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CLOSE Marion County is proposing to forgive roughly $6 million of Oregon Garden debt with the intent of ensuring the 80-acre Silverton attraction's financial stability. If executed, the proposal would convert money Marion County provided for the garden over the years into a grant. That would trim the garden's debt down to $2.174 million.
When you have some good news, you want to share it. That's the impetus behind posters going up around Silverton this week created by Silver Falls School District and carrying the message "Moving forward together...and it shows!" District Superintendent Andy Bellando and Board Chair Tom Buccholz stopped into Silver Creek Coffee House on Wednesday, Sept.
CLOSE More industry, increased carloads and a surcharge: those three elements would have to converge before railroad shipping services become available again south of Silverton. That's the understanding shared by stakeholders in the Willamette Valley Railway, which operates between Woodburn and Stayton but has not served the southern portion of the line since the tracks were compromised during a stormy January 2012.
CLOSE In 1968, Stu Rasmussen went to work for one of Oregon's flagship Silicon Forest companies - Tektronix. Commuting meant driving from his quaint hometown of Silverton, population 4,000, to Beaverton, population back then of about 10,000. Things have changed a bit in the ensuing 40+ years.
Along with soil, sunlight and water are the most vital elements to a healthy agricultural climate. Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley, is hailed as just such a climate, producing a healthy, varied crop inventory within the loam of its equally varied terrain.
Increasing reports of decreasing snow packs drums up concern in Detroit. The upper-canyon, Cascade Mountain town's vitality hinges on recreation, and much of that is centered on Detroit Lake. The lake's condition is largely determined by snow melt, and decreasing snow packs will directly affect that.
Just a few minutes past 9 a.m. and at about 4,000 feet elevation on Willamette National Forest's Duffy Lake Trail, four Back Country Horsemen and their steeds come across another obstacle - notching about a dozen they'd already seen that early Thursday, June 25.
On a rainy afternoon in December, Bill Martinak stood at the northwest corner of a storm-water retaining pond where a trickling rivulet flowed west over a weir onto slightly lower ground. "We are right about 427 feet (altitude) right here," Martinak said of the spot, which he pointed out was a full 6 feet lower than the lowest lot in a nearby housing development.
This annual event is at once about maintaining an iconic rural community gathering place and preserving a venerable slice of area history. Union Hill Grange Hall and Community Center is holding its annual soup dinner benefit fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15.
Mill City's historical pedestrian railroad bridge has been an iconic span in the North Santiam Canyon for almost 100 years. A group of residents and bridge advocates have undertaken a mission to ensure it's around for perhaps another century, or longer.
General well-being is by itself a fitting aim with any fitness routine. Nonetheless, local fitness trainer and coach Jackie Welter isn't hesitant to bump up the conditioning bar a bit by, say, putting a little sport into the activity.
"Even if the walls fell in, you could drive a truck across the floor." Pastor Rich Neely imparted a contractor's thoughts while describing the state of 160-year-old Mount Pleasant Church. It's not a surprise the edifice is as sturdy as it is venerable.
Maybe it's because there are about 3,100 miles - give or take a few - between Montpelier and Salem. Or maybe it's just run-of-the-mill provincial narcissism. But somehow the notion in Vermont and Oregon is the same regarding the bottle bill: each believes it was the first state to implement it.
There appears to be a guarded optimism surrounding the building and real estate market around the Santiam Canyon as 2015 issues forward. The optimism coincides with recent national trends, as does the caution, as reports indicate that last November capped a three-month yearly high for home builders, who reportedly had seen more activity than any stretch since 2008.
Goose is an ace at his job, and there's no time of the year that it's more important than now - lambing season. "You watch the lambs leap up in the field; they look like popcorn leaping up in the field - wooly popcorn," said Wolston co-owner Raven O'Keefe.
"Make it a great day!" That was William "Bill" Tebeau's daily motto. It was also front and center Saturday in the brightly lit hospitality room at Center 50+ in Salem, where Bill Tebeau's family give their patriarch a fittingly warm, often poignant, but overall cheery celebration of life memorial.