Scott Swanson
Longtime local music teacher and choir director Paul Rowton was awarded the Distinguished Service Award, while Jim Hagle was named First Citizen and Kristina Mathers Junior First Citizen during the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards presentation, held remotely at the chamber office Wednesday evening, Aug. 19.
Mona Waibel Hero (formerly known as VIP) Awards went to Mike Rubidoux, Lagea Mull, Patty Hankins, Tom Toth, Joe Medley and Torri Hawken.
The event was originally scheduled to be held as the traditional banquet on March 14, but the COVID-19 shutdown forced postponement, and chamber leaders decided to do it remotely after watching the coronavirus situation progress.
The remote event was hosted by chamber President George Medellin and Miriam Swanson of The New Era media company, with technical assistance from Melody Jordan Reese of the chamber staff, who streamed it live on Facebook.
The event also included prize giveaways and a recorded State of the City address by Mayor Greg Mahler, who said the city had a “great year” in 2019 and summarized some “major highlights” for various city departments.
He noted that three “significant” chains put down roots in Sweet Home in 2019 – 7-Eleven, Dollar Tree and Dollar General, and that building has been booming in the city, with 452 building permits issued in 2019 for a total job evaluation of $23 million.
He said 215 more housing units are planned for the city over the next three years.
Mahler also reported that the city has been able to establish a reserve fund with $9 million from the state of Oregon, $3 million from the USDA and $1.5 million from Business Oregon “to start a long-term investment in our future.”
He said Police Chief Jeff Lynn and Municipal Court Judge Larry Blake have worked together to create a community court system that will “adapt how policing looks in our community.
“This program connects residents with services to assist them.”
Mahler concluded, “As we reflect on yesterday, we realize that, today and tomorrow, we will remain strong because of our high level of community spirit, volunteerism and community dedication.”
Mahler also presented the 2020 Mayor’s Awards to state Sen. Fred Girod and Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, who “worked tirelessly” in 2019 and this year’s special legislative session to procure $7 million in state funding for Sweet Home’s aging wastewater treatment plant, benefiting both the city and “neighbors downstream,” he said.
“We owe them both a debt of gratitude,” he said.
Medellin and Swanson introduced the chamber award winners.
Junior First Citizen
Kristina Mathers
Mathers has lived in Sweet Home for 30 years and graduated in 2003 from Sweet Home High School.
She has worked in the insurance field for 11 years, five of those in Sweet Home for Karyn Hartsook of Farmers Insurance.
Her community involvement includes organizing women’s events for her church and serving on the church worship team for seven years.
She has hosted foreign exchange students from Russia, Japan and Thailand.
Mathers has been very involved with young people, coaching the Junior High dance team for 13 years.
During her senior year in high school, she was a princess on Sportsman’s Holiday Court.
“This experience is probably what fueled her passion for working with the Sportsman’s Holiday Princess Court for many years,” Swanson said.
She has been co-chair and chaperone for the Sportsman’s Holiday Court and, last year, was a volunteer coordinator of Sportman’s Holiday. This year she served as emcee for the Sportsman’s Holiday Coronation, and has hosted and organized multiple fundraisers for the court, including the most recent successful cornhole tournament.
First Citizen Jim Hagle
Hagle has lived and Worked in Sweet Home for 30 years, serving in a wide range of youth, Oregon Jamboree and athletic activities.
After graduating from Sweet Home High School, Hagle served in the Army and then went to college.
He has worked for United Parcel Service for over 20 years.
He has emceed the Boys & Girls Club Auction and the Sweet Home Alumni Foundation Christmas Tree Auction, served on the organizing committee for the Boys & Girls Club Golf Tournament, and as a volunteer in the Beer Garden at the Oregon Jamboree.
Hagle also has served as a volunteer coach for Boys & Girls Club football and baseball teams, as an umpire, as a coach for the high school varsity and junior varsity baseball teams, and has provided meals for the high school football team and has been a donor to the Sweet Home High School Booster Club, in which he is also involved.
This past year he was an assistant football coach at Pleasant Hill.
He has been active in the Roy Johnston Baseball Park renovation effort and yearly field days, and helps maintain the high school baseball field.
“He was also very involved in the building of a new house for one of our disabled classmates,” Medellin said of Hagle, who was on a fishing trip and couldn’t be present in person at the awards ceremony, which he watched remotely.
“I’m pretty sure he was involved in Habitat for Humanity also, when he lived in another community.
“I am sure there is more, but this is all I can think of right now. He is very committed to our community and well deserving of this award.”
Distinguished Service Award
Honoree Paul Rowton
Rowton has lived and worked in Sweet Home for 53 years, and taught music at the Junior High and Sweet Home High School for 28 years.
He volunteers as music director at the United Methodist Church, where he also serves on the church council.
Other community activities include directing the Singing Christmas Tree for 30 years, directing an Honors Choir for elementary age students, serving on the board of the Oregon Sacred Festival Chorale and conducting the mass choir for “Make a Joyful Noise.”
He also volunteers, helping neighbors with tractor work and log splitting.
Patti Woods
Woman of the Year Award
The recipient of this award was not announced, because she wishes to remain anonymous, the presenters said, adding that the honoree has “lived in and contributed greatly to the Sweet Home Community for 32 years.”
Business of the Year:
Sweet Home Choppers
Medellin described the 2020 honoree and owners Dave and Kellie Kem “as a business that generously gives back to the community of Sweet Home, both in time and financially.”
“They take part in parades, they have hosted numerous events for the Chamber of Commerce,” Swanson said, noting that last September Sweet Home Choppers stepped up and provided the elementary schools in Sweet Home brightly colored T-shirts with the slogan “I want to be your friend.”
“Their intent was to promote friendships throughout the schools so no student would feel alone,” Swanson said.
The Kems have been very active with the Oregon Jamboree, serving at the information booth for several years.
They are very involved at Holley Church, and recently donated T-shirts for a fundraiser at the church. On Father’s Day they brought motorcycles to the church and handed out souvenir frames, Swanson said.
Organization of the Year:
Sweet Home Rotary Club
Medellin said the Rotary Club, whose membership represents a broad range of businesses and organizations within our community, has been a chartered organization in Sweet Home since 1941. The club conducts service projects on both a local and worldwide scale, using funds and talents of its members, as well as partnering with other Rotary Clubs and organizations to multiply and magnify our efforts.
The local club has a motto of “Read, Lead, Succeed,” and has been a huge supporter of children. Its Dolly Parton Book Program puts books into the homes of small children every month. Children who gain an ability to read early on, will continue to succeed in academically. Each year, typically, two high school students are chosen to attend the RYLA leadership camp, sponsored by the membership of the club.
“These students come back to the high school with new ideas and skills that benefit the student body as a whole,” Medellin said, adding that as students graduate, the club provides multiple scholarships to assist them in advanced studies.
Civic efforts include the Sweet Home Sweetheart Run, the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Sankey Park, medical and dental equipment gathered and shipped to the Philippines, clean water projects in Guatemala, polio eradication efforts and many other activities and projects over the years.
In addition to the Dolly Parton program, the Rotary’s youth activities include the Sweet Home Junior High Interact Club, the High School Rotary Interact Club, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Youth Leadership Camp and scholarships for graduating seniors every year, as well as an endowed scholarship fund held by Sweet Home Alumni Foundation.
The Rotarians meet weekly at the Sweet Home Linn-Benton Community College center for lunch and a program. Membership is by invitation, but the club is always looking for civic-minded people to join the club, Medellin said.
Curb Appeal Award : Rio Theater
Swanson said the Rio has been operating in Sweet Home 70 years, though owners Thomas and Erica Baham, have owned the theater for six years.
She said the Bahams have added “a tremendous amount of curb appeal adding beauty to our community.
Swanson listed changes made to beautify the exterior, noting that many more have been made inside: new paint and exterior improvements, new signage, new lighting, decorative murals on side of building portraying characters from movies, and parking lot blocks displaying characters’ names. She noted that they created a pocket park out of what was once a “field of weeds” on Long Street, behind the theater.
Mona Waibel Hero (VIP) Awards
The awards were presented by Bob and Dawn Dalton, son-in-law and daughter of Waibel, who, Bob Dalton said, epitomized what it was to be a community volunteer during her many years in Sweet Home before her death.
Mike Rubidoux was honored for his work with the Scouts over the year, in a variety of ways for his church, Manna Meals and as a handyman, helping out friends and neighbors with yardwork, home improvement projects and auto repair.
Lagea Mull, a resident of Sweet Home since 2016, has gotten involved in the community quickly, Bob Dalton said. She is currently vice president of the Mid-Valley Women of Christ, has helped organize tree lighting for the city, has organized Harvest Festivals and the grand opening of City Hall, serves as office manager for River of Life church, is a board member at Hillside Fellowship and for One Sweet Home, as well as volunteering to create logos for community events and businesses.
Tom Toth has used his talents and experience as a builder and has a “heart to serve,” Dalton said. In addition to volunteering over the years in a variety of ways to help community members, Toth most recently led the expansion of Sweet Home Emergency Ministries into the old gun shop on Long Street. Toth provided planning, lined up volunteers, worked with subcontractors and spent “hundreds of hours of his own time” revnovating the building and completing the expansion. He and his wife Sharon also have served as marriage counselors.
Patty Hankins has served as a Sunday School teacher, Outdoor School chaperone, and as a chamber board member since she began working in the community in 1989.
“When her children entered school, she engulfed herself in a variety of activities, including serving as room mother of all three of her children’s classrooms, organizing school-wide dances and annual carnivals, and mostly recently became the president of the Parent-Teacher Club,” Dalton said, adding that Hankins has founded a school store, the proceeds of which help support all grade levels.
Each year she provides A&W coins, from the restaurant she and her husband own, to all the schools for reading incentives.
Dalton recounted how, when asked about Hankins’ involvement in the school, her principal responded, “What doesn’t she do? She has raised many dollars for the team and I couldn’t run the school effectively without the support she gives.”
Joe Medley is pastor of both Fir Lawn Lutheran and the United Methodist churches in Sweet Home. He “has a heart for children,” Dalton said, noting that Medley organized an auction at Fir Lawn to raise money to send what is now more then 200 children from Sweet Home and surrounding communities to Camp Lutherwood over the past eight years. He also organized a sailboat construction program for teens to allow them to learn to work with tools and to build their own sailboats. Medley also serves on the Sweet Home Emergency Ministries (SHEM) board of directors and helped organize a warming shelter for the homeless, opening the doors at Fir Lawn to host it the first year.
Torri Hawken was student body president at Sweet Home High School last year before the COVID virus shut down the school, and worked “tirelessly to ensure her high school is a great place to be,” Dalton said. Hawken graduated as a valedictorian, with a perfect GPA, and worked with the Leadership class in putting on a variety of school events, including Homecoming and May Week and Mr. Husky, which raises money to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation, and served as master of ceremonies for various high school assemblies. She was also involved athletics, in the Key-Interact Club, volunteered to assist with elementary school functions, Rotary and Kiwanis club activities, and helped out with Red Cross blood drives.
“All of these activities could wear a person out,” but not Hawken, Dalton said. “Like the Energizer Bunny, she just keeps going and going.”