April 27, 1972
About 50 people met with two representatives of the Department of Environmental Quality and officials of a five county Solid Waste Management Model Plan committee at the site of the Holley dump.
After an hour of argument between local residents and DEQ, it’s still not known whether Lester Weld, owner of the Sweet Home Sanitation Co., will be allowed to continue operation of the dump.
Representatives for the DEQ denied they plan to close the site within two weeks, but said only three of 17 dumps in the five county Mid-Willamette Valley area would be able to comply with new DEQ requirements.
Possible hazardous leakage was one of the reasons why Holley is not one of the three. The DEQ suspects possible leakage, not based on actual testing of the site, but based on tests from other, similar sites.
The City Council adopted a resolution to initiate street and drainage improvements on 23rd Avenue from Highway 20 south to the base of the hill under Mt. View Drive. Mayor Edward Buhn said surface water drainage in the area has been one of the city’s biggest problems.
Heavy rainfall causes flooding in the low areas of the basin between 22nd and 23rd avenues. Flooding on Long Street in that block has, at times, brought water within an inch of door sills.
The city plans to install a 24-inch line to cross under Highway 20. City Manager Mike Gleason said the fix will increase property value, and the project will cost about $70,000 out of the Bancroft bond.
The federal government has offered the former Quartzville guard station and barracks for disposal. Other government agencies have first priority for obtaining the property, which includes 3.2 acres, a residency-office building and a bunkhouse-kitchen building
More than 90 boy and girl scouts and 23 adults collected 125 bags of roadside trash during a special Boy Scout project, Keep American Beautiful. Pack 101 Webelos and Cub Pack 95 cleaned Ames Creek Road, 22nd Avenue and Long Street. Girl Scout troops 214 and 303 worked along Wiley Creek Road, while Troop 64 cleaned 18th and 19th avenues. Troops 197, 155A, 119 and 327 worked in the city.
The trash collected equaled 8.5 pickup loads, and was dumped fee-free at the Sweet Home collection station and Lebanon dump.
After Jerry Wooley loaned his speaker system at area logging shows, Bob Waibel repaid him with a saw. The saw was painted with scenes depicting Wooley’s 51 years in the community, including the civic leader’s love of hunting, fishing on the Santiam, his days as a log truck driver, the dams, his Sherman Supply and W & W Rental businesses, and his 36 years on the Sweet Home Fire Department.
Wooley, who is closing out his fifth term as city manager pro tem, will be retiring to the family’s cabin in LaPine. Waibel said it took him 44 hours to paint the saw; the intricate designs of tiny rabbits, birds and fish took the longest.
April 23, 1997
Linn County Det. John Lovick received an award for his work saving a woman and child from a car wreck.
The woman was driving from Bend to Seattle when her car crossed into the eastbound lane on Highway 20 and overturned in a ditch. Lovick stopped first, and was later joined by others. They pried open the back of the vehicle to get to the woman, who was screaming about her baby.
Dirt and a folded-in window had pushed into the car, but Lovick was able to create an airway to the baby who began to cry.
He was unable to get the two out of the car, but rescuers from the Sweet Home Fire Department arrived and finished the job.
The Sweet Home Public Works Committee considered a request by the School District 55 to share in the costs of irrigating the softball field complex and swimming pool.
The cost for watering the field from June through October was $22,277, peaking in August at $8,273. The school board has in the past considered letting the fields dry out in the summer, but Supt. Bill Hampton prevented it due to summer use of the field.
The board asked the city to help with costs since much of the summer benefit goes to community use, including the Jamboree. The city responded to the request by asking for alternatives, such irrigation wells and a watering plan.
Burglars broke into the SHEM building twice, taking about $5,000 worth of items. Someone entered the building through a back window that wasn’t latched properly. They scratched curse words on things and stole a roll of stamps, mailbox keys and $21 cash. Two nights later, thieves broke out the same window and stole a computer, printer, copier and answering machine. They left behind a note thanking them for the equipment they will use to buy drugs.