This is an open letter to the person and/or persons who came onto my property and stole the flag I had attached to a soffitt on my house. I can only assume that you removed the flag of Stu Rasmussen because you put him in a box of your prejudice. You didn’t ask why I have the flag. You didn’t […]
By James Day The new Silverton Civic Center likely will not be fully occupied until January 2024 after some unexpected complications hit the project. The $19.5 million facility, which will hold most city staff as well as the police department, originally was scheduled for completion in July 2023. Aug. 7 the Silverton City Council was told that substantial completion of […]
By James Day The iconic Palace Theatre (spelled “Theater” in recent years) in Silverton has shut down and its future is up in the air. Erik and Rachelle Gonterman, who have operated the theater since 2020, are engaged in an acrimonious dispute with the landlord, Marjorie Eng, and when their contractual obligation to show Avatar: The Way of Water ended […]
Silverton Mayor Kyle Palmer is reviving the Mayors Ball fundraiser on Oct. 22. It is believed that this will be the first time the event has been held in a decade. The Portland-based oldies band Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts, long-time musical performers for the ball, will be on hand for the show, which runs from 7 to 11 p.m. […]
By James Day Silverton voters will once again be asked to decide on a local option tax levy to support the Silverton Community Swimming Pool. Voters first approved a ten-year obligation bond for major pool renovations and improvements in 2002. Since then voters have passed a pair of five-year local option property tax levies that raise $275,000 annually for operations […]
By Brenna Wiegand Jon Deshler, jazz trumpet player, globally published photographer and inspiring teacher, feels he has a lot to give. The purchase of Mt. Angel Theater & Studio gives him a place to do so. Built in 1912 as a silent movie theater, the 2,900-square-foot space at 220 E. Charles St., has been owned by Stu Rasmussen since 1982. […]
By James Day Kyle Palmer, who has been a fixture in Silverton community affairs for most of this century, is retiring from the political arena. Palmer, who is midway through his second full term as mayor, announced Jan. 30 via social media that he is retiring from elected office at the end of this term. Palmer also answered questions from […]
Dear Stu, Well, you did it! Congratulations! You lived your life start to finish, front to back, side to side the way you saw fit. You were way ahead of your time. You knew it from day one. Your overall general intelligence far exceeded that of many of us. Surely, myself included. What a book could be written about you […]
By Silverton Mayor Kyle Palmer It is with sadness that I report that Mayor Stu Rasmussen passed away Wednesday [Nov. 17] around 11 a.m. after a number of weeks under home hospice care for metastatic prostate cancer. His longtime love Victoria noted that “he went bravely into the unknown on his own terms.” One of the few people around with […]
Stewart Alan “Stu” Rasmussen died Nov. 17, 2021 at the age of 73. Stu, the indefatigable engineer who became America’s first openly transgender mayor, was born in Silverton, Oregon on Sept. 9, 1948 as an only child to Albert and Nan Rasmussen. Stu, who used both he and she pronouns, was a self-described nerd from the start and thanks to a handful of local mentors […]
Stu Rasmussen On Aug. 6 the Silverton City Council voted to spend over $700,000 of our taxpayer dollars to demolish the historic Eugene Field School to make way for a new City Hall with no plan how to pay for a new building. Here are my three minutes of comments to the council prior to their vote, and if you […]
By Brenna Wiegand If there’s any place a giant, unpredictable cuckoo clock might fly, it’s Mount Angel. Knowing it includes a facade renovation for the building deemed “the shabbiest in downtown Mount Angel” by its owner makes it all the better. Stu Rasmussen purchased Mount Angel Performing Arts Center in 1982. “The inside is gorgeous but the outside is still […]
Our Town asked candidates five questions focused on the challenges the Silverton City Council will face over the next four years. The questions, below, are each identified by a key word. 1. FUNDING: How will we fund needed construction, reconstruction and major repairs to our infrastructure? Most of the city’s facilities are aging and in urgent need of replacement or […]
By Don Murtha After 40 years, it’s time to change Silverton’s one-way traffic system back to the two-way streets. Or so says Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is discussing his proposal to change traffic flow in downtown Silverton. As rationale for changing the streets back to two-way, Rasmussen cites improved business vitality, pedestrian safety, visitor […]
By Kristine Thomas Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen and Silverton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Stacy Palmer agree visitors play an important role in Silverton’s economy. They vastly differ on how money should be spent to attract them to town. At the July 1 Silverton City Council meeting, Palmer made a presentation on how the Silverton Visitor Center promotes tourism. “We […]
By Stu Rassmussen I thought about sending out one of those ordinary election letters – you know the kind – “Vote for me because I’m the best whatever blah blah blah.” I’ve been in business in Silverton for over 40 years and I’ve spent 24 years in local government – as your city councilor, mayor and library board member – […]
Editor’s note: Our Town presented the four candidates running for Silverton mayor on the Nov. 6 ballot a series of questions and asked for written responses. These are the unabridged responses. What does urban renewal mean to Silverton and is it effective? Rasmussen: Urban Renewal was supposed to allow funding of renovation of privately owned ‘blighted’ areas to improve property […]
The challenges facing Silverton are many: downtown development and urban renewal, business recruitment, park planning, sewer and water issues, and setting budget priorities in a fiscally challenging environment.
Neither water nor fire can defeat the grand old lady. At 76, the Palace Theatre is merely enjoying a rejuvenating round of “spa treatments” prior to her grand reentrance into society.
It was the last week of Hunger Games and Mirror, Mirror was scheduled to open next.
Silverton Fire District continues its investigation into the April 11 fire that damaged the Palace Theatre, a unique and well-loved fixture in Silverton for 78 years.
When the Palace Theater opened in downtown Silverton in 1936, it was designed as a state of the art facility, offering the ultimate in entertainment quality.
There were no pitchforks at the Jan. 3 Silverton City Council meeting, despite the fliers displayed in downtown businesses in the days prior urging residents to “Grab your pitchfork and rally to support our mayor.”
“Enough is enough, Mr. Mayor,” was the message delivered en masse by the Silverton City Council Dec. 6 in its 6-1 vote to censure Mayor Stu Rasmussen. Rasmussen later called the move “an ambush” … “cooked up in private” by a “kangaroo court.”
Stu Rasmussen retains the gavel as Silverton’s mayor for the next two years. Rasmussen received 1,364 of 3,382 votes cast, 40 percent of the mayoral vote.
