News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 26
"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to great places! You're off and away!" These words, written by Dr. Seuss and delivered by valedictorian Molly Blust, summed up the thoughts of the 139 graduating high school students, the Class of 2009. To the tune of Pomp and Circumstance, the 2009 Sisters High School graduation ceremony began Friday evening. Principal Bob Macauley welcomed parents and friends who filled the high school gymnasium. With the idea that "a tribe is... Full story
Ten current and former world champions will compete at the 2009 Sisters Rodeo. From professional rodeo's six-time All-Around World Champion, Trevor Brazile, to the record holder for Most Money Won at a Single Rodeo, Lindsay Sears, the roster reads like rodeo royalty. In bareback riding, Bobby Mote, rated third in world standings, and Will Lowe, the one-year winnings record holder in this event, will be joined by Kaycee Feild, eighth, and Jessy Davis, 12th in world standings. Local legend Mote holds two world titles, most... Full story
About 100 people including more than a dozen children attended the unveiling of a sculpture donated by Lorenzo Ghiglieri to the City of Sisters on Tuesday at noon. The statue is located at the corner of Larch Street and Cascade Avenue. Attending the ceremony were Jack McGowan, board member for the Oregon Sesquicentennial Celebration, representing Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Also present were leaders of the committee, called Oregon 150, that is planning for the Sesquicentennial, city... Full story
There's a land-use fight under way in the Sisters Country. All of the elements are present: a newcomer proposing a destination resort with some innovative uses, residents who do not want their way of life impacted, and a complicated county governmental process. The area in question is located nine miles east of Sisters near Highway 20 and is zoned Multiple Use Agricultural (MUA-10). The applicant, Hank Queen, is proposing a guest lodge, an allowed use for this zone classification. The business at the guest lodge would be... Full story
Not everyone who works for the electric company strings wires or works the power grid. Michael Burke and Micah Bennett work for Portland General Electric, but they spend their work day as fish wranglers. As members of PGE's Native Fish Team, they are headquartered at Round Butte Dam on the Deschutes River near Madras. This time of year, Burke and Bennett spend a typical day checking fish traps in the Deschutes River Basin. Their area of responsibility includes traps at Lake... Full story
To the Editor: Thanks to The Nugget and (reporter) Jeff Spry for reporting on BMI and other performance rights organizations (PROs) vis-à-vis their licensing music for local venues ("The music police are patrolling Sisters, The Nugget, June 3, page 1). The article contained a few misconceptions. BMI is not a "[performers] rights organization" as the article stated. BMI is a "[performance] rights organization." That is, its raison d'etre is not to protect the rights of performers but the public-performance rights for... Full story
About 50 Sisters Country residents attended the fourth transportation system planning community forum on Tuesday, June 2, at City Hall. This forum was the culmination of over two years of work by the most recent Transportation System Planning (TSP) Advisory Committee, in coordination with the City of Sisters and an outside consulting engineering firm, DKS Associates. The most significant element of the plan is a proposed alternate route allowing through traffic to use Barclay Drive to circumvent the downtown core of Sisters.... Full story
Those responsible for wielding a knife on the Sisters School District budget have been operating off a list of proposed cuts designed to make up for a projected deficit of $1.688 million. But if you are looking at the district's budget document, you cannot find two numbers, subtract one from another and come up with the $1.688 million figure. So where did the number come from? According to school district business manager Sandy Tartaglia, that figure was derived from a... Full story
Sisters Forest Products is one of the subcontractors hired for a major forest-thinning project around Camp Sherman. The job started out small in mid-March but received a huge boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus money. "We are doing lots of extreme high density thinning by hand at a great price," said Dave Elpi, owner of Sisters Forest Products. "A very good if not perfect example of the intended use of stimulus funds. Needful work done by... Full story
Sisters resident and rodeo volunteer Frank Getty knows the rodeo life. He took home buckles in saddle bronc riding many times during a 20-some year career that began in 1956. Born on a ranch near Lander, Wyoming, in 1934, Getty started bronc riding on a whim. There were night rodeos held in Lander, and one night he decided he wanted to give the bareback horses a try. So he did an exhibition ride that night and on other nights when there was a gap in the line-up. At a high... Full story
The final games of the 2009 Sisters Little League season are being played this week. Over 150 Sisters-area youth played baseball and softball this spring. There is a lot more in store. For the first time, the league will hold a season-closing ceremony at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, at the Sisters Community Church ball fields. All players, assembled in their jersey or cap, will receive their Sisters Little League pin. They can also play pick-up ball and feast on a free barbecue from the snack shack hosted by the league's board me... Full story
"Rocket Rod" Moorehead has been shooting off rockets for nearly 45 years, so when the traditional fifth grade rocket launch takes place each year at Sisters Middle School, he is definitely in his element. Friday morning, June 5, weather conditions were perfect for each fifth grader to send a rocket into the sky, up to 500 feet above the launch pad on the athletic field north of the gymnasium. The students combined science, design, and art in creating their missiles from scratch. "We provide a balsa nose cone, a cardboard tube... Full story
After four months as Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Sisters District Ranger, Bill Anthony, is back in the saddle in Sisters. Temporary assignments, such as the one Anthony just returned from, are one of the ways the Forest Service provides career-enhancing opportunities for its employees. "I really enjoyed my experience in Central Washington," said Anthony, "but there are a lot of other career, family and personal factors to consider... Full story
Whether you call it a goshawk, northern goshawk, or by its Latin genus species of Accipiter gentiles, nothing compares to seeing the white fluffy head of baby goshawks peering out of the nest. Seeing the goshawk as a chick, long before it reaches its full length of 19 to 25 inches, is a rare pleasure. If earlier in that same morning you had seen a baby calliope hummingbird, Stellula calliope, in its nest you would consider yourself twice blessed. The calliope is the smallest... Full story
Kelsey White got a taste of the competition at the highest level of women's rowing at the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships, with the varsity Willamette University boat on the Cooper River in New Jersey, May 28-30. She liked it. "We were racing against JV (junior varsity) and varsity boats all mixed together," said the freshman varsity rower. "Some of the JV boats were incredible and beat many of the varsity. It was awesome to be surrounded by some of the best female athletes... Full story
Last week Wolftree, Sisters High School and the Forest Service culminated the year's partnership working together in the Forest Service's white-headed woodpecker study area near Camp Sherman. This has been a long-term, on-going project that Wolftree, a locally based outdoor education organization, put together with a biology class and the Forest Service at Sisters High School. One phase found science students live-trapping golden mantled ground squirrels. Golden mantles are... Full story
Ashley Donovan pulled in a whopper weighing 10.2 pounds. Three to four pounds was the average. Grimm and Plank were sure there were even bigger fish out there, but no one caught them. Over at the fish-shaped story tent, Native American tales from the Yakima Tribe of Washington and the Squamish Indians of British Columbia, Canada enthralled youngsters who could sit still. Colorful fish costumes provided much entertainment for the smallest, while they attempted to act out the st... Full story
The Sisters School District will sponsor a summer lunch program for all children under the age of 18. The program is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and provides free lunch to all children. No school district funds will be used. The program will be located at Sisters Elementary School, 611 E. Cascade Ave., and will operate Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from June 22 until August 21. The program will not operate on July 3. "Our census information shows that the downtown Sisters... Full story
Johnnie Bennett's life is far too improbable to make it as a movie script. Son of West Coast Mafia royalty and a Vegas dancer; stepson of a rodeo bronc riding champ, actor and musician in the crazy '80s - it all seems like an American noir epic, larger than life and more than a little far-fetched. That's why it had to be written as a memoir, the way it was lived. Bennett, who once sold real estate in Sisters, will return to town this week to sign his memoir, "Mafia,... Full story
The Woodpecker Wonderland Festival presented its second annual guided bird watch, leading birders out in the field to view 11 species of local woodpeckers. Saturday's birding was followed by a sumptuous dinner provided by The Lodge at Suttle Lake. Guests were entertained by music sponsored by the Metolius Recreation Association and performed by a trio of Dennis McGregor, Patrick Lombardi and Peter Heitoff. McGregor is also the artist of the woodpecker poster for both this... Full story
Deciding to pursue an education or career in any field can be a difficult decision. A group of artists at the White Sage Inn, located just outside of Sisters, is hoping that they can help young people determine if pursuing a life as an artist is the right choice. They are conducting four instructional summer workshops in theater, industrial design, fashion design and grand sculpture. In addition to the longer workshops, a two-day intro-duction to watercolor painting techniques will be offered. The courses will each run for... Full story
Lorena Wright passed away at her home in Sisters with her three children at her side. She was 85. Lorena was born January 20, 1924 in Rushville, Illinois to parents John and Lula Knous. She was the third of five children. She often talked of her childhood and growing up on a self-sustaining farm in Rushville. After graduating from school in Rushville, she went to work for the Bendix Co. in Chicago, making parts for the military during World War II. It was in Chicago that she... Full story
New England-based singer-songwriter Jason Spooner will perform at Angeline's Bakery and Café Monday, June 15, at 7 p.m. Spooner and his band, The Jason Spooner Trio, are on the West Coast leg of a national tour in support of their CD "Live on the Loft." Originally slated for a limited release on satellite radio, the band was so happy with the results that they decided to share it with the world, with an enthusiastic blessing from XM Sirius. Spooner has earned numerous... Full story
Nine-year-old Chelsea Bradley competed along with about 30 individuals and 10 teams, mostly locals, in the fifth annual Sisters Athletic Club "Try a Tri" mini-triathlon held Saturday, June 6. The event, designed to introduce people to the triathlon experience, included a 425-yard swim, 12-mile bike ride and three-mile run. Bradley, the youngest participant, competed solo, along with her grandmother, Terri Gallegly, who came up with the idea originally. "I had to talk her into... Full story
Sometimes a fisherman drives miles to find a remote fishing hole, but ignores the creek in his own backyard. The Sisters Tie Trail is kind of like that to the hiker. It's not an unusual ecosystem; it's not especially wild; and it's certainly not backcountry adventure. What it is, though, is right here! As we wait for the snow-covered high country to open up, this is a trail that is open pretty much all year. It's suitable for hiking, jogging, trail biking and horseback... Full story
