A lot happened in Lebanon during 2024, and Lebanon Local was there for much of it. Here are some of the biggest stories from last year.
December
- Oregon Indoor Shooting Range introduced a new AI-driven system that allows shooters to fire live rounds at moving targets and get analytics aimed at helping them improve.
- In an effort to improve the tree canopy in the community, the Lebanon Garden Club planted 10 ornamental trees, nine on Williams Street between Grant and Wheeler, and one in Pioneer Cemetery.
- In the only contested City Council race in the November election, David W. McClain defeated incumbent Kim Ullfers and fellow challenger Cordero Reid in the Ward II race. Some 52% of city voters turned down a measure that would have continued the addition of fluoride to city drinking water, a practice begun in 2001. Voters also approved a measure prohibiting psilocybin by a 54.43% to 45.57% margin.
- A malfunctioning valve cost the city of Sodaville 83,000 gallons of water during nighttime hours before it was discovered after daybreak, the second major water leak on the same property.
- Lebanon High School conducted its first-ever comprehensive lock-down drill.
- A Lebanon woman, Rosemarie T. Hill, 60, was accused of stealing $53,000 while working at Highway 20 Mini Storage.
November
- Nine-year-old Sophia Jenkins, who lost a leg to cancer, was selected as one of six children to create their own sneakers in conjunction with Nike designers through the Doernbecher Freestyle program.
- Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer visited the Cascade Cottages housing project.
- Lebanon City Council members implemented a proposal to impose an $18 monthly city services fee to close a projected $1.6 million deficit the city may face by the 2025-26 fiscal year.
- The City of Lebanon declared a state of emergency over water quality concerns blamed on the previous year’s drawdown at Green Peter Reservoir, which created turbidity far beyond what the city’s water treatment facilities were designed to handle, which has cost the city $450,000.
- The cities of Lebanon and Sweet Home joined in a tort claim against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, citing significant damages from the Corps’ management of water resources at Green Peter Reservoir.
- Crossroads Communities opened its first transitional housing, acquiring a former group home that will serve individuals facing housing instability.
- A leak in an aged water main broke in Sodaville and spilled 40,000 gallons of water, prompting a warning from Public Works Director J D Burns that there would likely be more breaks in aging pipes in the city’s water system.
October
- Tomatofest celebrated its third year, drawing nearly 1,000 visitors and featuring all manner of tomatoes, tips and vendors offering products and produce not found in stores.
- Former sports star and, later, schools Supt. Bo Yates, Lebanon High School Class of 1984, was inducted into the Bud and Dorothy Page LHS Alumni Hall of Fame for his athletic achievements.
- John H. Wilkinson, LHS Class of 1959, was inducted into the Bud and Dorothy Page LHS Alumni Hall of Fame for his work in forestry – particularly advocating for sustainable working forests. Brooke Bingaman, LHS Class of 1991, was inducted into the Bud and Dorothy Page LHS Alumni Hall of Fame for her leadership in communication as a meteorologist, most recently as a liaison between the National Weather Service and the White House.
- Oregon Veterans Home resident Raymond Farrell celebrated his 103rd birthday, receiving some 900 birthday cards from across the world to mark the event.
September
- Due to “ongoing challenges,” the Lebanon Fire District announced it would reduce its ambulance services due to decreased staffing, rising operational costs, inflation and other issues the department has faced.
- Following two car crashes that knocked the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce building off its foundation, a renovated headquarters opened to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
- Greg Barreto, a member of the Oregon state House of Representatives and founder and CEO of Barreto Manufacturing, which specializes in hydraulic outdoor equipment, was selected for induction into the Bud and Dorothy Page LHS Alumni Hall of Fame.
- A Lebanon-area woman, Kelee Joan Gatliff, 59, was acquitted of theft, forgery and criminal mistreatment charges after a two-day trial before Judge Michael B. Wynhausen following accusations that she had stolen as much as $70,000 from her mother, Milodene Bolen.
- Artist Peter Erskine created his latest installation of prismatic (rainbow) solar spectrum art at the Lebanon Public Library.
August
- Lebanon Community Pool supporters continue to look for ways to raise funds to keep the pool, which was built in 1967. The failure of efforts in recent years to float a bond to fund a new pool leave the community with a pool in need of time-sensitive repair work.
- Dr. Lisa Warren took over as dean of COMP-Northwest.
- Tom Oliver was elected chair of the Lebanon School Board and Supt. Jennifer Meckley reported multiple successes in the district, including zero cancelled bus routes during the previous year.
- Recent high-schooler Sydney-Anne Graves opened Monarch Books store in downtown Lebanon.
July
- A large crowd turned out in Academy Square to hear Heat tribute band “Barracuda” in the eighth annual Mid-Valley Walk to End Alzheimer’s benefit concert to raise money to combat Alzheimer’s disease.
- For the first time in four years, Lebanon held a Fourth of July event in Cheadle Park.
- Lebanon’s Friends of the Library donated $20,000 for the library’s expansion of its children’s section, but due to a city budget crunch, library hours were reduced from 43 to 37.
June
- Lebanon Fire District’s new main Station 31 was presented to the public with an open house that included tours and the uncoupling of a red fire hose by fire staff.
- After four years, which included one – the COVID shutdown – in which they didn’t even attend school, 292 Lebanon High School seniors graduated under beautiful skies and with lots of excitement.
- Lebanon City Council approved an $87,398,052 budget and awarded a bid to Santiam Canyon Excavating to build the Gill’s Landing Trail Project. It also awarded $23,500 in funding from the city’s Transient Lodging Tax Fund to Build Lebanon Trails for construction of the Georgia Pacific Mill Race Trail.
- Sodaville’s City Council adopted a $742,380 budget that included some $430,000 in state grants to help install a new well and transport water. The city also hired Molly McGuire as its administrator/recorder.
- Addison Cable was named Strawberry Festival Queen and kicked off the four-day festival, which began May 30.
May
- Lebanon Fire District’s bond measure failed in the May election, 68.54% to 31.46%.
- Alyse Fountain, one of the most successful sprinters in Lebanon High School history, signed to compete at Western Oregon University.
- Sodaville got back on track in its efforts to build a sixth well, with promises of help from Lebanon and Rep. Jami Cate’s office.
- A two-alarm fire destroyed Joella’s Manor House, an adult foster home.
- Waterloo Mayor Justin Cary announced his resignation.
- Lebanon City Council approved a city measure asking whether voters wanted fluoride in city drinking water.
April
- Zakary Glover, 30, of Lebanon, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after assaulting a disabled woman in his care.
- The City of Lebanon launched a web-based budget in an intuitive format, replacing cumbersome PDF “books” that posed a challenge for citizens to navigate and comprehend.
- Lebanon’s City Council approved a 3.03% increase in utility rates, effective July 1.
- The Lebanon Fire District honored local mom Alisha Hendrickson, who pulled a 17-year-old boy out of a burning car following a crash.
- Brandi Libra was sworn in as Sodaville’s new city administrator/recorder, replacing Alex McHaddad.
March
- The Lebanon Chamber of Commerce was struck by a truck, nearly exactly one year after the building was hit by another driver.
- Lebanon School District Maintenance Supervisor Bryan Eilers reported to School Board members that the district planned to build a 48-by-144-foot pole building at Seven Oak Middle School to store equipment and serve as a delivery and warehouse location. That was in addition to a planned expansion to accommodate sixth-graders.
- Bill Young and Chad Wolfe were appointed to the Waterloo City Council.
- The remains of a Lebanon man who had been missing for four years, Holden Reed Kinsey, who was 25 when he disappeared, were discovered near Foster Lake outside Sweet Home.
- Lebanon city staffers asked City Council members for direction in handling a projected $2 million shortfall in the city’s 2024-25 budget.
February
- Pediatrician Dana Kosmala, who was put on administrative leave and then discharged in late 2023 by Samaritan Health Services after 22 years with the organization, was hired by a private practice in Albany. Samaritan did not comment on the reasons for its move, which prompted a rally in front of Kosmala’s former office in Lebanon by some 200 parents, children and supporters.
- At the Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Distinguished Service Awards: Randy Dobson was selected as Man of the Year; Dr. Dana Kosmala was named Woman of the Year; Bill Rauch was named Senior First Citizen; Boulder Falls Inn was named Large Business of the Year; Betty Schmidt was named Business Leader of the Year; Dala Johnson was presented with the Frankie Gray Award; and Crossroads Communities was named Nonprofit of the Year.
- Lebanon Fire District staffers moved into the newly completed Station 31.
- Some 40 Oregon authors convened in Lebanon for an Authors Fair hosted by Friends of the Library.
- Lebanon Square Circlers celebrated its 75th anniversary.
- Train enthusiasts gathered in Lebanon to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Santa Maria 205 locomotive, owned by Rick Franklin.
- The Lebanon Fire District Board of Directors approved a 75-cents-per-$1,000 bond request to provide firefighter-medic positions and replace aging equipment and apparatus.
- Jennifer R. Burton, 52, a health secretary at Lebanon High School, was arrested on felony sexual charges involving a minor.
- Lebanon High School’s drama students performed “Newsies.”
January
- The Lebanon School District Board of Directors awarded a $1,644,172 contract to ABC Roofing to replace the roof over the elementary section of Lacomb School. The board also awarded contracts totaling $488,495 to replace cafeteria equipment and renovate the high school cafeteria.
- Elderly residents of the Twin Cedars Mobilehome Park complained to the City Council that rent hikes at the park, as much as 24% in one year, had made it unaffordable for some and also made it hard to sell their homes.
- Michael Couch, executive director of Crossroads Communities, asked city councilors to consider exempting the affordable housing complex from property taxes, as allowed by state law.
- A coalition of mayors, county commissioners and other leaders, led by state representatives Jami Cate, R-Lebanon, and Charlie Conrad, R-Dexter, sent a letter to Gov. Tina Kotek, thanking her for advocating on behalf of local communities impacted severely by the drawdown at Green Peter Dam, and reminding her of the role that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife played in the decision that led to the wiping out of thousands of kokanee fish in the lake and severe impacts on downstream communities that get water from the South Santiam River.