News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 32
Bill and Connie (Van Winkle) Carter will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a reception at the Tollgate Rec Hall at 2 p.m. on June 27 (family and friends are welcome to come!) They were married June 28, 1959 in Forest Grove, and after many years in the grocery business in Albany and Corvallis, retired in the 1980s and moved to Central Oregon. Bill and Connie have three daughters - Christine, Kimberly and Kari, and eight grandchildren.... Full story
Sisters Rodeo is as notable for its variable weather as it is for the world-class competitors drawn to the large purse it offers. This year, the 69th for the venerable event, was no different. Friday night found competitors slogging through several inches of mud, after a torrential rain that stopped about five minutes before the grand entry. It may have affected performances but it didn't stop the crowd from appreciating them. Rodeo clown and barrel man JJ Harrison made sure... Full story
SALEM (AP) - The Oregon Senate has passed a bill that would ban most development in the Metolius River basin, designating it as an Area of Critical Statewide Concern. The bill headed to the House on Tuesday (see result of vote at www.nuggetnews.com). If it becomes law, the 450-unit destination resort known as The Metolian, tentatively approved by Jefferson County could not be built. Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, said last Friday that people from across the nation have written to support protecting the river. The... Full story
Police arrested Andrew Sherrell, 22, of Sisters, for burglary on June 9, after he allegedly broke into Seasons Café & Wine Shop. According to Deschutes County Sheriff's Office reports, deputies responded to Seasons Café & Wine Shop at approximately 7 a.m. for a reported burglary in progress. Black Butte Ranch Police also responded to the area to assist sheriff's deputies. While responding, deputies learned that the suspect, later identified as Andrew Sherrell, had entered Seasons. A witness in the area was able to... Full story
About 100 people attended the unveiling of a sculpture donated by Lorenzo Ghiglieri to the City of Sisters on Tuesday, June 9. The bronze 10-foot statue is located at the corner of Larch Street and Cascade Avenue on the north side, ideally situated to greet visitors entering Sisters from Bend or Redmond. Attending the ceremony were Jack McGowan, who represented Gov. Ted Kulongoski. He is also a board member for Oregon 150, the group that is planning for the Oregon Sesquicenten... Full story
To the Editor: In response to Ed Protas' comments in last week's Nugget: "Credit for the quick end-to-end process goes entirely to the staff of the Sisters planning department." It is incorrect to say that a single party, department or committee was entirely responsible for a quick end-to-end process. Long before the planning commission or planning department became involved, and before the three-and-half-week waiting period for the planning commission to meet and even consider approving us operating a restaurant in the Hitch... Full story
"Please, leave the fawns alone!" That plea comes from Tracy Leonhardy, a wildlife rehabilitator in the Sisters area who ends up having to handle "abandoned" fawns. Steve George, ODFW Wildlife Biologist in Bend, is the one who has to clean up the messes caused by well-meaning, but misinformed, people who carry baby wildlife out of the forest. "No matter how we try," he says,"we can't seem to get the word out to leave baby wildlife alone. Leaving a fawn by itself is what deer... Full story
Central Electric Cooperative (CEC) is inviting its Sisters commercial and light industrial customers to attend a June 30 breakfast workshop to learn how to save energy and money. The workshop will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. at Sisters Fire Hall, 301 S. Elm St., and includes a free breakfast. The Bonneville Power Administration selected CEC to conduct a six-month, $100,000 pilot project in the Sisters area to test incentives to stimulate commercial customers to reduce energy... Full story
Opponents of the proposed Sunburst Retreat east of Sisters have hired an attorney to fight the guest resort on grounds of traffic and safety concerns. Both sides of the land use dispute met the June 10 deadline for written comments to the Deschutes County Planning Department. The dispute centers on a request for a Conditional Use Permit for a guest lodge in a Multiple Use Agricultural area (MUA-10). The proposed guest lodge would be located nine miles east of Sisters in the Sun Mountain area. An existing 8,609-square-foot res... Full story
The economy may be slow, but the City of Sisters Public Works Department is keeping plenty busy - thanks in large part to a number of grants. The city recently received $94,000 in federal grant funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which will be used to improve Larch Street from Main Avenue to Adams Avenue and to in-fill a bicycle path along Larch from the downtown area toward the new Sisters Post Office location. Improvements between Main and Adams a... Full story
• Pat Wellman wrote: Brianna Wellman, Sisters High School Class of 2005, earned her Bachelor of Science degree in applied economics and management from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. We are so proud of you Brianna. • Katherine G. Smith, daughter of Tom and Jenni Smith, graduated December 8, 2008 from Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. Katherine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science cum laude, with a major in fishery biology and culture. She started school at Sisters... Full story
Ask Sisters Rodeo Queen Cassie Sanders, 22, what she likes most about her job and the answer, given without hesitation, is: "It's all about the kids." The rodeo parades and grand entries are fun, but there's just something about seeing the look on a child's face when the rodeo queen kneels down to say hello and give a hug that eclipses the rush of giving the queen's wave. When Cassie graduated from high school in Bend, she was a shy bookworm who had never ridden. Her mother... Full story
Jack and Jan McGowan's strategy as Grand Marshals of Portland's Rose Festival Parade took its toll. They chose to engage with the cheering 500,000 spectators and their arms are still sore, after all the handshaking and waving. Plus, they were smiling for the entire two hours it took to traverse the 4.3-mile parade route on June 6. The McGowans and Travis, their 21-year-old son, road in a 1971 Pontiac Catalina Convertible. The car was a block long, Jack said. The Sisters... Full story
• A woman was arrested for arson after she allegedly set fire to the woods just off Highway 20. The woman said she was just putting out a cigarette, but there were two separate fires that required response from wild land firefighters, so the arresting officer didn't exactly buy the story. • A man complained about loud music coming from a camping area near the rodeo grounds. He closed the door of the pickup truck from which the music was blasting. The door was locked. The owner of the truck broke out the... Full story
Marigrace Marshall was a standout tennis player for the Sisters Outlaws up to her graduation in 2006. Now she's made it to the grass courts in London - but not by swinging a racket. Marshall, now a senior at Pepperdine University in California, is working an internship in sports marketing at the Aegon Tournament at the Queen's Club, the major pre-Wimbledon grass court tourney. "It's basically the warm-up tournament for all the players who are planning on playing at... Full story
Rodeo is known for the unpredictable. Team bronc riding, formerly known as The Wild Horse Race, puts eight unbroken two-year-old horses and 24 men all together in an arena. The unpredictability factor goes sky-high with action everywhere. It's not an event most would enter on a whim, but that's just what three young men did at the 2009 Sisters Rodeo. Brothers Cody and Nicholas Koch, 25 and 22, and Stephen Martineau, 25, were sponsored by the R&B Ranch in Sisters. "We'd sit up... Full story
Sisters is a quilting mecca, thanks to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. But until now, there's never really been a place where quilt lovers could browse a large selection of quilts for sale. Barbara Herlocker decided to change that with Emerald Quilts, located - appropriately enough - right next to Stitchin' Post. "I've been saying for years, 'why is there no place in Sisters to buy quilts except on the day of the show?'" Herlocker said. The quilt show brought Herlocker... Full story
Kathy Kemper Green had a plan when she moved into the Bend office of Arbor Mortgage Group: In two years she'd be back in her hometown of Sisters in a branch office. That plan came to fruition last week as Arbor Mortgage Group opened its new branch in Sisters at 257 S. Pine St. "She's been doing enough business that we wanted to set her up in her own office," said Arbor co-owner Rob Moore. "We've been expanding and growing in this marketplace, so Sisters made sense." Expansion... Full story
Christine Black, of Sisters, passed away June 6, of pancreatic cancer. She was at home surrounded by her family. She was born in Rison, Arkansas on October 1, 1931, and moved to Bradwood, Oregon when she was 9 years old. She was the daughter of Frank and Georgia Brazeale. Christine graduated from Westport High School in Westport, Oregon, in 1949. She continued her education at Oregon State University in Corvallis, earning her teaching certificate. She was employed at Blue Cross of Oregon for 25 years when she retired in... Full story
Sisters Outlaws softball player Jenny Kaiser capped her high school career in outstanding fashion as a member of the North All-Stars in the annual 4A Senior All-Star Series, played June 7 at Oregon State University Softball Complex in Corvallis. Add to that, the 2009 graduate of Sisters High School was notified on June 8 that she had been named to the 4A All-State softball team as a second-team outfielder. In 2008, Kaiser was selected Honorable Mention. For the 2009 season, Kaiser batted .427 overall, with a school-record 34... Full story
Art doesn't have to be big to be grand. Clearwater Gallery will illustrate that point with its Fourth Annual Miniature Show on Saturday, June 20. Some 25 artists will participate in the show, with almost all of them on hand for an artists' reception from 4 to 7 p.m. The artists are required to work in a small format (120 square inches) which challenges them to test the parameters of their medium and often creates unexpected and exceptional results. Gallery co-owner Julia Rickards noted that wildlife photographer David Ohlsen... Full story
Sisters Elementary School students got a visit from some rodeo personalities at their end-of-year assembly last Friday morning. Barrel man and clown, JJ Harrison, helped give out prizes and taught a few rodeo-style dance moves to the students, parents and teachers present. One stoic non-participant, Carlos Guzman, the school ELL teacher, was observed in the back row. Harrison invited him up front for a private lesson, and Guzman obliged by teaching a few moves in return.... Full story
The Sisters Rodeo has brought many famous cowboys to Sisters - from Lane Frost to Ty Murray to Central Oregon's own Bobby Mote. This year's event featured its share of legendary performers - one of them its specialty act, Tomas Garcilazo. Garcilazo is as respected in the world of La Charreria as top bull riders and bronc peelers are in American rodeo. His skill with a rope and his exquisite horsemanship have taken him from Broadway to Paris and all along a rodeo circuit where... Full story
Each year Friends of the Sisters Library (FOSL) awards a scholarship to a graduating senior at Sisters High School. The scholarship was named to honor longtime Sisters Librarian, Peg Bermel, for her dedication to the community, its youth and its library. This year, Sam Fullhart earned the scholarship. At the high school scholarship award ceremony last month, upon hearing his name announced as winner of the 2009 Peg Bermel FOSL Scholarship, Fullhart strode to the podium and... Full story
Dawn Cooper, a resident of Sisters since 2005, has received a grant from the Sisters Kiwanis Career Opportunity Fund that will allow here to pursue a profession in nursing, her ambition for many years. At a recent Kiwanis meeting where she was recognized for the grant, Cooper told members that the funds would allow her to start on the nursing career path that had been her desire since she helped provide care for her father, ill with cancer. Cooper will begin classes this... Full story
