News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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It’s that time of year again – shopping, parties, decking the halls, gathering with friends and families, exchanging presents, and singing carols. If all is copacetic in life, the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season can create wonderful memories to last a lifetime. If you are alone, ill, fallen on hard times, or grieving, all the festive airs can seem like a cruel hoax, magnifying the difficult circumstances. If I’ve learned nothing else about holidays, it is to ackno... Full story
I was away for the Thanksgiving holiday, so it was this weekend that I got caught up with reading back issues of The Nugget. I couldn’t help but compare the open and broad-minded editorial by Julia Fugate (November 20) and the illiberal sentiment of William David (December 4) referring to a piece by Lisa May. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects free speech in this country.Regardless of what you may think of Lisa’s beliefs, she has every right to have them published in a town newspaper like this. It would put Jim... Full story
A few weeks ago I read an article in The Nugget about Sisters author Melody Carlson. Since she’s written over 250 books, and I’m a former bookstore owner, you’d think I’d have read all of her books — but I haven’t. Over the last few weeks, I’ve made up for lost time. I just finished number nine! A few of them were “short stories” or “novellas” but great to read in one day. Many of them are set in the northwest — Oregon, Washington, Idaho — and that makes them even better. The one I just finished is “Christmas in Winter Hill... Full story
No growth option To the Editor: I attended the UGB open house and I was disappointed that the city is not pursuing, or even considering, a no-growth option by challenging the state’s mandate that we destroy the nature of Sisters with continuous expansion and density. Why can’t the city “lawyer up” and fight the state’s requirement? Susanna DeFazio... Full story
Letters to the Editor should be 300 words or less. The deadline for submission is Monday at 10 a.m. for publication in that week's Nugget. Please submit your letter by emailing to Jim Cornelius at [email protected] with "letter to the editor" in the subject line.... Full story
The Santiam Wagon Road was originally built in 1866 to collect tolls, but the road’s owners also convinced Congress to give them a huge land grant if they extended the road to the Idaho border. While some claimed they never actually finished the road, they ended up getting more than 861,000 acres of federal land. Fifty years later, most of this land was in the hands of two Minnesota businessmen, Watson Davidson and Louis Hill. Hill was the son of James J. Hill, builder of the Great Northern Railway, and he was wealthy e... Full story
Happy holidays, y’all! Here we are in beautiful Sisters Country, awaiting snow and hoping there’ll be enough for a New Year’s Eve party at Hoodoo. Awaiting the first night of Hanukkah, which falls on Christmas Day this year. Awaiting prezzies and family dinners, Santa Claus and Midnight Mass. Awaiting song and candles. Awaiting whatever traditions we’ve inherited or created for ourselves, with our biological families, adopted families, or families chosen in adulthood. Persona... Full story
It did this old history nerd’s heart good to watch a classroom full of middle schoolers reenacting some of the high points of the American Revolution earlier this month. I was a Bicentennial child. The spark of my love for history was already burning in my 10-year-old soul by 1975-76, and the Bicentennial observances poured gasoline on the fire. My passion for history has enriched my life in ways I can’t even begin to enumerate. It’s touched everything I am and do. I hope... Full story
Thankful for school system To the Editor: Something to be thankful for: The public school system. I could go into the history of my personal benefits, my children’s benefits, and my grandchildren’s benefits from this system, but I won’t. Instead, an overview of my direct experience of 63 years participating in this system. The teachers: Overall they are great! Like any aspect of the world, there will be some you love and some you don’t. But this I know: Teachers are dedicated, caring, intelligent people who do their very be... Full story
Jim and Sally Maxwell said: “Having lived in Sisters Country for 30 years we want to thank all our wonderful businesses and service providers and neighbors. We’ve got everything we could possibly need right here without the hassles of the big city! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!... Full story
Winter solstice is an ancient celebration, evidenced by sacred sites such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. Immense stones were aligned to illuminate the sun as it rose for solstice, and are still used as ceremonial sites on this special day. Candles and fires characterize winter solstice and related celebrations of light in darkness. Sisters Community Labyrinth organizers will light a contained fire at the large boulder in the labyrinth's center the evening o... Full story
The Santiam Wagon Road was originally built in 1866 to collect tolls, but the road’s owners also convinced Congress to give them a huge land grant if they extended the road to the Idaho border. This made them eligible for 861,512 acres of federal land. In 1871, they sold the wagon road (which, in the Cascade Mountains at least, was still producing toll revenue) and the land grant for $160,000 (about $4 million today) to two Californians, H.K.W. Clarke and Alexander Weill. Clarke paid $20,000 and Weill, acting as a r... Full story
Tone it down To the Editor: Immigration & the law: Believing that one cannot be part of a solution unless he or she recognizes and identifies the problem, I offer this to my neighbors here in “Sisters Country.” There is no need for misleading or incendiary language in expressing one’s viewpoint. Many of us do it without thinking, almost reflexively. A letter appearing in last week’s Nugget provides an example typical of this: The author thanks “Sheriff (sic) Vander Kamp for his open and unwittingly timely response to law en... Full story
Needless to say, I’m very disappointed with the way the election turned out. I think America is about to go into one of the worst eras in its history. This is really going to put us to the test. Not just any test but a biblical Sodom and Gomorrah type test. I think, in the long run, we will be OK, but sometimes you got to go through hell to get to heaven. I think that Kamala Harris did an exceptional job in her campaign considering she had to parachute behind enemy lines, slog up a slippery, muddy hill against the wind and ha... Full story
The staff here at The Nugget want to thank our readers and advertisers for working with us as we implement our new subscription program. The response has been gratifying, with so many people signing up to make sure they continue to get their weekly Nugget in their mailbox. As this program becomes fully implemented, we want to make sure we are communicating clearly about the various ways to support local journalism. Subscriptions The Nugget Newspaper will continue to be a... Full story
After bundling up against the cold, one of the best times to stargaze is on frosty December evenings when the sky is clear, and the stars are bright. Cassiopeia is a prominent wintertime constellation that is easy to recognize because five of its primary stars are arranged in the shape of a "W." Using Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) to locate the North Star (Polaris), extend an imaginary line from the dipper through Polaris to an area of about 30 degrees on the other side of the... Full story
Festive, cheerful, joyous, and celebratory — these are the emotions we often associate with the holiday season. Yet for those grieving the loss of a loved one, this time of year can evoke vastly different feelings. Words like dread, fear, anxiety, and loneliness emerged during a recent seminar here is Sisters that focused on helping people cope with grief during the holidays. Although grief is felt every day of the year, the empty chair at holiday gatherings can amplify the sense of loss, especially for those facing their f... Full story
Most residents of Sisters Country have heard of the Santiam Wagon Road and many have hiked or driven on parts of the road. What many may not know is that the Santiam Road is only part of a much longer road, known as the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road, which was supposed to stretch from Albany to Idaho. In reality, this road was mainly a way to scam the federal government out of more than 860,000 acres of land. This scam greatly enriched a few people, yet it isn’t even clear that the road was ever built. T... Full story
Northern Goshawks are found throughout the mountains and forests of North America and Eurasia. In North America they range from western central Alaska and the Yukon territories in the north to the mountains of northwestern and western Mexico. They are typically not found in the southeastern United States. Northern Goshawks can be found in coniferous and deciduous forests. During their nesting period, they prefer mature forests consisting of a combination of old, tall trees wit... Full story
Despite repeatedly assuring Americans that he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping reprieve for the troubled Biden scion on Sunday. President Biden granted “a full and unconditional pardon for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” As Politico reporter Betsy Woodruff Swan notes, a blanket pardon that bro... Full story
Law enforcement and immigration To the Editor: I want to thank Sheriff Vander Kamp for his open and unwittingly timely response to “law enforcement and immigrants ” in the November 13 edition, stating “We won’t participate just based on state law,” he said. “We can’t.” Now two weeks later I’ve noticed a shift in the new administration’s game plan as to how to coerce, bargain, threaten, (pick one that fits) local law enforcement agencies into doing the scud work for Tom Homan (border Czar) and I.C.E. agents, rounding up... Full story
It is fashionable to suggest that violence doesn’t solve problems, although the history of the world suggests otherwise. It might be better to say that violence doesn’t always solve problems, because it was only violence that cemented the American Revolution, it was violent resistance that carved out what little indigenous Americans have left, it was violence that finally solved Hitler, and at least for a little while it allowed schoolgirls in Kabul to learn how to read wit... Full story
• Staff and fellow councilors recognized Susan Cobb's service at her last meeting as a City Councilor last week. For her part, Cobb expressed her appreciation to the public and to her colleagues: "I thank the public who voted to put me here to serve as it has been a great honor. Thank you to those who encouraged my positions. Thank you to council members for their unfailing civility. I thank all the staff members from whom I had the fortune to receive their smiling help in... Full story
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family and friends for feast and fellowship — maybe with some football thrown in. We’re all kind of vaguely aware of the historical context — Pilgrims and Indians got together to make the First Thanksgiving and all that. Pondering the history behind Thanksgiving isn’t necessary to the holiday — but it can deepen the experience. As Native American Heritage Month winds down, it’s an opportunity to try to see the holiday thr... Full story
Letter to Harris To the Editor: In “An open letter to Kamala Harris” published last week in The Nugget, its author states: “The election on November 5, 2024, has demonstrated that there is a large portion of America, measured both geographically and by headcount, who do not share the opinion that the right to abortion should be federally protected throughout a pregnancy for any and all reasons.” The election, of course, demonstrates no such thing. And the current Vice President needn’t rely on the election results as a refe... Full story
