City needs to work on attractiveness
Editor:
My name is Moriah Winn. I am a fifth-grader at Holley Elementary.
On May 25, grades 2-6 had a field trip to Sankey Park. We visited the park to do Community Pick-Up.
I was horrified to see what the park has become. It’s extremely sad to see how mistreated it has become. The Sankey Key Park Sign was nice.
The bathrooms are extremely unsanitary and graffiti is all over the stalls. Even the basic needs like soap aren’t provided. On the stage, there are inappropriate drawings and carvings. The wishing wells and electrical poles are covered in disgusting images. Broken glass and cigarette butts are scattered all over. Sankey Park should be our community pride and joy.
A week later, I noticed an article dated May 31, 2017 from The New Era referring to the City Council Budget. I read that $200,000 is available for community and economical use. This budget has been approved by City Hall. Carol Lewis stated that a series of case studies has been completed in the community. Was Sankey Park a part of this study?
On behalf of the students who attended our field trip, we hope the new community development director will allocate funds from the $200K to “Restore Sankey Park.”
I also understand from reading the article the following:
1. City Hall will be employing a community development director and an environmental development director.
2. I understand the new roles of these directors would be to attract new businesses upgrade the town.
3. Downtown Lebanon was dead 10 years ago and with new businesses coming in like Good Samaritan and the Veterans Affairs has expanded their city.
4. In Sweet Home, Bi-Mart arrived at Sweet Home on their own. They saw potential in this tiny little town.
I moved here three years ago and I sure would like to see our Sweet Home downtown grow but improve more. I have been to Bend and they sure cater to visitors/tourists. Can City Hall market our Sweet Home local treasure spots? Clean up Sankey Park, Weddle Bridge, tours to McDowell Creek Falls, our winery to generate new business?
City Hall, please make sense with the cents and help me turn Sankey Park and our downtown into a welcome attraction. It’s pretty sad we have to go elsewhere for a decent playground park.
Moriah Winn
With a little help from her mom, Siu Winn, who “proofread to ensure her points were addressed clearly.”
Sweet Home
Hope available to unhappy society
Editor:
In regard to Diane Daiute’s letter (June 14) quoting George Carlin, it is so hard to hear such sadness. Yes, the society we see all around us is unhappy – driven to destroy, it seems.
Scientists say that a long time ago this area we call home was under a huge layer of ice. It disappeared, eventually. How is that possible since there were no autos or factories or even people to mess with it?
If we are contributing to “climate change” now, what caused it then?
Is it because even then, the earth as we know it, was not going to last in its current state? If we are not created then where did we come from? If we are “evolving” then where does it end?
There is a Creator; we will all answer to that Creator. We were designed. In that design we were all given a free will, to choose the way to live, that means everlasting – not just for now. There is an eternity outside of our life realm; we all get there eventually.
What happens to each of us in that eternity is totally decided while we are in this life. This Creator sees into a different future than we can see, something with hope. Not a wishful hope, but a solid hope, a hope that waits and serves until the time of fulfillment. There are a lot of religions, all man-made. Religion will not save.
Our Creator designed us to interact with Him. We use “Him” because our language does not have another word to describe a Being beyond our comprehension. A Deity so vast we can not see or touch “Him.”
However, everything we have, see, or touch is from “Him.” Our Creator designed each and every one of us to be right there with “Him” in that Eternity. “He” gave us a right to choose, a will of our own. To ensure we understand that choice, “He” made sure we could be aware of that choice. It is called faith.
History has proven it exists. Lives have changed forever with that knowledge. Each person alive has an opportunity to experience what faith can do. Truth is a person – we call Him Jesus – sent from our Creator’s heart to ensure we all have the right to make that choice.
“For our Heavenly Father so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting Life.” It remains a choice to each of us personally.
Bonnie J. Neal
Sweet Home
Great opportunity for summer fun
Editor:
In recent editions I’ve seen an announcement that host families are being sought by Linn-Benton County 4-H for Japanese youths from July 23 to Aug. 18.
These youngsters, ages 12 to 15, come from all over Japan (not just Tokyo).
I know the coordinator, whose family has hosted a Japanese student and enjoyed it so much they are doing it again.
Japanese students go to school every day but Sunday, maybe 10 hours between leaving home in the morning and returning in the evening. And they go every day… Saturday is just a couple of hours shorter. They get only four weeks of summer vacation.
So they will leave school on Friday, fly to Corvallis the next day for orientation, then distribution to their assigned homes on July 23.
Four weeks later, on Aug. 19, they reconvene at Corvallis for a day of checking in, fly back to Japan, and return to school the next day.
This is a chance for host families to work and play and expose these kids to wonderful sights and experiences.
Have they used a lawn tractor? Milked a cow? Loaded hay? Gotten sunburned at the beach? Cut firewood? Played Frisbee golf? Gone fishing? Seen waterfalls as beautiful as our Columbia River Gorge? Or Crater Lake?
Just include them in with your usual summer activities – chores and all. Give them a good impression of ordinary Americans. And listen and learn from them, too. Their alphabet is in syllables, not just single letters.
And be sure to take them out for an Asian meal. They do get homesick for “home cooking.”
If you want a fun experience for your family, give this a try this summer. I don’t qualify now, although we hosted two Josai boys in 1983.
Call (541) 207-4435 for details on girls and boys, ages and main hobbies and interests, to make your choice of a child. The main requirement is that the host home have a child of similar age.
This program is sponsored by Oregon State University, but the host home does not need to be involved in 4-H.
Joan Scofield
Sweet Home