Category COMMUNITY
After a $3.2 million restoration, Salem’s Pringle Creek eases fish passage
Salem completed a large restoration project on Pringle Creek, which flows into the Willamette River. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) For more than 30 years, Salem has periodically removed debris trapped in Pringle Creek to prevent floodwaters from backing up into properties along the stream’s path. Columns…
Chemeketa board considers $11 per credit tuition increase to balance budget next year
Chemeketa Community College (File/Salem Reporter) The Chemeketa Community College Board of Education is considering a tuition increase that would raise the cost of a year of school for a full-time student by about $500. Board members will vote Wednesday evening on an increase of $11…
Marion County challenges garbage burner’s bad environmental rap
Brian May talks about Covanta Marion at the Salem City Club on Friday, Feb. 21. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) The Covanta Marion garbage burner isn’t as bad a polluter as its been made out to be, Marion County officials contend. Brian Nicholas, with Marion County Public…
Meet the man behind the bubbles going in at the Gilbert House museum
Bill Charnholm talks about bubbles outside Gilbert House Children’s Museum on Feb. 17, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Bill Charnholm grew up building small towns with his Erector Set, then flying toy fighter jets over them. The 75-year-old giggles while recounting playing in his bedroom in…
One nonprofit is trying to get parents more civically engaged through babysitting
Rachel Sowray, left, and Paige Hook, right. (Courtesy/Paige Hook) Paige Hook wanted to get involved in campaign managing two years ago but faced one major obstacle. She had three children under the age of six and couldn’t bring them door-to-door for three hours at a…
In south Salem, ‘garbageman angel’ aids woman calling for help
Joe Hettwer, also known as the ‘garbageman angel’, helped a woman who had fallen in her garage. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Joe Hettwer was running his garbage route in south Salem last month when he heard a faint noise through his ear plugs that sounded like…
What started as a way to keep Woodburn farmworkers informed has become a voice of the local Latino population
Arturo Sarmiento, station manager at Radio Poder. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) On a recent Friday afternoon, three members of Latinos Unidos Siempre sat in a studio to air their weekly two-hour music show “La Voz de los Jovenes” (“Voice of the Youth.”) The show airs on…
Behind the jousting and teasing on Reel Film Snobs is a true love of movies
Angela Yeager and Bryan Michael host Reel Film Snobs, a bimonthly movie review show that airs on CCTV. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) The hosts of Reel Film Snobs, a bimonthly movie review show on CCTV, note on their website that “Angela and Bryan may kill each…
Brooks’ antique farm equipment museum makes list of top destinations in Oregon
Tractors rolled through the Great Oregon Steam-Up during a parade in August. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Visitors enjoyed Powerland Heritage Park last year, so much so that it has risen to number nine in a list of 100 favorite destinations in Oregon. The list is distributed…