Aug. 14, 1969
A thousand balloons, each with a certificate inside good for free merchandise from area merchants, are scheduled for release over Sweet Home next week.
The “Bonus Balloon Bonanza” is a Chamber of Commerce Retail Trades Committee idea to attract area shoppers downtown for back-to-school shopping.
In conjunction with the project, the Sweet Home Police Association will hold a barbecue later that evening in Sankey Park. Organizers hope to make the barbecue an annual affair.
The long-awaited foundation of a 150,000 square-foot, $25,000 dry kiln is beginning to take shape at Ted Harnden Sales, Inc.
The family lumber remanufacturing operation is engaged in a $100,000 expansion program which is expected to increase the employee roster from 18 to 100 by the end of the year.
The Harndens took over a former pressed-board plant in Sweet Home last year to expand their rapidly growing business, which was corporated in 1965. Their first year of operation saw sales increase 250 percent.
One new student at Sweet Home high school this year will be more than 6,000 miles from home. She is 16-year-old Andrea von Schlippe, from Bremen, Germany.
Miss von Schlippe will be here for a full school year under the American Field Service international scholarship program, just as “Mike” Weldeselassie of Ethiopia spent last year as a guest of the Husky student body.
She will stay with the Edgar L. “Bud” Steinbacher family in Holley. Scheduled to return home soon to Sweet Home is Jamie Bates, 1969-70 student body president, who spent the summer with a family in Luxembourg under the AFS program.
Fireman Apprentice James W. Patterson was serving aboard when the USS Arlington participated in recovery operations for Apollo 11, during which President Nixon used the ship’s extensive communications facilities in making his temporary headquarters aboard while observing the splashdown.
Gunner’s Mate Third Class Darrell G. Carter is aboard the USS John W. Thomason, now in its fourth month of rendering rescue assistance to downed pilots off the Vietnam coast, conducting anti-submarine exercises and guarding aircraft carriers.
Aug. 17, 1994
In addition to upgrades of the city’s water plant in recent years, the city has completed a $3 million renovation at the wastewater treatment plant that has earned the approval of the Department of Environmental Quality.
For the better part of the 1980s, the City of Sweet Home battled the DEQ over how to handle the sewage plant built decades ago. It could not adequately treat the massive inflow of water into the old lines during peak storm periods. Raw sewage was being released into the Santiam River during those peak periods.
Thanks to three grants and a bond issue supported by local residents, the new plant can handle nearly double its previous capacity, more than enough for daily use and the peak period inflows.
She’s never even been inside an airplane, let alone been in flight, but 17-year-old Sharee Cooper says she is ready for the challenge of spending a year in Japan.
The Sweet Home high school student leaves next week to spend her junior year attending Josai University High School in Tokyo. She said this is something she’s wanted to do since junior high.
“I’ve always admired the Japanese because they stick to their culture. In America, we are a melting pot of cultures.”
Sharee said the rules there are strict; they can’t wear makeup or perm their hair, and they have to wear a uniform.
She will spend the first few months strengthening her Japanese language skills. She hopes to accomplish two major goals during her stay: to become fluent in the language, and to develop her resume for future scholarships and grants. When she attends college, she plans to major in Japanese and international trade.
Finishing touches were put into place on the new median planter landscaping that is under way in downtown Sweet Home.
The planters will feature stonework, brushed concrete and a variety of aesthetically pleasing plants. The project is funded by a grant, and was identified as a community priority during town hall meetings held last year.
The work is projected to be compete by the third annual Oregon Jamboree next month.