News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 33
Hayden Homes has won unanimous approval from the Sisters Urban Area Planning Commission to build approximately 400 homes on 40 acres at the west end of Sisters. The planning commission on Tuesday, September 6, approved the application for “Village at Cold Springs,” a development that will be built in seven phases over the next eight years. The project, which has been revised and refined over a period of months, faced no objections at the public hearing. However, one citizen re... Full story
Their jobs require Bob Martin and Angi Gardinier to play energy poker with school district money. In their case, though, the trick is deciding when to fill ’em, not fold ’em. Martin is the facilities director and Gardinier is the transportation supervisor for the Sisters school system. He has to keep heating oil in the tanks at all three district schools while she has to keep a fleet of 13 school buses running on diesel. “In August, when I did a market check,” Martin said last week, “the price (of heating oil) was $2.15 a g... Full story
What was once a wetland southwest of Sisters will once again teem with fish, wildlife, and native plants thanks to a partnership between the Deschutes National Forest and the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council and some special project partners. Trout Creek Swamp is a 28-acre area of bog that is up to 10 feet deep. Over the years, it has slowly changed with encroachment of trees and noxious weeds because of past drainage of the land to make it hospitable for cattle. The Trout... Full story
To the Editor: I would like to put to rest the misinformation that a lot of people have about Habitat for Humanity and the people who are fortunate enough to become homeowners. First: We are not given our homes. We put in 500 hours of sweat equity — and I mean sweat. We hammer, paint, learn how to do insulation, roof and anything else they guys can find for us to do. This is the equivalent of our down payment. Second: We pay the same tax rate as everyone else in Sisters and Deschutes County. We are not given any special d... Full story
The Meyer family and friends planted a poignant reminder of a beloved son, brother and friend as the Joel Meyer Memorial Living Garden took shape. The garden was planted on Saturday, September 10, adjacent to Tony and Mary Allison Meyer’s XPress Printing on Hood Avenue, in honor of their 21-year-old son Joel, who was killed in an accident at Lake Shasta last Memorial Day weekend. Surrounding the XPress Printing building, and including a few feet of land donated by Les S... Full story
SOAR (Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation) will host a community meeting to discuss the new skate park being planned in Sisters. The meeting will be held Monday, September 19, 7 p.m., at the SOAR Community Center. Anyone who is interested in helping with the project is encouraged to attend. This is the second in a series of meetings to begin the planning and design of the skate park. Brian Moore, national sales manger for Spohn Ranch, will be at the meeting to share his knowledge and experience with building... Full story
The 2005 Sisters Jazz Festival will roll into town this weekend with performances by a wide variety of bands at venues all around town. This year’s show will have a special significance as Sisters celebrates a style of music that evolved — you might even say erupted — out of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th Century. The Festival begins September 16 and runs through the afternoon of September 18. There are four different venues offering live music at the same time. Shuttle service will be offered. The Sisters Jazz Festi... Full story
The boys coaches at Sisters High School now have a place to store their gear thanks to teacher Tony Cosby and his Woods 2 class. This past summer the 14 students in Cosby’s Woods 2 class completed three walls of lockers in the coaches locker room at Sisters High School. The lockers are made of birch plywood and the tops and doors of solid maple. The finished product is truly a work of art and craftsmanship. The lower set of lockers serves a dual purpose of both storage and s... Full story
The varsity volleyball squad participated in a 10-team tournament at Mt. View on Saturday, September 10. The Lady Outlaws started by playing four teams in their pool. Sisters defeated Battleground of Vancover, Washington, 25-13, 25-13 and Salem Academy 25-22, 25-23. The Outlaws lost to both Summit 23-25, 19-25, and Mt. View 25-13, 25-15, to finish third in their pool. Coach Chris Crosby said, “It was good to beat Battleground. They were bigger than we were. We did a really good job serving to keep them out of their r... Full story
Kiwanis International has honored the late Jim Mitchell with the Jack Delf Distinguished Service Medal for his community service. The Pacific Northwest District of Kiwanis gave the posthumous award at its annual convention last month in Vernon, British Columbia. Mitchell, who was an active member of the Sisters Kiwanis Club, died last April of cancer. Mitchell was recognized for serving the Sisters community in a variety of ways through his relatively short service with... Full story
Last week, the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners approved a 53-acre increase in the City of Sisters Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), signing off on the Sisters Comprehensive Plan. The plan is to guide the city through the next 20 years. The UGB expansion includes 30 acres of residential land at McKinney Butte (just north of Sisters Middle School) and city acreage within boundaries of the sewer plant. The acreage also includes Conklin’s Guest House and a nearby property owned... Full story
“This is huge for me,” said Eileen Hemphill-Haley after winning the Sisters Folk Festival Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest. Hemphill-Haley was an established folk singer in the Eugene area through the mid-to-late 1990s before moving to California. “We relocated to Arcata because my husband (Mark) got the teaching job of his dreams” teaching geology at Humbolt State University, she said. That meant rebuilding a music career while also being a mom to eight-y... Full story
Sisters Elementary School students are bringing in their spare change, a few dollar bills — one even offered up $100 earned mowing lawns — to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. The school is staging a raffle for gift certificates donated by a wide array of Sisters merchants. A drawing will be held September 20. The funds will be handed over to Sisters Kiwanis as part of a donation to the American Red Cross. Raffle organizer Debbie Nippert is the mother of a 10-year-old Sisters... Full story
The familiar figures of Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger and Nemo, among many others, will bob around in bathtubs across the globe — thanks to a new arrangement between Disney, Wal-Mart and a small company from Sisters. Grandpa’s Tub Toys, owned by the Haken family of Melvco, Inc. and Haken Cosmetics of Sisters, has just completed a line of tub toys to be sold in Wal-Mart’s U.S. and international stores. According to company representative Jeff Haken, his family’s company has been se... Full story
The Sisters High School football team won its second straight game of the season with a 27-21 victory over Burns on Friday, September 9. The Outlaws were first on the scoreboard. Sam Pyke blocked a punt just three minutes into the game and Dominic Nieri picked it up and dove into the end zone to score. Sisters scored again with six minutes left in the first quarter when Cory McCaffrey ran 38 yards for a touchdown behind great blocking from Nick Pepperling and Trevor Summers. Andy Burke threw the ball to Jeff Sampson for a... Full story
William (Bill) Hamilton will be in residence at the Clearwater Gallery in downtown Sisters on Saturday, September 24. He will be featured during the September in Sisters Art Stroll, which is scheduled for that Saturday afternoon, from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Hamilton, who lives in Tumalo, works out of his home studio. He paints a wide variety of subjects in acrylic, oil, and watercolor. Snowcapped mountains, high desert landscape and local architecture are among some of his favorite subjects. Hamilton, whose collector base and... Full story
The Sisters High School girls varsity soccer squad lost 3-2 to 4A Mt. View’s varsity team at home on Thursday, September 8. It was an intense battle the entire game and Sisters came up short in the matchup. Mt. View scored first off a penalty kick early in the first half to take a 1-0 lead. The Outlaws answered back with a goal from Liz Dale who got the assist from Katie Taylor. “Liz has got great eyes,” said Coach Lee Bellahdid. “She took a shot from outside and toward... Full story
The boys soccer team started its season with a 2-2 tie at North Marion on Thursday, September 9. “We knew they (NM) had a small field and a ‘kick and run’ team,” said Coach Rich Hummell, “but they still scored two goals in the first half to make it 2-0 at half-time.” The Outlaws started the game with a 3-5-2 system which was too crowded in the middle for North Marion’s small field. “The boys just weren’t in sync with each other,” said Hummell. “I think a lot of them were nerv... Full story
Rural lands just east of Sisters along or near Highway 126 may be dotted with houses in the future following action taken last week by Deschutes County Commissioners. The commissioners granted land use waivers under voter-approved Measure 37 for an 80-acre property owned by Kay Cyrus Knott and Jane Gragg at 16915 Highway 126 and for 30 acres owned by David Hurtley at 69090 Hurtley Ranch Road. Gragg and Knott now may develop 16 five-acre lots on their property located on the south side of State Highway 126 near Camp Polk Road... Full story
When the big day rolls around — homecoming, the prom, a wedding — Tami Jones will be there to make sure your hair looks just the way you pictured it. The new stylist at High Desert Hair specializes in “special event hair.” “It’s more elaborate,” she said. “It’s usually updos — wedding accessories are placed in the hair.” Jones knows that special days can be stressful and she goes out of her way to make sure the hairstyle is the easy part. She’ll work at the salon or come on-si... Full story
Black Butte Ranch property owners approved $12 million worth of capital improvements in a month-long mailed-ballot election concluded this week. Ranch President and General Manager Loy Helmly announced that 61 percent of those voting said “yes” and 39 percent said “no.” The turnout was high, 86 percent of the 1,200-plus owners. The large turnout was “encouraging,” Helmly told The Nugget. It showed that the owners “all care about the ranch and are concerned for its future…” What might have been a slam-dunk proposal presente... Full story
The Black Butte Ranch Police Department is asking property owners in the resort community west of Sisters to approve a local option levy this November to fund full-time patrol services. The tax, sought through the Black Butte Ranch Service District, would be assessed at 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. On a $500,000 home, the assessment is calculated to run $16.67 per month or $200 per year. The measure will require a 50 percent voter turnout. In asking for the levy, the Ranch notes that currently anticipated... Full story
If you are one of the people who found a “Closure Notice” in a book you checked out from the Sisters Branch, don’t worry: the closure will last only three days — September 19 to 21. However, for those who really use the library services, that could seem like forever. The reason for the temporary closure is to upgrade the catalog and install an integrated library system. While the new library catalog will be easier to use and will offer many more ways to find what library users need, the integrated system will include a self-... Full story
Sisters Little League has seeded the outfields and recreation areas for two new baseball fields. The all-volunteer organization is also starting a fund-raising campaign to finish the fields. The four-acre ball fields adjacent to the Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation (SOAR) building were hydroseeded September 3. “We went heavy on the seed here,” said Bill Hoffman of Advanced Irrigation and Hydroseeding who did the work. “We put extra rye grass in the sun and shade mixture because rye generates the quick... Full story
When Olympic snowboarder and summertime Sisters resident Chris Klug heard that skateboarders were getting bad press in his hometown, he knew it was time to speak up. As soon as he returned from a training camp in Chile he contacted SOAR officials to arrange a meeting to lend his support to a skateboard park. “(Skateboarding) is how I got into snowboarding and I’m still passionate about it,” he said. His early skateboarding days were spent on a makeshift skate park set up on... Full story
