News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
Sisters is supposed to be a pedestrian-friendly town, but all too often drivers blow through crosswalks, ignoring the foot traffic. Sheriff's deputies clamped down on such violators on Friday, May 16, in a safety operation at the corner of Locust Street and Cascade Avenue (Highway 20). Deputy Juli McConkey, clad in plain clothes and looking like a young shopper, strolled repeatedly across the highway in the crosswalk as traffic approached. For the most part, drivers were... Full story
PPP Athletes (left-right): Aubyn Geser, Anna Morton, Rebecca Morton, Karen Mansker, Kelly Morton, Jaqui Zenck, Sue Burck, Elizabeth Dale, Maren Burck, Marigrace Marshall and Cathy Marshall. Photo provided Sisters athletes left a mark on the winners' board at Pole Pedal Paddle on Saturday, May 17. The Sisters Trail Runners -- a team of women who run together regularly from a base in Buck Run -- won their age 40-44 division in the six-event race with a time of 2:17. Perhaps... Full story
The Sisters High School Concert Band took top honors at the OSAA State Music Championships on Tuesday, May 13. Each year the band has been one of only 12 from 3A schools to qualify for the event, making its place on these programs an honor and mark of achievement all by itself. This is Sisters' fourth consecutive trip to the championships and this time the 63 members of the band took their achievement to its highest level. "Each year a different panel of judges is brought in for the state festival," said music director Jody... Full story
Work on the new Sisters High School is on schedule for a September opening. People should stay away from the site and report any suspicious activity. Photo by Bruce Merrell Sometime Friday night, May 16, thieves swept in and stole large numbers of hand tools stored in gang boxes at the site of the new Sisters High School. "They came in between the hours of about 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. (Saturday) and cut them all open and stole the subcontractors' hand tools," said project... Full story
Volunteers from Friends of Black Butte Ranch picked up litter along four miles of Highway 20 last week, doing their quarterly clearing of rubbish and trash. Preparing for work are Jim Gibbons (left), Harry and Susan Sprang and Lee Kufchak. Photo by Tom Chace "A Litter Bit Hurts" was one of the best of the public service announcements used several years ago to remind drivers and others not to throw trash from automobiles. It may have been catchy and it may have helped to reduce litter on our highways and byways. But once the... Full story
Next Monday during the Memorial Day holiday celebration, an F-15D jet airplane from the 173rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard, stationed at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, will do a "flyover" above Sisters honoring those who have died in the service of their country. The flyover and special observance of Memorial Day will start at 11 a.m. at the Camp Polk Cemetery, according to Frank J. Jackson, commander of Post 8138 of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars. George Winterfeld, the adjutant of the Sisters Post of... Full story
As part of its community outreach, the Sisters Jazz Festival (SJF) is looking for at least four good upright pianos that can used at the September festival, then placed in homes in the Sisters area for the remainder of the year. The new program, Keys for Kids, is intended to assist promising young musicians who might not be able to have a piano in their home, according to SJF Board Chair Tom Worcester. "We need sturdy, used upright pianos that can withstand multiple moves and years of hard use," Worcester said. Sisters Jazz... Full story
The Sisters school budget committee Monday night adopted an $8.5 million general fund budget for 2003-04, as proposed earlier by Superintendent Steve Swisher. The action is relatively meaningless, however, because the true size of the budget will be determined in Salem, not Sisters. The district's spending for next year will depend upon the current Legislature's school support appropriation for the next biennium. Swisher and School Board Chairman Jeff Smith both reported that the latest word from knowledgeable insiders in... Full story
Lorri Craig. Photo by Jim Cornelius Lorri Craig will step down as the Community Advocate for the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS), effective June 1. "It's time," said Craig, who has been involved with the activist group in various capacities for more than five years. "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter in my life. I'm going to return to private practice as a financial advisor." Craig will go to work for the Pacific Northwest firm, Planning Resources Corporation.... Full story
The Deschutes Basin Land Trust got a big boost to its Metolius Preserve Campaign with a gift of $10,000 from the Bill Healy Foundation and a gift of $100,000 from the Montag Family Fund. The Land Trust is seeking to raise $3 million by July so that it can acquire a 1,240-acre tract of forest land on Lake Creek, a tributary to the Metolius River. The Land Trust has been quietly raising money since obtaining an option to purchase the land from Willamette Industries and has raised roughly $1.9 million to date. The acquisition... Full story
He is a convicted and imprisoned embezzler and has lost his voting privileges, but Greg Brown of Sisters is still entitled to full retirement benefits -- though incarcerated at an out-of-state federal prison at Nellis Camp in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The only criteria for benefits, according to a representative from PERS (Public Employees Retirement System), is "that the person serve 20 years as a public employee and reach the age of 50." Former Sheriff Greg Brown will be 50 this summer. He served in the Sheriff's Department... Full story
A twice-burned but still determined Sisters School Board has lined up interviews with four candidates for the job of interim superintendent for the coming school year. The search for a temporary leader was launched May 14, the day after Rogue River Superintendent Charles Hellman withdrew from consideration. Hellman had been offered the top job after an elaborate search, but he and the board were unable to agree on contract terms. Hellman was actually the board's second choice. The first choice, Central Point secondary... Full story
The Sisters School Board has agreed to take a small gamble to ensure that the new high school will open this fall with a nearly full complement of new computers and related equipment. Actually, District Technology Coordinator Todd Pilch is taking the main gamble. Originally, the board approved a cautious approach to the purchase of $844,000 worth of "fixtures, furnishings and equipment" (FF&E) for the new building. It accepted Superintendent Steve Swisher's estimate that the district will receive that much from a state fund... Full story
Kristin Bail was recently appointed as the new District Ranger for the Crooked River National Grassland, which is located about eight miles northeast of Sisters. Bail brings 15 years of wildland administration experience with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to her new position. Her most recent assignment was as Acting District Ranger in the Paulina Ranger District of the Ochoco National Forest. Before that, she spent two years as Hydrologist for the BLM's Oregon Office and 10 years with the BLM in... Full story
Bob Aitken owns and operates SisterScapes. Photo by Jim Cornelius Bob Aitken had no idea when he came through Sisters 16 years ago as a young man on a fishing trip that he would someday operate a landscaping business here. All he knew then was that he loved the place. "I fell in love with the town," said the Bay Area native. "I went to (college) in Durango, Colorado, and I thought this was just like Durango without the altitude." He forgot all about Sisters for more than a dec... Full story
The Sisters Folk Festival will sponsor the Americana Song Academy in the week leading up to the festival September 2-4. The academy is a comprehensive workshop open to everyone interested in songwriting. An emphasis is placed on songwriting, lyric development, guitar technique and accompaniment. The academy will be held at Caldera on Blue Lake west of Sisters. Classes include: "Songwriting and the Creative Process"; "Arranging Voice and Guitar"; "Open and Alternate Tunings"; "Anatomy of a Guitar" by Breedlove Guitar Co. and... Full story
Lee Kufchak shows off the engine of his Austin-Healey. Photo by Conrad Weiler Lee Kufchak spends sunny spring days riding around Black Butte Ranch in his "new" Austin-Healey touring car. Just over 72,000 Austin-Healey vehicles were produced between 1953 and the final year of production, 1967. Kufchak has one of the later models -- a 1966-67 six-cylinder, three-liter, 148 horsepower engine and frame weighing 2,500 pounds. The original models had a four-cylinder engine and were lower to the ground. "It can do 125 mph easily,"... Full story
The corner "garden" in front of Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill and Saloon is as changeable as the season. This month it features a horse with a "Don't Fence Me In." corral facing one way and a "John McGee boot-grave" facing the other. Photo by Tom Chace Among the wonderful things about Sisters are the downtown corner "gardens," many maintained year-long by the Sisters Garden Club. Most have living flowers and shrubs during the spring and summer months adding color and warmth to the business area. One of the most unique fronts at... Full story
Jennifer Wilhite and a pair of clients. Photo by Elise Gourguechon Jennifer Wilhite makes no bones about it: Her business is Going to the Dogs. "I do pet sitting and dog walking," Wilhite said. "I play with dogs; that's what I do. I'm paid to fall in love, essentially." The young woman recently moved to Sisters from Santa Cruz, California. She wanted to be her own boss and to do work she really enjoyed, so she decided a business that taps her love for animals was the right way... 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: Black Butte... Full story
A 51-year-old man was killed and his passenger was seriously hurt in a collision on Highway 20 six miles east of Sisters on Thursday morning, May 15. According to Oregon State Police, a westbound Geo Gem suddenly veered in front of an eastbound passenger sedan driven by a 26-year-old Sisters man. The eastbound car struck the Geo in the rear, sending it into the ditch on the south side of the highway. Juan Muñoz, 52, of Madras, was dead at the scene. The passenger, Maria Jesus Rosales, 32, was badly hurt. Air Life landed... Full story
- Two kids were spotted trying to shoot quail with a pellet gun. - A Sisters resident brought a woman into the substation after she showed up at his house drunk and lost. Black Butte Ranch Police - An officer searched on the west side of the Ranch for a lost mushroom picker. He drove to Forest Service road 630 and located the person and stood by until the rest of his party arrived and picked him up. - An officer assisted sheriff's deputies with a person who ran off the road in an apparent attempted suicide. The person was... Full story
