Sept. 7, 1971
White’s Electronics initiated the four-day workweek, a move that had been in discussion for a year following a poll of employees. The four-day workweek is optional, but most employees have opted to do so.
With Fridays off, women (who make up more than 75 percent of the work force) are able to schedule appointments, and complete shopping and chores on Friday, leaving two remaining days to focus on family activities. It also makes one less day of babysitting costs.
A load of logs spilled onto Highway 20, near the truck scales. Driver Duane Wesley Rouse, of Albany, said the dual tires of his tractor-trailer went into the gravel when he swerved to avoid a pickup camper which crossed over the center line while coming toward him on a curve.
When the wheels struck the gravel, the trailer jerked from the tractor and spilled the logs.
State police captured Charles Edward Evans, an escapee from Oregon State Penitentiary, in Sweet Home. He was staying in a local residence, and had a pistol in his possession when he was taken into custody.
Evans was reported missing from the penitentiary on Aug. 1, and is the second escapee to be captured in Sweet Home this month.
The Sweet Home Solid Waste Station, a controversial dump site near the south end of Pleasant Valley Bridge, served its 1,000th patron this week. The station told Edmond Oversen his load was “on the house.”
The dump station serves about 20 customers a day. People living outside the city limits account for 85 percent of the 100 patrons.
Voters in all parts of the Sweet Home District gave a decisive “no” vote to the proposed $2.6 million bond issue to remodel and enlarge the Sweet Home high school.
Sept. 2, 1996
Ground was broken for the Wiley Creek Community assisted living facility this week.
Two phases of the $5 million project are planned. The first phase includes a 42-apartment assisted living facility; completion is expected next summer.
The second phase calls for 12 to 20 independent living apartments.
Construction for those is planned to begin next summer, and is expected to finish by the end of the year.
The founders of Sweet Home’s largest homegrown industry were honored when a new park was dedicated in their name by the city and volunteers.
Kenneth and Olive White moved to Sweet Home in 1943, and owned and operated White’s Furniture and radio repair shop. Skilled in electronics and interested in geology, Kenneth produced the first White’s geiger counter in the 1950s, launching White’s Electronics. In the 1960s, the metal detector business accelerated.
Kenneth passed away in 1991.
Recently, Mona and Bob Waibel developed the concept of a park where Pleasant Valley Bridge crosses the Santiam River. The spot had become a popular fishing location, which soon alerted the attention of the traffic safety committee.
The land was owned by the Whites, and Kenny White welcomed the idea of a park as a memorial to his parents.
About 60 students at Sweet Home High School learned firsthand that they cannot “stop on a dime” during a special auto skid demonstration.
Sweet Home police temporarily closed 18th Street for the project that demonstrated traveling speed, reaction time and braking distance.
Part of the program puts students and teachers behind the wheel of a specially-equipped vehicle that tests reaction times, and comparing stopping distances at various speeds.
Alicia Albert took 36 feet to stop at just 20 mph. Josh Jennings stopped the car at 48 feet while traveling 25 mph. Amanda Fletcher took 79 feet to stop at 35 mph. And at 45 mph, traffic safety classroom teacher Tom Horn stopped at 121 feet.
The Sweet Home Library will connect to the Internet possibly as early as November using a grant through the Oregon State Library.