News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 18 of 18
in Iraq Sgt. Nathan Phillips has spent the past several months being mortared and rocketed at his base in central Baghdad, Iraq. The 30-year-old U.S. Army sergeant is the son of Sisters Elementary School librarian Marie Phillips. He is serving as a medic with the 282nd Field Artillery Unit, 1st Cavalry, based in the international zone (formerly called the Green Zone). He's in the middle of his second tour in Iraq. He was in Central Oregon this week on leave. According to Phillips, he's found his second tour more risky than... Full story
Cheryl Rhea. photo by Jim Cornelius Cheryl Rhea has taken the reins as Executive Director of the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce. She replaces Ric Nowak, who stepped down from the post effective this month. Chamber board member Peter Storton made the announcement during the organization's annual auction fund-raiser on Friday, September 24. "I think we've got a real jewel," Storton told the membership. Rhea told The Nugget she is excited about the "opportunity to use my background and work with the community of Sisters." Her... Full story
Tom Craven works with his fire-mapping software. photo by Conrad Weiler A new tool for fire lookouts has been undergoing testing this past summer at the Black Butte fire lookout tower. Located at 6,500 feet on top of Black Butte, the tower gives a panoramic 360-degree view of Central Oregon. For over 70 years lookout towers have used Osbourne fire-finders to report location data information about fires. Now, with the help of a computer and DragunPlot software, lookouts are integrating spotting with the Osbourne and more... Full story
At Wild Rivers Gallery, artist Sally Bailey works on a series of bright sunflower paintings. photo by Susan Springer Artists created with their hands, paintbrushes, voices and bodies at the Third Annual Sisters Art Stroll sponsored by the Sisters Gallery Association. Last Saturday, September 25, art appreciators saw belly dancing, heard live music and witnessed sculptures and paintings come to life. High Desert Gallery's Todd Dow, who organized the event, said there was a steady crowd throughout the afternoon and evening. He... Full story
Five of the Northwest's most prominent jazz musicians will be featured in the first Harvest Jazz concert at Sisters High School Saturday, October 9, under the sponsorship of the Sisters Jazz Festival. The 7 p.m. concert will feature one of the most renowned high school music programs to be found anywhere on the West Coast, the Portland-area Arts and Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) Jazz Orchestra. Thara Memory and the Portland Jazz All-Stars will be headlining as a quintet. Trumpeter Thara Memory will be joined by Warren... Full story
When the 2004 SAT scores for Central Oregon high schools were published earlier this month, one set of numbers stood out like a palm tree in the High Desert: Compared with the year before, the scores for La Pine rose 71 points on the verbal section and 64 points on the math section. In sheer magnitude of change, none of the other seven high schools in the region -- inluding Sisters -- came close. The next highest increases were 17 points on the verbal (Bend High School) and 27 points in math (Summit High, Bend). By contrast,... Full story
Two Central Oregon environmental organizations who have often opposed U.S. Forest Service actions in the past have now joined together to support the agency by intervening in a lawsuit over plans for thinning forests in the Metolius Basin. In a news release issued by the Sisters Forest Planning Committee and the Friends of the Metolius, Gregory McClarren, president of the Friends said, "We felt like we had an obligation to intervene. Our group requested that the Forest Service do the restoration in the first place to restore... Full story
Hood Avenue between Pine Street and Highway 242 will remain a two-way street if a couplet is constructed in Sisters. That was the decision of the committee charged with designing a couplet for the city, made in its final meeting Monday night, September 27. According to City Manager Eileen Stein, traffic engineers and the Oregon Department of Transportation studied the possibility and said leaving the street two-way will work, since it would likely be used by local residents and not as heavily used by tourist traffic. The... Full story
The transfer of a fee imposed by the City of Sisters from water bond payoff to sewer bond payoff has raised eyebrows among citizens and city councilors. A water bond fee of $6 has shown up on residents' utility bills since it was imposed by the city council in 1996. The bond was paid off in April, 2003. However the fee has remained on the utility bills and has been used to accelerate payments on the sewer bond debt. Eileen Stein stated that a formal changeover in the application of the fee was delayed mostly by timing. At the... Full story
Plans to run a water pipe under Squaw Creek have been foiled by a higher-than-expected water table. photo by Jim Mitchell Most people looking for water in the Sisters area would be happy if they encountered a high water table. But water at a depth of only two feet has slowed Sisters developer Roger Forbes in his efforts to cross under Squaw Creek from Timber Creek development to Creekside development with an eight-inch city water main. Although the current active stream bed is only about 20 feet wide, the overall stream bed,... Full story
A recent online news report from Jerusalem indicated that as the Palestinian intifada enters its fifth year, Israel seems more determined than ever to expand its settlements into the West Bank. Judah Slavkovsky, a Sisters resident, spent most of the last year experiencing the conflict on the West Bank first-hand. Majoring in biology at the University of Portland, with a strong interest in international political affairs, Slavkovsky wanted to know more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said, "I wanted to go to learn... Full story
Jack Baxter caught a picture of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960. photo by Jack Baxter Jack Baxter's May, 1960, picture of Dwight Eisenhower addressing the people of Pittsfield, Maine, may bring back memories of a gentler time for some mature readers. Baxter has his large, framed black-and-white picture displayed in the Sparks room at the Black Butte Ranch Lodge along with other prints. The photograph came about when Eisenhower cut short a Maine fishing trip and was headed to the airport for a flight back to Washington... Full story
A plume of smoke rises from a controlled burn that was set Thursday afternoon, September 30. photo by Jim Cornelius A plume of smoke rose into the air west of Sisters Thursday afternoon, September 30, when federal and state prescribed fire specialists burned 39 acres off Highway 242. The burn was designed to get rid of accumulations of wood debris that could feed wildland fires. The area lies on the Deschutes National Forest, adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground. Fire specialists did not expect large amounts of smoke to... Full story
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor, I am writing to... Full story
- City Council Meeting 7 p.m., 2nd and 4th Thursday each month, Sisters City Hall. 549-6022. - School Board Meeting 7 p.m., 2nd Monday each month, middle school lecture/drama room. 549-8521. - Black Butte School District Board of Directors meets 2nd Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m., Black Butte School. 595-6203. - Sisters-Camp Sherman RFPD meets for drill every Monday, 7 p.m. Sisters Fire Hall, 301 S. Elm St. 549-0771. - Sisters Kiwanis Club meets every Thursday, 7:30 a.m., Sisters Fire Hall. 549-1223. - Sisters Habitat for... Full story
If you love and live in Oregon for our quality of life, land and water, vote NO on Measure 37. Three decades ago conservationist Republican Governor Tom McCall led the effort to enact local laws to protect our natural resources, fiscal commitments and the livability of our state. This unique Oregon approach to guiding land use hasn't always worked perfectly, but we have avoided the kind of financially unserviceable development that other states have suffered. Oregon has been nationally acclaimed for its exceptional livability... Full story
- A lost hunter started a blaze in the middle of Sizemore Road. Cloverdale fire units responded and doused the blaze. No word on what they did with the hunter. - A woman complained about kids trespassing and digging holes in her yard. - Deputies calmed an argument at a local motel over a person allegedly driving on the grass. - A deputy responded to a report that "a vehicle left Ray's Food Place intoxicated." No word on the condition of the driver. - A citizen turned in an injured dog found in the Holmes Road area. -... Full story
Mike Thompson and Matt Cittadini place a boulder along the trail. photo by Jim Cornelius It's hard, dirty work -- but a mighty satisfying way to spend a summer. Crews from the Northwest Service Academy wielded chainsaws, Polaskis and shovels, toiling along the north shore of Suttle Lake last week, finishing up a project that will leave the popular lake walking trail wider, smoother and less vulnerable to erosion. The academy, an affiliate of Americorps, provides summer employment to college-age men and women in exchange for... Full story
