4/28/-20t2 N
Small Town Papers-
2i 7 W Cota St
Sheiion wa 98584
Hometown News 3aper of Harold Partridge
Serving the Sweet Home community since 1929
I m I I
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 Vol. 83, No. 8
I
75 Cents
Two more arrested in burglary cases
By Scan C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home police recovered
property Thursday morning, Feb. 16,
that they believe was stolen from area
homes in a recent series of residential
burglaries beginning last month.
They arrested two people in
connection with the stolen property
and a third on a drug charge.
Police served the search war-
rant at 1280 Nandina St., at 6:33 a.m.
Arrested were Wayne Cole Howser,
36, and Todd Jeremy Clark, 36, for
possession of methamphetamine
and first-degree theft by receiving.
Police also arrested Lacey Marie Ni-
cole Davidson, 33, for possession of
meth. All three were lodged at Linn
County Jail.
In addition to apparently sto-
len property, police also seized what
they described as sales quantities of
meth.
Among the stolen property were
items allegedly stolen from Dan Dee
Sales, said Police Chief Bob Bur-
ford.
Police executed the search war-
rant on the basis of information they
had received that there may have
been items of interest from the bur-
glaries around Sweet Home, said
Community Services Officer Gina
Riley. "There were items found in
the residence that are probably asso-
ciated with some of the burglaries."
Police are now connecting the
property to the owners, she said.
A week earlier, police arrested
Austin Richards, 18, at the scene
of an apparent attempted burglary,
charging him with two counts of
• See Arrests, page 8
Photo by Scott Swanson
Police detective Cyndi Picardo, left, Community Services Officer Gina
Riley, and other law enoforcement officials carry evidence from a house at
the corner of 13th Avenue and Nandina Street Thursday after a search.
Fast food drive-in
McDonald's employees Trudy Pectol, left, and Jessica
Smith survey the damage from a vehicle that crashed
through a window Friday morning as David Worthen
works behind the counter. Police and medics responded
to McDonald's, 2000 Main St., at about 8:55 a.m. The
vehicle was driven by Mabel Jeanette Medlock, 87. No
citations were issued, and no injuries were reported. At
right, Community Services Officer Gina Riley chats with
a police officer at the scene of the crash.
Photos by Scott Swanson
New pipes
paying off in
reduced I&I
By Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Januarff's big rain storm brought good
- albeit unscientific - news about Sweet
Home's sewer system.
During the storm, the city's Wastewa-
ter Treatment Plant bypassed far less water
than city officials would have expected.
"Past experience would've told us with
that particular rain event, we would've by-
passed sooner during the rain storm," said
Public Works Director Mike Adams. That
• See I&l, page 2
Council denies
zoning change
By Scan C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council de-
nied a request for a Comprehensive Plan
amendment and rezone for Valley View
Logging last week.
Following a public hearing during its
regular meeting on Feb. 14, the council
voted 5-0 to deny the request.
The request was to change the Com-
prehensive Plan map for 1284 and 1288
46th Ave. from low-density residential to
• See Council, page 7
Cougar killings, sightings up, but how many are there?
By Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Are cougars more plentiful now than, say,
10 years ago?
Depends on whom you talk to.
Oregon state wildlife biologists say they
don't believe there are more of the mountain
lions in the Cascades and the Willamette Val-
ley west of the mountains, and if counts of re-
ported killings of cougars can be relied upon,
they seem to support that analysis to a certain
extent, although the cats' presence may be be-
coming more evident.
In the last month, a cougar has been hit by
a school vehicle on Fern Ridge, two have been
killed on Highway 228 in the Crawfordsville
area and others have been reported, though not
necessarily officially.
Cougars have been blamed for multiple
livestock killings in the area since last summer,
including six American blackbelly sheep be-
longing to a family on 50th Avenue, five goats
on a ranch on Crescent Hill Drive, and others.
Whether there is actually an increased
number of cats in the state is up for argument,
but the numbers of reported cats killed in Linn
County have shot up by more than 100 percent
in recent years, from an average of 13 betweeen
2006 and 2009, to 20 in 2010 and 23 in 2011.
Probably even more telling, the number killed
because they have been deemed a hazard to hu-
mans has doubled in the last year from eight in
2010 to 17 in 2011, and quadrupled from 2009
(four). But the numbers are small, so statisti-
cally those increases are not as significant as
they would be with larger totals.
Nancy Taylor, a biologist at the Corvallis
branch of the Oregon Department of Fish and
• See Cougars, page 15
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