2 The Sun, Wednesday, May 2, 2007
m
ByGeorge
George Robertson
Every spring I have the good fortune to inter-
view local high school students for Kiwanis Club
scholarships. In past years I have served on the
panel interviewing youngsters from Sheridan High
School. Other years I have interviewed Willamina
High School seniors.
No matter -- the local graduates seeking schol-
arships to attend College or trade school are a true
inspiration. Many hold down part-time jobs, play
sports and volunteer in community service projects.
Frankly, I don't know how they squeeze in all of
their activities and still maintain good grades.
This year, the Kiwanis Club plans to award eight
$1.000 scholarships to four seniors from each high
school. I know it's going to be very difficult to make
a selection from the 15 seniors who have applied.
Local youngsters are involved in many worth-
while projects in our communities. Here are just a
few:
Students in the Willamina Music Drama pro-
gram will soon be putting on "Annie," the delight-
ful musical about Little Orphan Annie and her
faithful dog. It includes that great number "Tomor-
row."
Local FFA and 4-H youngsters are busy rais-
ing beef, poultry and other livestock for county fairs
this summer.
e Students in Willamina High School's new
"Scholars for Seniors" program are helping senior
citizens get their gardens ready for the summer.
(See photo on Page 7 in today's edition.)
Sheridan's Opportunity House is sponsoring a
community garden. (See story on Page 7.)
Sheridan Japanese School students performed
Saturday on Taiko drums at the school's spring
festival.
Fifth graders in Willamina Elementary School
took part in Arbor Day celebrations recently by
planting a tree in a city park. (See photo below.)
Photo by Shelley Harman
Willamina Elementary School fifth graders plant a tree in
Willamina park to celebrate Arbor Day. In front row, from
left, are Emily Fry, Devon Stackhouse and Jason McColm.-
Back row, from left, are Landon Bobb, Mayor Curtis Grubbs,
Whitney Anderson, Cheyanne Fasana and teacher Sara
Norwood.
This 1911 bridge spanned the South Yamhill River in downtown Sheridan before it was
bridge -- perhaps the city's most famous landmark today.
Slivers of History
Courtesy of Yamhill County Historical Society
replaced in 1938 with the steel
By Charlene Brown acquainted with most of the folks didn't work out. He opened the ied and beat up from a truck acci-
Specia/to TheSun newly transplaflted to town to work business Dec. 21, 1940. By the dent. came in for treatment. The
Two landmarks in Willamina at the plywood plant and maketheir spring of 1941 folks had to find Doc found himself treating every-
have a lot in common. They both home in these parts. A good many somewhere else to perspire. The thing from broken ribs to scalp lac-
served a need. in one of Willa- of them seemed to be of Finnish building was sold. erations.
mina's finest hours, to provide the descent. And what could be better Dr. Victor E. Johnson had Sometimes the practice turned
health care the town needed. One to relieve a.Finn's worn-out planned to be a dentist, lnsteadhe out to be shocking, at least for the
is a promment structure that has had muscles after a hard day's work became a chiropractor, practicing patients. Afellow came in one night
many tales told of its history. The than a good old-fashioned steam in Portland. In 1941, he got away from a dance with what he thought
other, unassuming and not as well bath, just like they had in the old from the big city and came to Wil- was a sprained ankle. He said it
known, built specifically with the country; only, of course, modem lamina, buying Morris's Temple of didn't hurt enough to be broken.
quest for good health in mind, went and up-to-date. George planned to Heal.th. Converting three of the Must have been some dance. It was
on to serve the community's needs make that luxury a reality. He steam rooms into treatment rooms a badly broken ankle but the anes-
for over 44 years. This week and bought Neely's comer lot and pro- and the fourth into a darkroom to thetic the fellow had imbibed in at
next, we'll tell you about both. ceeded to build a home for himself develop x-rays, and remodeling the the dance had done a good job of
The plywood plant came to and his wife and, in the same build- living quarters, he was soon in busi- dulling the pain. Then there was the
town in late 1939, changing a vii- ing, the most up to date bathhouse ness Ln what would be known as lady who, after a routine x-ray was
lage into a booming mill town. of its kind in the Willamette Val- the Willamina Clinic for the next told she was expecting twins. She
Housing was popping up all over, ley. 44 years, a chiropractic version of left in a state of disbelief and con-
n e, w businesses were=being put m With his knowledge of plumb- a temple of lle~th, suited a medical doctor who diag-
every available nook and cranny, ing and a staff of experts experi- There may.have still been a lot nosed a tumor instead; A few
Vacant lots were being snatched up enced, in "health giving aids" of sweating donein that building months later she gave birth to
as4ast as th~owners-couki be talked Georg~called his new busines~the from.the stories Dr.- Johnson told healthy twiiis.
into selling them. By June of 1940, Temple of Health and boasted of of some of the patients he treated Johnson, who referred to him-
the population had doubled since featuring not only Finnish but Rus- over the years. The practice was so self as a simple country doctor,
last count, to 720 citizens, making sian steam baths with the most busy he sometimes treated 75 came much more to the commu-
Willamina suddenly the fourth larg- modern sanitary building and people in one day. In a small town, nity. Over the years, he served as
est city in the county, equipment of its type. Four steana a Dr. is a Dr. and the Doc found his municipal judge, city councilman
One of those vacant lots was at rooms, eight dressing rooms and a practice wasn't always limited to and for six years as mayor. The
the comer of what we know today massage room were provided, the chiropractics, especially during doctor isn't in anymore, but the
as Main and Larnson. steam rooms heated by a 400 gal- World War II when many medical building he practiced in for so many
Prominent citizen R. Y. Neely Ion tank of water. Hot steam out- doctors were in the service, years still stands at 188 South Main
had built his home on part of the lets sprayed radiators filled with One of those busy times hap- St.
property, then decided to get in on cold water into the steam rooms and pened when he and Mrs. Johnson During that great heyday start-
the boom by selling some of his anyone, for a price, could go to the slipped off to the coast for a get ing in 1939 when the plywood
land, a desirable comer lot in the Temple of Health from the hours of away, leaving orders to their chil- brought new life to Willamina and
quickly developing south side of ! and 9 p.m. and get healthy by sit- dren to clean up the clinic while George Morris was steaming with
town. ting in those rooms and, well, per- they were gone. When they re- his business-idea, anotherlandmark
Along came a gentleman named spiring, turned it was spotless, all waxed in town found a new healthy pur-
George Morris, a plumber by trade, We don't know what happened and antiseptic. That is. for an hour pose. We'll tell you about it next
with a plan. George had become with Morris's temple. Somehow it or so, until six muddy men, blood- week.
Letters to the editor
FIRE DISTRICT Eddings's tenure.
INCUMBENTS ENDORSED Both Brooks and Mishler have
The West Valley Fire District helped build a better district. What
VolunteerAssociation wouldlike to we need are people to stop going
endorse Gary Brooks and Rick around and bad mouthing the
Mishier for board of directors, agency. This causes residents to
The association would also like doubt the district's capability. It
to show its support for Chief Chuck may or may not have stopped per-
Eddings. Under his administration sons from becoming volunteers.
the district has improved its re- Ourquestionis:whywouldyou
sponse times from 9 minutes out intentionally go around and create
the door time to 1.2 minutes. These political unrest and possibly risk the
are the best out the door times in safety of residents of the district by
the county and are well within the running off at the mouth?
Yamhill and Polk County require- Volunteerism is down across the
ments, country; this is not the fault of the
The department has changed, board members or the chief. ,It is
from the "Good old boys" to a pro- the fault of changing lifestyles.
fessional business. Willamette Vat- We ask everyone to see for your-
ley Medical physicians cited great self. join the department and make
improvement in the district stfiff up your own mind. You have no
and operations under Chief idea what effect five to ten more
ONPA
O~gon N~I~
Publlahers Association
@Postal # 493-940
George Robertson
EDITOR and PUBLISHER
POSTAL NOTICE: Published weekly by The Sun, 136 E. Main Street,
Sheridan, OR 97378. Periodicals postage paid at Sheridan, OR 97378.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE (one year): $29. Payment must be received by noon
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DEADLINES: Letters to the editor, society and church news, press
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news@sheridansun, corn
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Sun, PO. Box 68,
Sheridan, Oregon 97378.
volunteers have at various times of det program, ensuring that if there because they are not from our corn-
the day when your house is on fire. were an emergency that the other munity.
Kimberly Giacchero volunteers and paid staff would be Let's do as the incumbents sug-
Andrew Bishop free to respond and yet the cadets gest and "get back to basics"!
Matt Rawlswould have supervision. These ca- Ilene Holloway,
Bill Alguire dets could and would have been Sheridan
Cliff Bennett some of our next generation of vol-
Chris' Greenhill unteers. Shot down? Yes! Where IRRESPONSIBLE
Chris WakefieM does the cadet program stand now'? USE OF JOURNALISM
Joe Kendrick It is just another issue in a long line A note about your column in the
Megan Branson of Eddings' mlsmanagement. April 18 edition:
One other thing, when youAsownerandeditorofTherun,
FIRE BOARD voiced your opinion of the "good it is my opinion that you have au
NEEDS TO CHANGE ole' bovs" you hit hard on all vol- ethical and moral responsibility to
I was incensed by our column unteers prior to Eddings' arrival, report on both sides of the issues.
in the April 18 edition. Your en- TheEddys, Lakes, Flynns, Hargitts, You advised voters how they
dorsement says that Dr. Gary Stackhouses, Algers, Browns, should vote and who you think
Brooks and Richard Mishler are Mossers. Feltons, Schwalens, should win based on your limited
long standingvolunteerswhohave Parries, Kissells, McMillians, knowledgeofthefactsandyourca-
given countless hours of their time. Reeds.Grouts, Lash, Getzler, Voigt, maraderie with the candidates
What about the "good ole' boys"? Boyer. Turners, Piersons,through public service groups.
Those "good pie' boys" responded VanScoyks, Scotts, Gays, Telfers. I believe this is an irresponsible
for years and years, also donating Weavers, Wrights, Hamptons and use of journalism. As a newspaper
countless hours to their commumty. We ths to name just a few. owner and editor, you owe it to the
But'after Chuck Eddings' arrival on Were these people and their community to stick to the facts, not
the scene, strangely enough, they. "countless hours" nonexistent in speculate mad you should remmn
have all left. Now we are trying to your ,iew? Shame on you! Each unbiased.
utilize individuals who do not live one of these individuals and their Aileen Bono,
in this community to cover our families gave up personal time be- Willamina
BonD is a candidate for the West Val-
emergencies, cause each and every one had ley Fire District board of directors.
My own daughter, Lisa Hargitt, something great to offer! The love
who is running tbr a position on the and dedication to their community. QUESTIONS FOR FIRE
board, gave 17 years of her life, Eddings is not the miracle BOARD CANDIDATES
with no monetary gain, to serve. Is worker you tried to make him out Aileen Bono, please explain:
her 17 years not considered"count- to be. I've taken the time and ini- Why did you attempt to corn-
less hours"? I can't even imagine tiative to read the public materials mandeer the fire district's name?
how many others gave ofthe same. that are available to anyone who You apparently think you own the
I, myself, gavehours hndhours be- wishes to be informed. The fact is fire district. Why mn for the ftre dis-
cause of my love of this commu- Eddings did come with major trict board if you already own it?
nity. It began when Joe and Lisa de- amounts of baggage and our cur- Making your own roles?
cided to volunteer back in 1983. I rent board is enabling him to con- How did your attorney come
filled in as chief bottle washer and tinue his destructive behavior into possession of very private
babysitter. Aren't those volunteer within our district. Take a look at medical records?These were prop-
hours? After the children were the current roster. Do you recog- ertyofthefn-edistrictandprotected
grown. I volunteered with the ca- nize most of the names on it? No, by federal law. He entered them
into the court record. Exempt from
the rules?
Does Yamhill County know that
you are living in a shed without
permits? Rules don' f seem to ap-
ply.
On Aug. 23, 2002 you picked
up several thousand dollars worth
of federal surplus equipment. The
fire district didn't end-up with it.
Where is it? Rules?
Lisa Hargitt, you also got some
explaining to do.
Why does the audit report for
2004/2005 (page 28) show that you
have unexplained extra time off
hours earned? 85.5 hours to be ex-
act. It would appear that every tune
you ran out of time off, more magi-
cally appeared. Is this some of your
high quality administrative skill at
work? If elected, will your atten-
dance to the board meetings be any-
thing like your work attendance'?
On Aug. 5, 2005 you reported
money missing. Tell us about that.
Now a few quotes from a letter
you wrote April 10, 2003. 'Tin
sorry, but I never met a perfect per-
son, and if I were looking it
wouldn't be Aileen." "The woman
is impossible and never takes re-
sponsibility for anything:" ''There
is absolutely no teamwork. Every-
thing is me, me, me" "Her percep-
tion of her self-importance is totally
exaggerated. I'm sure she truly be-
lieves it, but even so, it makes it
very hard for us mere mortals to
work with such a great being."
Sharon Eddings,
Willamina
Sharon Eddings is the wife of Chief
Chuck Eddings.
[ See more letters: Page 6 [
