Page 4 - February 27, 2008
nil
I
holes teed
Looking
back on 79 years covering the
Santiam Playground.
It's
g
It's time to talk turkey about
what's next for Sweet Home.
City officials, along with the
leader of the Sweet Home Economic
Development Group, have called a
meeting, which you can read about
starting on page 1, to discuss where
we want to go now that the assessors of
our business district have pronounced
it "unhealthy" and have taken their aid
package elsewhere.
Although it is annoying to be
dismissed in favor of other cities
that have fewer vacant storefronts,
fewer problems with parking and more
pocket parks already in place, we do
have some cards to play.
One is that we believe Sweet
Home resident and business owners
have more backbone than the assessors
apparently thought we did, judging
from the comments they made at the
debriefing meeting they held before
leaving Sweet Home a month ago.
When we hear statements that we suf-
fer from the "dead battery syndrome,"
that our city lacks energy, momentum,
leadership, vision, focus and the capac-
ity to do what is needed downtown, we
ask whether these assessors could have
iii i I
considered the faclt that they weren't
seeing the whole piicture.
Because they weeren't. This town
has the can-do spirilt that brought many
ancestors of currenlt residents to Sweet
Home in the first place and that has
created such monuments to that spirit,
such as the Community Center and the
Oregon Jamboree. Sweet Home has
backbone, even if it doesn't show.
We also have residents interested
in making changes that would increase
the possibility of at brighter future for
Sweet Home - if not returning it to
its former glory, at least create more
local jobs and a hlealthier downtown
and business disttrict. Forty people
showed up on a ve'~ry unpleasant night
to hear that assesssment on Jan. 29.
They weren't there,' because they didn't
care about Sweet lHome.
We have challenges. We have
those empty builldings along Main
Street and Long Street - a much
higher percentage than the downtowns
LETTERS TO TIlE r ,blTOR
t
i
me of a ghost town in the
Sweet Home does
some ways.
need turnaround One big pro~blem is
blood. I have heard this
of Toledo, Newport, Lebanon and
Philomath, the four cities with which
our assessors have chosen to spend the
next year working.
We have parking issues.
We lack viable businesses to
tempt tourists and travelers to stop on
their way through town.
Another challenge could be stub,
born negativity. With that stiff back-
bone, the one that carded many log-
gers through long, hard days in the
woods and that built this town into
what it was before the spotted owl
fiasco, comes some stubbornness that
could be a detriment to change.
We're not talking about disagree-
ment, necessarily. Disagreement is
part of any development process.
We're talking about heel-dragging
resistance to anything that isn't exactly
what the nay-sayer wants.
What the organizers of this meet-
ing want fight now is your opinions.
As a communit.y, we have to decide
where we need to go to climb out of
the economic muck Sweet Home has
been in for nearly 30 years. We need
ideas. Your ideas.
This is a chance for you to have
your say about what you think needs
to happen to make Sweet Home more
than just a large collection of homes
from which money flows to other
communities.
What do you appreciate about
Sweet Home? What do you not like
in the downtown area? In the Mid-
way area? Should certain kinds of
businesses be encouraged to locate in
Sweet Home? If so, what would they
be? Should visual design standards be
established; either by the city or from
some sort of citizen effort? If so, what
would they be and how should they be
implemented?
These are the topics that will be
discussed. If you have ideas, bring
them to the table.
We have a leader who has experi-
ence in dealing with these kinds of is-
Editor:
How interesting. Experts say
(Sweet Home) needs a big turn-
around.
Well, as one who was raised in
Sweet Home and watched the area go
through lots of changes in 50 years, I
can tell you the area did not keep up to
speed in changing with the times.
Now, when I go to Sweet Home
and drive down Main Street, it reminds
A locally owned newspaper founded Sept. 27, 1929.
Scott and Miriam Swanson, Co-Publishers
www.sweethomenews.com
Office: 1313 MainSt Sweet Home, Oregon
Mailing address: The New Era, Box 39,
Sweet Home, OR, 97386
Phone: (541) 367-2135 Fax: (541) 367-2137
Editorial Staff Contacts
Scott Swanson, Editor/Co-Publisher sc tt@sweeth menews'c m
Sean C. Morgan, Staff Writer sean@sweeth menews'c m
Advertising Staff Contacts
Miriam Swanson, Advertising Manager, Co-Publisher
miriam@ sweethomenews.com
Firiel Severns, Advertising Sales firiel@sweeth menews'c m
The New Era (USPS 379-100) is published each Wednesday.
Periodical postage paid at the Sweet Home, Ore 97386 Post
Office. Postmaster: Please send address changes to
The New Era, Box 39, Sweet Home, Oregon 97386
Subscription rates
In Linn County: $27 Elsewhere: $35. Snowbird: $31
sues and with bringing people together
to talk about them in a constructive
manner.
Now it's up to you.
making, in
negativity
for years.
Someone wants to be very positive and
the council or city officials knock the
project down if it is not what they want.
Change is good!
Well, now let us take a look at other
small towns that are going full speed.
Yes, the Sweet Home area has some
outstanding citizens who do a lot of
great community projects. But everyone
needs to work together. The Good Old
Boy blood needs to be flushed out.
Why do you think industries and
'business do not want to go to (the)
Sweet Home area and open up? It sure
is not rocket science.
AI Seversou
Albany
Fond memories
of old Cascadia
I'm a big ffan of Mona Waibel
and her "Remermbering the Good Old
Days" features imthe monthly "55 Plus"
supplement.
The one on (Cascadia's history was
particularly intercesting. Cascadia is the
gem of the state 'park system.
My mother's (Barbara Norquist)
family moved to~ Linn County in 1864.
She would tell nne of making the two-
day trip by horse and wagon from
Albany to Cascadia with her parents
or grandparents. Once there, the men
and boys would hike over High Deck
to Quartzville to pan for gold (the
"colors") while the women and girls
stayed behind to camp and line up
each day to bottle the medicinal soda
water, then go swimming. The. entire
area that is now the ball park would be
filled with tents.
All four of my grandparents swore
by the healthful properties of the soda
water and in the '40s and '50s would
make monthly, if not weekly, trips to
Cascadia to bottle gallons of it. They'd
always drop a few gallons off for us in
Sweet Home. When over visiting them
in Albany, the drink of choice would be
soda water. By the time I reached my
teens, I must have drunk enough to fill
a swimming pool. I loved the different
flavors from both of the wells.
It would behoove the park service
to drill and purify the wells and open
them to new generations. All my grand-
parents lived will into their eighties and
I don't recall their ever having medical
problems.
I differ with Mona on two issues:
First, the old Cascadia school is any-
thing but "rundown." Bob Hubler (the
"unofficial mayor of Cascadia) and
his wife Isabella have turned it into a
fine, well-maintained home I envied
their children for having a gymnasium
to play in during the winter. It is the
rust-streaked detached Post Office that
looks "shabby."
Granted, Bob and son's successful
automotive engine rebuilding business
leaves a few cars scattered in the back,
but that's really nothing for Cascadia
or most rural addresses. OK, so there's
more than a few cars.
Secondly, poor Cascadia "Indian
Cave."In 1961, when the park and cave
were threatened by flooding from the
proposed Cascadia Dam, Dr. Thomas
Newman of Portland State University
was assigned the task of salvaging and
studying what was left of the cave's
contents. He and his crew of archaeol-
ogy students spent the entire summer
removing and sifting all the dirt before
returning it to the cave.
Sadly, the top layers (several thou-
sand years of deposits) had been heavily
looted by amateur "pot hunters." The
artifacts found are by now probably
widely scattered and largely forgotten
by selfish collectors. I admit that dur-
ing my ignorant youth in the 1950s, I
was guilty of camping for an a week at
the cave and digging illegally and un-
ethically for projective points ("arrow
heads"). It being hard, dirty work and
me being rather lazy, I didn't fifid much
- a dozen points or so. But in so doing I
joined the "thieves of tune" who forever
destroyed what scientific and cultural
knowledge might have been gained had
the cave been left untouched.
To keep an accidental surface find
is one thing. But to search for artifacts
whether on public or private land, in
this country, is wrong. Yes, the oc-
cupation dates back 8,000 years. How
is this known? When Dr. Newman
and his crew reached a certain level,
they stopped finding artifacts, bone,
or pollen. There was, instead, a layer
February 27, 1958
Five years ago wrestling was
started at Sweet Home Union High
School. Three years ago the high
school Squad started competition with
other schools. Today they are Oregon
state champions.
The meteoric rise to success of
the local wrestling team climaxed last
Saturday when they swept through the
state wrestling tournament at Corval-
lis to emerge champions
Most of the grocery stores in
Sweet Home, Foster and throughout
the county will be closed Sundays,
beginning March 2, according tO an
announcement by Jerry Horn, Leba-
non grocer and chairman of the Linn
County Independent Grocers commit-
tee, last week.
"Construction of a $1,750,000
complete plywood sheathing plant
adjacent to the Willamette National
sawmill at Foster, will begin immedi-
ately," announced Sam Robb, public
relations director for Willamette Val-
ley Lumber company, at the regular
weekly meeting of the Sweet Home
Rotary club, Tuesday noon
March 2, 1983
Sam Roberts, Jr professional
artist from Oregon City, has been
working with local students at
Corky's Color Wheel, painting wild-
life scenes. The well known wildlife
artist has been giving art lessons
at Corky's to Steen Sawyer, Katie
Stock, Wendy Clark, Ross Stock,
Karri Richards, Matthew Stock and
Michelle Hartmann.
AnnounCing their engagement
are Nancy Lee and William Gil-
liland
C & C Arts & Crafts is now open
at 755 Main St. in Sweet Home. Cathi
Kendrick and Biland Connie Olsen,
mother and daughter team, have
joined forces to bring a "complete one
stop arts and crafts center to Sweet
Home." They are featuring stained
glass, cake decorating supplies, knot=
ting, macram6, counted cross stitch
and many other crafts. They hope to
have classes in the near future. They
are still waiting for more supplies that
are arriving daily.
i I I i I i i iiiiiiiiiiiii
of volcanic ash. A study of the ashes'
composition showed that it was from
Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake) which
erupted some 7,200 years ago. Once
through this layer, artifacts, the Casca-
dia "willow points" were found again
- thus 8,000 years, plus or minus. Radio
carbon dating also confirmed the age.
While attending Portland State
University in the 1980s, I took a class
titled "Archeology for the Informed
and Responsible Amature" which led
me to change my greedy ways and turn
over 12 or so points to be added to the
afflfacts collected by Dr. Newman.
Sadly, Dr. Newman died shortly
thereafter and the collection was passed
to Dr. Paul Baxter of Brownsville. I met
with Dr. Baxter at the cave and showed
him exactly where I extracted the
points, but he has not properly studied
them. I've teamed with Tony Farque,
archaeologist with the local Forest
Service, to encourage him to do it.
There is talk of the state (or coun-
ty) purchasing the cave to protect the
often abused petrog!yphs. It has also
been proposed that a display be created,
interpreting the significance of the cave.
It would be nice to have a few relics
from the cave in that display wherever
it is located.
I would encourage anyone having
artifacts that can be identified as to the
time and specific lace they were found
to turn them over to a knowledgable,
responsible archeologist such as Tony
Farque before their story is lost and
becomes meaningless.
East Linn County Museum has an
entire case of beautiful points that were
donated decades ago by some unknown
person, their origin a mYstery.
What a shame to have so much
history lost.
Jim Musgrave
Sweet Home
