News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 34
Four people suffered minor injuries Friday morning in a motor vehicle crash on the Santiam Pass on Highway 22 near Milepost 81. According to Oregon State Police reports, on December 9, at approximately 10:15 a.m. a black 2003 Ford pickup driven by Demitri Snegirev, 39, of Woodburn, was westbound on Highway 22 when it lost control on the icy roadway and struck an oncoming vehicle, a blue 1990 Chevrolet pickup. The driver of the Chevrolet pickup, Antonio Vazquez Olivarez, 29, and his passenger Elva Garcia-Najera, 29, both of... Full story
A 15-year-old Sisters boy was rushed to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend Friday night, December 9, after he collapsed in the snow during a drinking bout with several other teenagers. According to Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reports, a deputy responded to a report of screaming and shouted obscenities in a neighborhood on the south side of Sisters. The deputy found a minivan parked in the roadway and contacted a man walking toward it, who reportedly told the deputy that his son had collapsed and was going to die. The d... Full story
It’s cold in Sisters and we all have to heat our homes. But winter heating can turn dangerous — as it did in two house fires in recent weeks. On Monday morning, December 5, a structure fire in Tollgate destroyed a garage and caused major damage to the house, which may also be a total loss, according to Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Marshal Dave Wheeler. Investigation showed that a wall heater in the garage started that fire, Wheeler said. “At first, we thought there was only damage to the attic of the home, but now inves... Full story
Almost 40 hardy souls gathered in the afternoon chill on Sunday, December 11, to dedicate two Habitat for Humanity homes. Robin Tawney and her daughter Mikaela, and Doug Kaufman are happily settling into their homes on Washington Street. “Welcome to my home. Those are the most awesome words I’ve said in the last two years,” said Tawney. Though her hands shook, her voice was strong as she thanked the many volunteers who shared the journey along the road to Habitat home ownershi... Full story
The City of Sisters and the Deschutes Public Library District should open up the unfinished parking lot at the new public facility campus at the corner of Locust Street and Highway 20 now. There has been a weeks-long holdup while the library, city and school district try to figure out who will be responsible for re-grading the gravel lot next spring. Meanwhile, Sisters has been blanketed in snow and school district employees have to trudge through it across Locust Street to get to work in their new administration building.... Full story
To the Editor: Bruce Williams wrote about attacks on President Bush (The Nugget, Letters to the Editor, December 7). He echoed the administration position that saying anything against the President helps our enemies. It seems to me that it’s very hard to help our enemies any more than the President is currently doing. A look at the facts is pretty clear: there are a whole lot more suicide bombers, roadside bombs and attacks in Iraq and other countries now than there were before Iraq was invaded. There have been recent t... Full story
A Sisters area landowner won a waiver of land use regulations under Measure 37 from the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners last week. Commissioners Mike Daly and Dennis Luke agreed to grant a waiver to Vicki Atkinson allowing her to build a single-family dwelling on property currently zoned as exclusive farm use (EFU). The property is located at 69655 Lake Drive east of Sisters. The waiver was one of five approved by the commissioners. Deschutes County and several other counties have chosen to continue ruling on Measure... Full story
Yet another appeal from Sisters resident Mollie Edwards to keep her picket fence up despite its encroachment on city right-of-way drew another “No” from the city council last week. After several previous council discussions of the issue, the city administration sent Edwards a letter saying she must take the fence down by December 14. If she fails, the city will do the job itself. At a regular council meeting Thursday night, City Manager Eileen Stein reported that Edwards was not able to attend the meeting but had asked Ste... Full story
Mike Baynes and his new student teacher, Abigail Merickel (see related story, page 6) took students from the Sisters High School advanced art class to the Contemporary Art Exhibition on Printmaking and to the Sunbird and Mockingbird galleries in Bend on Tuesday, December 6. Merickel was in charge of planning and organizing the field trip. AG Edwards sponsored the Exhibition on Printmaking which was held at the rotunda in the library at Central Oregon Community College (COCC).... Full story
Katie Hughes scored 23 points and had six steals to lead the Outlaws to a 64-59 victory at Creswell on Tuesday, December 6. The Outlaws used a full court press throughout game to try to keep the pressure up. According to Coach Bill Blevins, Creswell did a nice job of being patient in their attempt to break the Outlaws’ press. Blevins said, “We were trailing 19-14 at the end of the first quarter but I thought if we continued to keep the pace we’d get a break.” The break came for the Outlaws late in the second quarter when Hu... Full story
A handful of Deschutes County residents testified at a December 9 meeting of the county planning commission — on both sides of the question of the need for more destination resorts in the region. The commission will advise Deschutes County commissioners whether maps should be redrawn showing where destination resorts might be developed. Recent changes in state law allow some counties to review areas for destination resorts. The planning commission made no decision on the issue, but may be ready to make a recommendation to c... Full story
Sisters High School choir teacher Tara MacSween and her jazz choir spread a little Christmas cheer in Sisters on Saturday, December 3. The carolers strolled through downtown Sisters and the industrial park caroling for local businesses in hopes of promoting the jazz choir. The choirs’ set of songs were traditional Christmas carols which included: “Jolly Old St. Nick,” “Silent Night,” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” “We knew that different groups caroled in downtown Bend and we thought it w... Full story
SOAR was just awarded a coveted equipment grant from US Lacrosse that will allow SOAR to offer a lacrosse spring league for middle school boys and girls. Matt Macauley, sports director for SOAR, and Bill Rexford, high school lacrosse coach, worked together on the grant. Macauley said, “Last year I was having a discussion with Bill about starting a middle school lacrosse program and Bill told me about the grants that US Lacrosse awards every year. We decided to apply.” US Lacrosse awarded only 50 grants nationwide: 17 for boy... Full story
Sisters’ resident and artist Abigail Merickel is Mike Baynes’ student teacher for this trimester in the Sisters High School art department. Merickel has an extensive background in printmaking and in January will teach a unit on printmaking to students in the advanced art class. Merickel is a native of Northern Minnesota and was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Italy. She has been actively involved in the art world as an award winning painter and multi-media prin... Full story
Robert Paul Newton, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and brother has gone to be with the Lord on December 9. A memorial service will be held in the Camp Sherman Community Center on Sat-urday, December 17 at 1 p.m. Bob was born January 4, 1926, in Portland, Oregon, to Mary Fern and Paul D. Newton, the first born of three. Bob grew up in Portland and surrounding areas; he was an all-star athlete, enjoying many sports. He attended Grant High School and... Full story
The Lady Outlaws lost both of their games at the Cottage Grove Tournament on Friday and Saturday, December 9-10. On Friday night Sisters suffered a heartbreaking 55-53 loss to Sutherlin in overtime. The Outlaws held a 12-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second and third quarters Sisters scored only 20 points while giving up 33 points to Sutherlin. With five minutes to go in the game the Outlaws managed a great comeback and tied the game 47-47 but were unable to get the win in overtime. Jenny Boswell led the... Full story
The current Sisters Library building will not be sold for commercial use when library operations move to a new home later this month. Not right away, in any case. City Manager Eileen Stein said last week that the city council recently decided in executive session that its first preference was to keep the building in public ownership. So at their workshop last Thursday Stein gave council members a draft of a “Request for Proposals” (RFP) that the city will circulate to com... Full story
Movie-goers in Sisters will see more than just a giant lion flashing up on the screen at the Sisters Movie House. A furry and festive slide show presentation is being shown before each showing of “Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Erin Deggendorfer of Fast Creek Productions organized a special photo shoot as a fund-raiser for Furry Friends Pet Food Drive. Pet owners were invited to have their best furry friend photo taken with Santa, and more than 40 plus did jus... Full story
From paintings of a snowboarding Christmas tree ornament to a picture of a snowman exercising, the Sisters community will enjoy student art on downtown business windows throughout the holidays. Last week, Sisters Elementary School fifth graders braved freezing temperatures to add their colorful holiday inspired art to businesses including Soba Noodles & Rice, Martolli’s Pizza, Garden of Eden, Eurosports and Your $12.99 Store. “Paint was freezing in the cup,” said teach... Full story
“We’ve got an early Christmas present for you,” said Sisters Rotary Club President Mike Bidasolo as his club handed out free dictionaries to all the third graders at Sisters Elementary School. Last Thursday, December 8, more than 85 students lined up to get their gift titled “The Best Dictionary for Students.” Bidasolo pointed out the name plate in the front of the dictionary so students could make it their personal copy. Students began looking through the pages for their fav... Full story
Katie Cavanaugh has a lifetime of songwriting to her credit. The Sisters songwriter has won significant recognition for her work; she’s a two-time Sisters Folk Festival songwriting contest finalist and a Folk Song of the Year winner with the Central Oregon Songwriters’ Association (COSA) in 2004. Now Cavanaugh has distilled her catalogue down to 11 songs for the newly-released CD “Every Little Thing.” Cavanaugh describes the creation of the CD as “an incredible journey.” She w... Full story
SOAR is growing up — and the decade-old organization has had its share of triumphs as well as growing pains. Founded on a shoestring with help from Sisters Kiwanis, the Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation now offers a wide range of programs from arts to athletics for Sisters children from pre-schoolers to high schoolers. SOAR hosts a full winter schedule of basketball tournaments and is adding sports like lacrosse (see related story, page 5). Many Sisters f... Full story
Twelve entrepreneurs from Sisters and the surrounding communities successfully completed 12 weeks of intensive training and technical assistance offered through the state-subsidized Central Oregon Microenterprise Program. The program helped participants grow their hobby or existing business into viable enterprises. Graduates included a contractor, clothing designer, photographers, artists, healing arts practitioners and toy crafters. The program continues in Sisters with an... Full story
The boys basketball team took on some tough competition at the Cottage Grove Tournament on Friday and Saturday, December 9-10. Sisters lost to Sutherlin 64-53 on Friday night and then lost 56-53 to North Bend on Saturday. Sisters had a tough game against Sutherlin, one of the top five teams in the state, on Friday night. Sutherlin has one of the top players in the state in Justin Parnell, who averages about 30 points per night. Andy Burke and Jeff Sampson had the... Full story
The Sisters School Board agreed Monday night, December 12, that the Little Outlaw Learning Center, or an equivalent child care program, can stay in the district’s middle school for at least one more year. The consensus decision (no vote was taken) included a sense that the board will do more research into the larger question of making subsidized child care for district employees a permanent part of its operation. This will include obtaining information from other districts that have such programs. For the time being, board me... Full story
