News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
Trucks and equipment belonging to the City of Sisters Public Works Department will soon have a new home. A construction crew poured a slab for a new truck barn on Monday, March 3. The new metal building will be located at the city's sewer treatment plant site. Eventually, all the city shops will be located there, according to Public Works Director Gary Frazee. The city sold the current city shop site behind the Sisters Fire Hall last summer. The fire district plans to expand... Full story
Redmond students may help ease Sisters' school budget pains next year. The reason is that 15 or 20 students who live in the Redmond area may transfer to Sisters schools in 2003-04. The students will carry with them the money all districts receive from the state on the basis of enrollment. Schools receive about $5,000 per student this year and will probably get about the same next year. Thus, 20 students added to Sisters' enrollment would increase the district's revenue by $100,000. Sisters Superintendent Steve Swisher... Full story
Fire Chief Ed Sherrell presented Police Chief Gil Zaccaro with a defibrillator for a police cruiser. Photo by Conrad Weiler Fire Chief Ed Sherrell has obtained seven Life Pack 500 defibrillators to use at Black Butte Ranch (BBR). The units can help save lives in the event of a heart attack. "We've put units in all three police cars on the Ranch and two each at Big Meadow and Glaze Meadow golf course in the marshalls' carts," said Sherrell. Each defibrillator costs $2,000; the money came from an initial $500 grant from Air... Full story
Seven "semi-finalist" candidates will vie for the job of Sisters' school superintendent. The Sisters School Board decided Monday night to interview all seven candidates Friday and Saturday, March 14 and 15. The board also adopted a calendar that will start the 2003-04 school year on September 15, late enough for the new high school to receive students. The seven superintendent candidates received the highest ratings from a search committee that spent much of last week going over the 24 applications the position has... Full story
Sisters citizens have been up in arms recently over changes to their neighborhoods. They want the Sisters Development Code changed, density reduced and multi-unit developments kept out of existing neighborhoods. Developers Jim Bell and Bruce Forbes think the code is just fine the way it is; in fact, they think the code has already improved Sisters neighborhoods. The developers weighed in on the code debate at the Sisters City Council meeting on Thursday, February 27. Jim... Full story
Dennis Oliphant and Steve Liebig presented the keys to donated buses to Tom and Joe Horn. Photo provided Sun Country Tours, a whitewater rafting company in Bend, has donated two buses to a popular campground near Sisters, to assist in their new Outdoor Schools and Adventure Camping programs. Company President Dennis Oliphant and General Manager Steve Liebig turned over titles and keys to the buses, both diesels in excellent condition, to Camp Davidson's staff on February 26. The buses will be used to transport school... Full story
The Sisters Community Choir will give its seasonal spring concert this year the third weekend in March. The concert will be offered twice: Saturday, March 15, 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 16, 2 p.m. The concerts will be held at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, on North Brooks Camp Road in Sisters. "Our March concert is a celebration of words," said director Martin Winch. "Texts take center stage. A wide range of literary periods and musical styles is represented. "The choir will sing poems by Shakespeare, Tennyson,... Full story
The site of a future hotel... Photo by Jim Cornelius Scott and Jane McCleery of Eugene have purchased the site for a hotel in the Pine Meadow Ranch development at the west end of Sisters. The McCleerys purchased lots 3, 4 and 5 in the commercial area of the development from PMR Devco, L.L.C. for a total of $1,700,000, according to Deschutes County records. PMR managing partner Doug Sokol had master planned Lot 3 for an upscale, boutique style hotel with 45-60 rooms. The site offers mountain views and is expected to be the... Full story
Although Sisters School District has no charter schools, and none appears to be in the offing, the school board recently adopted a policy that would allow such schools under certain conditions. The issue arose after officials of Bridges Academy, a private school east of Sisters, talked with state officials about possibly converting their institution into a charter school. The local academy has not pursued the idea and has submitted no application to the Sisters School Board. The Oregon School Boards Association encouraged... Full story
For more than a hundred abused horses, an existence of torment and uncertainty finally came to an end last Saturday, March 1. Nearly all of the horses seized by the Deschutes County Sheriff last December were auctioned off to a gathering of carefully screened bidders who pledged to provide good homes for the mistreated animals. "Lots of people bought more than one horse," said Sheriff's Advisory Council member Liz Wunder. "We only had 15 that didn't sell, and some of those may yet sell." She explained that some of the approve... Full story
GJ Miller Construction of Sisters will build the restroom facilities at the Harold and Dorothy Barclay Memorial Park. Miller won the contract with a bid of $82,714. Three other contractors bid on the job, with the highest bid coming in at $148,000. The engineer's estimate for the project was $110,000. The restrooms will be constructed on a section of Ash Street that has been decommissioned to be turned into a downtown park and pedestrian rest area. The park is also expected to include a water feature. The City of Sisters... Full story
Natalie Lopez. Photo provided Sisters Middle School's Sparrow Club has "adopted" Natalie Lopez, helping her family face the girl's serious health problems. Lopez, the youngest of four children, suffers from a malfunctioning liver; she is critically ill and in need of a transplant. The Sparrow sponsor is Dan Lundgren Construction of Bend. According to SMS Sparrow Club advisor Barbara Haynes, sponsors pledge $2,560 for the sparrow, which the students "earn" for their child by performing community service. Last year, the... Full story
Green-tinted, spiked hair creeping up the back of a pierced teenager's head might be shocking to some, but it is a staple of the punk rock look -- and part of the youth scene in Sisters. Ear-rupturing punk music with screeching lyrics filled the small Domino Room venue in Bend on Friday, February 7. Local hard-core and punk rock bands from Sisters and Bend displayed their musical creations to a gathering of eager fans. The scene offered everything from tattooed youngsters with multi-colored hair and gleaming silver rings... Full story
(L-R): Cindy Shonka, Tracie Orr, Meri Bender, Karen O'Neal. Mounted: Martha Billings on "Cinnamon Swirl." Photo by Kathryn Godsiff Catalyst Farms Equestrian Center on Cloverdale Road is Sisters' latest facility for those interested in training for themselves and their horses. During an open day on Sunday, March 2, visitors were welcomed to the landmark big, white barn which houses the family owned and operated business. The barn contains stalls which are available to boarders, and a large indoor arena. The center is the... Full story
A desert hut in Morocco. Photo by Eli Pyke Eli Pyke, a Sisters High School graduate, will present his film "Alimith," a recounting of a three-month trek in Europe and Mediterranean Africa on Tuesday, March 11 in the Sisters High School Lecture Drama Room. Pyke, along with his childhood friends Wesley Barclift and Jared Durham, traveled through London, Amsterdam, France, Spain and Morocco in what Pyke describes as a "coming-of-age quest for identity, purpose and love." The film showing kicks off with dessert served at 7 p.m.... Full story
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: Band-Aids don't... Full story
Vote "Yes" on 911 levy The operations levy for 911 might be considered more an insurance policy than a tax. The 911 service district needs the four-year levy to maintain service at current levels. The Sisters area knows well how vital those services can be. During last summer's Cache Mountain fire, 911 was used to make reverse phone calls alerting residents of an evacuation order at Black Butte Ranch. Those calls were made swiftly and efficiently and contributed to getting hundreds of residents and visitors off the ranch... Full story
According to William H. Boyer in his guest editorial in The Nugget February 17, Henry Ford knew more about economics than George Bush. He reasoned that to help sell more Model T Fords to employees, Ford raised all his workers wages to $5 a day. Well, if raising wages to $5 a day would sell more Model T's, why didn't he raise them to $10 and sell even more cars? Of course, the price of the cars would have had to be increased so much that few consumers would have been able to buy them. I think old Henry was pretty smart to... Full story
- Vandals spray painted Village Green bathroom fixtures, a city vehicle and a spare sheriff's patrol vehicle over the weekend. - A Sisters man was arrested on an assault charge after a domestic dispute in which he allegedly injured a woman's arm. - Two Sisters runaways were located -- one in Bend and the other in Portland. - A woman reported the theft of two revolvers, a rifle and a camcorder from her home. Information in "Sisters sheriff's calls" is taken from log entries and reports of the Deschutes County Sheriff's... Full story
