News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 403 - 427 of 486
The world is entering a new era. Human birthrates are falling below replacement levels. “For the first time possibly since the Black Death,” according to a recent article in The Economist newspaper, the number of people on the planet could shrink by the end of the century. Demographic scientist Peter Zeihan is even more specific. Zeihan anticipates the collapse of China in about a decade due to depopulation and a realignment of the world order that has been in place for gen... Full story
The best - and the worst - part of fly-fishing is that there is always more to learn. Two fish showed me this during this past week. A lot of people don't like fishing in hot weather, but I love it. The warm air sparks a lot of aquatic insect hatches, and this gets the trout going. Most of the time, our Central Oregon trout, especially on the Metolius and the Deschutes, don't like to rise to hatching bugs in bright sunshine. That's why you see many anglers - including me - arr... Full story
• I found the absolute perfect place to board Bingo, when needed. Not only is she safe, she has a pen and access to the “bitch barn.” She has a view of all that goes on on a farm with a big family with lots and lots of critters, way cool old machinery, and any number of outbuildings. Just like it used to be. • It feels like a lot of things that used to be shiny are turning into yard art right before my eyes. Vernon’s old 1968 shoein’ truck has even begun to sink into the ground, and when I pulled my 36 year old stock trail... Full story
Notwithstanding that some 1,000 quilters were in town on Independence Day, downtown was eerily quiet. The quilters were mostly ensconced in classrooms at Sisters High School for Quilter's Affair. Most everybody else in Sisters - at least those who stayed in town for the holiday - made way to Sisters Eagle Airport for the 10th Rumble on the Runway and fly-in event. Cars were parked three quarters of a mile in every direction. About half came on foot or bike, many pushing stroll... Full story
Zeta Seiple wrote: I want to express my sincerest gratitude to the Emergency Response Team of the Sisters-Camp Sherman RFPD, who thoroughly checked me out after my fall on the sidewalk near Oliver Lemon’s two weeks ago. Thank you for being so kind and professional as you took my blood pressure, made sure I had no broken bones, and asked all the pertinent questions to ensure I was doing well enough to go home. It is a good feeling to know we have such a professional, well-trained group of emergency personnel here in S... Full story
The Vietnam War shaped all of our lives. I have friends who fought in that war and friends who demonstrated against it. The war, in large measure, set the course of their lives. But even people only tangentially affected by the fighting and the protests — and people unborn when Saigon fell in 1975 — live in an America whose contours were mapped by the conflict in Southeast Asia 50 and more years ago. In Vietnam was born the distrust of institutions that is the hallmark of our... Full story
Us vs. them To the Editor: I wish to thank Jim Cornelius for his reminder how the lack of trust between Russians and NATO allies in 1983 (“The most dangerous year,” The Nugget, July 5, page 2) nearly annihilated us. Those wise words extol us to contemplate King Mongkut’s puzzlement: “Is a danger to be trusting one another One will seldom want to do what other wishes But unless someday somebody trust somebody There’ll be nothing left on earth excepting fishes” Given the certainty of uncertainty in Eastern Europe, heeding the c... Full story
When people find out that, after seven years, I am no longer going to be writing about what’s going on at City Hall, they ask what I’m going to do with my time. Retire? Find other work? Although my assigned beat has been City-related, I do write articles having to do with other topics. And now I will have time to do more of what I love: interviewing people for feature stories, and researching topics to learn more in order to write an in-depth article. I should also be abl... Full story
After a narrow loss to Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer last year, Jamie McLeod-Skinner is “seriously considering” another run for Congress in Oregon’s 5th District. McLeod-Skinner told the Capital Chronicle on Tuesday that she expects to make a decision about whether she’ll run again in early July. She lost to Chavez-DeRemer by just more than 7,000 votes or two percentage points. McLeod-Skinner confirmed the existence of a poll she commissioned with leftover campaign funds. The Capital Chronicle obtained a copy of the polling... Full story
As I write this, I am sitting solo at my camp deep in the heart of the Steens Wilderness. One eye on my journal, and the other on my campfire grappling to sustain itself after a day of unexpected pre-solstice snow and wrathful rounds of high winds and hail. Generally clear this time of year, this time the skies are angry. The sun is finally making its debut out from the west, lighting up the sharp cliffsides of the Little Blitzen River. I can hear the booms of the nighthawks... Full story
It was, as the Duke of Wellington described the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.” The series of events that went down 40 years ago, in 1983, carried much bigger potential consequences than any single battle ever did. The stakes were the continued existence of humanity. Had a couple of decisions gone another way, had individual men not kept a cool head under pressure, it might well have been lights out for the human race. Most fol... Full story
Thank you to Forest Service To the Editor: A big thank-you to our local Forest Service for their prompt response to a recent bonfire that was started and left unattended on BLM land that borders the perimeter of the Tollgate subdivision on the south side of Highway 20. Fortunately, a concerned motorist traveling on the highway reported seeing smoke. The USFS was dispatched and extinguished the fire before it had an opportunity to spread closer to nearby homes. Crisis averted for now, but it’s not difficult to imagine this s... Full story
Are you looking for a fun getaway not too far from Sisters? I recently had the opportunity for a quick visit to Hood River that was relaxing, entertaining, and educational. My cousin was visiting from Southern California, and I planned a getaway we would both enjoy. She and I grew up together and spent hours riding horses and spending the night together. We left Sisters at noon on a Wednesday to drive up Highway 26 to Highway 35, which circles the south and east side of Mount... Full story
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness -That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to insti... Full story
Just say no To the Editor: I applaud the City staff for its denial of the Space Age rebuild! Mr. Pliska’s comment that he’s “trying to be a good neighbor by doing what is right for Sisters” is laughable. As a 33-year resident, I love driving into town and seeing the flower and plant stands open, announcing that spring and summer are coming! They’re both welcoming and a down-home entrance to our little town!! The idea of a truck-stop-size gas station/mini-mart replacing that image gags me! I hope we continue to “just say... Full story
Last Saturday, I had the honor of joining my fellow songwriters and musicians Lilli Worona and Mike Biggers in presenting "Songs from the Shelf" for the Deschutes Public Library. We spent an hour at Sisters Fire Hall with a wonderful, engaged audience serving up original songs inspired by books. We introduced each song with a little exploration of what inspired them, and how we built them: Greek mythology, history, the etymology of common phrases. I've always been... Full story
It seems fitting that I would learn about the death of novelist Cormac McCarthy dozens of miles up the Chewaucan River, in an old cow camp, if only because the location was an antipode of the Susquehanna, where I first encountered his work some 30 years ago. I think now, and the evidence is strong, I was there because of him. Back then I was in Pennsylvania on a fellowship at Bucknell, and found “All the Pretty Horses” by pure accident, in a tiny bookshop next to the Ami... Full story
Public land management benefits from a diverse suite of opinions. Opinions are derived from values and working with those who have different value sets while trying to find common ground is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Sometimes it’s difficult to separate fact from opinion, as public land management and the science behind it is complex. And sometimes, science is normative; that is, produced or construed by those to further a specific value-based agenda. All t... Full story
Cormac McCarthy died last week. At 89. Peacefully, in his home in Santa Fe. He has been flogged and revered by critics over his long career. Many find his works to be disturbing, brutal. Indeed they are often blood-soaked and violent tellings of hard lives lived by hard men. “No Country for Old Men” is of prime example. That novel, one of 12 he authored, was somewhat poorly received, although the film version was wildly successful earning four Academy Awards including Bes... Full story
The first of Jeff Guin’s books that I discovered was “The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the OK Corral and How It Changed the American West.” It’s an outstanding read; Guinn takes a story you think you know and digs in past the crust of myth to find the pure ore. In recent years, Guinn has turned to crime. He brought a sharp journalist’s eye to the biography of Charles Manson. I would not have thought any time spent in the company of that sordid little co... Full story
I was raised in Sisters by grandparents who instilled in me a love of farms and forests and an appreciation for the importance of managing these resources sustainably. This upbringing led me to a career in forestry. Eighty-seven percent of the forestland in Deschutes County is owned by the federal government, which once supported thriving logging and milling infrastructure until the 1990s, when in an attempt to reverse declining spotted owl population trends, federal forests were all but closed to timber harvest. Less than... Full story
Keep it traditional Top the Editor: Nearly 40 years ago I built a house in the Sisters area. I was attracted here by the rustic, traditional nature of the environment and escape to the country. The proposed gas station violates every facet of country living that I can imagine. This distorted image is not the Sisters area that I knew and loved. The facsimiles of the proposal for changing remind me of a downtown exit to Los Angeles or Miami. One person’s business success and desire to expand will detrimentally affect the d... Full story
Sisters Rodeo To the Editor: Sisters Rodeo again demonstrated why it is a favorite PRCA rodeo for both contestants and fans. With a mostly new board of directors and the leadership of President Patty Cordoni, this production ran smoothly and appeared seamless to the fans in the stands. Cordoni even brought the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle to the parade and the Grand Entry after seeing them at another Rodeo. This was a tribute to American history, which was so appreciated by fans. The whole week of rodeo was so inspiring,... Full story
I attended the most recent Sisters Planning Commission workshop on June 1. On the agenda was the introduction of the Planning Commission’s consideration of the application to tear down and rebuild the Space Age gas station. No public participation of any sort is allowed at Planning Commission workshops so that wasn’t the reason I spent my valuable time just sitting and watching. I went because at their April 20 workshop, at the 4:39 p.m. mark, the Planning Commissioners were told by the City’s hired attorney, Jeremy Green, th... Full story
Dozens of people traveled from across the Pacific Northwest to Sisters last week to testify before the Oregon Board of Forestry. The Board conducts its meetings at locations around the state, and Wednesday-Thursday, June 7-8 was Sisters’ turn. The public testimony that the Board took at the beginning of an all-day session at FivePine Lodge & Conference Center on Wednesday was impassioned — and it had nothing to do with anything that was actually on the board’s agenda. The p... Full story
