Memory Lane 120624

50 years ago

McMinnville construction in 1974 continued to soar above all previous records with November totals, this aided by a $200,000 project at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills.

McMinnville building department in November issued 12 permits valued at $1,280,300, bringing the 1974 total to 304 building permits on $9,026,873 worth of construction. Comparative figures for 1973 show $3.7 million through November. Cascade is building a pollution control building, part of a system for controlling plant emissions. The system is under a deadline schedule worked out with Mid-Valley Pollution Authority.

Enthusiastic consideration of the Camas, Wash., core area beautification program was urged Monday evening at a meeting of McMinnville’s downtown Committee on Revitalization (C.O.R.) Members of the committee viewed a slide presentation and heard a report on current state of the Washington city’s program launched in the mkd-1960s. The Camas district now enthusiastically endorses the zigzag thoroughfare with angle parking and numerous rest and garden areas.

A bomb threat was received by Sheridan High School Tuesday and a 14-year-old juvenile from Polk County was taken into custody. The school was evacuated and searched by Sheridan police, Yamhill County Sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police. No bomb was found.

25 years ago

The chances of getting a Newberg-Dundee bypass built got a boost this week when leaders from Polk and Marion counties joined Yamhill County in identifying it as the mid valley’s top transportation priority. The group was ranking the region’s projects for funding from the gas tax increase approved by the Oregon Legislature this year. But just how valuable that top priority designation is may depend upon whether the state’s voters endorse that tax in the May referendum.

Recent endangered species listings for salmon may force mandatory changes in how McMinnville residents treat the environment, but the Yamhill Basin Council is trying to show residents how they can voluntarily protect the environment. It is sponsoring two workshops on actions residents of the Yamhill River and Chehalem Creek watersheds can take to keep streams clean and fish healthy.

10 years ago

Portland Metro was scheduled to consider a resolution late Thursday afternoon to commission a study on the possibility of discontinuing use of McMinnville’s Riverbend landfill.

At present, Metro is routing 29 percent of its trash to Riverbend and the rest to other landfills, notably Columbia Ridge in Arlington. That at contribution accounts for almost half of the trash being processed at Riverbend, making Metro the landfill’s largest customer. Waste Management has been trying for years to win authorization to expand Riverbend, which would have reached capacity by now if it hadn’t been for the erection of a berm two years ago. Opponents of expansion have urged the company to instead extend Riverbend’s life by diverting the flow of outside trach, but Waste Management says the local trash isn’t sufficient to make the facility economically viable.

A lawsuit against Evergreen Aviation founder Del Smith, producing a $26.8 million judgement against Smith the week before his death, leaves Umpqua Bank holding deeds of trust against two major Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum buildings and two McMinnville office buildings. The buildings, including the aviation museum and theater and a large office building across Highway 18, were used as loan collateral in 2007 and 2008.

Hoffman Construction has filed a foreclosure action against the Michael King Smith Foundation, seeking to have portions of the Evergreen museums sold at auction to satisfy a $1.9 million debt. The proceeds involve the completed Evergreen Chapel and partially completed Red Hawk Lodge and Wings and Dreams Adventure Park.