oregon, Providence Health Plans, has announced rate increases that are as high as 33 percent over last year. Small employers and individuals are feeling the pinch as monthly insurance costs climb from $500 to $700 or more per family, according to Don Fullhart of Sisters Insurance in Sisters. John Wright of Pacific Source, a non-profit insurance company, said that insurance premiums "going up is a reflection of... Full story
A man died this week in Indiana, strapped to a padded table in a sterile room. He was administered a lethal dose of drugs. The government killed him out of revenge for a horrible act of terrorism that murdered 168 people, including 19 children, in a large public building reduced to smoking rubble. The murderer, a soldier, claimed to have acted in retaliation for homicide by the government at Waco, at Ruby Ridge. To him, the lives he mourned were heroic victims, the lives he took were "collateral damage." All this killing, so... Full story
The Oregon Department of Transportation is going to close the Highway 20 access to the Mountain View Mall in order to open the parkway ramp to Sisters by the beginning of August. While still in negotiations with mall owner SIMA Mountain View LLC, ODOT will take the mall access under the process of eminent domain if negotiations fail, according to ODOT representatives. Under the eminent domain process, a jury will decide what SIMA should be paid for the access. The dispute between SIMA and ODOT heated up last week. On... Full story
The Keith Cyrus family is likely to oppose the return of conserved irrigation water to Squaw Creek. The water is being saved by putting the Cloverdale Irrigation canal into a pipe, according to Marc Thalacker, manager of the Squaw Creek Irrigation District. The pipe was purchased with $260,000 in grants from the Deschutes Resources Conservancy (DRC) and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. In return for their contribution, three cubic feet per second was to be returned to the creek under an "instream water right." SCID... Full story
The State of Oregon considered certifying the home operated by Steven Gage for "troubled" female juveniles as far back as October, 1998, but decided not to do so. Gage closed Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls near Sisters in December, 1999 as the State Office for Services to Children and Families (SCF), Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and the Oregon State Police began investigating the facility. Gage, 43, was sentenced on January 31, 2001 to 45 years behind bars on 27 counts of theft, criminal mistreatment and sex... Full story
Outlawnet, the local Internet service provider affiliated with Sisters Schools, reached a settlement agreement on March 30 with Verado of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Verado, formerly known as Firstworld, provides Outlawnet with its connection to the Internet. Verado suddenly cut off service March 16 in violation of their contract with Outlawnet, which required 30 days' notice. In fact, Verado had been assuring Outlawnet for months that no service interruption was being considered, according to Outlawnet owner Jon Renner.... Full story
Outlawnet won a temporary restraining order last week against Verado, the company that provides Outlawnet with its connection to the internet. Outlawnet is the local Internet service provider affiliated with Sisters Schools. Verado, of Greenwood Village, Colorado, apparently attempted to knock Outlawnet off the Internet without any notice. Under law, a 30-day written notice is required. In fact, Verado had been telling Outlawnet representatives for several months that no cancellation was anticipated. "In the middle of January... Full story
The crew that is making sewer connections has been moving along at a fast clip. Local contractor Gary Tewalt is earning high marks as his crew hooks up Sisters businesses to the new sewer system. Tewalt & Sons has been installing the "service laterals," the connections from each local business to the curb. The laterals from the curb to the sewer line are already installed. Nearly 45 hook-ups were expected to be completed by March 21. Casey Kendall, representing contractor CRM Contracting, Inc., said he could have hired... Full story
A draft transportation plan, couplet and all, was presented to the Sisters City Council on Thursday, March 15. The council will review the plan in workshops and pubic hearings. The draft will then be presented to other agencies prior to being incorporated in the city's comprehensive plan. The $100,000 document was paid for by the Oregon Department of Transportation. David Knitowski, of David Evans and Associates, author of the plan, told the council that there were some areas where the plan did not represent views of the... Full story
Squaw Creek Irrigation District violated a 1940 contract when it shut off water to the Keith Cyrus farm in 1998 for non-payment of assessments, according to Judge Stephen Tiktin in a decision signed on February 27. The judge said that SCID had no right to charge assessments for water, and that the Cyruses maintained an ownership interest in the ditch. "It is unfortunate that the district has exposed themselves to $250,000 in legal fees (including fees charged to both SCID and the Cyrus family) when they had no basis in fact o... Full story
The Gallery Restaurant is to be the first business connected to the Sisters sewer. After the Gallery closes at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 21, CRM Contracting will quickly hook up the lateral connection between the restaurant and the main sewer line. "At 6 a.m. when they open for business, I want to have their tanks pumped and be out of there," said Project Manager Casey Kendall. CRM Contracting is a an offshoot of Commercial Ready Mix, a Salem-based corporation. Kendall runs the company's Central Oregon operations,... Full story
The Gallery Restaurant is to be the first business connected to the Sisters sewer. After the Gallery closes at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 21, CRM Contracting will quickly hook up the lateral connection between the restaurant and the main sewer line. "At 6 a.m. when they open for business, I want to have their tanks pumped and be out of there," said Project Manager Casey Kendall. CRM Contracting is a an offshoot of Commercial Ready Mix, a Salem-based corporation. Kendall runs the company's Central Oregon operations,... Full story
Steven Gage will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Gage, 43, the former proprietor of Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls near Sisters, was sentenced to 45 years behind bars on 27 counts of theft, criminal mistreatment and sex abuse of teenage girls under his care. The sentence was handed down by Judge Stephen Tiktin on January 31, 2001. It followed the guidelines of a plea agreement between Gage and the Deschutes County District Attorney reached January 4. Prior to sentencing, victim after victim, including... Full story
Steven Gage will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Gage, 43, the former proprietor of Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls near Sisters, was sentenced to 45 years behind bars on 27 counts of theft, criminal mistreatment and sex abuse of teenage girls under his care. The sentence was handed down by Judge Stephen Tiktin on January 31, 2001. It followed the guidelines of a plea agreement between Gage and the Deschutes County District Attorney reached January 4. Prior to sentencing, victim after victim of Gage's a... Full story
Squaw Creek Irrigation District and the Keith Cyrus family have reached a mediated agreement in the dispute over piping the Cloverdale Irrigation Canal. The original lawsuit, over who owns the canal and a SCID decision to cut off Cyrus water in 1999, is unaffected. Judge Stephen Tiktin is expected to render a decision in that case any day. SCID is placing the irrigation water in a pipe to eliminate leakage from the open ditch. The district has received grants from conservation agencies to buy part of the pipe. Approximately... Full story
Judge Stephen Tiktin is expected to rule by the middle of December in the war between the Keith Cyrus family and the Squaw Creek Irrigation District over who controls the "Cloverdale Ditch" irrigation canal. SCID is piping the ditch to conserve water, some of which will be returned to Squaw Creek to enhance fish habitat. The Cyruses claim that there are better methods of conservation. They also question whether the project has been adequately engineered. On Monday, December 4, in a meeting between the judge and attorneys,... Full story
The battle between Squaw Creek Irrigation District and the Keith Cyrus family over piping the Cloverdale Irrigation canal now involves the Lazy Z Ranch. A portion of the canal that runs through the Lazy Z has been piped, and some of that pipe buried with dirt taken from a new reservoir SCID is digging next to the main Watson reservoir. David Herman, owner of the Lazy Z, and SCID manager Marc Thalacker have been negotiating over how the ditch would be piped across Herman's land. The two sides have so far failed to reach an... Full story
The charges against Steven Gage continue to pile up. Two young women, who early in the investigation denied being abused by Gage, came forward in September to allege he had sexual relations with them when they were under his care at Royal Haven, a residential program for juvenile females. Royal Haven operated in Sisters and Bend for about five years under the direction of Gage and his partner, Karen Lee. The two "new" victims supported Gage long after his arrest, and even visited him several times per week after he was lodged... Full story
The war over water between the Keith Cyrus family and the Squaw Creek Irrigation District went to court last week. The central dispute now concerns ownership of the "Cloverdale Ditch," a primary irrigation canal serving land east of Sisters in Cloverdale and Lower Bridge. Cyrus claims that he purchased the ditch when he bought the land it runs across, the Skelton property, in 1958. SCID disputes this, saying that SCID took over the canal in an agreement signed in 1940. In exchange, according to SCID, Skelton received his... Full story
The festering feud between the family of Keith Cyrus and the Squaw Creek Irrigation District continued at the SCID meeting on October 3. Kay Knott, Keith Cyrus' sister, wrote a letter dated September 9, 2000, requesting that SCID justify the expense of fighting Cyrus in court over less than a thousand yards of topsoil (the actual amount, like nearly everything else, is a matter of dispute). SCID spent more than $5,500 defending the lawsuit. Cyrus had a contract in 1988 to do work on a SCID irrigation impoundment pond. Cyrus... Full story
(Update: On Tuesday, doctors removed the ventilator and Swisher was able to breathe on his own, according to Sisters School board Chairman Bill Reed. This greatly improved Swisher's comfort. Surgery is scheduled for Friday to pin Swisher's broken hip, which will allow him to be elevated and improve his ability to keep his lungs clear. Reed said that Swisher is progressing far faster than anticipated.) Steve Swisher, superintendent of Sisters Schools, was involved in a serious auto accident on Friday, September 22 just east... Full story
Steven Gage pleaded not guilty on Monday, September 11 to charges that he had sex with girls in his care when he operated Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls, according to Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan. Gage also pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal mistreatment for allegedly failing to provide adequate medical care, and charges of theft and money laundering. Gage's daughter, Merilee Groesz, 21, called The Nugget to say that she believes her father is innocent. Groesz said she lived at Royal Haven, "o... Full story
A Deschutes County grand jury has slapped Steven Michael Gage with 54 new charges related to the operation of Royal Haven Equestrian Center for Girls. This is in addition to the 67 charges filed as of June 16. Royal Haven, a home for "troubled" girls, operated in Sisters and Bend for about five years under the direction of Gage and his partner, Karen Lee. Gage now faces a total of 121 allegations. Counts 1 through 109 include a litany of sexual activity with underage girls or young women who were "incapable of consent..."... Full story
