News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 24 of 24
Hilary Saunders is running for the Sisters School Board in the upcoming May election. Saunders has a longtime connection to Sisters and its schools. She went through all three schools as a student and graduated in the class of 2000 — a class of 78 students. Saunders swam competitively in high school. Her mother, Isolde Hedemark, taught at the schools, so Saunders has always been connected to the Sisters School District (SSD), which is why she wants to be on the school... Full story
Longtime Sisters residents Dr. Tom and Peggy Rheuben raised their family in Sisters and ran a busy, friendly dental business. When it was time to find someone to take over the business, they looked for a person with business priorities that matched their own. Strong relationships with patients and supporting the community were hallmarks of Dr. Rheuben’s practice. When Dr. Zachary Sunitsch read about the practice, he felt like it was fate. He and his wife, Leah, love Sisters f... Full story
The Community Leadership team is working with the City of Sisters, Sisters Ranger District, houseless representatives, volunteers, NeighborImpact, and YouthBuild to provide two weekly services to those living in the forest. In October, the team began a garbage collection service every Wednesday in the woods off North Pine Street. Jeremy Fields of the U.S. Forest Service, and the team makes the first contact with campers to notify them of the service. Bonnie Rose of the team... Full story
Under mounting public pressure, the Planning Department is moving the application for an expansion of Sisters’ Space Age Fuel service station from a Type II to Type III procedure. Pliska Investments of Clackamas, Oregon is the owner of Space Age Fuel at 411 W. Cascade Ave., and it is their desire to dismantle the existing gas station and convenience store and rebuild it from the ground up. Under a Type II review of the application, the City’s planning team has authority to... Full story
Citizens may go onto the national forest to collect certain materials but a permit to do so is required. The permit for personal-use firewood used to cost $5 but is now free. Free firewood permits are only valid during the current firewood season for the forest on which they are issued. Forest supervisors will designate free use firewood areas on all or parts of units that are compatible with land management plans and will establish the annual limit on the number of cords of free use an individual may collect. A valid permit... Full story
Sisters District Ranger Ian Reid reported last week that the Sisters fire-shed has been identified as number one in the state which means, with provided funding, the district and their partners will develop long term goals and action plans for maximizing the effectiveness of treatments at the landscape scale to reduce the risk of wildfire. Reid added that “a lot of the important work (maybe 40-50 percent) has already been completed in Sisters fire-shed but it will be i... Full story
The Sisters Outlaws’ first track-and-field meet of the season turned into a marathon event that lasted well past 9 p.m. It gave the team a chance to “knock off the rust” and get into the competitive groove. Teams from Gilchrist, North Lake, Paisley, Wheeler, Yoncalla, Culver, Madras, Redmond, Ridgeview, and Caldera also took part in the meet hosted by Crook County. The team has a real mix of experience, so for a lot of the athletes this was their very first high school level meet, while the veterans got a chance to check... Full story
The girls tennis squad kicked off their season with an 8-0 shutout at Mountain View on Thursday, March 16, and a day later posted a 6-2 win at home against Crook County. In Thursday’s action junior Juhree Kizziar (No. 1 singles) was challenged by Mt. View’s senior Reeve Mikalson, who has improved her play since last year. Mikalson’s consistent attacking forehand won her many points, but Kizziar adjusted her game with underspin and lobs to win the match with scores of 6-4, 7-6, and a tiebreaker of 7-3. Brooke Harper (No.... Full story
The Outlaws had four players earn All-League honors, including Mehkye Froehlich, Kale Gardner, Adam Maddox-Castle, and Jessey Murillo. Froehlich (senior) was a First Team All-League selection and had an outstanding season for the Outlaws. Mehkye led the Outlaws with 31 steals this season, which was almost double the next player. He also led the team in scoring (10.8 points per game) during league play, including a 22-point performance against La Pine at home on senior night. Froehlich also recorded 35 rebounds during league... Full story
Harry Thomas “Tom” Davis, Jr. passed away on March 2, 2023 due to complications from Parkinson’s. Tom was born to Rubye Boswell and Harry Thomas Davis in Louisville, Kentucky on May 16, 1939. He graduated from DuPont Manual High School in Louisville in 1957 and went on to the University of Kentucky and received a BS in civil engineering in 1961. He married Gay Goodpastor in 1959. Their son Michael was born in 1961. After college the family moved to Denver, Colorado and then... Full story
Last year the boys tennis team only had four players on their roster, and this year they are up to nine. New Coach David Rowell has hopes for the future of boys tennis, and plans to add players to the roster and build the program into one that will be competitive in league play. The Outlaws return only two to the varsity squad this year, seniors Matthew Riehle and Zenus Ortega. Riehle is a team captain who is tall and aggressive at the net and has a killer overhead shot. He is a leader on the team and will start at the No. 1... Full story
Sisters’ new music festival Big Ponderoo has revealed the June event’s full lineup, along with the official 2023 poster image. The brand-new music festival will take place June 24-25, with bluegrass and Americana music on two stages in Sisters — Sisters Art Works and the lawn at the Three Creeks Brewing production facility. The Lone Bellow, The Lil’ Smokies, Dustbowl Revival, The Last Revel, and regional bands Honey Don’t and Skillethead join the previously announced lineup, which includes The War and Treaty, The Travel... Full story
The Sisters Ranger District, led by District Ranger Ian Reid, was on full display at the Sisters Fire Community Room last Wednesday before a crowd of 70 people who came to hear what the district accomplished in 2022 and what the plans are for 2023. Reid began the evening by quoting the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service Gifford Pinchot who said, “A public servant is there to serve the public, not run them.” Reid and his staff take that philosophy to heart. The dis... Full story
The plan to super-size the Space Age gas station/convenience store on Cascade is plagued with problems — vital issues that deserve public attention. If you care about Sisters’ future, listen up. There are many layers to this story. Pliska Investment (of Portland) owns 29 Space Age stations, and has targeted Sisters for their new mega-station, consisting of 16 pumps, a huge, brightly lit awning, and a 3,500 square-foot convenience store (more fast-food). All packed into a corner with existing traffic problems. V... Full story
Education or indoctrination? To the Editor: Many of us are concerned by what we see and hear being promoted by the public school system in our country. Ideologies that are contrary to reality have been with us for many years, but they have increased until we’ve reached this crescendo of confusion that is present in our institutions today. Unfortunately, our governmental agencies and the media supports what academia feeds them. Ideologies that cannot be supported by science are presented over and over again as fact. If you s... Full story
City planners did the right thing in kicking the application for an expansion of the Space Age Fuel service station up to Type III status, which means it will be heard by the Sisters Planning Commission. The planning commissioners should take full advantage of the opportunity to examine whether the application represents the actual intent of code changes enacted in 2019, and to explore what the City of Sisters’ options are in addressing the concerns of a substantial part of it... Full story
Each year in March, a team of firefighter-athletes from Sisters Country joins a couple thousand of their peers for a grueling climb up the stairway of a skyscraper in Seattle, Washington. It’s a great way to build and test fitness for a physically demanding job — but more than that, it is an opportunity to serve a cause that is meaningful — sometimes very personally — to those first responders. A cadre of Sisters and Cloverdale firefighters loaded with m... Full story
The Black Butte Ranch (BBR) Lodge has always been the centerpiece for the resort. Built with Black Butte’s pyramid-shaped mountain overhead and Phalarope Lake reflecting the Cascade Range to the west, the setting has always been awe-inspiring. Keeping the iconic location in mind, architects, designers, and builders worked to surpass the magnificence of the original Lodge by creating a building that is a culmination of design and function. Even with power tools humming and h... Full story
Sisters Elementary School third graders put their reading skills to the test in the Oregon Battle of the Books regional competition March 11 in Madras. This is the first time ever that an elementary school team has represented Sisters School District in regional OBOB competition. This year was the first year back to in-person OBOB competitions post-pandemic. The third-grade team beat out the fourth- and fifth-grade reading teams in early March in school competitions leading... Full story
John and Sande Burgess of High Desert Corvette Club (HDCC) made a visit to the Furry Friends pet food bank last week. They were pleased to deliver a $500 donation to Furry Friends Foundation (FFF). “People often ask me how we are funded and now I am happy to add High Desert Corvette Club to that list of supporters,” said FFF founder Kiki Dolson. The pet food bank is busier than ever and larger donations are vital to the operation. The donation was made in the memory of HDC... Full story
Sisters Arts Association welcomes you to the official start of the 2023 Fourth Friday Artwalks. The March 24 Artwalk will have a lot in store for you, including new and returning artists, group shows, and the return of Quick Draw. Stitchin’ Post is presenting “Stitching – A Show of Hands,” featuring student work created in a 2022 workshop by beloved instructor Rosalie Dace. There will also be hand-stitched items made by Central Oregon artists as they explore depic... Full story
An ad hoc assembly of activists calling themselves CATS — Community Action Team of Sisters — is becoming more vocal in its efforts to call attention to what it perceives as misguided decisions by City officials. At the March 8 regularly scheduled City Council meeting, CATS’ self-described “unofficial leader,” Mark Dickens, addressed the councilors, and began by telling them he had “unfortunate harsh words” for them. “This board has lost the trust of this commun... Full story
The City of Sisters has designated four finalists for the position of City Manager. The community will have an opportunity to participate in small roundtable group conversations with Lynne Casey, Nathan George, Dave Nelson, and Jordan Wheeler on the evening of Monday, March 27, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Sisters City Hall. Lynne Casey presently serves as business operations manager for the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. She has 15 years of experience in local... Full story
The Outlaws boys tennis started their season with a home match against Mountain View on Thursday, March 16. Jude Parzybok (No. 1 singles) played a great first match of the season even though he lost the match 4-6, 0-6 to Devin Merchant. Coach David Rowell noted that Parzybok played an excellent match and had great ground strokes, but that the double faults hurt him. The second set was much closer than the 0-6 score makes it appear. There were many long, great rallies, but... Full story
