News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 17 of 17
Just like the community it represents, the Sisters City Council is split on how best to manage short-term rentals in the city. The Sisters City Council will hold a second reading at their November 28 meeting of proposed Ordinance #489, amending the City's Development Code to update provisions for short-term rentals (STRs) and make other changes. Councilors split their vote on the ordinance, three for and two against, which automatically triggered a second reading of the ordinance and another vote. There will not be another... Full story
A glow through the bedroom window early Wednesday morning, November 14, alerted an occupant of a vacation rental in Sisters to a hot tub on fire outside the residence. The first fire units to arrive found the hot tub and a corner of the structure on fire and quickly extinguished the blaze. The occupants, a family of four, evacuated the home when they discovered the fire and attempted to alert the neighboring residents. The fire, approximately seven by 14 feet in area, was... Full story
A 71-year-old Sisters man was arrested in Bend on Thursday, November 15, after he allegedly pointed a firearm at another driver in an incident Bend police describe as "road rage." According to Bend police, officers were dispatched at about 2:39 p.m. to a reported incident near NE 8th Street and NE Olney Avenue Officers learned the victims in this incident, Kory Allen and Brittani Williamson, called to report a man later identified as Zeke Duge pulled a gun and pointed it at them near the intersection. Two small children were... Full story
To the Editor: On Sunday afternoon, November 4, there was extensive loud automatic rifle fire all day at Edgar Lake on Stevens Canyon (near Indian Ford Road) followed by loud explosions that actually rattled windows of homes over one mile away. This area does not have high berms for shooting and has become an area of extreme noise pollution for homeowners and an unsafe area for hikers, equestrians and cyclists. I filed an incident report with the Forest Service. The Forest Service has it designated as a winter game passage... Full story
In preparation for the arrival of a new permanent executive director, the board of the Sisters Park & Recreation District has initiated a series of actions dubbed Operation Shipshape. Thanks to the generosity of Sisters Country voters, the board is finally able to tie-up a lot of organizational loose ends caused by chronic underfunding. Everything from a barely functioning office computer network to an irrigation system on life support has come under scrutiny thanks to Interim Executive Director Courtney Snead. Operation... Full story
On the evening of Friday, November 9, four high school students of the Sisters Astronomy Club - Joelle Asson, Amy Hills, Paola Mendoza and Ramsey Schar - and educator Rima Givot ventured into the dark of night to measure, well... the dark of night. Their work was requested by Jay Head and Joe McDermott, residents of Black Butte Ranch, as part of an effort by the community to gain certification from the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). Head and McDermott escorted the group to five locations throughout the Ranch in an... Full story
By the time Molly Elwood graduated from Sisters High School in 2000, she'd spent her high school years working at OutlawNet and doing an internship at The Nugget. That experience set the stage for her pursuit of an education and eventual career in writing. After graduation, she went to Linfield College and eventually chose a major. She considered teaching elementary school or choir. But then she realized what she enjoyed the most were her English and creative writing classes.... Full story
Sisters Folk Festival is opening weekend pass sales for the 2019 festival on Monday, December 3. The festival is always on the weekend following Labor Day. Next year's Festival dates are September 6 through 8. The organization is offering a limited number of "Early Bird" discounted passes, distributed via lottery. "Last year we switched to a lottery system to allocate the 500 passes for sale at a discount and got great feedback. Folks felt they had a fair shot at getting them, no one had to sit at their computer waiting for... Full story
This year's Sisters Outlaws volleyball squad delivered on the "sisters" portion of their monicker in a literal sense. Three sets of sisters played for the team, which capped a strong season with a third-place showing at the state championships in early November. Kendra and Natalie Sitz; Sydney and Adelyn Myhre; and Samantha and Sophie Silva all played together for the Outlaws. The sibling sets contributed strongly to the team's spirit. "I think it would have been a tight team... Full story
Sisters District Ranger Ian Reid told The Nugget last week that an approximately half-acre fire in the vicinity of Zimmerman Butte on the evening of October 26 was apparently caused by someone burning camp trash in a fire. The Nugget contacted Reid after receiving a letter to the editor concerning the blaze (see The Nugget, November 14, page 2). Letter-writer Stephen King expressed concern that the fire was caused by shooters using Tannerite, a commercially available compound... Full story
There are a lot of people out in the woods these days. Some are hiking; some are riding mountain bikes; some are riding horseback; some are running off-road vehicles; some are target-shooting. In winter, some are cross-country skiing; others are snowshoeing or simply playing in the snow; some are riding snowmobiles. With recreation on the Deschutes National Forest increasing 15 to 20 percent over the past three years, the traffic is getting heavy - and the potential for... Full story
When the honor band results were revealed, six Sisters High School students and their band leader were playing a happy tune. Remarkably, all the local students who auditioned were selected to play in the Western International Band Clinic (WIBC). So, the weekend before Thanksgiving the six packed their instruments and concert clothes and headed to Seattle. Each fall, students throughout the Pacific Northwest, along with Australia and parts of Canada, record auditions for WIBC... Full story
In what has become a Thanksgiving holiday weekend tradition, the Portland-based band The Weather Machine will rock The Belfry on Saturday night, November 24, at 8 p.m. Slater Smith, co-founder of the band, grew up in Sisters and got his musical start through the Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project. The Portland-based rock group started cutting their musical teeth in 2013, at a time when the city was coming off a folk-revival wave and craving more indie rock. The Weather... Full story
Recently, there has been a lot of attention grabbing headlines and news reports depicting sitting as a disease of our society, arguing that sitting poses the same life expectancy detriment as smoking. While such hype serves its purpose as an attention-grabber, it ought to be considered fake news. There is no argument that being sedentary is detrimental to our bodies. Increased body fat, insulin sensitivity, high blood pressure, all can be conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease... Full story
After picking up a fourth-place trophy at state last year, the girls swim team returns with three of its four scorers, giving reason to believe the squad will make some noise again this year, while the boys team will look to build on improvements from last season. Bryn Singleton is in her fifth year with the program and her second as head coach. She is assisted once again by Rosie Horton. After a record number of swimmers last year, the team is down to a bit more manageable number with a turnout of about 25 swimmers. Seniors... Full story
How does the Forest Service manage the Sisters backcountry when all the people who run to it to escape the maddening crowd become... a maddening crowd? Starting in 2020, they plan to limit access to the most heavily used parts of the wilderness. Under a draft decision issued last week by the Deschutes and Willamette national forests, wilderness day-use would be managed with a limited-entry permit system at 30 of the 80 trailheads across the Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington,... Full story
The Lady Outlaws return 10 experienced players to the program, and will add depth with six new additions. Seniors Alexa Stewart, Sophia Bianchi, Isabelle Spitler, and Sydney Head all return to the guard position, and senior Meaghan Greaney will play down low at post. Juniors Kaylee Huber and Olivia Hougham will see time as guards, and Rheanna Salisbury, Josie Aylor, and Gracen Sundstrom, also juniors, will play at the post position. Brittaney Niebergall, the Outlaws' new head coach, is in the process of evaluating her... Full story
