News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 376 - 400 of 1025
It’s 1 a.m., and there is a big windstorm coming down off the mountains, whipping the trees and power lines back and forth. Without warning, a large ponderosa tree on the south side of town is blown down across the street and lands on a homeowner’s car. The City of Sisters Public Works crew is there within a matter of minutes, removing the tree. Just as quickly, for safety’s sake, they are gone. One of the best-kept secrets in town is the City’s Public Works headqua... Full story
Do you notice you have to turn up the volume on your TV in order to hear the dialog in your favorite show? When your son calls on the phone, do you find yourself asking him to repeat what he just said because you didn’t catch it all? These can be indications of early hearing loss and mean it’s time to schedule a hearing test. Hearing loss is one of the most common disabilities in elderly people, affecting about one-third of people over the age of 65, according to the Ame... Full story
Successful aging requires intention and planning, and perhaps a modicum of luck. Here in Central Oregon, we are fortunate to have many well-qualified professionals and organizations to help navigate the path to and through the aging process. Financial planning, regardless of the amount of assets involved, can help you make well-informed decisions regarding how and where you will live as you age. BlueStone Retirement in Sisters provides services that help one maximize Social... Full story
The starting gun has sounded and the race is underway here in Sisters to raise $100,000 toward an overall goal of $6 million donated for construction of a new 12-bed Hospice House on the Partners In Care campus in Bend to serve all of Central Oregon. The project already has local donations of $10,500 and they hope to have the total amount by June 30, 2021. Six million dollars will come from donations and $6 million from reserve funds at Partners In Care. Sisters resident Bill... Full story
Citizens4Community (C4C) recently hired their first paid staff member, Executive Director Linda Cline. The hiring came with the help of a grant from the Ford Family Foundation. Cline was selected from among 21 applicants for the position and began work on January 4. Cline, who brings her experience with multiple community-building organizations to Sisters, is a native Oregonian, having grown up as the youngest of 10 children in the rural Southern Oregon town of Glendale.... Full story
Cascades East Transit has begun offering free curb-to-curb accessible shopping trips from Sisters to Bend and back every Thursday. To schedule a pick up in Sisters, call 541-385-8680 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Call at least 24 hours in advance to schedule a Thursday shopping trip. Choose 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. Share your name and home/destination addresses. Reservations can also be made online at www.CascadesEastTransit.com/sisters. The shuttle will pick up... Full story
This past October, the Sisters History Museum hosted a collaborative exhibit of quilts created by members of local quilting guilds in honor of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920. The Amendment states, “The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” The muse... Full story
Three city councilors, two new and one re-elected, were sworn into office on Wednesday. Michael Preedin was elected the new mayor by a unanimous vote of the Council at their first meeting of the year, and Nancy Connolly was again elected to serve as council president and will act as mayor in Preedin’s absence. She is beginning her seventh year as a councilor. Jennifer Letz was elected to a four-year term and Gary Ross to a two-year term. Returning Councilor Andrea Blum will s... Full story
Sisters is adding a new well to its water system, which will substantially increase its pumping capacity. At last Wednesday’s City Council meeting, the City awarded a public improvement contract to J. P. Prinz Co. LLC in the amount not to exceed $713,317, the lowest of five bids received for the construction of a new Well 4, Phase B. Phase A, just completed, was the drilling of the well by Abbas Drilling on land at the east end of the Creekside Campground. While Phase A was u... Full story
Probably the biggest fear I have when it comes to aging is developing some form of dementia, like my mother did. Even now, when I can’t immediately think of a word or someone’s name, I worry this may be the beginning of memory issues. Next June, I will celebrate my 77th birthday, so I am smack dab in the middle of the years when people may begin to experience progressive memory issues. I do what I can to keep my mind agile — walk every day, play word games and other brai... Full story
After more than a decade of false starts, broadband internet service is coming to Camp Sherman via Sureline Broadband in Madras. Local realtor and Camp Sherman native Shane Lundgren has been heading up a group of Camp Sherman residents since 2009 to secure internet access for the community. According to Lundgren, the original impetus was the government’s “No Child Left Behind” program in 2009-10, to bring internet learning opportunities to students at the Black Butte Schoo... Full story
When Mayor Chuck Ryan took office, the City was just beginning to pull out of a very unsettled time for City government. In a fairly short period of time, the City had had three city managers, and hit a low point in citizen interest and involvement on City commissions and boards. As Ryan retires from his mayoral duties this week, the City is running smoothly under City Manager Cory Misley, has a highly qualified staff that keeps the City humming, and boards and commissions peo... Full story
Growing up in Portland, our house was located on an acre-and-a-quarter lot outside the city on a two-lane road that received so little traffic I could safely ride my bike on the road. The road had giant fir trees on both sides with houses nestled into the trees. Behind our house was what I have always called “the hundred-acre woods.” The actual number of acres I don’t know, but the woods covered a huge hillside with a large field of blackberry bushes, trails, and a strea... Full story
Growth in Sisters is keeping up a steady pace in early 2021. Numerous commercial and residential projects are in various stages of approval and implementation. • Approved: Three Winds Apartments (West Hood Avenue behind Bi-Mart). Partition to divide the property into three parcels. Site Plan Review to allow for three, 10-unit multi-family residential buildings on new Parcel 2 and two 10-unit multi-family residential buildings on new Parcel 1, for a total of 50 units.... Full story
Large numbers of local volunteers will help guide Sisters into the future. A record number of volunteers turned out in November to fill positions on City boards and commissions, with terms beginning on January 1, 2021. The interested residents all filled out City applications and participated in Zoom interviews with several City councilors and City staff before the final selections were made. Council President Nancy Connolly told The Nugget, “I believe the people we s... Full story
The recession accompanying the current COVID-19 pandemic here in Central Oregon is unusual in a number of ways, according to Damon Runberg, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department. Runberg offered a presentation entitled “Into Bizarro World” at the December 9 City Council workshop. Runberg’s comparison of the 2008-09 Great Recession and the 2020 recession, which he calls the Great Lockdown, highlighted two totally different patterns, with the Great Reces... Full story
Long-time Sisters resident David Banks remembers a day long ago when he rode down Cascade Avenue on the back of a Triumph motorcycle on his way to the B Bar B tavern. He was familiar with Sisters because his parents had a place at Black Butte Ranch where he visited often. When things changed for him in Palo Alto, California, where he was living, he made the decision to “matriculate north,” to Sisters. He had a best friend in Tumalo and Banks decided to settle in Tollgate, whe... Full story
• The December 9 Council meeting marked the end of term for two councilors, Richard Esterman and Mayor Chuck Ryan, neither of whom sought re-election. Councilor Andrea Blum was re-elected to another four-year term. The two newly elected councilors, Gary Ross and Jennifer Letz, will be sworn into office at the January 13, 2021 Council meeting. • At last week’s City Council meeting, councilors voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the City Municipal Code 5... Full story
‘Tis the season of giving and the members of the Sisters Garden Club showed their holiday spirit last week with donations distributed to the Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank, Sisters Family Access Network (FAN), and to the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Department for their Giving Tree Drive. Giving is nothing new for the Garden Club. Every year in the past, the members have gathered for their annual holiday party in early December. At that event, all the members would bring donations for... Full story
“The service offered by STARS means we can continue to live in Sisters,” Joann Powers told The Nugget. Powers is 87 years old and doesn’t like to drive in Bend traffic, where her husband Bill has regular medical appointments. By calling the dispatch center for Sisters Transportation and Ride Share (STARS) on Tuesday or Thursday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Bill can arrange for a free ride to Bend and back with a STARS volunteer who has passed a background check and has appro... Full story
The 2018 Vision Project was undertaken to help provide clear, positive direction for the future of the community. What is happening to fulfill the vision crafted out of community input? At a recent City Council workshop, Emme Shoup, the City’s Assistant Engagement and Program Coordinator, provided the first formal Vision Implementation Team (VIT) update. Following the January 2019 adoption of the Vision and Action Plan by the City Council and other key partner agencies, the V... Full story
On the Norman Rockwell covers of the Saturday Evening Post, holidays were always depicted as large family gatherings centered around a long table laden with mountains of home-cooked food. Everyone seated at the table appeared to be jovial. Hallmark and most advertisers still promote that version of the holidays — especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. I grew up with a version of Rockwell’s scene, either at home or with relatives around my grandmother’s grand table; aun... Full story
The cold of winter has arrived in Sisters with nighttime temperatures well below freezing, forecasts for snow, and the need for the requisite warm hats, gloves, and coats. For someone who is currently unhoused, living outside or in their car, the winter weather is much more than a seasonal inconvenience. Winter temperatures can claim lives of those who lack shelter or a source of heat. The presence of COVID-19 has prevented the Sisters Cold Weather Shelter from opening its... Full story
• Abbas Well Drilling hit water last week in Creekside Campground for the City’s new Well #4 at a depth of 295 feet in hard rock, which is what they had hoped for. Public Works Director Paul Bertagna reported that the hole would then be viewed with a video camera and a 48-hour blow test of the pump would be conducted. • City Council approved the appointment of 14 people to the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Comprehensive Plan update. Two-thirds of the members l... Full story
People living in and around Sisters are showing their care for the community by volunteering in record numbers for a variety of City boards, committees, and the Comprehensive Plan Update Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC). The CAC had 37 applications submitted for a committee that was slated to have 10-12 members. So many well-qualified citizens volunteered that the membership was expanded to 14. “We had an amazing pool to choose from,” said Community Development Director Scott... Full story
