Aug. 31, 1972
Construction at Sunnyside Park is nearly complete and it will be open for campers and picnickers this weekend.
There will be 65 camping facilities, day-use picnic sites, briquet-type burners, grated campfire units and a boat ramp ready for use. There are no swimming facilities, but people may swim at their own risk. There is still considerable work to be done at Lewis Creek Park, so it will not be ready for use this year.
The school district budget won voter approval of its operating tax levy after its fourth go-round with a final tally of 993 yes votes, 688 no votes.
It had previously been defeated by votes of 839 yes to 871 no in May, 717 yes to 939 no in June, and 708 yes to 779 no in July. The school board cut $96,054 from the levy since its last submission in July, and $131,632 since its original submission in May.
The dedication of the Gilbert Memorial Drinking Fountain was held in front of the post office.
The memorial and dedication was sponsored by the Sweet Home Lions Club in memory of Margaret and John Gilbert.
The two were killed in an automobile accident several years ago. They were ardent and active supporters of civic and community affairs.
A Camran Air Curtain Combuster was set up at the Wiley Creek dam site for use to burn logs and debris which has gathered at the site since last winter’s storm.
The machine is virtually a fire-eating dragon with a hungry 12 by 24-foot mouth that devours up to 10 tons of wood per hour, and leaves little ash or visible smoke in its wake. It is expected to work at the site for a month.
The City of Sweet Home has been offered one of the best collections of historical items by an anonymous private party if the city can provide a suitable building to house it.
A second donor also offered items from his private collection if the city could provide a site for a museum. Initial ideas were discussed by members of the beautification committee, and City Manager Mike Gleason offered his office as a hub to start the project, but he noted city staff are currently focused on sewer and water supply systems which are a current crisis.
He doubts city money would be available in the near future for a museum building.
A boat owned by David E. Wickerstrom, Sr. was virtually destroyed by fire at Foster Lake’s Gedney Creek Landing.
The fire was started by a battery short and set fire to the gas line or gas tank. Jerry Wooley, who investigated for the Sweet Home Fire Dept., said the 15-foot, 1958 model boat and 35 horsepower motor was a total loss.
Construction is under way for the new location of Hoy’s True Value Hardware on Main Street.
Hoy’s is owned by Mr. and Mrs. John Mahler, who purchased the hardware store from Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Hoy in 1971.
Aug. 27, 1997
After a year of organization and planning, Sweet Home and other rural Linn County communities are poised to begin their own teen court programs.
The Linn County Juvenile Department received a $44,000 grant to begin the program in rural communities to give juveniles who committed their first offense a chance to work it off and be judged in their communities by their peers.
The Sweet Home Police Department is awaiting confirmation that it has received a three-year $75,000 grant to be matched by about $45,000 in local money and would place a youth services officer in the city.
The officer would spend time in schools and work extensively in the D.A.R.E. program and with the teen courts.
A Juvenile Department employee – tentatively Nat Lettson – will initiate the teen court program this fall, developing a group of people who wish to participate as volunteers.
Sherry Thomas found an unopened 8 oz. tin can from the 1950s of Sears Roebuck tobacco at a yard sale for $1.50.
Being a smoker, herself, the find intrigued her. She searched for and found an original catalog advertising the tin for .89 cents, with the description: “Inexpensive blend of domestic tobaccos. Long cut, slow burning. Makes over a carton of cigarettes.”
She contacted the public affairs department of Sears to gauge their interest in buying the tin from her. Otherwise, she plans to auction it off to the highest bidder.
The National Labor Relations Board announced that nurses at Lebanon Community Hospital elected the Oregon Nurses Association as their union representative by a margin of 53 to 44. Mark King, spokesperson for the hospital, said this move represents the end of an era in which Lebanon Community Hospital was the only rural hospital facility in the mid-Willamette Valley to maintain a union-free workplace.
It was also the only hospital in the region to avoid any layoffs of nurses over the past five years as hospital admissions fluctuated.
The Sweet Home Habitat for Humanity plans to begin construction on its next home build located at a former Willamette Industries employee parking lot at the corner of Tamarack Street and 22nd Avenue.
The property was donated by Willamette Industries and will be the site for the third and fourth homes through Habitat.
With the final permit approved, Karl Kaser is moving forward with development of the Mallard Creek Golf Course.
It has been a controversial project, surviving appeals from the Linn County Planning Commission to the Board of Commissioners and the Land Use Board of Appeals.
Kaser’s new home at the golf course is under construction, and the dirt will start turning on the course itself in the next couple weeks.