Nationally, this year wasn’t a one that we’ll remember as being full of high points.
The economy continued to hit Americans on all fronts: jobs, homes and pocketbooks; and the success of government efforts to intervene has been spotty €“ and costly. The debate over health care has produced little in the way of viable solutions €“ that we can afford. Michael Jackson died. Tiger Woods turned out to not be (apparently) the upstanding guy his media handlers had portrayed him to be. The swine flu scared a lot of people and killed a lot less than some prognosticators predicted.
Sweet Home residents haven’t been immune to the troubles. We all know people who are unemployed and the local economy is not what it was even a year ago.
But there have been many bright spots in our community, amid the gloom. Heading into 2010, let’s review some of them:
The swine flu largely passed us by. Yes, we’re still washing our hands more often and staying alert to the threat of infection, but other than one week when the flu hit pretty hard, particularly in the schools, a lot of Sweet Home residents seem to have escaped the bad bug.
Sweet Home finally got a marina at Foster Lake. It may not have been the public facility that various local folks have longed for over the years, but it offers an alternative to hauling one’s boat to the lake day after day, and it’s one more reason for people to come to Sweet Home.
The city opened its new water treatment plant off 47th Avenue and its new Public Works yard on 24th Avenue, both replacing aging facilities that needed it. The city also painted parking spaces on downtown streets, which has been a big plus.
Lynn Damewood and Courtney Lake, local women who were severely burned when a backyard bonfire flared up, returned home after spending weeks at the OHSU Burn Center and after a number of community fund-raisers to benefit them. With relatively sufficient resources, the Lake family donated money raised for Lake to Damewood.
The community turned out in force to help Dirrell Harper, a former football star who is suffering from a disease that is immobilizing him, building him a brand new home after a falling tree crushed the mobile home he had been living in. Many people participated, including quite a few who didn’t even know Harper.
No major local fires. Sweet Home escaped any large brush or forest fires other than the 300-acre Canal Creek Fire, but that one was 21 miles northeast of town, nearer Detroit Lake, so other than the local fire camp at Lewis Creek Park and the choppers flying overhead, it wasn’t very local.
New businesses and business locations, or, in the case of Cedar Shack, the return of an old business. It’s encouraging to see people with vision take the initiative and create something that will serve us all, hopefully for a long time to come.
The Oregon Jamboree drew its biggest crowd ever and Sweet Home residents, more than in any recent years, seemed to seize on opportunities made possible by the Jamboree. We saw a lot of new signs this year advertising parking and otherwise taking advantage of the doubling of the city’s population for a few days. The Jamboree brings a ton of money to Sweet Home and residents are seeing more and more of that money put to the use it was originally intended for: helping to boost the local economy. More on that below.
The movement to improve Sweet Home’s business environment kept right on rolling. The Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort (SHARE) and the Chamber of Commerce collaborated in some workshops for the local business community. An economic development director to head the SHARE effort has been hired. A marketing analysis of Sweet Home’s business needs and opportunities is under way. There have been and will be bumps in the road, but many of the more than 100 people who gathered two years ago to address the question of how to improve the quality of life and business in Sweet Home are still as committed as they were at those community meetings.
Speaking of events, the Downtown Salebration was a big success, drawing many residents to the center of town for a flea market/festival/concert/open-air festival. It was fun, it was well-planned, and we’re eager to see what happens next summer as we hear the organizers are planning Salebration No. 2. Though the Warm and Cozy Tour on the second weekend of December was held on an icy day, it also drew a fair number of participants €“ considering the weather. These are good starts for the kinds of events Sweet Home needs to get its own residents involved in their town and bring interested visitors in from the outside to spend their money here.
Though the district had to chop some positions due to the economic repercussions we’re all feeling, the good news is that most of those people were reassigned, thanks to some creative thinking and negotiation by district officials.
It was a great year for Sweet Home athletics. Sure, sports are a bit frivolous when people are out of work. But in a town like Sweet Home they aren’t as frivolous as they are in a larger community where there are more options for recreation and community interaction. It was great to see the wrestling, swimming and track and field teams bring home state championships. It was great to see the girls soccer team finish with more wins than losses, and clinch a trip to the state playoffs. It was great to see the football team, after a couple of lean years, use grit and guile to make it to the state quarterfinals. 2009 was a very good year.
Tennis fans, many of whom admit they thought the sport was dead in Sweet Home after the school district ripped out the old courts that were accidents waiting to happen, are happy. Thanks to more creative thinking and negotiation by schools Supt. Larry Horton and others, six brand new, beautiful courts were opened during the fall and will be available to the local racquet faithful €“ and all the grade school kids who are being taught to play tennis by the P.E. teacher whose job was saved by the afore-mentioned creative thinking and negotiation.
So there. Those are most of the highlights of the good stuff that happened last year. We know there’s a lot more, on the personal level as well as publicly. We’ve had some blessings this year and we’re eager to see what this year will bring.
There’s no question that the economy is still in flux and how fast or how far recovery will come will depend on what our men and women in the nation’s and state’s capitols decide to do. We need to pray for our leaders, pray for ourselves and pray for a good year in 2010.
At least as good as 2009 has been.