News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 20 of 20
Sisters High School baseball coach Kramer Croisant didn’t want to have to wait until spring 2021 to get his team back together. They’d already lost the entire 2020 season — which would have been his first at the helm of the Outlaws’ program — to COVID-19 shutdowns. So he took the proactive step to see if some fall baseball could be possible in the Central Oregon region. “I caught wind that Marc Horner, the facilities manager for the Redmond School District, planned to start the Deschutes Baseball Academy, in part... Full story
A few years ago, a reader contacted me and suggested that I feature Robinson Lake in one of my columns. It is a special place, he said, and he wanted others to be able to share the unique beauty and sense of wonder he experiences there. His suggestion was a welcome contrast to the occasional complaint I get when one of my articles suggests a destination that someone would prefer to remain a secret. In fairness, though, I will say that such complaints are usually relatively... Full story
In a year known for its trials and tribulations, fire season 2020 was no exception. While the Sisters Ranger District escaped much of the devastation, the Warm Springs Reservation and many of Oregon’s national and state forests, cities, towns, private timber managers, and residents were not so fortunate. Just seven weeks ago a large fire raged in almost every major river drainage in western Oregon. Fueled by extremely low live-fuel moistures and a dry cold front that b... Full story
As the Oregon Live banner headline ran across my phone’s screen, I instantly felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. As I clicked on it and went to the story and photos online, tears began to collect in the corners of my eyes. What could elicit such an immediate emotional response? Who had died? To anyone else, it was just another story of an historic statue being toppled. But to me it was the statue of my great-grandfather, Portland pioneer, historian, and editor of The Ore... Full story
Three Creeks Brewing Company (TCBC) claimed three awards at the 39th Great American Beer Festival (GABF). This is the country’s pre-eminent beer festival, and world’s largest professional beer competition. It included a two-day online experience this year, October 16-17, with 900 small and independent craft breweries from all 50 states participating. Three Creeks Brewing Co. was awarded the following: • Brewery Group and Brewery Group Brewer of the Year. • Gold for Conelick’r Fresh Hop IPA (Fresh Hop Beer Categ... Full story
Paulina Springs Books’ owner Lane Jacobson is part of a David and Goliath story. Many bookstores are being crushed by the giant powerhouse, Amazon. The American Booksellers Association is banding businesses together to fight back. To improve his odds, Jacobson joined the ABA’s national campaign called “Boxed Out.” An October press release from the ABA encouraged booksellers to educate customers about the long-term ramifications of purchasing from Amazon instead of community-ba... Full story
The high school sports world is still largely shut down due to COVID-19, but Pat Zweifel, cross-country coach at Tillamook High School and owner of a large farm, found a way to offer a meet to a group of runners looking to compete as OSAA’s “fall” season is postponed until February. Zweifel’s family owns the Hydrangea Ranch outside of Tillamook where, amidst the rows of flower bushes, Zweifel has carved out a cross-country race course and built facilities to host camps a... Full story
Left this world to wander the stars on October 8. Born in Albany, Oregon, October 18, 1948, grew up in Salem before joining the Army and travelling the world to find his wife Faye on a ski trip to Austria. Sons Chris (Jenny), Paul (Terri), daughter Chelsea Center (Erin), grandchildren Lily, Gavin, Colette, Mazzy and Crue, and brother Dan (Debbie) are heartbroken by his passing, but thankful his battle is over. He bravely fought brain cancer for 14 months, but it never... Full story
Patricia Glyde (Schreiber) Stephenson was born June 13, 1930, in Corvallis, to Rudolph and Glyde Schreiber. Pat grew up on a dairy farm outside of Corvallis. She and her sister, Madge, delivered milk from the dairy every day in the family’s milk truck. She told lots of stories of the hard work and tough times on the dairy, but it was also where she developed her love of ice cream and horses. Pat graduated from Corvallis High School in 1948. She married Robert (Bob) Stephenson January 1, 1949, after he returned from the w... Full story
Cha Rnacircle passed away September 26, at her home in Sisters in the company of friends. She was 76 and, despite a cancer diagnosis six months ago, was active, creative, and engaged with her friends and in her business endeavors through it all. Born Charmian Marie Mack on June 18, 1944 in Clovis, New Mexico, to Fred and Opal (Brown) Mack. The family moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico when she was five. Cha spent most of her school years there. After graduation she finished... Full story
Doug Wills chose the Kiwanis Club as his first volunteer job back in the early 1980s. “I was living in Scottsdale, Arizona at the time and a friend of mine was a Kiwanis volunteer. I signed up to help and have continued ever since,” he said. As he’s moved around the U.S. in the last 30 years, he’s gotten involved in other volunteer opportunities. “We lived in Newport, Oregon, for 15 years. I was VP of the trustee board for the hospital, president of the board for Friends o... Full story
A teen driver and passengers escaped injury when a new driver ran off a forest road southwest of Sisters last week. On the night of October 22, Sisters deputies responded to a reported crash on Edgington Road near Sisters. The location of the accident was a short distance from the site of a recent fatal crash that took the lives of three teenage girls earlier this month. The driver in the Thursday night accident had just received their driver’s license and had two passengers in the vehicle. No one was hurt in the incident. T... Full story
Link Creek, which connects Suttle Lake with Blue Lake, needs restoration to repair damage from dams and logging. The waterway meanders through property purchased for the Caldera Arts Center, an environmental and arts education nonprofit serving children from Portland’s inner city and Central Oregon. Over the years Caldera Arts staff have been restoring Link Creek but knew they needed help from government and private agencies to get the job done right. That’s where local ret... Full story
Between a once-in-a-lifetime comet and a near-miss with a close asteroid, 2020 has been as strange a year for outer space as it has been right here on Earth. This October offers up an extraordinary treat bringing a “blue moon” — just in time for Halloween. The night sky on October 31 will be illuminated by the second full moon in a month. The relatively rare occurrence happens once every two-and-a-half years, on average, which is the origin of the saying “once in a blu... Full story
Over the past month, the Sisters High School Concert Choir has been busy creating their first virtual song performance — which can be found at bit.ly/OutlawsSing. “Choir rehearsals have been challenging since distance learning began seven months ago, choir director Rick Johnson reported. “Zoom and Google Meet online software is not powerful enough to allow multiple students to share audio at the same time. We have been rehearsing with every student microphone on mute. The students can hear me, the director, but the... Full story
“Getting back to more normal life” — a common sentiment these days. I’d like to offer a perspective on how we can do that. In 2005, the Bush administration developed a Pandemic Preparedness Plan (PPP) to address the Avian Flu. They transferred the PPP template on to the Obama administration, which modified and improved it in order to handle the Ebola crisis. As a science manager in the Department of Interior, I was engaged in the Avian Flu response, and when I later moved to the Department of Agriculture, I was invol... Full story
To the Editor: If you haven’t yet voted, I am writing to encourage you to consider Elizabeth Fisher for one of the open seats on the Sisters City Council. I first met Elizabeth when she was a student in a chemistry class I taught at Sisters High School. Though that was a number of years ago, several of the personal characteristics which Elizabeth demonstrated even then qualify her as an excellent Councilor. Elizabeth never came to class unprepared. She had always completed her homework conscientiously and thoughtfully. T... Full story
As Ruth Peterson sat in her comfortable Black Butte Ranch home one week before her 100th birthday, her second husband, Jim Gibbons, 92, said that when he met her for the first time she was playing tennis at age 72 and “didn’t look a day over 39.” The couple just celebrated their 10th anniversary. Ruth (Anders) Peterson was born October 30, 1920 in Wisconsin, the second of three children, all still living. Longevity certainly runs in the family. She comes from good genes... Full story
“I’m not here by accident,” Sisters’ new Community Development Director Scott Woodford told The Nugget. A look at his resume certainly confirms that statement. Woodford was born in the Midwest but grew up in Summit County, Colorado, home to Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone ski resorts. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Environmental Design with an emphasis in Urban Planning. He and his family like to ski, mountain bike, river raft, a... Full story
Voters who didn’t get their ballot in the mail by Tuesday this week should drop off their ballot in a secure drop box to ensure that it will be counted. There is a drop box in front of City Hall. Ballots can be dropped off there until 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3. The Deschutes County Clerk’s Office is reporting a strong turnout, with 36.77 percent of ballots already returned as of Friday, October 23. Locally, five people are running for three open seats on the Sisters City Council: Susan Cobb, Jennifer Letz, Eli... Full story
