News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Articles from the December 20, 2016 edition


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  • Letters to the Editor 12/21/2016

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    To the Editor: I would like to respond to Chuck Humphreys' Letter to the Editor (The Nugget, December 7). I live in Crossroads. I have ridden my horse past the McKenzie Gravel Pit (Highway 242) for many years while people were in the gravel pit shooting. Recently, I have been walking on the same Jimerson Trail while people were shooting. I have never been afraid and have never heard any bullets whizzing past me. Actually, I think that anyone that could shoot from the gravel pit into Crossroads or any place outside of the pit... Full story

  • Winter storm smacks Sisters hard

    Ron Thorkildson|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    On Wednesday, December 14, Old Man Winter took dead aim on Central Oregon and dealt the region a staggering blow. The wintery blast closed schools, federal and state offices, as well as many businesses. For several days following the storm, citizens were still digging their way out of the massive snowfall in an attempt to regain some sense of normalcy. Forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Pendleton began to take notice of a rather disorganized mass of... Full story

  • Winter recital brings down the house

    Jodi Schneider, Correspondent|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Sisters Dance Academy winter recital, "Celebrations Around the World," dazzled a full house at the Sisters High School Auditorium on Saturday, as dancers ages 3 to 18 performed ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, Broadway and contemporary; wearing bright colorful costumes depicting celebrations around globe. Exquisitely costumed performers depicted Christmas, Hanukkah, The Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day and much more in a diversity-themed event. "The reason I came up with this... Full story

  • Cold weather shelter will start operating in January

    Sue Stafford|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    In 11 days, the Sisters Cold Weather Shelter will open its doors to those needing to come in out of the cold. Registration begins at 6 p.m. on January 1, 2017, at Westside Church, 442 Trinity Way, between Highway 242 and McKinney Butte Road. The shelter will be open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night the temperature is forecast to be 32 degrees or lower. Westside is serving as the host facility for the shelter for the month of January. Sisters Community Church has offered... Full story

  • Students brave cold to reach for stars

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    On the evening of Saturday, December 10, nine determined high school students and three adult advisors braved the elements to participate in a real science project contributing to astronomical research. It was the latest campaign of the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network (RECON), of which Sisters is a participating community. RECON is a citizen-science program developed by Dr. Marc Buie of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and... Full story

  • Of a certain age.....

    Sue Stafford|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    I've always loved snow days. To a child out of school due to snow, it meant sledding on the hill in the neighbor's pasture on our Flexible Flyer wooden sleds. If we did have school, snow meant the girls could wear long pants, the only time we were allowed to wear pants to school. My memories include building snowmen taller than me, constructing snow forts from which we bombarded the other neighborhood kids with snowballs, and, of course, snow angels all over the yard. When we... Full story

  • Lady Outlaws post two wins in hoops

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    The Lady Outlaws basketball team tallied two wins this past week to push their record to 3-1. Sisters defeated La Pine 38-35 at home on Tuesday, December 13. The squad was unable to make their annual trip to the Seaside Tournament due to the severe weather conditions, but were able to pick up a game against Crook County on Saturday. The Outlaws came from behind and beat the Cowgirls 27-25. In Tuesday's matchup against La Pine, the Outlaws came out cold and couldn't get their... Full story

  • City legal fees have piled up

    Sue Stafford|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Over the past four years, the amount of money budgeted and spent on City legal costs has been increasing significantly every year. However, it appears that fiscal year 2016/17 may mark a turnaround. There have been a number of prolonged lawsuits brought against the City over that time and several began even earlier, spanning over several City administrations. One of the major goals interim City Manager Rick Allen set for himself when he took the reins at City Hall last spring... Full story

  • Trail to success in horse adoption

    Kathryn Godsiff, Correspondent|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Adopting a rescued horse is a process, one that can be fraught with unexpected bumps and bruises. Too often, when those rough spots crop up, the horse is passed along to another hopeful owner. Sisters horse trainer Alison Weston started a nonprofit this year with the intention of creating a trail to success for horses ending up in a rescue and those warm-hearted people who choose them. Solid Strides, a 501(c)(3) entity, has a three-fold mission: to provide training for the... Full story

  • Why coyotes like it in Sisters

    Jim Anderson, Correspondent|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    A local television report the other night about coyotes living in Bend surprised some people. It shouldn't have. There are coyotes making a living all over Sisters Country, eating mule deer fawns, road-kills and stray and outdoor house cats. Government trappers started killing coyotes indiscriminately over 100 years ago. They thought they could kill coyotes as easily as they did wolves, but the coyote has outfoxed them. History has shown that killing coyotes indiscriminately... Full story

  • The Eurasians are coming!

    Jim Cornelius, News Editor|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    The nomination of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State is a very significant development, one that confirms President-elect Donald Trump's sympathy toward Russia. It would be a mistake to underestimate Tillerson's qualifications - you don't get to be the head of a major oil company unless you are highly intelligent and geopolitically savvy. Tillerson is reportedly both, in spades. And he has established a remarkable working relationship with Russian President Tsar... Full story

  • Holiday cheer and other challenges

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    The holidays, regardless of your religious persuasion, can be hard on the heart. While shopping, there's the need to evoke your inner-warrior to defend your chosen gifts and get them to the goal - I mean cash register. And the challenge of waiting in line to mail gifts, get something to eat and, of course, the ever-frustrating pursuit of a parking place is enough to turn even the meekest shopper into a lunatic. Hopefully, it'll all be worth it when you see the joy on the faces of the recipients of all your hard work. There... Full story

  • Sisters artist tapped for cable ad campaign

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    When the "local dog," BendBroadband, got to work on a new advertising campaign, they tapped a "local dog" to represent the company. "We have had a series of BendBroadband campaigns that have featured local people who excel at their craft," said spokesperson Krista Ledbetter. For the current campaign, that local is J. Chester "Skip" Armstrong. The noted wood-carver sculpted the BendBroadband dog mascot. "It just seemed like a natural fit," Ledbetter said. The planning and... Full story

  • Shades of Sarajevo?

    Craig Rullman|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Monday's assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, by an off-duty Turkish police officer, raised the spectre of another assassination, in 1914, on Franz Josef Street in Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip's assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie, in the cause of Serbian nationalism, unraveled the fragilities of an exceedingly complex political construct and resulted, ultimately, in World War I. It's possible to look at the pre... Full story

  • When Belsnickle came to my house

    Marlene McCormack|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    It's been a long time since I invited a certain white-haired fellow over for the holidays. Oh, I'm not talking about [that] white-haired fellow, but we're getting ahead of the story here. There was a Christmas long ago when my two grown sons, Harry and Patrick, needed a lesson in making good choices. You see, there was a time when Patrick was 3 and Harry was 5 years old - and together they could be a handful. They were excited to move to a place where it snowed all winter. During the day, my new job at the library kept me bus... Full story

  • Book of frontier biographies hits shelves

    Craig Rullman|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    "Warriors of the Wildlands, True Tales of the Frontier Partisans," the first book by The Nugget's editor Jim Cornelius, has recently been published and is now available. Warriors of the Wildlands is a collection of 12 fascinating and engaging biographies, focusing on an eclectic set of individuals who operated on the world's wild and dangerous frontiers. The book covers a broad spectrum in time, from the 1770s through World War I, exploring subjects such as Simon Kenton and... Full story

  • No charges in hospital death of Sisters woman

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    There will be no criminal charges associated with the medical error that killed Loretta Macpherson of Sisters at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend in December 2014. "After a thorough review of the facts of this case, and a consideration of the steps St. Charles has taken to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again, I concluded that forgoing the initiation of criminal charges was in the interest of justice," said Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel. Hummel met numerous times over the past two years with St.... Full story

  • Ceremony honors veterans buried at Camp Polk Cemetery

    Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Close to 50 people gathered at the Lodge at Aspen Lakes on Saturday morning to honor veterans buried at Camp Polk Cemetery as a part of the national Wreaths Across America program. The ceremony was originally scheduled to be held at the cemetery, but due to heavy snowfall event organizers made the decision to move the event indoors. Working with the Sisters V.F.W. Post 8138 and American Legion Post 86, the colors were posted at 9 a.m. and Sisters High School student Alana Luke... Full story

  • Circle of Friends kids give back

    Jodi Schneider, Correspondent|Updated Dec 20, 2016

    Eight excited kids, mentored by Circle of Friends volunteers, exemplified the meaning of the season by hunting for holiday gifts for their families on Monday. With gift certificates for Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store donated by ZoselHarper Realtors, the kids were ready to shop. The kids collected items for grandparents, parents, and siblings and even the family pet. With a wide selection of stuffed animals, home décor, Christmas decorations, tools, games, puzzles,... Full story