t F ,, r,, - February 15, 2012 COhlJHUNITV OPINION Page 5
LETTERS TO TIlE EDITOR
I
Car theft victim
needs some help
Editor:
Our friend who owns Moss-
ville Mercantile, 1306 Long St.,
had her red 1998 Dodge Neon sto-
len in broad daylight fight behind
her business. It was not urgently
found.
She needs a used vehicle to
transport herself and her 80-year-
old mother.
Please stop by her store or
leave a note if you know of a good
car for her.
Thanks.
Beth Ligel
Sweet Home
Clearing up angst
about chamber
Editor:
The purpose of this letter is
to address both verbalized and
implied concerns about your
Sweet Home Chamber of Com-
merce. It has been a while since
we have communicated with the
community and feel it would be
beneficial to clarify the state of
this organization.
First of all, the Chamber of
Commerce mission is, and will
continue to be "To ensure Sweet
Home's prosperity and high qual-
ity of life through a healthy com-
munity and a strong business
economy." We believe it to be
imperative that we remain fo-
cused on sustaining a vital busi-
ness district.
The Board of Directors ac-
knowledges that the chamber
has had financial and organi-
zational concerns over the last
couple of years. We recognize
that Our operations could have
been run more efficiently. We
also take full responsibility and
have learned from them. At this
time the Board is making chang-
es to move forward with positive
changes in place.
Financially, we have expe-
rienced some insufficiencies be-
cause the chamber did not have
appropriate guidelines or pro-
cedures set down on paper. This
resulted in people trying to do
what they felt was the right thing,
but in reality it was simply a set-
back.
We are grateful to the loyal
members and the City of Sweet
Home for relieving some of the
financial stress by providing the
necessary financial support to
forge forward.
Organizationally, we have
implemented a fully comprehen-
sive policy and procedures man-
ual that contains an entire section
dedicated to finance and debt res-
olution. Procedurally, we have
established hard and fast rules
for when and how the Chamber
distributes funds. All financial
decisions will be approved by the
Board of Directors. The newly
established Finance Committee
will maintain a budget, pay bills,
segregate funds for events, etc.
We feel that by being good stew-
ards of the tax funds and mem-
bership funds, we will be able to
model fiscal responsibility to our
members.
The board's event philoso-
phy is "All events MUST be cost-
neutral." This means that event
coordination will be planned and
executed by an Events Commit-
tee. While this was initially not a
very popular decision, the "out-
sourcing" of the Christmas Pa-
rade to an Events Committee had
outstandingly positive results.
People who cared stepped in to
fill the gap.
In support of the mission
statement, the board believes that
part of a healthy community is al-
lowing others the opportunity to
help. This pertains to other activ-
ites as well; members are encour-
aged to support and volunteer at
the chamber in any area they are
passionate about.
At this time, we are current
on all financial obligations and
on our way to paying off some
lingering debt. Although this has
taken a year or more to accom-
plish, the hard choices have real-
ized the desired results.
The Board of Directors re-
alizes that we need to approach
tourism in a different way; focus-
ing on the resources and recre-
ational assets of the region will
inform visitors what the area has
to offer. The chamber has begun
collaborating with the Sweet
Home Active Revitalization Ef-
fort (SHARE), Linn County
Parks and the Forest Service to
facilitate and promote tourism
and events that capitalize on our
natural, cultural and recreational
resources by increasing busi-
ness opportunities in a way that
enhances the local economy and
ensures exciting visitor experi-
ences.
This year we will identify
membership hurdles and con-
centrate on overall growth. The
chamber should be a tool for
members to help grow their busi-
ness.
Benefits for members in-
clude:
Business seminars;
Social media advertising -
website, Facebook, etc... ;
Advertising in our Visi-
tors Guide; Business After Hours
events - networking with fellow
members/local businesses;
Funding/design aid for
Commercial Exterior Improve-
ment Program grants;
Community events (pa-
rades, tree lighting, etc...);
Chamber Ambassadors
support services;
Opportunities to strength-
en Sweet Home's business com-
munity;
Tables to use for your
events, free of charge;
Quarterly luncheons de-
signed to give you educational
materials to boost business; and
Advertising on Flyers.
Our goal is 150 chamber
members for 2012; we are half-
way there.
As members, you share in
the responsibility. All chamber
meetings and events are open to
the public; we encourage every-
one with a desire to help (busi-
ness or individual) to visit. Board
meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the
third Tuesday of each month at
the chamber building. Encour-
age friends, family and business
owners to show up or join if they
have not.
The Board of Directors con-
tinues to work.diligently to be
the kind of chamber you want
us to be. The only way we can
do that is for you to share your
thoughts. Each director is willing
to hear your input, listen to your
feedback and possibly implement
your ideas. Over the next few
months we are committed to try-
ing new things; some will work,
some will not.
A growing thriving member-
ship creates a stronger, healthier
economic core. We encourage
you to show up, be involved, have
a voice and contribute. Your skill
set and area of passion is a vital
tool necessary to your Chamber
of Commerce. Call us today at
(541) 367-6186.
Board of Directors
Sweet Home Chamber of
Commerce
Liberty for
women
Editor:
According to research pub-
lished in the Journal of Health
and Social Behavior, even reli-
gious women, if unmarried and
pregnant, resort to abortion--
particularly teens.
Unwed teens and 20-year-
olds who attend or have graduat-
ed from private religious schools
are more likely to obtain abor-
tions than their peers from public
schools.
Thirty-seven percent of
women obtaining abortions iden-
tify themselves as Protestant, 28
percent as Catholic, 27.5 percent
no religion and 7.1 percent oth-
er. One in five abortion patients
identified themselves as born-
again, evangelical, charismatic or
fundamentalist.
1) Why is it that those who
are supposedly "pro-life" sud-
denly lose interest once the baby
is born? Doesn't "pro-life" ex-
tend until death? If so, then why
are they so against a single-payer
health care system that guaran-
tees basic care?
2) Why is it that the same
people who so vehemently op-
pose using tax dollars to cover
abortions are equally vocal in
their support to use tax dollars
to kill people in other countries?
Pro-war. Pro-economic sanctions
that kill hundreds of thousands
of children. Many pro-lifers are
also pro-gun. The U.S.A. is the
biggest arms manufacturer in the
world. We sell death.
3) Why is it that those people
who are so concerned with mak-
ing sure babies are born don't
care what kind of world that baby
is born into - whether it is pol-
luted, toxic, stripped to the bone
because of over-population and
greed? Most actively deny the
scientific fact of global climate
change due to the burning of oil,
coal and gas, and deforestation.
I don't believe any man
should be able to tell any woman
what to do with her reproductive
organs at any time.
We don't go around telling
them what to do with theirs (i.e.
vasectomy for all over 40 years
old because of the increased risk
of birth defects, or how about
forced circumcision).
The COP-Tea Party-Liber-
tarian parties claim to be fighting
for freedoms and liberty. Yeah,
right: Freedom from responsibil-
ity to support their country, free-
dom from helping those in need
(nix welfare), freedom to carry
around weapons, freedom to use
and abuse anyone/anything that's
in their way in their pursuit of
money. Growth at all costs.
But what about a wom-
an's freedom to her own
body? No freedoms there.
If you have beliefs, great, prac-
tice them, but it is not your place
to force your beliefs down other
people's throats.
Diane Daiute
Sweet Home
Refresher needed
on crosswalk law
Editor:
For those of you drivers that
may have forgotten the cross-
walk and pedestrians law, here
it is for a refresher. Twice in one
day my husband and I were cross-
ing Main Street ( Hwy. 20), at a
crosswalk, with cars a good block
away. Yet, when the cars got to
where we were crossing ... they
kept going. We had to stop or we
would have been hit.
I am still recovering from
a knee replacement so I do not
move too fast yet, but one driver
even yelled out the window to
"hurry up!" Come on people, let's
be safe.
Oregon Revised Statute
811.028, entitled "Failure to Stop
and Remain Stopped for Pedes-
trian," reads as follows:
(1) The driver of a vehicle
commits the offense of failure to
stop and remain stopped for a pe-
destrian if the driver does not stop
and remain stopped for a pedes-
trian when the pedestrian is:
(a) Proceeding in accordance
with a traffic control device as
provided under ORS 814.010
(Appropriate responses to traf-
fic control devices) or crossing
the roadway in a crosswalk, as
defined in ORS 801.220 ("Cross-
walk"); and
(b) In any of the following
locations:
(A) In the lane in which the
driver's vehicle is traveling;
(B) In a lane adjacent to the
lane in which the driver's vehicle
is traveling;
(C) In the lane into which the
driver's vehicle is turning;
(D) In a lane adjacent to the
lane into which the driver's vehi-
cle is turning, if the driver is mak-
ing a turn at an intersection that
does not have a traffic control de-
vice under which a pedestrian may
proceed as provided under ORS
814.010 (Appropriate responses
to traffic control devices); or
(E) Less than six feet from the
lane into which the driver's vehi-
cle is turning, if the driver is mak-
ing a turn at an intersection that
has a traffic control device under
which a pedestrian may proceed
as provided under ORS 814.010
(Appropriate responses to traffic
control devices).
Larry and Nancy Patton
Sweet Home
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I City of Sweet Home
I Craig Martin, City Manager, (541) 367-8969
II = cmartin @ci.sweet-home.or.us
City Council
Craig Fentiman, Mayor, (541) 367-6826
e-mail: cfentiman@ci.sweet-home.or.us
Jim Goudey, President Pro Tern, (541) 367-5517
Man/beth Angulo, Councilor (541) 367-7798
I Michael Hall, Councilor, (541) 570-2044
I [] Greg Mahler, Councilor, (541) 401-0110
Scott McKee Jr., Councilor, (541) 405-6191
I Ron Rodgers, Councilor, (541) 401-2590
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Don_Schrader@Sweethome.kl 2.or.us Federal Government I
School District No. 55 Board of Directors Sen. Ron Wyden (D) (202) 224-5244 II
Jason Redick, Chairman, (541) 401-8601 e-mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/ I
Dale Keene, Vice Chair, (541) 409-1034 Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) (202) 224-3753
Michael E. Adams, Foster,-(541) 367-1003 e-mail: http://merkley.senate.gov/contact/contact/cfm I
Kevin Burger, Cascadia, (541) 367-3773 Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D) (800) 944-9603 II
Jenny Daniels, Liberty, (541) 367-4080 e-mail: http://defazio.house.gov/emailme.shtmt I
Chanz Keeney, Holley, (541) 367-7999 State Government I
I Mike Reynolds, Sweet Home, (541) 367-5601 Sen. Fred Girod (R, Dist. 9) (503) 986-1709 I
David VanDerlip, Crawfordsville, (541) 367-3856 e-mail: sen.fredgirod@state.or.us
Biilie Weber, Member at Large, (541) 367-2487 Sen. William Morrisette (D, Dist. 6) I
(503) 986-1706 e-mail: sen.billmorrisette@state.or.us I
Linn County Commissioners Rep. Sherrie Sprenger (R, Dist. 17) I
Roger Nyquist, rnyquist@co.linn.or.us (503) 986-1417 e-mail: rep.sherriesprenger@state.or.us
I School District No. 55 John K. Lindsey jlindsey@co.linn.or.us Rep. Phil Barnhart (D,Dist.11) (503) 986-1411 I
I Don Schrader, Superintendent, (541) 367-7126 Will Tucker wtucker@co.linn.or.us e-mail: rep.philbarnhart@state.or.us I
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