News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 82
Divorce. Homelessness. Two Sisters women, Mary Maiden and Tricia Johnson, don't need to be told that life is hard and bad stuff happens. Each has been struck by personal tragedy; each has overcome hardships. And there's another thing these two share: a focus on possibilities rather than problems. When life handed them lemons, they made... well, you know. "Anyone can start over. Life is limitless," says Mary Maiden. That's coming from a single mother of four who found herself... Full story
Nine University of Minnesota students opted to spend their coveted spring break wielding shovels and paintbrushes for Sisters Habitat for Humanity last week. And, despite a 33-hour drive to get here, they counted themselves lucky for the opportunity. "Whatever they sent our way we were more than happy to do," said U of M's team leader Kelsey Blaze. Students gave the Habitat townhouses at Cedar and Washington streets a fresh coat of exterior paint and prepared the ground for a... Full story
When the going gets tough, you don't have to look very far to find women who get going. They live in town; they live in Tollgate. They shuttle kids to school and sport; they stand beside you at the deli counter. But the one place you won't find these savvy women is sitting on their hands, bemoaning the state of the economy; they're much too busy for that. Across the Sisters Country, women are gracefully rising to meet the demands of a shifting job market by retraining - or eve... Full story
Among the guests at a Sisters wedding last Saturday was the son of distinguished physicist-inventor William McLean (1914-1976) whose premier accomplishment was developing the Sidewinder heat-seaking air-to-air missile. Back in 1958 Dwight D. Eisenhower presented McLean with the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service; this spring the Navy will launch a ship bearing his name. "My dad had a super aptitude for building things," Donald McLean of Palm Springs told The Nugget while he was in town to watch... Full story
The jury's in: The Outlaw Players have scored another win - this time mastering the sophisticated courtroom drama "Twelve Angry Jurors," which closed Friday night at Sisters High School. Staging "in the round" allowed audience members to sense that they, too, were cloistered in a humid jury room, amid the flaring tempers and exposed prejudices of 12 jurors arguing the fate of a young Hispanic murder suspect. Anchoring the strong cast was senior Bryant Lasken as the lone... Full story
Once upon a time, members of the local business community pulled out all the stops to treat a brave Central Oregon girl like a princess for several days and to make her every wish come true. Cristina Martinez of Prineville is a typical text-messaging, fashion-conscious 16-year-old who sings along to Taylor Swift on her MP3 player, watches Jersey Shore and sleeps with a Chihuahua named Chico. But she also suffers from a rare degenerative disease that's threatening her life and... Full story
Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress. That's the vision that motivated 15 local ladies to thread their needles and get to work last week; together they sewed over a dozen dresses for Hope 4 Women International's "Dress a Girl" campaign. Judi Benson of Black Butte Ranch first heard of the concept from her sister-in-law in Iowa: sewers fashion pillowcases into charming, one-of-a-kind dresses which will be hand-delivered to young girls in... Full story
Daniel Pite has a message for other families walking the dark road of childhood cancer: take heart. When the Pite family - in their bleakest hours - needed someone to go to battle for them, the community of Sisters led the charge. "It was the Sisters Outlaws that were the first group in Oregon to stand up for our family," says Daniel, whose daughter Hannah was "adopted" by the Sisters High School Sparrow Club in 2003. For the past six years, the Pites have made it their... Full story
Two days before Thanksgiving, Lynn Gilmore and her younger brother Tim Keeton lay on separate gurneys in pre-op at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), with just a curtain between them. "She sang to me," Lynn heard her brother say to the nurse, as they wheeled him off to surgery. As if that explained why a thirty-seven-year-old man would give up a kidney to help his big sister. He was referring to those dusty days they spent together long ago on the Keeton family's 500... Full story
Perhaps Niesje Schilperoort should have been voted the Class of 2008's Most Likely to be a Humanitarian Globe-trotter. As part of Youth With A Mission's (YWAM) leadership training program she has led numerous missionary teams to countries in need all around the world since high school. From her home base at YWAM's Brisbane, Australia training center, she has constantly put her training into practice leading teams on two-month assignments to places like northern India and... Full story
Three years ago graduates of Sisters High School's Class of 2008 set out in a number of different directions. So where are they now? All over the world. What they've all gained is a stronger idea of who they are and what they were born to do. Slater Smith's interest in Middle Eastern politics compelled him to spend the past semester in Ifrane, Morocco. A junior at Willamette University and a political science major, Smith said that when his college didn't offer coursework in... Full story
'Twas a fortnight before Christmas and at the Habitat store some magic was happening behind their closed doors. Nineteen children were rapt and each carried a list, in search of the thing for their mommy and sis. There was Santa and his helpers, who blue aprons donned, and the Sugar Plum Fairy with wings and a wand. And as music rang out 'bout a babe in a manger, gifts were wrapped, wishes granted, by the kindness of strangers. A group of lucky kids were invited to the... Full story
What's Christmas without cold prune soup (lunne) or rutabaga casserole (lanttu laatikko)? Finnish foreign exchange student Tommi Soittila will soon find out; this will be the first Christmas he spends away from his home country. Astrid Hoyland of Norway joined Soittila for a hot drink at Sisters Coffee Company on a recent December day, and compared the Christmas traditions of their respective cultures, the traditions they will both have to do without this year. "It's not... Full story
Nov. 9, 2010, Sisters, Oregon: Do you ever have moments in your life when you can see that many things in your experience have prepared you for just this moment? Now is one of those moments for me. - Cindy Uttley Uttley recorded those thoughts in her blog after receiving an urgent plea from Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse (SP). They requested she bring her nursing skills and report to the front lines in the escalating battle against cholera in Haiti. She would... Full story
A sign to the right of the front door bids "WELCOME" while another sign to the left commands "KEEP OUT." The landmark residence once known as Conklin's Guest House - treasured by Sisters residents and visitors for its history and charm - has weathered several years of uncertainty. Renovation work was suspended in 2006 when the owners' plans to transform the former bed-and-breakfast into an upscale 85-seat restaurant ran aground. "I spent quite a bit, purchased plans and... Full story
Like many people, Doug Hull, 43, dreams of doing some traveling in his retirement. But his dream doesn't involve a cruise ship, a swimsuit or golf cleats. Instead, Hull would prefer to be en route to an impoverished nation, carrying a suitcase packed with work boots, a toolbelt and malaria pills. And he'd like to see you go, too. Hull, a Sisters area general contractor, just returned from Haiti where he helped construct footings and a foundation for a new building in the... Full story
Five thousand miles away, in the small German village of Ensdorf, foreign exchange applicant Yannic Kolz learned he would be spending much of this school year living with an American family in Sisters, Oregon. "I said, 'What is Oregon?'" remembers Kolz, 16. "I did the Google map and all I saw ... There was nothing." Now Kolz is settling into a lifestyle in Sisters that is in some ways not as foreign as he expected. In Herrenberg, Germany - about 100 miles from Ensdorf -... Full story
Seventeen-year-old Cheng "Angel" Peng stepped off a plane from China last month, on a student foreign exchange program with Sisters High School (SHS), marking another step in a journey which began, in many ways, 35 years ago. She calls herself Angel because it's easier for Americans to pronounce and because her mother calls her "my little Angel" in their native language of Mandarin. Peng first met her host family over the summer, when Joey Hougham and Staci Stabil of Sisters... Full story
At 9 years old, Kelsey May read J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and it lit a fire in her. "I wanted to write a cool story like that," said May, a senior at Sisters High School, "but I didn't know how." May will take one giant leap toward that dream when she accepts her 2010 Rising Star Award for Creative Writing at the opening event of The Nature of Words' annual fall literary festival in Bend. Along with a boost to her confidence, she will receive a $100... Full story
When Rick Johnson graduated from high school in Houston, Texas, his choir teacher posed a compelling question: where did he see himself in 10 years? His answer: living in Oregon, married, with children and a dog, inspiring young kids with music. Johnson doesn't yet have children, nor has he limited himself to one dog. But according to plan, Johnson takes his place this week as the new choir director for both Sisters High School and Sisters Middle School. In doing so, he's... Full story
For Tori DeLeone, this summer was never a blank canvas. The Sisters High School senior worked hard all spring to be accepted into an elite pre-college art residency program and she had a ticket for the East Coast. DeLeone spent an intensive four weeks at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, one of the country's oldest and most respected art schools, expanding her portfolio and her ideas for the future. It was an exhausting schedule. Most days, classes began... Full story
Sisters Habitat for Humanity learned this week it will receive $150,000 in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds for the purchase of bank-owned bare land within the city of Sisters. "This is big news, great news," said Executive Director Sharlene Weed. The funds will come in the form of zero-percent interest-deferred loans. Weed expects the funds will allow Habitat to buy five local properties on which they can build homes for low-income families. Families that qualify for this program will have an annual income of... Full story
Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Seth Norman is looking down the road at a bright future from behind the wheel of a newly restored 1976 Chevy Nova. The non-profit organization, which grants wishes to cancer patients, revealed Norman's tricked-out car at a party hosted by Pappy's Pizza in Redmond last week. Norman bought the car in April 2009 for $1,700 then worked all summer long, painting houses to pay off the loan to his dad. The 16-year-old souped up the engine,... Full story
Sporting brightly colored cleats, shin guards and wide smiles, fifty-three Sisters youngsters honed their soccer skills last week under some expert coaches who talked kind of funny. United Kingdom International Soccer Camps paid a week-long visit to Sisters for the eighth year in a row, by invitation of the Sisters Soccer Club. They brought high-level coaching, British accents and the fun factor to eager players ranging in age from four to 14. On a sunny Thursday behind... Full story
Renee Wilson of Sisters knows about breast cancer all too well. "I was diagnosed six days before my 41st birthday," recalls Wilson. "I was a single parent at the time so my first thought was 'How will I take care of my children?'" Seven years after she received that life-altering diagnosis, Wilson is preparing to lead a team of four Sisters women - two mothers and two daughters - in the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer this September. A variety of community-wide events are... Full story
