Page 4 - October 17, 2012
LETTERS TO TIlE LblTOR
From
Our
Files
Looking back on more than 80 years of
coverage in east Linn County
October 18, 1962
The edge of Typhoon Frieda
hit Sweet Home shortly after 3
p.m. Friday and winds as high as
100 miles per hour persisted for
about five hours.
The storm caused 17 deaths in
Oregon. The damage in the Sweet
Home area is estimated between
$250,000 to $500,000. Only minor
injuries were reported locally.
A tree toppled, hitting the high
school, and a number of Douglas
firs were uprooted in the city park.
Schools were closed Monday for
cleanup due to the storm.
About 3,900 of 9,300 tele-
phones in Linn County were out of
commission.
The damage reported was the
worst in Oregon history.
October 14, 1987
Three firemen were injured
friday during a house fire. 18 fire-
men, three pumpers and a tanker
responded to the blaze.
Injured were Rob Younger, 33,
who received second-degree burns
to his face and neck; Ron Daniel-
son, 26 and Larry Hyland, 31, both
treated for heat exhaustion.
It is believed that a lit cigarette
started the blaze upstairs. It took
over an hour to control the blaze.
The firefighters were there for
about three hours.
Time to step up
to Sharing Tree
Editor:
Once again it's that time of year;
when the citizens of Sweet Home
come together to help less fortu-
nate local children and families for
the upcoming holiday season. Our
current national and local economic
downturn like last year has created
a huge need in our community this
Christmas season.
As in past years, the Sweet
Home Fire and Ambulance District
will be conducting the "Christmas
for Kids Sharing Tree Program" and
the Sweet Home Emergency Minis-
try (SHEM) will be coordinating the
"Christmas Food Basket" program.
Persons or families who wish
to have a child's name placed on
the "Christmas Sharing Tree" need
to fill out a request form which can
be picked up at the Sweet Home Fire
and Ambulance District office at
1099 Long St beginning Oct. 22.
The forms for food baskets must
be picked up at SHEM. They will be
preparing food baskets for delivery
in time for Christmas dinner. Those
who wish to make cash donations for
food baskets may do so at the SHEM
Food Bank at 1115 Long St Sweet
Home, OR 97386. A donation of district personnel who will purchase
non-perishable food and clothing is gifts to fill these requests. This year
also welcome, as in the past, those requesting gifts
Cash donations for the "Christ- will be asked to pick them up at the
mas For Kids Sharing Tree" toy pro- Fire Department starting Dec. 12-14,
gram may be made at the Fire and after being contacted by phoneI
Ambulance District office at 1099 An increasing number of gener-
Long St Sweet Home, OR 97386. ous people in our community have
All cash donations will be used to requested to not only provide gifts
purchase toys and needed cTothing for children, but for a whole fam-
for local children, ily. If you would like the option of
The names of children and fami- "Adopting a Family" this Christmas
lies needing assistance will be placed season and purchasing gifts for an en-
on the "Sharing Tree" at the Fire De- tire family, contact the fire district of-
partment starting the first week of rice at(541)367-5882. We will have
November. There will be another family groups available for you!
tree placed at the high school Christ- These two great community
mas Bazaar following the Christmas programs, as in past years, continue
Parade on Dec. 1 for that day only. to provide a glimmer of hope at the
In 2011, more than 500 children holiday season for hundreds of less
and 20(3 p~us famiF~es requested as- fortunate children and families in
sistance during the holiday season Sweet Home. Without the unself-
This year we anticipate an even larg~- ish support of the citizens of Sweet
er need for food, clothing and toys im Home, that glimmer of hope would
our community, be a little dimmer. Please support the
Anyone wanting to donate to the "Christmas for Kids Sharing Tree"
"Sharing Tree" toy program is asked and "Sweet Home Emergency Min-
to go to the "Sharing Tree" located at istry" (SHEM). The gift of giving is
the Fire Department at 1099 Long St. priceless.
and choose a name tag from the tree Thank you for your continued
and then buy that child a gift, wrap support of these two great commu-
it and return it to the "Sharing Tree" nity programs. Happy Holidays!
at the Fire Department by Dec. 5. Mike Beaver, Chief
The names that are left on the shar- Sweet Home Fire and
ing tree will be taken by local fire Ambulance District
The number of major carders in
the United States fell from six pre-
Airline Deregulation Act to three
by 1991. Since 2000 every major
airline has filed for bankruptcy at
least once.
The destabilizing effects of
privatization were felt immediately
and have become worse as time has
passed. Along with a 40 percent
drop in airfares since deregulation,
airline employees have seen up to
a 40 percent drop in income, affect-
ing approximately 545,000 Ameri-
can workers.
A further consequence of the
Airline Deregulation Act, Allison
noted, which most Americans fail
to appreciate, is that deregulation
resulted in a "massive shift of air-
line debt to the public," via a federal
corporation established to pay the
pensions (or a part of them) of the
employees of airlines driven out of
business or forced into bankruptcy.
"I had no idea these things
would occur," Allison says, back
when he was a believer in de-
regulating America's airlines.
Robert Crandall, former CEO of
American Airlines, stated in 2008,
"The consequences of deregulation
have been very adverse.
"Our airlines, once world, lead-
ers, are now laggards in every cat-
egory, including fleet age, service
quality and intemational reputation.
Fewer and fewer flights are on time.
Airport congestion has become a
staple of late-night comedy shows.
"An even higher percentage
of bags are lost or misplaced. Last-
minute seats are harder and harder
to find. Passenger complaints have
skyrocketed. Airline service, by any
standard, has become unaccept-
able."
The purpose behind govern-
ment regulation is to create a stable
industry.
Live and learn, right?
Unfortunately, no.
Diane Daiute
Sweet Home
I
A locally owned newspaper founded Sept. 27, 1929
Scott and Miriam Swanson, Co-Publishers
aw.sweethomenews.eom
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
WHO WE ARE
Scott Swanson, Editor/Co-Publisher scott@sweethomenews.com
Sean C. Morgan, Staff Writer sean@sweethomenews.com
Miriam Swanson, Advertising Manager, Co-Publisher mifiam@sweethomenews.com
Christy Keeney, Classified Ads classifieds@sweethomenews.com
Firiel Severns, Advertising Sales firiel@sweethomenews.com
The New Era (USPS 379-100)is published each Wednesday.
Periodical postage paid at the Sweet Home, Ore 97386 Post Office.
Postmasterf Please send address changes to
The New Era, Box 39, Sweet Home, Oregon 9738.6
SUBSCRIPTIONS
In Linn County: $32 Elsewhere: $40 Snowbird: $38
NEWS QUESTIONS/TIPS
Call (541) 367.2135 or e-mail news@sweethomenews.com
Deregulation and
destabilization
Editor:
Tom Allison, at the time chief
counsel to the U.S. Senate Com-
merce Committee that wrote the
Airline Deregulation Act law in
1978, says the ADA resulted in
cuts to airline salaries, slashed re-
tirement benefits, forced job cuts
despite rises in the frequency of air-
line services, bankrupted many for-
merly great airlines or forced them
into bankruptcy protection, ruined
standards of airline service, raised
fares on most non-mainline ser-
vices, and made life miserable for
travelers and airline employees.
Exposure to competition led to
heavy losses and conflicts with la-
bor unions for a number of carriers.
Between 1978 and mid-2001, nine
major carriers and more than 100
smaller airlines went bankrupt or
were liquidated including most
of the dozens of new airlines found-
ed in deregulation's aftermath.
"oF ccOE--J O0g ReAl .4
WRITE A LETTER
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on matters of public interest. Letters should be typed and may be submitted
by mail, e-mail, fax or in person at The New Era office. E-mailed letters may
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Please include a telephone number in case we need to contact you.
Also, we require that you include your name and city of residence or your
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been exhausted in previous letters will be edited accordingly.
