News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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The fire that consumed an RV and truck belonging to a Sisters man on September 1 was caused accidentally. Clara Butler of the State Fire Marshal’s Office reported that the cause was determined to be improper disposal of burning materials. “It appears that smoking was a factor,” she said. The fire occurred in the forest north of Highway 20, directly across from the entrance to Tollgate. A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to aid the fire victim, Randall Hodges, who lost his dog Tyson in the blaze. The Support Now campaig... Full story
Cathy Covell has always had the urge to travel. Covell is a physical therapist who specializes in myofascial release. She travels the country with her horses and her dogs, filling in at clinics that need an extra pair of hands or some vacation relief. This summer, she landed for a while in Sisters, at Green Ridge Physical Therapy. A native of Indiana, Covell first encountered Sisters while working a stint at a practice in Eugene. She headed over the mountains and set herself... Full story
A driver reaching for something in his vehicle hit a parked car on Cascade Avenue, which caused his vehicle to heel over on its side, blocking the westbound lane of travel on Tuesday afternoon, September 3. Deschutes County Sheriff's deputies arriving at the scene found a black 2018 Honda Pilot resting on its driver's side and facing west in the westbound lane. Cascade Avenue was shut down and traffic was re-routed around the scene. Medics from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural... Full story
The intensity level of the race for Deschutes County Sheriff ratcheted up last week, as candidate Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp filed a tort claim notice — notice of a potential lawsuit — against the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office administration, alleging ongoing targeting, harassment, and election interference. Sgt. Vander Kamp, who serves on the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team (CODE), is running against Captain William Bailey, the candidate endorsed by retiring Sheri... Full story
A driver reaching for something in his vehicle hit a parked car on Cascade Avenue, which caused his vehicle to heel over on its side, blocking the westbound lane of travel on Tuesday afternoon, September 3. Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies arriving at the scene found a black 2018 Honda Pilot resting on its driver’s side and facing west in the westbound lane. Cascade Avenue was shut down and traffic was re-routed around the scene. Medics from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District arrived on scene and began...
“Ghost guns,” which are 3D-printed firearms without serial numbers, are prohibited across Oregon starting last Sunday. The ban comes after a federal judge denied a legal challenge that tried to block the prohibition. In 2023, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2005 banning ghost guns. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, pushed for years to get legislation banning ghost guns. “Unserialized guns are bad for everyone except criminals who don’t want to get caught,” she said at the time. Starting on Septem... Full story
The federal government will move ahead with plans to kill tens of thousands of barred owls in Washington, Oregon, and California to protect threatened spotted owls. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a decision on Wednesday to adopt a controversial barred owl management strategy that calls for lethal removal of the birds by shooting them with shotguns and, in some cases, capturing and euthanizing them. Barred owls are native to the eastern U.S. but began expanding... Full story
Aggressive action on the part of firefighters stopped a wildfire that erupted Thursday afternoon near Hoodoo Ski Area west of Sisters. The fire was 100 percent contained at two acres by early Friday morning, after firefighters hit it with an air attack and a Hotshot crew was deployed to take on the fire on the ground. According to Central Oregon Fire Information, cite cause of the blaze was lightning. Heavy thunderstorms moved up the Cascade Crest a week ago. Lightning fires can sometimes “sleep” for many days before eru... Full story
With only the South Locust Street branch to go, motorists can now get a clear picture, both of what the finished roundabout will look like, and how to navigate it. Access from Cedar Street is also now clear in how it will work. None too soon for Sisters Pumphouse and Country Store, the Union 76 station, and High Camp Taphouse, two businesses who "have taken a beating" owners say. Drivers are confused with how to enter the businesses which have easy-to-miss temporary access. Ci... Full story
Firefighters quickly got a handle on a fire that consumed an RV and a truck at a dispersed camping site directly across Highway 20 from the entrance to the Tollgate subdivision, lying approximately 150-200 yards to the north of the road. The blaze ignited around 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 1. There was a series of small explosions as ammunition and propane tanks cooked off; the flames flared and the blaze spread into the surrounding forest. Wind conditions were calm, and... Full story
An 18-year-old woman from Klamath Falls was killed in a head-on crash on Highway 20 west of Suttle Lake on Tuesday, August 27. Oregon State Police responded at about 11 a.m. to a two vehicle crash on Highway 20, near milepost 82, in Jefferson County. According to OSP, preliminary investigation indicated an eastbound Tesla Model S, operated by Scarlett Jewell Felder, crossed into the on-coming lanes and struck a westbound Jeep Wagoneer, operated by Michel Phillipe Sabourin, age 65, of Naples, Florida, head-on. The operator of... Full story
Despite mixed-to-negative reports of commercial development across the country and Oregon, Sisters developers and entrepreneurs appear to have a differing take. According to Goldman Sachs, some $1.2 trillion of commercial mortgages are scheduled to mature this year and next. That's almost a quarter of all outstanding commercial mortgages, and the highest recorded level dating back to 2008. The biggest single holder are banks, many local and regional, with a 40 percent share.... Full story
Jeri Fouts and her son Ryan Burbank were on the 24th floor of the Westin Downtown Hotel in Dallas, Texas, last Friday, August 23, waiting for an elevator to take them down to a birthday dinner with a family friend. They waited. And waited. "We almost considered walking down because we were going to miss the dinner," Jeri recalled. Finally, an elevator pinged, and a door opened onto an express elevator filled with football players from the Los Angeles Chargers. Jeri and Ryan st... Full story
There’s a lot of good percolating through Sisters Country as evidenced by the reporting out at the latest Community Builders meeting on August 21 gathering at the Stitchin’ Post classroom. The meeting opened with Jean Wells, founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) 49 years ago and owner of the Stitchin’ Post, providing some history of quilting in Sisters. In 1975, when Wells’ store was in what is now the bar at Sisters Saloon and Ranch Grill, she hung 12 family quilts... Full story
Sheriff Shane Nelson announced last week that Captain Paul Garrison had been named Undersheriff in the midst of an election that pits two current Deschutes County Sheriff's Office personnel against each other. In a message posted to Facebook, Sheriff Nelson said, "The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office has two internal candidates for the Office of Sheriff, Captain William Bailey and Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp. Like many political matters, this dynamic can be divisive for our... Full story
For the second time in the space of a week, a wreck closed a major highway into Sisters from the east. A three-car pile-up on Highway 126, at the intersection with Camp Polk Road near Aspen Lakes, blocked traffic for a time in the late afternoon of Friday, August 23. Cloverdale Fire District personnel responded, along with an ambulance crew from Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District. According to Captain Travis Bootes of the Cloverdale District, one woman was transported to the... Full story
Oregon set a record last week for acres lost from wildfire, 1.49 million or 2,200 square miles, surpassing the 2012 total of 1.2 million acres. Nationwide it has been a disastrous year for wildfire, with 5.5 million acres burned through Sunday from 30,293 fires. This is more than double the 2.7 million acres lost in 2023 but down from the losses of 2021 and 2022 when over 7 million acres burned those years. The largest single wildfire in the U.S. is the Durkee Fire in Oregon... Full story
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one step closer to appearing on ballots across Oregon this November. All it took was a brand-new political party. On Monday, August 12, the Oregon Secretary of State’s office verified that backers of the independent presidential candidate had gathered enough valid signatures to create a new minor statewide party. Dubbed the “We The People” party, the political organization was created for the express purpose of nominating Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, for a slot on the ballot. Now t... Full story
Persistent drought in the West over the last two decades has limited the amount of electricity that hydropower dams can generate, costing the industry and the region billions of dollars in revenue. The sector lost about 300 million megawatt hours of power generation between 2003 and 2020 due to drought and low water compared with the long-term average, researchers from the University of Alabama found. That equals about $28 billion in lost revenue. Half of the drop in power generation was due to drought in Oregon, Washington,... Full story
SFF Presents is committed to reducing its environmental impact at their events, with a special focus on waste management. After receiving considerable grants from The Environmental Center in Bend and Can'd Aid's Crush It Campaign, the organization has made significant progress in diverting refuse, and eliminating single-use plastics. The Environmental Center's Community Innovation Fund grant of approximately $5,000 enabled SFF Presents (SFFP) to purchase tailored bins and... Full story
Oregon insurance regulators have cut the health insurance rate increases proposed by insurers earlier this year, but individuals are still likely to pay an increase of 5 percent and could see rates jump by 11 percent. Financial specialists in the Department of Consumer and Business Services said in a release Wednesday they had lowered the rate increases proposed by five companies offering plans on the individual market while keeping the rate proposed by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan the same. The changes would cut the... Full story
The back of an intensely warm July seems to have been broken -and hay, alfalfa and orchard grass growers in Sisters Country are breathing a sigh of relief. While their water supply has been reduced to 70 percent as of August 12, that's an improvement over last year. Given the spate of hot weeks it was a surprise to Jim Williams, Water and Hydro Manager for Three Sisters Irrigation District. The District supplies water to 185 users with 7,572 acres. Williams told The Nugget:... Full story
"A perfect day for my birthday!" Gerry Jimerson proclaimed on Saturday, August 17, as she stood next to Sam, who had just taken her on a nine-mile trail ride out of Sisters Cow Camp. A day in the saddle and an afternoon relaxing with friends at Sisters Cow Camp is as fitting a celebration of a 91st birthday as it is possible to have for a woman who has spent her life in the saddle - and decades maintaining trails and camps in Sisters Country. Jimerson has taken the lead on... Full story
The Highway 20 corridor between Sisters and Suttle Lake is a diverse landscape dotted with vast stands of ponderosa pines, leafy aspens, horse camps, a butte, bucolic meadows, and wildlife. Anywhere from 350 to 600 mule deer and elk are killed annually along the stretch from collisions with vehicles. That's about 90 for every mile of the corridor we learned from Cidney Bowman, wildlife passage coordinator for Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). In discussing the issue... Full story
One of the great thru-hikes of the world, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), has been a monumental challenge for the class of 2024. This is the time of year that thru-hikers from around the world and all 50 states arrive in Sisters, either hiking northbound (NOBO) from the Mexican border, or southbound (SOBO) from the Canadian border, and attempt to hike a continuous footpath from one national border to the other. A journey of 2,650 miles, or 6.2 million steps if you prefer.... Full story
