The New Era - All about Sweet Home since 1929

We’d love to extend our heartfelt thanks to the folks who worked so hard to suppress and contain the Wiley Creek fire that had so many of us locals worried. We were blessed to have so many skilled people involved in this endeavor, Nikki Swanson... Full story

Several weeks ago, I received a text from a neighbor that there was a fire up the creek from us..... That fire was just about a mile from our house. At the time I found there had been four or five 911 calls and it was already being responded to. It... Full story

Editor: What’s wrong with the bought-and-sold portions of this country today? The nation has forgotten God intentionally. There is a case for saying far too many residents are no longer citizens but are brainwashed into passive war-hawks who have...

Editor: First, it has been a pleasure serving on your school board, but after 20 years I have decided to step away. For most of the 20 years I have been on the board, we have all been able to work well together and always try to do what is best for...

Editor: As the National Day of Prayer approaches on Thursday, May 4, we are reminded of one of the prominent Bible verses in II Chronicles 7:14, which states, “If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek...

Editor: In America’s current scandals, high crimes, tragedies, and combative rhetoric, we see highly threatening developments: economic, military, political, social, medical, educational, and more. Like depth charges, these reverberate deeper than...

Editor: April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, and during that month, Sweet Home Police Department and the City of Sweet Home would like to invite the public to turn Sweet Home as blue as it can to remind people to look out for youngsters, to report s...

Editor: I am Angela Ross, Don Ross’s wife. Most of you know Donald for his oil paintings, and classes and such. Well, Donald has been given a mountain to climb. A few years ago he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that takes over...

Editor: The current federal administration has been nighttime trafficking unaccompanied alien children, using chartered airplanes, to multiple cities with every flight, dropping them off in city after city like items for delivery. Yep. According to...

Editor: The closure of the Linn-Benton Community College facility in Sweet Home (Feb. 22) is disappointing but not a surprise.  I offered two classes there in the fall and had two people sign up.  But that was not a surprise either, because there...

Editor: If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past three years, it’s: “Always trust the experts.” Right?  Not so much. First, it was COVID. Now it is floating UFOs. And do not forget the borderless mass migrations. More than from...

Editor: Thanks to Roberta McKern for her always-interesting stories from our museum. I had wondered for decades why “Lyma” Ohio, but “Leema” Peru. I found out, when I went to Peru in the 1990s.  The Spanish conquistadores asked the locals wh...

Editor: We are indeed fortunate to have our New Era and Lebanon Local reporting our news. Thank you especially for the great pictures and coverage of the outdoor school and many other events of our youth. Thank you for finding another printer when...

Editor: I am very fed up with gas stations in Sweet Home. I went down today to get some gas and was asked how much and I said, “fill it up” and was asked how much again and I again said “fill it up” and was told I still had to say how much!...

Editor: An open letter to Gov. Kotek: I love your goal of increased housing of Oregonians; it is so very needed. There are, however, two snags observable on the way to that wonderful goal. First, new housing must be available for all Oregonians....

Editor: America’s world has become infested and occupied by a Marxist secular religion. It is a religion because people give it deep commitments. It offers a counterfeit, undefined “salvation.” It’s a doomed mistake to take any pieces from...

Editor, Over the last few months, as I have enjoyed reading The New Era each week, I have noticed a recurring theme, mainly, various business owners and governing bodies stressing the fact that they would like to see Sweet Home downtown area revitali...

Editor: My biggest thank you has to go to Dr. Sam Milstein of Ridgeway Health. Sweet Home is just coming to realize how fortunate we are to have Ridgeway Health in town. Having practiced veterinary medicine in Sweet Home for over 40 years, I always j...

Editor: On Oct. 26, your paper published an intriguing letter on the general issue of how awful cats are, at least in the author’s opinion. I apologize for not having written sooner in response to that letter, as missives of that sort really...

Editor: With a population of 9,828 people in Sweet Home, Christmas can mean a lot of different things to so many different people. But what does Christmas mean to God, in his own words, the one who gave us the reason to have such an occasion on the...

Editor: We, the staff of Hawthorne Elementary School, would like to take a moment to voice our concern regarding the recent removal of our administrator (principal) Debbie Philllips. For the past two years Debbie has led all educational activities...

Editor: There have been times when traveling that all places seem to be full. Perhaps even Motel 6 did not leave the light on. But we are not alone; Jesus personally faced this and it began long ago. Temporarily, there was no room for Him in Heaven:...

Editor: I would like to give a big pat on the back to the Sweet Home School District Board of Education for eliminating “pay to play” fees for our student-athletes and others involved in extracurricular activities. I have never liked activity fe...

Editor: When my wife and I moved to Sweet Home in 1970 we were impressed by the volunteerism in this community. Whenever we had a visitor or a new neighbor from elsewhere, we would list the attributes of Sweet Home, and right on top was the...

Editor: In their typical insidious fashion to take people’s rights away, the Republicans are taking their  Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 case (Brackeen v. Haaland) to – their – SCOTUS in hopes to start the ball rolling for them and their bi...