News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 25
A Sisters man died Saturday, January 31, due to an apparent medical problem while hiking about 10 miles south of town in the Three Creek Road Area. According to the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded at about 8:36 p.m., to a report of an overdue hiker from Sisters. The hiker, James Holcomb, age 70, was reported by his family to be hiking in the area of the U.S. Forest Service 1514 Road, near the 980 Spur Road. Holcomb went hiking by himself and was prepared for the weather with the proper clothing, a... Full story
Ageia Health Services, a local Central Oregon company, is set to break ground on a new senior living center at The McKenzie Meadows Village in Sisters this spring. The planned facility is located along McKinney Butte Road in the vicinity of Sisters Middle School. It is not related to the recently approved 82-room assisted-living facility to be built on 7.2 acres of the "Carpenter property" just south of the post office, between Locust and Larch streets. As part of the... Full story
Seven students ages 6 to 18 and seven adults, including Sisters teachers Heather Johnson, Gail Greaney, and Casey Pallister, will travel to the Good Samaritan School in Masaka, Uganda, on March 20 to deliver assistance to their "sister school." Osborn Muyanja, director and founder of the Good Samaritan School in Masaka, Uganda, visited the Sisters High School (SHS) health classroom last February to share the story of his upbringing and how he started a school for 17 orphans... Full story
Roaring engines. Cheering spectators crowding the race route shrouded in clouds of Baja California dust. A father seeing his son cross the finish line a champion. It was an exhilarating moment in time for Greg Willitts and his son Gabe, as they rode across the rugged Baja terrain to victory in the Sportsman's Motorcycle Class in the SCORE International San Felipe 250 on January 24. Eighteen-year-old Gabe Willitts joined his dad and teammates Marc Jenkins and Matt Ladendorf in... Full story
Despite recent turmoil, the City of Sisters has opportunities to improve its operations and reset sometimes troubled relationships among councilors themselves and with the community at large. It is unfortunate that Sisters is losing the services of Pauline Hardie, a capable planner who was thrust into a challenging management position and served the community diligently for seven years. In replacing the community development director, the City should seek out another capable planner who also has the management and team-buildi... Full story
Sisters Kiwanis awards scholarships to Sisters-area adults who are seeking a career change. This program, known as the Kiwanis Career Opportunity Fund (COF) assists adults (25 or older) who are financially unable to return to school or retrain for a career change. Tracy Curtis, a Sisters resident, was recently awarded an OCF scholarship that allow her to be certified as a professional floral designer, specializing in wedding floral design. Tracy will attend classes at the Flor... Full story
Imagine standing on a bridge. The day is warm and humid. A lazy river makes its way beneath you. People stand in front of you, behind you, to the side. You are all united by one purpose: the right to vote. And less that a hundred yards from you is another group fully armed with not just night sticks and tear gas, but hate. Hate so livid and vile it would drive them to kill someone for no crime other than having more melanin in their skin. This is the reality of the civil rights movement, a time in history every Sisters High... Full story
The Friends of the Sisters Library Art Committee is inviting all Sisters Country artists to submit artwork of any kind that reflects the theme(s) of this year's Novel Idea selection, "A Tale for the Time Being," by Ruth Ozeki. The book presents the diary of a friendly, funny and strong-willed 16-year-old girl named Nao. Nao spent her formative years in California, but her family has returned to Japan, and when the book begins, she's living in Tokyo. Nao tells readers right up... Full story
Outlaws skiers took on an exhausting giant slalom, running the entire length of the mountain last Saturday, January 31. It was the fourth alpine ski race for the Sisters High School team at Mt. Bachelor ski area. The race venues alternate between slalom and giant slalom every other week. In slalom, "gates" are close together, putting a premium on tight, quick turns. In giant slalom, the gates are farther apart. Each racer runs the course twice, and the placings are determined... Full story
The Outlaws started their week with an exciting 57-42 win in overtime against the Falcons at Elmira on Tuesday, January 27. Three days later Sisters suffered a 39-31 loss at home to Sutherlin. Sisters battled in a very tough game at Elmira. The Outlaws have been riddled with injuries and sickness, and went into the contest with a skeleton crew. Coach Rand Runco said, "Elmira is a tough team and the best rebounding team in the league. They have struggled winning, but are full o... Full story
To the Editor: You would think with the school district being handed its head in the recent bond vote, the school board would be looking to make some changes going forward. Not so, with the appointment of recycled Jeff Smith to a board vacancy. Director Stephen King advocated for able candidate Karan Swaner for the position. The fix was in though, as has become fashionable in Sisters these days, with vice-chair Andrew Gorayeb and director Melvin Herburger going along with chair Don Hedrick's choice for the job. Something to... Full story
Paulina Springs Books will host bestselling author Garth Stein at The Belfry for an author event on Friday, February 13 at 6 p.m., for his new novel "A Sudden Light." "We booked this popular venue in expectation of a crowd; it can seat up to 200 people, so there's room for everyone!" said Amanda McNaughton of Paulina Springs. Stein's book "The Art of Racing in the Rain" was a long-running national bestseller. His new novel, like his others, has a Northwest setting, on Puget So... Full story
Cycling is perhaps the fastest-growing outdoor activity in Sisters Country. Locals are out in numbers on roads and trails, and visitors put the two-wheeler on the bike rack and make the trip to Sisters to try their hand at navigating the Peterson Ridge Trail and to race in events like the Sisters Stampede. Now cycling advocates are exploring the idea of adding a new cycling amenity to the list of Sisters attractions: A bike park. A bike park provides terrain features and... Full story
• Fred Kimmell's mini-Harley was a People's Choice winner at Sisters Library last week. (A photo of his prize-winning work was unavailable for last week's story on the awards, so here it is.) Kimmell built his "Rocking Motorcycle" for his 2-year-old great-granddaughter, Ella. • Conrad Wieler wrote: Thanks very much to the anonymous donor who paid for all high school students to see the movie "Selma" at Sisters Movie House: A great opportunity to lift... Full story
The Sisters swim team competed at Sweet Home on Friday, January 30, against the Sweet Home Huskies and the Stayton Eagles, and on Saturday, they competed in the KROC Blanchet Invitational against Blanchet Catholic, Salem Academy, Junction City, Taft, Scappoose, Cascade and Molalla. Sweet Home was considered a warm-up for the Blanchet Invitational. The Outlaws started the weekend with half of their swimmers sick and out of the pool for various reasons, which made for a rough meet on Friday. On Saturday, though, the Outlaws had... Full story
The girls basketball team notched a 52-47 road win at Elmira on Tuesday, January 27, and three days later fell 57-30 at home to the No. 1-ranked Sutherlin Bulldogs. In Tuesday's action, the Outlaws played excellent defense in the first quarter, but had trouble keeping Elmira off the free-throw line. The Falcons made 11 of their 13 attempts at the line, and added a bucket to take a 13-9 lead to close out the quarter. The Falcons didn't make a single bucket in the second... Full story
Folks in Sisters Country will "never be a victim" - not if Hunter Allen can help it. Recently moved to Sisters Country, Allen is the proprietor of T.I.G. Tactical, where he offers private or group instruction in the Israeli self-defense method Krav Maga. Krav Maga translates from Hebrew as "contact combat"; it is a highly efficient, direct and realistic form of self-defense designed to be taught and absorbed quickly. "Even basic practitioners can win a confrontation," Allen... Full story
No unicorns inhabit the earth. But according to sky lore, there is one in the starry realm. Monoceros the Unicorn is a faint wintertime constellation that lies due east of Orion. One would need a dark, clear night just to have a shot at finding it. It extends about 10 degrees north and south of the celestial equator. While none of the stars in this constellation are bright, a few of them are of special interest. Beta Monocerotis is an impressive triple star system. When... Full story
The Sisters Trails Alliance (STA) held their annual meeting last week, and there was a lot to review from 2014. STA President Chuck Humphreys began the program by outlining STA's significant accomplishments in trail work in the Sisters area. He forcefully drove home his biggest point that "the trails are for everyone." STA supports trail use by all non-motorized trail users. Membership is comprised of hikers, bicyclists, and equestrians. Humphreys also applauded the launching... Full story
Circle of Friends hosted a packed clubhouse for their second annual open house January 28 at their headquarters on Hood Avenue. Everyone in the community was invited to attend to learn about the mentoring program and about the ways that they can impact a child in Sisters community by becoming a mentor or friend. "We just placed two new mentors with friends, which brings us up to around 24 mentors today. And we have eight to 10 children just waiting to be matched with a... Full story
Some fine functional metal sculpture will be featured in the annual fire pit competition at Winterfest in Bend over Valentine's Day weekend. Ken Scott's Imagination Gallery and Ponderosa Forge & Ironworks will both have entries in the contest, which will be judged on Saturday, February 14. Scott is hard at work on his creation, bringing his usual intensity to the task. "Creativity is all about showing up," he said. "Inspiration is easy, but sweat comes hard. True art is an int... Full story
When the Sisters City Council sat down last week for their annual 2015 goal-setting workshop, they had an agenda packed with the "business of City business" - budgets, current and potential projects, financial projections, a host of acronyms (TSP, EDCO, CCI, SDC, BPAP) - as well as a review of last year's goals. Four of the five councilors were in attendance, with president McKibben Womack the lone absence. Chris Frye, mayor, and councilors Wendy Holzman, David Asson, and... Full story
One of the most interesting parts of being a big mouth in the local naturalist business are the emails I wake up to each morning. The photo at right - from a guy in Sisters who says, "I guess the name was appropriate when I was flying a rescue chopper out of Saigon" - was included in an email the other day. When I opened it, I thought: "Holy Cats, ODFW's ear-tagging mule deer just like wildlife biologist Paul Bond was doing back in the '50s when he was conducting a migratory... Full story
The Sisters Science Club's Science Fair is featuring competitions to test the knowledge and skill of folks in the local community. The 2015 Sisters Science Fair will be held Saturday, February 21, at Sisters High School from noon to 4 p.m. It's an exciting action-packed day filled with rockets and paper airplanes, astronomy and biology, pulleys and robots, and more. Science and art join together to create an exciting contest called SciArt. This contest challenges students to find and capture science in the art of photography... Full story
Would you like to do something meaningful for your community and help hardworking families achieve their dream of homeownership? Are you a newcomer to Sisters and want to meet local folks with similar interests? Did you retire recently and feel like you want to be doing something with your new-found free time? These are some of the reasons volunteers at Sisters Habitat for Humanity give for joining the team. Between the Thrift Store, the ReStore and the home-building... Full story
