News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Sisters’ government agencies play a big role in the community — from City Hall to the school district, from the U.S. Forest Service to fire and police services. Covering the functions and actions of those agencies is one of our responsibilities. Local government has a big impact on the community. Sisters is deeply invested in the success of our schools, and there is a high level of interest in what goes in in the classroom, on performance stages and athletic fields. Sisters fo...
While The Nugget staff and freelancers put out our weekly newspaper 52 weeks a year, year in and year out, the paper is far from our only publication. We produce programs for organizations and agencies across Central Oregon, the visitors guide that is a primary marketing tool for Sisters, and a now-biannual magazine. The spring edition of Spirit of Central Oregon is on the street now - and it is one of my favorite projects in more than 30 years of creating content at The...
The approach of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, gives me occasion to reflect upon my experience working as an interpreter for ABC Sports during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany. While the 1972 games were a venue for many outstanding athletic achievements (i.e. Mark Spitz' seven gold medals), it was the Israeli massacre that most people remember. Almost 52 years ago, eleven members of Israel's Olympic team were killed during a 23-hour drama that began...
There is no better place to beat the summer heat in Sisters than at one of our mountain lakes. Suttle Lake, 13 miles west of Sisters, has been a favorite for many years with a variety of campgrounds, boat docks, picnic shelters, and resorts. The lake's name is a bungled attempt to recognize a man with quite a story. Before European settlement the lake was frequented by Native Americans who camped along its shores as they fished for sockeye salmon and travelled into the high...
Unlike many women of yesteryear, Bertha Ronalds did not walk quietly through the pages of history. Bertha was an influencer before there was a name for it and landed with a big splash in the Metolius Basin in 1935, leaving a legacy that includes Metolius Meadows and Lake Creek Lodge. She even has her own Wikipedia page which mentions New York's Gilded Age, life in Paris, and Napoleon. Her privileged life helped draw the rich and famous to a little place in a pine forest...
How do I begin to honor Valori Wells and her amazing 25-year journey in fabric design? Like many things, it is all about who you know! I met Jean Wells, Valori's mom, in the late 1980s. Jean immediately took me under her wing and, over the years, she shared marvelous stories and details about her own children, Jason and Val. In 1998, I knew Val had recently graduated with a Fine Arts Degree in Photography. I knew she grew up at Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR, and I knew she...
Quilts have been appearing like magic on the walls of Sisters businesses on the second Saturday in July for nearly half a century. But those in the know understand that the magic is actually made by the hard work of a cadre of dedicated volunteers. Some of them are locals, some of them come from out of state. Many have volunteered for years or decades. And not all of the volunteer work happens on Quilt Show day. Susan DeGroat volunteers year-round. She does a lot of office...
There's nothing a car enthusiast enjoys more than hanging out with other car enthusiasts, and showing off their pride and joy. "Gearheads like to geek out with each other and their cars," said Mondo Aguilera. Aguilera is the organizer of an informal drive-in held each summer Friday evening at Eurosports Food Cart Garden on the corner of East Hood Avenue and Fir Street. Aguilera should know - he is one. He has a 1966 F-100 with manual steering and brakes that he parks on the st...
Sisters folks are pumping up good times this summer with inflatable toys, games, and watercraft. Now that summer appears to have arrived on the scene the lakes and rivers are blooming with all sorts of fun seekers inflating a vast array of brightly colored kayaks, loungers, floaters, tubes, and SUPs (stand up paddle boards). The SUP market has exploded with the entry of inflatable boards. The benefits of an inflatable are obvious - weight and size. You can carry an inflatable...
Well, I'm gonna pick up some of these empties, Lord As soon as I find where they lay Tied off them jolly and leavin' lines On a long hot summer day... - John Hartford Nothing evokes the long, lovely days of summer more strongly than homemade music on the porch or on the lawn, played in fellowship with friends. Linda Leavitt and Tom Nechville have put together an opportunity for summer fun - and musical growth - in their Second Sunday Bluegrass Jam from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Banjos...
Matt and Jenny Behnke sought a life of adventure and creativity. They've found it in Sisters. The couple fronts Skybound Blue, an Americana, harmony-driven roots band. Their music, influenced by Gillian Welch, The Civil Wars, and The Avett Brothers, strives to create meaningful songs and melodies that resonate with their audience. The Behnke's moved to Sisters three years ago from McMinnville, looking to be closer to the outdoors and the music community in Sisters. "We feel so...
The words people use to describe Toni Berke Foster paint a picture of a formidable woman: words like tough, skillful, committed, honest, focused, relentless, taskmaster, and "passionate maniac." Foster was a teacher at tiny Black Butte School in Camp Sherman for 28 years serving as educator, bus driver, custodian, and superintendent. Her other identities included being a deeply committed defender of the Metolius Basin. She drove the Forest Service to unprecedented levels of...
There are at least a dozen labyrinths in Central Oregon from Prineville to Bend to Sisters to Black Butte Ranch. They range from a portable canvas version to a 140-foot-diameter medieval 11th-circuit installation, and everything in between. A few are in private gardens, but most are publicly accessible. Even some of those in private ownership are available by appointment and a requisite meditative practice, not just curiosity seekers. In all of Oregon there are 145 listed on...
Central Oregon has a deep and rich music tradition centered mostly around folk, blues, and country genres. Big name headliners from a range of musical tastes fill local amphitheaters, festivals, and stages throughout the year, primarily in the warmer months. Often overlooked in Central Oregon - but certainly appreciated - is classical music, as exemplified by Michael Gesme, professor of music at Central Oregon Community College (COCC). Now in his 28th year in his expansive...
In 1913 a ranger in California reported his top choice for a fire lookout post was "no gentleman." He hoped his supervisor's heart could stand the shock of the novel idea of hiring a woman. Hallie Daggett knew the country, was good with a horse and rifle, and unafraid of anything that walked, crept, or flew. She got the job and served admirably for 15 years as the first woman lookout in the country. For decades working in the forest was seen as a man's world. After the Forest...
The word came in from a local rancher: Wolves had killed his livestock. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) investigated the claim and confirmed it. Reactions to the incidents ranged from outright anger and fear to tempered excitement that wolves were finally back in Central Oregon, where they once lived until being eradicated 50 years ago. According to ODFW Wildlife Biologist Aaron Bott and Range Specialist Mike Ensley, the initial responses that included...
Donna Sanders is a neighborly sort with a big smile and bigger heart. She has taught thousands of new skiers of all ages how to get into a sport that typically lasts a lifetime. This includes kids who have gone on to competition. Even two knee replacements can't keep her from suiting up. She has piled up a slew of recognitions including the coveted Skiing Legends Award from Professional Ski Instructors of America. This award led Ski Hoodoo to create its slogan: "Hoodoo – Where...
Ask the average passerby to define "forest bathing," and if the first reaction isn't a blank stare, the offered definition is apt to miss the mark by a fair distance. Missie Wikler, owner of r'oming yoga in Bend, is a certified forest therapy guide and RYT Yoga Instructor. She explains forest bathing as, "A practice where participants bathe themselves in the forest atmosphere. There is no water involved in this practice and the bathing refers to immersing oneself in the phyton...
Celebrity chef and restaurateur Brian Malarkey, who grew up on a ranch in Tumalo, and went on to create over 15 successful restaurant concepts in various cities, is returning to Central Oregon this spring, with his brother James, to open his latest vision, Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge in Bend. Malarkey's roots run deep in Oregon, with his father's ancestors arriving on the Oregon Trail in the 1850s. Brian grew up on the Tumalo ranch where his mom, Lesley Day, founded the...
Hank Moss grew up working cattle in the sagebrush of southern Utah and northern Arizona. There's a haze of romance around that life - and Hank will tell you it was a fine life for a youngster. "That was a pretty magical growing up. I was horseback all the time," he recalled. "It was super cool." That doesn't mean it was easy. Moss' family moved from San Antonio, Texas, to a spread under the rim of Bryce Canyon without much in the way of worldly goods. "We were in really rough...
We take our senses for granted. It's hard for most of us to contemplate being deaf or blind. We just don't want to imagine it. We're amazed when we see somebody who has lost their sight do amazing things. Making music, for example - like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap. Or we admire James Thurber, the blind cartoonist for The New Yorker; Claude Monet, French painter; James Joyce, Irish writer. How about a blind photographer? How's that possible? Well, it is. Meet Gar...
Every once in a while, Sisters kicks up a story that is tough to cover. When you live and work in a small town, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to know the family involved in a car accident, or the people whose house burned down, or the victim or perpetrator of a crime. The recent issue involving Sisters High School choir and Americana Project teacher Rick Johnson, who was placed on leave after an obviously sketchy text exchange with a former student came to lig...
The Nugget believes in the power of Story. Since you are here backing us up with your support, it's pretty safe to assume you do, too. The work that keeps us going week in and week out is the effort to tell the stories of the people of our community, in all their wide diversity in age, background and experience. When I first started writing for The Nugget 30 years ago, I wasn't sure how deep the well of Story would be here. Turns out, it's bottomless. A couple of weeks back, I...
She was quick-witted and ethical and it ran in the family. Grace Cyrus Aitken came from a long line of pioneer innovators who believed in new ideas and working well with others. Her grandfather William was a County Commissioner, Oregon State Senator, and early adopter of new farming approaches in Scio. In 1882, her father Enoch migrated east with his wife Mary and five sons to a sparsely settled area near Gray Butte, northeast of Terrebonne. Daughters Grace and Annie were...
In her later years, Maida Bailey liked to cruise in her 1958 green and white Chevy Coupe. She drove around her ranch to check the irrigation, to visit friends in Camp Sherman or Bend, or just around town in Sisters, handing out friendly waves and smiles although she was almost hidden behind the steering wheel. She was famous for easily making friends with every kind of person, from university presidents, to teachers, ranchers, homemakers, store keepers, socialites, mill...
