March 1, 1973
Strong winds estimated to have reached up to 50 mph fanned near-dormant slash burning piles into flame and ignited a 15-acre forest fire 20 miles northeast of Sweet Home.
The blaze blackened about seven acres of recently replanted Weyerhaeuser slash land and set numerous spot fires in old growth timber on about eight acres of BLM land.
“Ding-A-Ling Daze,” a retail promotion for Sweet Home, is scheduled for two days in May by the Retail Trades committee of the Chamber of Commerce.
Emphasis of the program will be on the first day when merchants and employees are encouraged to wear crazy costumes. Prizes will be given to customers and to employees with the best costumes.
Lettie Pearl Sankey, 94, Sweet Home’s longest resident who came to the area when 3 years old, died Feb. 22.
She was a past mayor and charter member of the local Evangelical Church. She donated the land for Sankey Park. Sankey’s home at 971 Oak Terrace recently burned down last December, after which she stayed in an apartment until she fell and died while in the hospital.
City Manager Michael Gleason said a study is being made on the possibility of painting a center passing lane on Hwy. 20 from 18th Avenue to Clark Mill Road to alleviate the hazard of access to and from the highway to places of business and homes along the highway.
The State Traffic Safety Division recommended the city remove parking alongside the highway in those areas.
Thirty-seven accidents were recorded there from 1969 to 1972, most of which were rear-end and turning movement collisions.
Thirty-one high school seniors are employed in part-time jobs through a work experience program, headed by Norman E. Fehr who modified the program to blend classroom instruction with on the job training.
Classroom lessons include studying the history of the company they are working for, company rules and regulations, a business organizational chart, an analysis of the duties of the workers, any plans for future expansion of the business, and its relationship and involvement in the community.
March 4, 1998
Linn County installed a new log boom system at Whitcomb Creek funded through a grant from the State Marine Board and matching labor resources.
The 20-foot steel pipes each weighing 5,000 pounds, will form a boom that will keep debris out of the boat ramp area.
Hamilton Creek area land owners helped plant native streamside vegetation along a stream on the site of the future golf course near the intersection of Berlin and Bellinger Scale roads.
More than 400 plants were installed, including Pacific nine bark, willows, Willamette Valley ponderosa pine and other trees, shrubs and sedges. The workshop was sponsored by natural resource organizations to support stream bank stabilization.
The police department added Officer Matt Swanson to its payroll. The 22-year-old will be filling in where another officer will be pulled from for duty under a Community Oriented Police (COP) grant. The grant will be used to fund an officer for the downtown and Sankey Park area as well as working with the school district and gang intervention.
The Sweet Home Tree Commission canceled the fourth annual Tree Fair for several reasons, including lack of response from booth participants, commissioners have been too busy planting trees, and because the event coincided with the popular Sweet Home Rock & Mineral Society Show.
The commission will still give away red cedars and Black Austrian pines, and will have an Arbor Day celebration in April.