News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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The smallest falcon, the Merlin (Falco columbarius), primarily hunts smaller birds while flying — flushing birds from thickets and chasing them using their amazing speed and maneuverability to catch their prey on the wing. During their breeding season the Merlin inhabits open upland and lowland prairies. Merlins do not build their own nests; instead they use old stick nests built by hawks, magpies or crows. Occasionally they nest on ledges or tree cavities. The nest... Full story
Generally speaking, constellations in evening autumn skies tend to be dimmer than those on display during the winter, spring, and summer seasons. This rule of thumb does not apply, however, to our featured constellation for October. In October Pegasus, the Flying Horse, is already well up in the eastern sky by about 8 p.m. local time. To find it look for a giant square marked by Scheat, Markab, Algenib and Alpheratz, stars of approximately equal brightness. Alpheratz was... Full story
Winners for 12 prizes totaling $3,000 in value will be drawn October 31 in the Rotary Club of Sisters’ Mega Raffle. The Mega Raffle is in support of Rotary Club service projects in Sisters Country that include Books for Kids, Sisters High School Scholarships, Sisters Park & Recreation District (SPRD), Family Access Network (FAN), Adopt-A-Road, Operation School Bell and more. Only 500 tickets will be sold. Donations to Rotary Club are $10 per ticket and tickets can be obtained by calling 541-301-0300. Among the prizes are a t... Full story
• Dave Johnson, DVM, wrote: I commend Tate Metcalf and his staff of the Sisters Athletic Club with excellence in operating the Club with competence, astute cleanliness/sanitation, and exceeding the Oregon criteria during COVID-19. As a member, it is a pleasure to use your facilities and personally witness the compliance by your members and staff in following your well-explained COVID-19 criteria. Particularly noteworthy is mandatory mask wearing, one-way traffic flows, separation of members using the facility along with... Full story
Navigating life during a pandemic and social unrest is challenging but full of opportunities. Tumultuous times demand new thinking that breaks free from unjust institutions. Some traditions intentionally or inadvertently maintain old systems designed to divide and degrade segments of the population. As a white woman who has had a blessed life, I now see the many ways that system stepped on the backs of marginalized populations to maintain my comfort. From our country’s beginning, colonists lived on lands taken from Indigenous... Full story
The body is a very integrated machine, down to the framework of the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones. When all of these are in harmonious alignment, they provide the body with stability, strength, injury resilience and balance. This system is worth understanding better. It is fundamental to day-to-day mobility, and athletic prowess. If balance and stability or injury prevention is a concern, look at how the biomechanic machine is aligned or misaligned to gain insight on improvements. The body is a compensatory... Full story
On the morning of September 17, Gale Larson left his flesh vessel, surrounded by his wife and children. In recognition of his abhorrence for ceremonies, no formal gatherings will be held. The family asks that in lieu of flowers or donations, people will plant a tree in his recognition. His family most remembers him for his love of the outdoors, specifically trail shortcuts on the family backpacking trips. “Godforsaken, rhody-ridden, vine-maple-tangled shortcuts through rock slides and thunderstorms,” says his son, Erik Ran... Full story
Dallas was born in Springerville, Arizona. She grew up and went to school in Snowflake, Arizona. The family moved to Sisters in the early 1960s. She worked at Ruth’s café for three to four years then moved to Petersburg, Alaska, in 1977 where she met and married the love of her life, Casper Hallingstad. They bought a lot and turned it into a used car lot and named it Rerun Auto. She loved working on old cars and getting them running and reselling them. After the death of Casper, she moved back to Central Oregon to b... Full story
Gretchen Dakin passed away September 14 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 86. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Bill Dakin, who died in 2012. Gretchen was born in Winnetka, Illinois, on March 26, 1934. After graduation from New Trier High School, she graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in medical research. She then moved to California to do research at UC Medical Center in San Francisco. It was there that she and Bill started dating. They were... Full story
One of the many wonderful things about Scottie dogs is their honesty. They express truth. If they are barking, there is something out there. Even if I can’t see it, I know there is something or someone outside. Just yesterday the Scotties started barking. I couldn’t see a thing anywhere in the backyard. But sure enough, as I looked through another window, there was a person raking pine needles off our neighbor’s roof. Truth. We are told time and again in the Bible that truth is an essential ideal. There was a time when truth... Full story
Ken Ammann says he’s done a lot of crazy things in his life, but being a volunteer firefighter for the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District team is definitely the most rewarding of all. “It was a complete surprise to me how much I get out of helping, since I had no background in firefighting,” he told The Nugget. “It was pure chance I even joined the team.” Five years ago, Ken and a few friends were riding their motorcycles and just happened to run into Deputy Chief Tim Craig... Full story
Central Oregon Partnership for Youth (COPY) will hold a 3.5-hour virtual fall volunteer training on Saturday, September 26. COPY is a program in the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office that mentors children of the Bend, Sisters, Redmond, and La Pine areas with incarcerated parents. The more than 40 mentors of this program are volunteer members of the community. The program allows children to participate and engage in a wide range of community activities. Children with an incarcerated parent or caregiver face greater risks, b... Full story
Cooler days mean cozy, comforting meals. Fall is a time of year when many people look forward to savoring seasonal flavors. September signals the start of autumn, and with it comes a bounty of delicious and healthy fruits and vegetables. With splashy colors and striking shapes, you could use fall harvest vegetables as centerpieces, porch decorations or maybe even homemade bird feeders. But the best thing you can do with fall veggies is to work them into meals. Dig into fall... Full story
Snow removal in downtown Sisters is expected to be easier and more consistent this winter under a new City initiative. The City of Sisters has approved a contract with Tewalt & Sons Inc. for downtown snow removal. The City Council wanted to provide snow removal consistency throughout the downtown to make it more walkable for residents and visitors, and provide sidewalks and parking that are more ADA compliant. The City is funding this program through the Street Fund; money was budgeted in the FY 2020/21 budget. The contract... Full story
Dear Property Guy, I live in downtown Sisters and recently cut down some sick trees near my house. A neighbor advised that I needed a permit to cut trees. I told her to get off my lawn and to mind her own business, but now I’m curious what the real deal is. — Sisters Lumberjack Dear Jack: Property Guy is happy to help with your trees, but has nothing to offer as far as your neighbor goes. This question is so far out of Property Guy’s world, I had to go to my local expert. I contacted my friend, Sisters City Manager Cor... Full story
Journeys Art Group of Central Oregon will present its 13th Annual Show with 12 interpretations of the theme “Water Dance,” opening Friday, September 25, at Twigs (adjacent to Stitchin’ Post) at 311 W. Cascade Ave. An artists’ reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. The theme is expressed lyrically: “Water is life-giving and precious. Water is mesmerizing, serene, and reflective. “Water shimmers and sparkles in blue, green, brown and gold. Water roars, babbles, gurgles and... Full story
The social fabric of America is fraying, torn by the economic, social, and psychological impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and by social unrest and political tensions the likes of which we haven’t seen for 50+ years. Here in Sisters, we have felt the blows of shutdowns, restrictions, event cancellations, disruptions to education — and in recent weeks, living in a thick, choking pall of smoke. Now we look ahead to a fall and winter partially cut off from the W... Full story
To the Editor: I started my career as a licensed helicopter mechanic in the early 1970s. I worked heavy-lift helicopter for the good part of 46 years. We pioneered a real environmental-friendly way to yard timber-helicopter logging. All through the seventies and most of the eighties we were able to log year round with no issues. Then the Forest Service adopted a new policy, save the top-soil scheme. So all the years we logged the units and then YUM (yard unmerchantable timber) we left the timber sale looking better than we... Full story
Sisters residents new and old may be unaware of the Trout Creek Conservation Area (TCCA), a special parcel of land adjacent to Tollgate and Sisters High School, which is owned and overseen by Sisters School District in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the Deschutes Land Trust. The TCCA encompasses 160 acres of juniper and pine forest directly behind the athletic fields at Sisters High School (SHS), a conservation easement that was formally established in 2003. The... Full story
• The City of Sisters has announced the hiring of Scott Woodford as the new community development director. Woodford comes to Sisters after seven years in Redmond as their senior planner. He has more than 20 years of land-use planning work and management of complex projects, including experience working in Colorado resort communities tackling unique issues they contend with, such as retention of community character, affordable housing, traffic, lodging and managing... Full story
