Editorial
Heroes to make a home town proud
There are many people in the Canby area who do good deeds for other
people, for their neighborhood, or for the community.
Many do so in silence, simply wishing to help out without fanfare, praise or attention.
They can be found volunteering at the adult center, working at nonprofit thrift stores,
sitting on citizen task forces or panels, or helping kids get better at sports, music, art
and other extra curricular activities.
They can also be found helping out at annual community events and fund-raisers, or working
to make their neighborhoods safer, or to make our parks cleaner.
We feel Canby prides itself on its can-do spirit - its spirit of civic mindedness, its
spirit of selflessness, its spirit of getting involved in worthy causes.
Day in, day out, someone out there is doing something for free for someone else.
The Canby City Council has established the "Home Town Hero" program as a means
to provide official recognition from the city for those individuals or groups who, through
their unselfish efforts, contribute in some significant manner to the quality of life in
the community, and to its general betterment.
It's a good idea, and there are three categories of awards to honor our unheralded heroes.
* Community Involvement - in recognition of volunteer service in activities which promote
the welfare of the citizens of the community.
* Community Leadership - in recognition of people who have assumed positive leadership
roles, and whose activities have resulted in advancing the community's goals, quality of
life, economic vitality, and/or livability.
* Noteworthy Citizen Actions - in recognition of acts by a citizen which are above and
beyond their responsibilities, and which result in a positive event or outcome of benefit
to the community. Such actions include acts of heroism, significant donations of financial
resources to fund community programs or projects, and other humanitarian acts.
Nominations for the Home Town Hero award must be submitted in writing to Canby City Hall,
located on North Holly Street. Eligibility is not strictly limited to residents of the
community.
Nominations will be reviewed by the mayor and City Council as they are received.
Award recipients will be presented with a certificate from the city recognizing their
specific deeds, actions or contributions to the Canby community.
In addition, a special plaque will be displayed at City Hall with an engraved name plate
for each Home Town Hero recipient. The plaque has room for 48 names.
If you feel someone should be honored for their actions, now is the time to nominate them.
Although there is no deadline for nominations, deserving people will be awarded as and
when written nominations are submitted.
And, as no one has yet to be nominated, a special somebody who has impressed you could be
the first person to be honored.
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Letters
to the editor
Planning chairman
'clarifies' council
president's article
Recently, in a point of view article written for the Herald by Councilman Walt
Daniels in the Nov. 1 issue, I discovered what I believe to be an inadvertent inaccuracy
that requires clarification.
In his article, Mr. Daniels states that "it is the first time in my tenure that a
service provider (the fire department) has had input on annexation."
In fact, in the city of Canby Land Development and Planning Ordinance, Chapter 16.84 -
Annexations, Section 16.84.010 states that "alterations to the corporate limits are
major land use actions affecting all aspects of city government including taxation, the
provision of public services, land use patterns . . . (and) are of critical importance to
the city.
The procedures and standards established in this chapter are required for review of
proposed annexations . . ."
Further, Section 16.84.040 states that "When reviewing a proposed annexation of
territory, the (Planning) Commission shall give ample consideration to the following
standards and criteria: (5) Adequate public facilities and services shall be available to
service the potential (or proposed) development."
Clearly, service providers, of which the Fire District is one of many, have long been
asked to comment on potential or proposed annexations. Comment sheets filled out by our
local service providers are routinely included in Planning Commission packets and provide
a cursory review of their capabilities to meet our growing community's needs.
If copies of the actual comment sheets are being omitted from the City Council packets and
mere comment summaries provided, this is a procedural error that the city administrator
should immediately rectify. It should also be noted that during approximately the last 16
months, the service provider with the most comments regarding annexations has been the
school district. Mr. Daniels continues that "service providers are usually asked for
input when a building permit is applied for."
This would occur during Site and Design Review - Section 16.49. Again, our service
providers are routinely asked for comments, although of a much more analytical and
detailed nature. And that is the major difference between annexation and site and design
review: we raise the bar of acceptability!
Because during Site and Design Review, "it must be demonstrated that all required
public facilities and services are available, or will become available through the
development, to adequately meet the needs of the proposed development (Section
16.49.040)"
It should be noted that nowhere does our code prevent any service provider from commenting
on the availability of their services at any time in our land use process. And, the Fire
District comments during recent annexation hearings were not precedence setting.
My point in this is one of clarification. Both the Planning Commission and City Council
require the best information available to make astute recommendations and/or prudent
decisions regarding growth within our community, at every point in the process. If
critical information is lacking, or misunderstood, it obstructs our land-use process and
leaves people in little more than a confused state.
Keith Stewart, chair
Canby Planning Commission
Honor local veterans
this coming Saturday
Veterans Day (Nov. 11) is the time we pay tribute and honor the men and women who
gallantly served this country in the military to ensure the independence that we enjoy
today.
Canby is honored to claim as residents three living POWs, Herman Bergman, Clarence Graham
and Art Seibert. Mr. Graham's book, "Under the Samurai Sword," is the story of
his memories as a POW during World War II.
Another Canby war hero is Lauren Porter, who was a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber pilot, who
flew 35 missions over Northern Europe in 1944, during World War II. Mr. Porter's co-pilot,
Jim O'Connor, kept a diary accounting these missions. A quote from this book is truly the
spirit of this November holiday, "Greater love than this no one has, that he lay down
his life for his friends."
I encourage citizens to check out these two books from our Canby Public Library. These
books will certainly be a reminder of how grateful we are as a nation to the men and women
who fought with pride to guarantee our freedom.
Marilyn Perkett
Aurora
Volunteers really
made a difference
I would like to let you know what a great success Make a Difference Day was in
Canby on Saturday, Oct. 28. Thirty-four volunteers, young and old, came to Community Park
and working in the very cold wind, constructed 11 wood duck boxes, removed blackberry
vines and other non-native species from the island, and filled in holes left by the
removal of barrier ballards circling the interior of the park.
Two city employees from the parks department, Jeff and Ben, volunteered their time to
operate heavy equipment which facilitated the earth movement to the open holes.
A hot meal was barbecued by one of our firefighters and treat bags were given to all in
appreciation of their hard work.
All the food was donated, as well as money and equipment to use for future projects.
A special thanks goes to the Foursquare Church, which had donated a pizza feed for the
youth at an earlier meeting, the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce who sent out an
information flyer about this event, our four AmeriCorps volunteers - Kerry, Tim, Beth and
Meredith - who organized this terrific day, and, of course, the wonderful volunteers who
gave their valuable time and energy.
A Halloween film festival was held later that night in celebration of all the hard work
and about 60 community members came and enjoyed free films, ice cream and cookies, and
other treats.
It was a very special day of service. Thank you for your time.
Robin Adcock, Youth Liason Coordinator Canby School District
Woman seeks return
of personal pictures, ID
Please help me! I am a mom of two, and I am just getting ready to move to Canby.
I've already got a house rented, and when I went to pick up my keys to the new house I
also went to Fred Meyer to pick up a few things.
I left my organizer, which also doubles as my purse, either on the counter or in the
grocery cart. It had $150 in money orders in it and about $80 cash.
The money orders were for my rent and car payment. To be honest, I don't really care about
the money at this point - I've come to the conclusion it is probably long gone. What I
would like is my pictures and ID back.
One photo, in particular, was of my terminally ill brother when he was a kid. If you could
please help me, I would really appreciate it.
Until December, my address is 990 Church St. NE, Salem. My phone number is 503-371-2087,
or the cell phone is 503-793-1374.
Thank you very much.
Kathleen Miller
Salem |
