Oct. 28, 1971
A group of 40 or 50 young people from all Christian denominations are planning a “Free Store” for those in need.
“They are wanting to do this as a Christian service,” said Susy McCubbins, spokesman for the group.
The group is asking for donated items including clothes, hangers, baby furniture and such. Everything will be free, but any profit received will go toward overhead and food supplies. A location for the store has not yet been selected.
The Linn County Planning Commission recommended that about 800 square miles of land around Sweet Home, Foster and Holley be zoned rural acreage (F-2) despite the fact that nearly 60 requests for zone changes were presented.
The result of the recommendation is that all areas outside the city of Sweet Home will require a five-acre minimum lot size. Most of the requests for changes heard by the commission were for changes to rural-residential zoning (F-3) which would require only one-acre lot sizes. Turned down by the commission was a request that the entire town of Foster be zoned F-3, which means that even there it will take a five-acre lot to build on.
Oct. 23, 1996
The Linn County Sheriff’s substation moved into the Sweet Home Ranger District building across Highway 20. The substation outgrew its home of 14 years, which was the former Mennonite church at the Cascade Timber Consulting compound.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completed its excavation of contaminated soil, removing 900 tons from the Midway area.
The EPA had to completely remove one side of the building at the former Ridgeway Logging Company garage in order to access the soil beneath, which was a source of contaminants leaching into well water.
Most of the removed soil will be taken to a hazardous waste disposal site in Arlington, Ore., but 50 tons will be taken to an incinerator in Deer Park, Texas, because high solvent concentrations prevent its disposal without treatment.
Sweet Home resident deputy Sally Jo Lincoln was promoted to detective, making her the first female detective in the history of Linn County. She has been with the Sheriff’s office for nearly eight years.