www.ourtownlive.com

First Citizen: Maureen Ernst works behind the scenes for Mount Angel

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas Rarely is Maureen Ernst speechless. She developed a serious case of tongue tied when she was presented with the Mount Angel Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 First Citizen award. “I was shocked,” she said. “I looked at the list of all ...

Helping hands: Dance directors

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Brenna Wiegand The first thing Teresa Bryant, Marilyn Hall and Bev Fleckenstein say about receiving this year’s Mount Angel Chamber of Commerce’s Helping Hands Award is “Nann should be in here with us!” Their theory is that Nann Fleck figures she ...

Business: Pepsi pitches in for park

February 2011 Posted in Business | Comments Off

By Don Murtha According to the old jingle, Pepsi Cola “hits the spot,” and Pepsi hit the spot with the Mount Angel Chamber of Commerce, which awarded the local plant the Business of the Year award. “We were totally surprised,” said Al ...

Junior First Citizen: Angel Cardenas’ parents inspire him to succeed

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas Angel Cardenas knows achieving his goals to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and attend college and become a pediatric dentist requires two things – hard work and dedication. That’s why he has volunteered ...

Charles Street fire closes off downtown: Investigators say cause accidental

February 2011 Posted in News | Comments Off

By Kristine ThomasFire and police personnel continued to swarm Mount Angel 36 hours after a three-alarm fire was reported in a second story downtown apartment. More than 25 firefighters with the Mount Angel Fire District along with an additional 25 firefighters ...

Challenge accepted: Troy Stoops next Mount Angel superintendent

February 2011 Posted in People, School | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas Kennedy High School Principal Troy Stoops recently attended a conference where a lawyer told her audience if anyone was considering becoming a principal or a superintendent they might want to reconsider. “She told us these are challenging times in ...

Visitor stop: Leadership group plans information kiosk for Town Square Park

February 2011 Posted in Community | Comments Off

By Jeffery Nicholas  Visitors coming into downtown frequently stop and ask directions. Some are lucky enough to find the visitor center in the Silverton Chamber of Commerce office where executive director Stacy Palmer can give them some ideas about where to ...

New vision for downtown: Residents review streetscape concepts

February 2011 Posted in Community, News | 2 Comments »

By Brenna Wiegand How do you envision downtown Silverton streets and sidewalks? There is still time for you to have your say in the future look and function of downtown Silverton. Much discussion about downtown streets and sidewalks followed a presentation by Silverton ...

Goals set: Mount Angel Chamber wants to tackle farmers market, new kiosk

February 2011 Posted in Community | Comments Off

By Don Murtha A Mount Angel Farmers Market, a new kiosk and improved downtown parking are among goals recently adopted by the Mount Angel Chamber of Commerce. The list includes 22 items in four categories: marketing, chamber operations, industrial development and future ...

Pen pals: Robert Frost students write to students in Malawi, Africa

February 2011 Posted in School | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas Joey Benguerel knows his friend Sherdrek likes candy and that his family grows their own food. Julianna Sakar tells her friend Diji about her interest in Irish dancing and basketball. Sakar and Benguerel aren’t using Facebook, text messages or even ...

Man About Town: There goes Mooster Man

February 2011 Posted in Columnists & Opinion | Comments Off

By Jim Kinghorn Hey kids, you can help The Oregon Garden get a $10,000 grant from the folks at Rainbird Irrigation. Just go www.iuowawards.com, click on the “find and vote” button and enter Silverton into the search box. You will then ...

Civil society lessons: Bosnia, Herzegovina students come eager to learn

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Steve Ritchie Host families needed Prospective host families can review and download the application at willamette.edu/dept/idea/programs or contact Hillary Jones, 503-370-6638 or hjones@willamette.edu Application deadline is Feb. 21 Have you ever wished there was something concrete you could do to help people in one of the ...

People Out Loud: Rivals unite – Teens grieve death of wrestler

February 2011 Posted in Columnists & Opinion | 2 Comments »

By Dixon Bledsoe Silverton is one remarkable town.  Despite all the doom and gloom scenarios of teenagers developing carpal tunnel from text messaging, fighting addictions to Facebook and demonstrating a general malaise toward anything remotely resembling adults,  I have never been ...

The Old Curmudgeon: Is information public or private is the question

February 2011 Posted in Columnists & Opinion | Comments Off

By Vern Holmquist I’m sure some of you know U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is in solitary confinement in a federal prison. Manning, 22, is allegedly accused of leaking classified material to the anti-secrecy organization, WikiLeaks. Looking at his picture, I see a ...

Letter to the Editor: Word choice was unsavory

February 2011 Posted in Columnists & Opinion | Comments Off

“A word is not a bird. A bird once flown-you can never catch it.” The write-up about our company name change within the “Man About Town” (in the  Jan. 15 Our Town) should have been a positive community piece of info, ...

Pitching in where needed: Terry Thomas Silverton First Citizen

February 2011 Posted in People | 1 Comment »

By Kristine Thomas Terry Thomas once believed he didn’t have the necessary skills to make a difference. His first volunteer project was leading a project to get lights for the softball field his church team played games on. “I talked to the utility ...

Growing, sharing, caring: Douglas and Antonia Jenkins receive Lifetime Achievement award

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Brenna Wiegand Silverton Chamber of Commerce has chosen Douglas and Antonia Jenkins to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at Silverton’s First Citizen Banquet Feb. 19. “It was a complete and utter surprise – a nice surprise – and with balloons, too,” ...

Dedicated to service: Bill Cummins’ civic engagement honored

February 2011 Posted in People | Comments Off

By Don Murtha City council, chamber of commerce, YMCA, Ford Family Leadership Program, Silverton Together, economic advisory board… The list goes on. Who can do so much and be so involved? Ask Bill Cummins, who has been honored with the Silverton Chamber of Commerce’s ...

Surreal surprise: Pomegranate chosen Business of the Year

February 2011 Posted in Business, People | Comments Off

By Brenna Wiegand Suzie Couraud was sitting in her shop when she received probably one of the most surreal surprises of her life. “I’d just gotten back from a couple weeks in London and was experiencing jet lag,” Couraud said. “I was ...

Leading by example: J’Nyssa Baker chosen as Future First CitizenLeading by example: J’Nyssa Baker chosen as Future First Citizen

February 2011 Posted in People | 1 Comment »

By Kristine Thomas J’Nyssa Baker is addicted to community service. The 17-year-old Silverton High School senior’s volunteer work includes teaching preschool at her church, Trick-o-Treating for UNICEF, participating in food drives for Silverton Area Community Aid, assisting in a coin drive to ...

Best of the wurst: Wurstfest sizzle cures blues from mid-winter drizzle

February 2011 Posted in Community | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas Gervais resident Bruce Hunt tries to avoid going to festivals  for his wife, Phyllis, and his company, Hunt’s Hazelnuts. “I usually try to work behind the scenes delivering product and letting others work the counter,” he said. But there’s one ...

Lessons in grief: Schools help students deal with the loss of classmates

February 2011 Posted in News | Comments Off

By Kristine Thomas There was an empty desk in a sixth-grade classroom at Mount Angel Middle School, another in a fourth-grade classroom at St. Mary’s Elementary School on Jan. 24 The desks belonged to 12-year-old Dawson Hunt and his 9-year-old brother, Devin. ...

The rooting section… Cheering for grandkids fills the schedule

February 2011 Posted in People, Sports | Comments Off

By Brenna Wiegand They’re always there in the bleachers at the various school events of their children and grandkids — mostly basketball games. Carolyn and Jerry Roth will not miss a game if they can help it. And that’s a bigger undertaking ...

Whirlwind of possibility: Tiffany Kuenzi’s talent leads to opportunities

February 2011 Posted in Arts, Culture & History, People | Comments Off

By Dixon Bledsoe Until recently, Mike Meuret had no idea how talented his 24-year-old daughter, Tiffany Kuenzi, was as an actress, singer and comedian. He went with his daughter to Florida in January where she competed in the Actors, Models and ...

Sharing the vision: Fr. Bernard Youth Center celebrates fifth anniversary

February 2011 Posted in Community | Comments Off

By Steve Ritchie The Fr. Bernard Youth Center in Mount Angel, which celebrated its fifth anniversary last month, is a great example of a vision becoming reality. Dedicated with a “Mass of Blessing” on Jan. 17, 2006, the Fr. Bernard Youth ...