January
– The year 2011 ended wet, with more than 4 inches pouring in a four-hour period, but the 2012 annual rainfall, 66.08 inches as of Dec. 21, will end well ahead of 2011 at 51.71 inches. The Sweet Home area came closer to this year’s rainfall in 2010, with 60.2 for the year. Sweet Home escaped severe flooding that plagued other areas in the Willamette Valley.
– School District 55 was studying the idea of switching to a four-day school week.
– The Sweet Home Economic Development Group reported that the Oregon Jamboree generated $255,000 in direct and indirect benefits to the Sweet Home community in 2010.
– The Sweet Home Economic Development Group and Oregon Jamboree offices moved from the 1300 block of Long Street to 401 Main St.
-Sweet Home Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3437 celebrated its 75th anniversary.
– The City Council approved a 4.3 percent rate increase for trash collection.
– Natalie Renee Looney was the first baby of the new year.
– Fire calls decreased for 2011, 200 calls, while medical calls reached a record, 2,351 calls.
– Ti Squared announced it was moving to a larger facility in Lebanon.
– A School District bus driver struck a cougar while driving a Suburban on Fern Ridge Road.
– Longtime The New Era photographer Gary Graham died at age 58.
– A 101-year-old man, Paul Miller, flew a Cessna 172 to Sweet Home and back to become the oldest person to fly out of Lebanon State Airport.
February
– The Sweet Home Police Department was investigating a series of burglaries, many of which were in the southeastern section of the city. Police arrested Austin Richards in connection with two of the burglaries.
– The School Board adopted a four-day week for the 2012-13 school year.
– The department reported that the number of crimes increased a little in some areas and decreased a little in others and were generally flat from 2010 to 2011.
– Sweet Home High School announced that its graduation rate had fallen a little, 69.74 percent, while staying ahead of the state average, 67.19 percent.
– Keegan Burnett, who had been seriously injured in a pole vaulting accident five years earlier, injured his spine in a skiing accident. The community held fund-raising events during the year to help the family. Burnett died later in the year.
– The Sweet Home High School boys swim team finished second in state and won the district title, and the girls were fourth.
– The SHHS cheerleaders placed first at state.
– SHHS’s wrestling team finished second in regionals and third in state.
– The Sweet Home Police Department added its first Dodge Charger to its patrol fleet.
– Don Bacher was named the new director of the Sweet Home Singing Christmas Tree. He succeeded David Dominy.
– Former Sweet Home business teacher Michael Joseph Morrell was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse.
March
– A World War II hand grenade was located near the high school baseball field. The Oregon State Police determined the grenade had no explosive material inside it.
– Corky Lowen was named Distinguished Citizen at the annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet. Bob Burford was First Citizen; Michelle Knight, Junior First Citizen; Firiel Severns, Patty Woods Woman of the Year; Sweet Home Choppers, Business of the Year; and the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District, Organization of the Year.
– VIPs named at the banquet included Vi Richards, Betty Postma, Bret Adams, Lela Danforth, Hailey Fisher, Terri Rice Lanini and Peggy Blair.
– Overhead Door announced it was closing its Sweet Home plant.
– Donnie Melson retired after 36 years with Sweet Home Public Works.
– Another inert grenade was reported in the Holley area.
– Jared Huenergardt was named Firefighter of the Year during the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District’s annual awards banquet. Also earning awards were Greg Mahler, Engineer of the Year, the Medal of Gallantry and the Keith Gabriel Humanitarian Award; Mike Severns, Employee of the Year and Pride and Ownership Award; Wes Strubhar, Rescue Technician of the Year; Adam Hummer, Medic of the Year; Chad Calderwood, Officer of the Year; and Josh Starha, Rookie of the Year.
– The Huskiettes finished fourth at the state dance competition.
– Steve Holy performed at the Oregon Jamboree’s second annual mystery concert held in Corvallis.
– SHEDG membership elected three new directors to the organization’s board, including Phyllis Osborn-Smith, Kellie Kem and Rachel Kittson-MaQatish.
– The city of Sweet Home billed Lebanon $60,000 under state law to recoup training expenses for two of three officers who went to work in Lebanon at the end of 2010. Half has been paid.
– Jim Heimbuck became the new Elks exalted ruler.
– Some 6 inches of heavy, wet snow fell on Sweet Home late in the month.
– The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District FireMed program began covering only 50 percent of an ambulance trip.
– Neil Miller was hired as Oregon Department of Forestry Sweet Home Unit forest protection supervisor following the retirement of Jim Basting after 42 years with the ODF.
April
– The city of Sweet Home received its 25th annual Tree City USA award.
– Hoy’s Hardware was named one of 12 “Best Hardware Store in Town” by True Value Hardware.
– The city settled part of a lawsuit brought by Timothy and Esther Piety, caretakers at Sankey Park, for $20,000. The settlement involved a wage claim. The caretakers had lived at the park as compensation, but they claimed Oregon law required the city to pay them a wage. Outstanding in the federal lawsuit are complaints of racial discrimination, harassment and intimidation.
– The Oregon Jamboree was named the Best Festival or Event with a Budget over $150,000 by the Oregon Festivals and Events Association.
– Sweet Home High School and boys basketball coach Kostanty Knurowskie was arrested for third-degree sexual abuse.
– The City Council approved an increase in sewer rates, with the base charge increasing from $26.89 to $28 and the price per 100 cubic feet increasing from $5.82 to $7.66. The council did not change water rates.
– Kris Latimer took over as executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam.
– Sweet Home residents and former residents were among those who started filming an independent zombie movie in Brownsville. Leading the way were Debbie Jensen formerly of Sweet Home and Scott Smith and their business, LB Productions. The movie is nearing completion.
– Oak Heights custodian Dennis Hooper was credited with saving the life of an 8-year-old girl when she began choking during lunch.
n City staff proposed a 2012-13 budget 14 percent smaller than 2011-12.
– Linn Shuttle reported ridership increasing by 50 percent from 2010 to 2011 and another 21 percent since fall 2011. About 300 were riding the bus each day.
May
– Former police officer Howard Wooldridge traveled through Sweet Home on a cross country bicycle ride with friend Wayne Oberding and brother Frosty Wooldridge to promote the end of marijuana prohibition.
– The high school softball and baseball teams finished second in league. They both won the play-in round of state playoffs.
– The high school Forestry Club finished second at state.
– Ed and Wanda McCartin, parents of Community Chapel Pastor Mark McCartin, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary at the Chapel.
– Bill and Verna Bell celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.
– High school seniors dug up a time capsule they buried at Sweet Home High School 12 years earlier. They found CDs, Twinkies, pictures, videos, copies of The New Era, pictures they had drawn and more memorabilia.
– Principals Derek Barnhurst, Oak Heights, and Ryan Beck, Hawthorne, resigned to take jobs elsewhere, Beck in Creswell and Barnhurst in Wyoming.
– The high school senior class won May Week.
– The Sweet Home High School presented “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” as its annual school play.
n Sweet Home School District voters approved a 32-cent local option levy to pay for swimming pool operations, with a winning margin of 54 votes.
– The School District Budget Committee approved a 2012-13 budget that included some $1 million in cuts from the 2011-12 school year. The total 2012-13 budget was approximately $28.2 million.
June
– SHHS Principal Pat Stineff retired. Assistant Principal Keith Winslow succeeded her.
– Nick Hall and Devyn Makin were named the high school Booster Club Boy and Girl of the Year.
– High school valedictorians were Kristen Tolle, Tiffany Miller and Tyler Fosback. Andrew Winslow was salutatorian.
– A theft case against former Sunshine Industries Executive Director John Strickler was dismissed. The case had involved Sunshine Industries funds.
– SHHS graduated 156 seniors.
– The Sweet Home Rodeo was canceled after 70 years.
– Fritz Cole, 93, was struck by a van and killed while crossing Highway 20 in the Foster area.
– The Linn County Board of Commissioners approved an expansion of the Weber Quarry off Berlin Road.
– Troy Elverfield, an Oregon Department of Transportation employee, dived into a a pond off Highway 20 east of Highway 126 to rescue Sweet Home driver Dean Stillwell from his submerged pickup truck.
– The 2010 Census reported Sweet Home’s population at 8,925.