News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 15 of 15
Two new Measure 37 claims have been filed with Deschutes County involving Sisters area properties. Both claims seek either compensation for property values lost as a result of actions taken by the county in changing land use ordinances or approval to proceed with their plans for development. John Leason, Gertrude Leason, and their Pine Ridge Ranch Company on Goodrich Road east of Sisters have filed one claim. They are seeking either $4.5 million in lost value or permission to... Full story
The recent public announcement of plans to relocate the Sisters Ranger Station at the west end of town has Sisters area residents wondering what will become of this national forest land. Brief discussion at the first Sisters Community Summit meeting in late January and an invitation in last week’s Nugget newspaper seeking public reaction on the move have both local residents and developers interested in the future of the administrative site, home of the Forest Service for over 50 years. The site could be offered for sale l... Full story
Three of the five seats on the Sisters School Board will be on the May 17 ballot. That’s the day set aside for school and community college board elections across the state. Only one of the three incumbents holding the positions up for election this year will run for re-election — Glen Lasken, the board’s current chairman. Bill Reed, the board’s senior member with 13 years of experience, and Eric Dolson, who will have served three years, have said they will not seekre-election. The Sisters board is not zoned; all five positio... Full story
Students in Sisters High School’s woodshop put down their hammers and drills for a moment last week to watch the presentation of a check for $24,000 that assured their future wages. The students were part of the Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC), a program administered through the Sisters alternative (Flex) school program for youth who have dropped out of school. The program provides them with an opportunity to gain job skills and education and at the same time earn a wage for their work. David McDaniels, Executive Director of t... Full story
Nathan Rau, a 16-year-old Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 60 in Bend, is a young man to reckon with. Becoming an Eagle Scout is not easy. Succeeding in life isn’t easy, either. To achieve either one of them, you have to work at it. Nathan and his crew recently put up more than 70 nesting boxes on the Land Trust’s Metolius Preserve — which was hard work! The trail to Eagle Scout rank is straight as an arrow. For Nate it began over eight years ago when he joined the Cub Scouts run through the Church of Jesus... Full story
Here are two historic romances to watch with your teenage kid. These two-tape epics will spark interest not only in hormonal subjects but also history and geography, in this case World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution and Russia. Both movies will provoke heated conversations and provide a lot of material for further investigation. David Lean’s painterly and sentimental “Dr. Zhivago” (1965) is one of Sisters’ favorite romance films. Although it has been criticized roundly for Robert Bolt’s awkward screenplay, I find the film... Full story
To the Editor: What kind of person can compare Auschwitz to Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? On one hand you have genocide of an entire segment of humanity, on the other hand you have some prisoners wrongly abused and humiliated. Jane Stevens in her letter to the editor last week implied that some future president would have to muster up the courage to apologize for American atrocities (her words, not mine). Abuses she apparently believes reside on the same level as the atrocities committed at Auschwitz. Abuses worthy of their own m... Full story
The well-known generosity of the Sisters community has had an international impact in the wake of the Southeast Asian tsunami. With individual donations ranging from $5 to $1,000, a combined check in the amount $7,565.53 was sent to Samaritan Home Relief, Inc. from the Sisters community on February 3. The funds will be used to help rebuild the Samaritan Children’s Home orphanage, which was completely destroyed by a 30-foot wall of water on December 26. Orphanage founder D... Full story
Eleven more drive-up fast-food facilities could be built between the much-publicized future McDonald’s and the Three Wind Shopping Center, according to the current wording in Sisters’ Development Code. At a recent Planning Commission workshop, Planner Brian Rankin presented sketches of several site possibilities for drive-up facilities on the northwest edge of Sisters. The current code requires only that such facilities be separated by 400 feet along the same streetfront or within one block. That means the Cache Mountain Dev... Full story
The program designed to help local kids who run afoul of the law is itself in trouble. The Sisters Juvenile Empowerment Team (JET) program is faced with a financial crisis and is about to disappear from Sisters — again. Funding cuts in 2003 put the program on ice until December 2003 when Eric Beckwith was assigned to Sisters three days a week to oversee the first-time offender diversion program. Now Beckwith’s time has been cut back, which may spell the end of the program, despite pledges to keep it running. In September 200... Full story
The Outlaws notched their third straight victory with a 57-51 basketball win over North Marion on Friday, February 4. Coach Rand Runco said the goal was to put pressure on the Huskies for four full quarters and the Outlaws did the job. North Marion tried to control the tempo of the game and slow down the Outlaws’ transition by going into a 1-3-1 zone that Sisters hadn’t seen all season. “We weren’t able to get running and were stagnant for a little while,” said Runco. Bu... Full story
The Sisters High School Alpine Ski Team managed a near-perfect first run in the fifth race of the Central Oregon Ski League season. They were led by Liz Dale’s run-winning time, more than a full second ahead of the Bend and Summit High School girls. Dale’s time, combined with Whitney Engstrom’s fourth place finish and Annie Hancock in 11th, left the Sisters girls in second place, just 1:17 seconds out of first. Sisters placed six of the top 16 girls and all nine Sisters girls... Full story
The Lady Outlaws couldn’t seem to hold onto the ball in their game with Cascade on Tuesday, February 1, which resulted in a devastating 71-37 loss. The Outlaws turned the ball over right from the start and by the end of the first period Cascade held a 20-4 advantage over Sisters. “We looked like a scared group of girls playing basketball,” said Coach Bill Blevins. “We had 20 turnovers for the night that resulted in 18 lay-ins for them (Cascade), which makes things rather... Full story
The Outlaws boys basketball team sneaked past the Cougars in a fast-paced nail-biter that came down to the final seconds Cascade on Tuesday, February 1. Sisters battled against a much bigger Cougar team. The Cougars jumped out early with an 8-0 lead in the first quarter but the Outlaws played with grit and determination and took a one-point lead at the half at 32-31. “We just couldn’t stop them (Cascade) in the half court,” said Coach Rand Runco. “So, we cranked up our press and pressure and went to a full court game.” The le... Full story
The residents of Sundance, a housing development on the southeast end of Bend, are being inundated with birders who are looking for a beautiful Northern Hawk Owl that has come to visit Oregon. Hawk Owls are from the Far North -- Canada, Northwest Territory and Alaska -- and they rarely travel this far south. Consequently, this is only the third sighting of one in Oregon -- so it's no surprise that birders from all over the Northwest are flocking to Sundance to see this rare... Full story
