News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 27
Dust off your boots and shine your belt buckles! The 68th Annual Sisters Rodeo is coming to town for three days of roping and riding fun from Friday, June 13 through Sunday, June 15. Rodeo performances open with the Grand Entry which includes Sisters Rodeo queen Kayla Gregory along with Peggy Tehan singing the National Anthem as she has for 18 years. That is followed by a wild horse race where three-man teams attempt to saddle and ride a wild horse. Contests include tie-down roping, bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling,... Full story
A combination of heartfelt tributes and entertaining speeches highlighted the 2008 commencement ceremony at Sisters High School that featured the largest graduating class in the school's history. More than 160 students received diplomas in the two- hour ceremony, but it was the music, slide show and words from seven of the students themselves that made the evening one to remember. After welcoming special guests, including superintendent Elaine Drakulich and school board chair Mike Gould, principal Bob Macauley introduced... Full story
Lynn Johnston is a contractor. He calls himself a simple man, a carpenter. He would rather talk about his heroes than himself. His shop, with polished concrete floors, is cleaner than a hospital. The building does not have his name on it, neither does his pickup truck. At their June meeting, the Sisters School Board thanked Johnston for $40,000 he raised in scholarships for kids graduating from Sisters High School this year. Of that, about $20,000 came from Lynn and his wife V... Full story
As gas continues to rise in price throughout the country, some people in Sisters think pain at the pump may actually boost the local economy. Emily Pelletier, owner of Cork Cellars Wine Bar and Bottle Shop at 161A N. Elm St. in Sisters, believes that there will be more visitors in town this summer. "We are a great one-day stop, and the Sisters (Area) Chamber of Commerce has done such a good job promoting us in Portland and other places as a nice getaway without being too far away," Pelletier said. Pelletier also predicts... Full story
Someone is going to die at the intersection of Barclay Drive and Highway 20. What has happened there already is bad enough. There have been four major accidents, three in two years, with more than a dozen people injured, several seriously or critically. People from Sisters, our friends and neighbors, have suffered permanent, life-changing injuries. We cannot wait two, three, four more years - or more - for the City of Sisters and the Oregon Department of Transportation to do... Full story
When Janet Storton sold her interior design business a few years ago she had no idea in her semiretirement she would use her business and quilting skills to bring hope to the women of Uganda. Or gaze upon the land of Africa where she told her mother - 50 years earlier - she would someday go. In an effort to personally meet the two children she and husband Peter sponsor in Kapchorwa, Uganda, through Africa Renewal Ministries, Storton requested to be a part of a Christian... Full story
The recent restoration of 70-year-old picnic shelters near Camp Sherman brought to mind the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Sisters area. The three campground shelters were built by the CCC along the Metolius River in the 1930s. They are visible reminders of an era that has faded into history but continues to shape life in the region to this day. In the throes of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the CCC in March of 1933, a mere 17 days after his inauguration. Less than... Full story
Happy faces were everywhere on National Kids Fishing Day at Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery on Saturday. Children aged 10 and under each had a chance to catch one of the nearly 600 trout stocked in the pond at the Camp Sherman hatchery. Parents brought their children to learn to cast and haul in their first big fish. Kids either kept their trout for dinner or released their catch and tried again. While the pond appeared to be the main event, there were several stops along the way... Full story
A barking dog next door or down the street is a neighborhood sound most folks can do without. Those who have to contend with a neighbor who refuses to acknowledge that the family pet is a nuisance barker might wonder what recourse they have apart from earplugs. It is a situation that can strain people to the breaking point, ruining neighborly relations and putting the dog at risk. "Behind every barking dog is no one asking it to be quiet," said Cathy Warner, owner of Central Bark in Sisters, a doggy day-care and boarding... Full story
Outlaws baseball players Tanner Hodges, Nate Jackson and Jarred Hasskamp earned all-state honors for 2008. Hodges was selected first team all-state infielder, Jackson was named third team all state outfield and Hasskamp was honorable mention outfield. Hodges finished the season with a .517 batting average and had 29 extra base hits in 29 games. "He generates a lot of power for his size," said Coach Steve Hodges. "Tanner was our most consistent run producer and a very good defensive player." Jackson's batting average for the... Full story
No cell phones, no iPods, no e-mails, no text messages. Just the cool, clean Central Oregon air, the sound of rapidly-flowing Whychus Creek and a chance to get their hands dirty. Quite a change for middle-school students from Sisters and Madras who came to the site last week. These were the first groups of students to participate in a Wolftree educational field day at 58 acres on Whychus Creek since agreement was reached to sell the property to Wolftree. The property will... Full story
Peggy Miller, Principal at Sisters Christian Academy, got more than she bargained for when she ordered lunch at El Caporal Mexican restaurant last week. "My secretaries and I were at lunch Wednesday and I ordered the clam pasta dish that I love and took a bite of the clam at one point, and there was a pearl in the middle of the clam," Miller said. "I showed it to them and they didn't believe me!" The pearl is tiny and pink, not quite perfectly round and it is cracked slightly... Full story
People interested in the 'alpaca lifestyle' will get an opportunity to see some action at the Crescent Moon Ranch Shearing Festival. The event is slated for Saturday, June 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ranch on Lower Bridge Way. Alpacas of all ages will be on display, the Boutique doors will be wide open for lovers of alpaca fashion garments, and a tri-tip barbeque runs from noon to 2 p.m. Visitors are invited to explore the ranch and ask questions. The main draw of the... Full story
"The Olympics give you goosebumps no matter what the event," said Rob Johnson, project leader for Fluid Images. Fluid Images is a full-service film, video and production company based in Sisters that will film events at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China this summer. Johnson will lead a four-man team to the 26th Summer Olympics. "The hair on your neck stands up," Rob added, referring to the Olympic camaraderie and atmosphere. Opening ceremonies are August 8. The team will... Full story
In what they hope is a "clear message," the Sisters School Board voted unanimously on June 3 to ask taxpayers for more money for schools. Known as "local option," state law allows schools to request additional funding through the ballot. The Sisters School District has been successful twice before in passing local option, providing about $1 million per year over the last eight years. Without the money, major cuts would fall upon the schools, mostly in staffing. The board will later determine how much money they will ask for,... Full story
Tollgate residents looking at the prospect of a large new electrical substation just outside their back yard appear resigned to their fate. Central Electric Cooperative (CEC) reports little contact from residents since a neighborhood meeting in April in which CEC explained their plans and asked for recommendations from residents on how to mitigate impacts. "We took those recommendations and met with the county in a pre-application meeting," said CEC spokesman Allan... Full story
Sisters area residents who recycle regularly - and judging by the volume of traffic at the new recycling station in the industrial area, there are quite a few - have probably noticed that now, the "commingled" category includes everything except corrugated cardboard and glass. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) studies show that when consumers need to do less sorting of recyclables at home, participation in recycling goes up. DEQ estimates that expanding the commingle category has resulted in as much as a 21 percent... Full story
About 45 people gathered at Village Green Park in Sisters on Saturday morning to celebrate National Trails Day and to learn about and explore the Sisters Community Trails system. The celebration was sponsored by the Sisters Trails Committee, a group of local volunteers who have been working since 2000 to develop a system of non-motorized commuter and recreational trails within the greater Sisters area. To date, the group - with significant donations from area businesses and vo... Full story
Starting next fall, the Sisters School Board will meet on Wednesdays rather than on Tuesdays, with meetings twice a month. The decision was made at the school board meeting on June 3. Glen Lasken made the motion. He said he hoped for better attendance from the public, and fewer conflicts with other events. "Tuesday and Thursday are big sports nights, especially in the fall," Lasken said. Volleyball and other sports often have midweek games on Tuesday or Thursday. Board member Christine Jones was neutral on the change and was... Full story
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! - Blast off!" A snap and a whoosh and a long white contrail marked the path of rockets that blasted into overcast skies above the athletic field at Sisters Middle School on Monday, June 9. Dozens of fifth graders - and no small number of moms and dads - roared with awe and pleasure as the student-made rockets sizzled into the sky, peaked out and plunged back to the grass, leaving the sulfurous whiff of blackpowder smoke in the air. This was Rocket... Full story
The annual Sisters Kiwanis fund-raising golf tournament always makes for a nice day of sport in a good cause. For Matt Everson, last Saturday's event proved to be a major payday. Everson teed off on Hole 8 at Aspen Lakes, using a pitching wedge for the 160-yard drive. Hole 8 was a special hole; it was the hole on which the Kiwanis Club of Sisters purchased hole-in-one insurance and offered a $10,000 prize. Everson said he had a little tailwind and his shot "just kind of... Full story
The Sisters School Board approved allowing a local charter school to offer education up to eighth grade. Currently, Sisters Charter Academy of Fine Arts offers education from kindergarten through sixth grade. Superintendent of Schools Elaine Drakulich told the board at their meeting on June 3 that allowing the charter school to offer the upper grades would improve choice for parents and consistency for the kids. On the downside, "students leaving the charter school after sixth grade would be more likely to go to our middle... Full story
Nancy Tanner is the last person alive to have seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The Woodpecker Wonderland Festival was honored to have Tanner as their keynote speaker last weekend. Tanner met her husband James T. Tanner while she was teaching at Tennessee State College. Her then-future husband was a Commander in the Navy and was getting his Ph.D at Cornell. An ornithologist, he also started the first department of ecology in the 1940s. Tanner recalls the days she and her husband trekked through Arkansas and the Florida... Full story
Birders from the Canadian border to San Diego came to Camp Sherman last weekend to hunt for 11 species of woodpeckers. Birders kept checklists of all bird species that were seen along the trail. These lists, also used to provide valuable information for the Forest Service for post-fire monitoring, kept the birders on track. With the additional sponsorship of the East Cascade Bird Conservancy and the Forest Service, Paradise Birding presented the Woodpecker Wonderland... Full story
Zelma Hesson, age 86, passed away peacefully on June 1, 2008 at her home in Sisters, from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. Zelma is survived by daughters Patricia Owens of Mooresville, IN, and Diana Smith of Sisters, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Russell Hesson, parents Gladys and Stanley Peach and brother Don Peach. A celebration of her life will be held August 26, 2 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in... Full story
