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LEBANON EXPRESS
S E R V I N G L E B A N O N A N D E A S T L I N N C O U N T Y, O R E G O N, F O R M O R E T H A N A C E N T U R Y.
121 Years No. 30
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
50 Cents
Area bankers,
insurance and
investment agents
counsel patience
BY A.K. DUGAN
LEBANON EXPRESS
WRITER
As Oregon’s U.S. Senators
and Representatives are calling for thoughtful action to
stabilize and calm the nation’s
financial markets, representative of banks, insurance companies and investment firms
serving Lebanon are reassuring their customers.
Umpqua Bank is doing
better than the average bank in
the Northwest, said Umpqua
CFO Ron Farnsworth from
Portland.
The bank started reducing
its exposure to residential construction loans a year ago so
that as of the end of June only
8 percent of the loans in its
portfolio were in the residential category.
“That’s really helped us
here today,” he said.
Anyone whose funds are
insured should not be worrying
about
their
bank,
Farnsworth said. Basically, the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) insures
bank deposits at $100,000 per
depositor
per
account
($200,000 for a joint account
with two names on it).
Farnsworth said there are
8,500 different banks in the
U.S. and at the end of June
only 117 of them were on
FDIC’s troubled bank list.
Those on the troubled list generally have a very high mix of
construction loans and nonperforming assets (bad loans)
as well as low capitalization
levels. Banks are required to
maintain at least 10 percent of
assets in capital. Those in trouble are below that level.
Even customers of banks
that have closed have full
access to their money in
insured accounts, he said. The
FDIC is now arranging deals
for stronger banks to take over
the assets of failing banks.
Credit Unions as a whole
do business on a local level
and are not affected as much
as larger banks by the secondary loan market, said Carol
Cromwell, CEO of Linn-Co
Federal Credit Union. Most of
its investments are in autosecured and other collateralsecured loans tied to Linn
County.
“We try to be conservative
with our money,” she said.
Like bank deposits, credit
union deposits are insured by
the FDIC.
Jeff Aeschliman, State
Farm Insurance public affairs
representative in Oregon, said
Continued on page A7
DeFazio, Wyden, Smith
call for oversight of
bail-out on Wall Street
On the floor of the U.S.
House of Representatives
Monday morning, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Spfld.)
criticized the rush to a $700 billion rescue of Wall Street.
The three-page proposal
from Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Paulson “waives all
laws, all laws. No oversight, no
one looking over his shoulder,
no conflict of interest rules, no
even court review,” DeFazio
said.
He reminded members of
the House that Paulson is the
former head of Goldman
Sachs, a global investment
banking and securities firm,
and charged that the administration plan would allow Wall
Street to go back to business as
usual.
“They should never go
back to the way things were,”
he said. “There need to be consequences and there needs to
be major change in the financial structures and financial
instruments, and the regulation of Wall Street.”
DeFazio insisted that
Congress needs to take a
“much more targeted, deliberative approach” and not be
rushed into action.
“If it takes a week, two
weeks, three weeks, a month,
the world will wait. They’ll
wait for a thoughtful plan that
cures the disease in addition to
getting us beyond this initial
problem,” he said.
LARRY COONROD/LEBANON EXPRESS
Gary Jacobsen had wanted a yellow 1932 Ford for more than three decades, ever since seeing a similar one in the
“American Graffiti” movie. He commissioned Don Pyle of Don’s Rod Shop in Lacomb to build the replica and has driven it
nearly every day since it was finished a few months ago.
Classic cars roll into Lebanon
BY LARRY COONROD
LEBANON EXPRESS WRITER
“Sweet Little Sixteen,” “At
the Hop, “Wipeout” and other
classic rock ‘n’ roll songs added
a sock hop feel to the 18th annual Rollin’ Oldies ‘50s in the Fall
car show at River Park on
Saturday, Sept. 20. The only
thing missing was the howl of
Wolfman Jack.
Sponsored by the Lebanon
Rollin’ Oldies car club, the
event drew about 230 vehicles
ranging from Ford Model Ts to
late model Corvettes from as far
away as Castle Rock, Wash.
Hundred of spectators came to
admire the cars and talk shop
with the owners.
“I’m here to see what the
past was like,” said Mark Hite
of Lebanon. “There’s not many
of these left.”
Lebanon Chamber of
Commerce president Shelly
Garrett was on hand to award
the chamber’s choice for best
car and best truck.
“We support this event
because it brings in tourism dollars,” Garrett said.
Owning a classic car has
been a life-long dream for many
of the owners.
“I think it’s something you
wanted as a teenager but couldn’t afford ‘till you retired,” said
Gary Jacobsen, 72, of Lacomb.
Jacobsen brought his yellow 1932 Ford 3 window coupe
replica to River Park. Car
enthusiasts will recognize the
‘32 as the same type of car driven by the fictional John Milner,
who ruled the Modesto, Calif.,
strip in the 1973 film
“American Graffiti.” Jacobsen
has longed to own one just like
it for 35 years.
Because there aren’t many
original ‘32 coupes available,
Jacobsen commissioned Don
Pyle of Don’s Rod Shop in
Lacomb to build the car from
scratch, using a fiberglass body
manufactured by Outlaw
Performance in Avonmore, Pa.
Pyle, 59, a retired steel fabri-
LARRY COONROD/LEBANON EXPRESS
Pharoahs Car Club vice president Wayne Williams displayed
the original 1951 Mercury driven by the Pharoahs gang in the
1973 movie “American Graffiti” at the 18th annual Rollin’
Oldies “50s in the Fall car show at River Park on Saturday.
cator, brought a ‘41 Willie coupe
with a 540 cubic-inch Merlin
engine to the show. Building
classic cars is mostly a hobby,
Pyle said, but one he also looks
at as a business, which is understandable considering the costs
of reproducing a classic street
rod.
Jacobsen estimates he has
about $85,000 in the coupe. And
unlike some vintage car owners
Continued on page A5
Alexander files ethics complaint
BY LARRY COONROD
LEBANON EXPRESS
WRITER
Rick Alexander, Lebanon
School Board vice chairperson,
has filed an ethics complaint
with the Oregon State Bar
(OSB) against the president of
a local political organization
attempting to recall him and
board
chairperson
Josh
Wineteer.
Continued on page A7
Alexander filed the com-
plaint against John “Tre”
Kennedy, president of the
Lebanon Citizens Alliance for
a Responsible Education
System (CARES), on Sept. 19.
Kennedy is an attorney with
the Lebanon law firm of
Morley, Thomas & McHill,
LLC.
In
his
complaint,
Alexander alleges Kennedy
has defamed himself and
Wineteer by knowingly mak-
ing false statements accusing
both board members of violating Oregon’s public meeting
law.
Alexander maintains that
even if Kennedy was not acting as a lawyer in his capacity
as CARES president, his profession obligates him to a higher standard of public conduct.
“Lawyers have a higher
ethical responsibility because
they carry more influence
because of their position in
society,” Alexander said.
Kennedy is out of town on
a bow-hunting trip and was
unaware of the complaint
before being contacted by the
Lebanon Express.
“It’s patently frivolous,”
Kennedy said. “It’s really just a
smear campaign for political
reasons.”
Continued on page A2
Pregnancy center vows to rebuild
FBI offers $5,000
reward in arson case
BY RACHEL BECK
LEBANON EXPRESS WRITER
The executive director of
the Pregnancy Alternatives
Center vowed that the agency
would reopen as soon as possible after an arson fire severely
damaged the building in the
early morning hours of Sept.
10.
“It’s still being estimated,
but they’re pretty much totaling the building and the contents,” said Debbie Tracy, the
center’s founder and executive
director. The building loss is
estimated at about $300,000,
she said. An ultrasound
machine, worth $50,000, was
removed from the building by
firefighters, but had smoke and
water damage.
“We’ve lost everything,”
Tracy said. “We’re just trying to
figure out how to get reorganized to get back in business.”
The center has about 50
workers, five of them paid staff
members and the rest volunteers.
“Some of them are temporarily laid off until we can
get back and going,” Tracy
said.
Currently, the center,
including its health clinic and
re-sale store, are closed while
employees search for a suitable
temporary location.
“We’re in the process of trying to find a place that will
work for us,” Tracy said.
The center’s parenting
classes, held from 12:30 to 2:30
p.m. Wednesdays at the First
Baptist Church, are still being
held.
Investigators do not know
the motive for the fire.
According to a press release
from the FBI, investigators “are
looking at all possibilities,
including whether the arsonist(s) set the fire because they
falsely believed the clinic provides abortion services; or
because they knew the clinic
counsels against abortions; or
some other as yet undetermined reason.”
An arson fire
did extensive
damage to the
interior of the
Pregnancy
Alternatives
Center, including to this
room on the
south side of
the building.
RACHEL BECK/
LEBANON EXPRESS
“It just makes us very sad,”
Tracy said. “Basically the
clients that use our services,
and the donors that built us to
be who we are today and the
staff are just sad that someone
would hurt us.”
She added that the center
would like to extend forgiveness to whoever is responsible.
The center is accepting
donations online at pregnancyalternatives.org or through
Linn-Co Federal Credit Union.
“We just really appreciate
the support of the community,”
Tracy said. “We will be needing
their support in the future to be
able to open up again.”
The
FBI’s
Portland
Division is offering a reward of
up to $5,000 for information
leading to the identification,
arrest and conviction of the
person or people responsible
for the arson fire that damaged
Lebanon’s
Pregnancy
Alternatives Center, the agency
announced Sept. 18.
The FBI has concurrent
jurisdiction to investigate the
Continued on page A7
In this issue, the
Lebanon Express presents
“Investing in Lebanon’s
Future,” a special eightpage section that examines
the efforts of organizations
and
individuals
to
improve the community.
Topics
include
Samaritan Health Services
and its new medical campus, the Lebanon Boys &
Girls Club’s need for
space, commercial development and residential
building, Partners for
Progress’ downtown association and more.
Lebanon Express
On the Web:
http://www.lebanon-express.com
50 cents
Lebanon (OR) Express, Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A7
OBITUARIES
Samuel W. Koontz, Jr.
Aug. 7, 1923 - Sept. 14, 2008
Samuel W. Koontz, Jr., 85,
of Lebanon, died Sept. 14,
2008, at Samaritan Lebanon
Community Hospital.
A celebration of his life
was held Sept. 20 at the
Crowfoot Baptist Church.
He was born Aug. 7, 1923,
in Albany, the son of Samuel
and Altha (Misner) Koontz.
He served in the U.S. Army
during World War II.
Mr.
Koontz
married
Thieda Waltenburg on Feb. 23,
1968, in Vancouver, Wash. The
couple remarried in the
Methodist Church in Lebanon
on April 19, 1968.
He worked as a conductor
for Southern Pacific Railroad
for more than 38 years.
Mr. Koontz raised and
trained black labs and was a
member of the Willamette
Valley Retriever Club.
He is survived by his wife
Thieda of Lebanon; sons Steve
Koontz of Tillamook and Rob
Koontz of Lebanon; sons and
daughters-in-law
Dwayne
and Sharon Waltenburg of
Salem, and Nick and Jackie
Waltenburg of Lebanon;
daughter Jalayne Koontz of
Turner; nine grandchildren;
and seven great-grandchildren; and many nieces,
nephews, and grand-nieces
and nephews.
His parents and sister
Betty Elder died before he did.
The
family
requests
memorial contributions be
sent to the Alzheimer’s
Association Oregon Trail
Chapter in care of Huston-Jost
Funeral Home, 86 W. Grant
St., Lebanon, OR 97355.
Lebanon, died Sept. 11, 2008,
at home.
Private family services
will be held.
She was born Jan. 31, 1935,
in Cole Camp, Mo., to Dison
and Emma (Knox) Allen. She
graduated from Vancouver
High School in 1954 and married her high school sweetheart, Jimmie Dale Davis, that
same year. In 1974, the couple
moved to Lebanon.
Mrs. Davis had worked at
Villa Cascade Nursing Home
in Lebanon for eight years.
She is survived by her husband Jimmie Davis of
Lebanon; sons Steve Davis of
Lebanon and Thomas Davis of
Albany; daughters Lori Bianes
of Albany and Jennifer
Bensing of Stayton; brother
James Allen of St. Helens; sister Shirley Benard of Casper,
Wyo.; nine grandchildren; and
four great-grandchildren.
Her brothers Dison Allen,
Jr. and Melvin Allen died
before she did.
Huston-Jost Funeral Home
is in charge of arrangements.
Terri Jo “TJ” Simon
June 16, 1964 - Sept. 12, 2008
Terri Jo “TJ” Simon, 44, of
Lebanon, died Sept. 12, 2008,
at Good Samaritan Regional
Medical Center surrounded by
her family.
Funeral services were held
Sept. 20 at Huston-Jost Funeral
Home. She was buried in the
Lebanon I.O.O.F. Cemetery.
She was born in Lebanon
to Joseph and Marie (Reeves)
Tucker and lived in Lebanon
her whole life.
She married Kevin R.
Simon on Dec. 30, 1989.
Mrs. Simon worked in
home care for the elderly.
Genevieve Davis
She is survived by her husJan. 31, 1935 - Sept. 11, 2008
band Kevin of Lebanon; son
Genevieve Davis, 73, of Danny of Eugene; daughters
the company remains financially strong.
State Farm is primarily a
property and casualty insurance company but also has a
small non-traditional banking
operation.
“We believe the core of our
banking and insurance operations remain solid,” he said.
“We haven’t engaged in risky
sub-prime lending practices.
Of course, the stock market is
affecting our investment portfolio, but we have very conservative investment practices.”
Ronn Passmore, vice president of Rhodes Warden
Insurance in Lebanon, said
most insurance companies are
not
like
American
International Group (AIG),
the international insurance
and financial services organization whose bail-out by the
U.S. Federal Reserve was
announced last week.
AIG is different than most
other insurers because it operated a financial products unit
that dealt in risky mortgages.
“Their losses were in that
unit, not their insurance business,” Passmore said.
“From our perspective, it’s
important that people understand that what’s going on in
the financial industry doesn’t
affect insurance solvency, that
the property and casualty
insurance is financially strong
and able to pay claims and
take care of their needs,”
Passmore said.
State regulatory agencies
continue to protect insurance
policy holders.
“For us here, it’s business
as usual,” he said.
Edward Jones financial
adviser Leo Smith counsels
that investors be patient,
despite the up-and-down
investment market.
Smith said the U.S. financial markets still are viable
and resilient, and investors
should look at their long-term
objectives. He recommended
that people broaden the diversity of their holdings if they
need to and continue to buy
quality stocks that are likely
to recover when the market
turns around.
Gary Shields
Theresa A. Grimes
1195 Main St.
56 E. Airport Rd,
Lebanon 451-4000
Sweet Home 367-5155
Lebanon 451-4402
2600 S. Main
Richard “Dick” Fouts
Oct. 17, 1951 - Sept. 18, 2008
Richard “Dick” Fouts, 56,
of Lebanon, died Sept. 18, 2008,
in a motorcycle accident.
A memorial gathering
will be held at
2 p.m. on
Sept. 27 at the
Lebanon First
Assembly of
God Church.
He was
born Oct. 17,
1951,
in
RICHARD
Albany, the
FOUTS
son
of
Kenneth and
Kay (Lacer) Fouts. He graduated from Lebanon High School
in 1969.
Mr. Fouts worked as a land
surveyor throughout Oregon,
Washington and Wyoming.
He married Katherine
Grenz in Reno, Nev., on July
18, 1975. They were later
divorced.
Mr. Fouts is survived by his
mother Kay Fouts of Lebanon;
son Jeffrey Fouts of Lebanon;
daughters K’Lean Budd and
Leo R. Smith
Melissa Schulte, both of
Lebanon; brothers Robert of
Bothell, Wash., Rodney of Blue
River, and Dale and Randall
Fouts, both of Lebanon; sister
Sandra Lewis of Lebanon;
seven grandchildren; and
numerous nieces and nephews.
His father Kenneth Fouts
died before he did.
Huston-Jost Funeral Home
is in charge of arrangements.
Susan Ellen Johnson
(Schulte)
Dec. 2, 1973 - Sept. 13, 2008
Susan
Ellen
Johnson
(Schulte), 34, of Lebanon, died
Sept. 13, 2008, at Good
Samaritan Regional Medical
Center in Corvallis.
A memorial service was
held on Sept. 18 at the
Bethlehem Lutheran Church in
Lebanon.
She was born Dec. 2, 1973,
in Korea to Michael and Yong
Johnson. Her father was in the
Army and she lived in
Germany and Kentucky before
moving to Lebanon, where she
graduated from Lebanon High
School in 1991.
After high school, she
moved to New York to be a
nanny. She later moved back to
Lebanon and met her life partner, Richard Schulte.
She is survived by Richard
Schulte; son Ronald; daughter
Jenna; and parents Michael and
Yong Johnson; brother Chuck;
grandmother
Margaret
Johnson; and several other family members.
Her grandfather, Donald
M. Johnson, died before she
did.
McHenry Funeral Home in
Corvallis was in charge of
arrangements.
DeFazio, Wyden
Continued from page A1
Area bankers
Continued from page A1
Shellaney and Sarah Simon,
both of Lebanon, and Genelle
King of Albany; parents Marie
and Michael McCombs of
Lebanon; sister Sherry Allison
of Lebanon; brothers Ron
Tucker of Halsey and Michael
McCombs II of Harrisburg;
grandmothers Mary Reeves
and Elsie Tucker, both of
Lebanon; one grandchild; and
other family members and
friends.
Her father Joseph Tucker
died before she did.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the family
to help with expenses.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
agreed that Congress should
not act “recklessly,” but should
“address the underlying faults
in the system that brought us to
this financial abyss in the first
place.”
Wyden also called for oversight and accountability, as
well as a fair return on investment for taxpayers.
“There is way too much
taxpayer money at stake to
give one person total, unreviewable authority over how
the money is spent,” he said.
“All of the benefits shouldn’t go to bankers, brokers and
billionaires. But under the
Bush Administration’s proposal, the financial institutions not
only get quick cash to shore up
their finances, they also get all
the upside return on the tax-
payers’ money. Meanwhile, the
taxpayers get all the risk along
with a pile of bad debt that
may or may not get paid sometime in the future,” he said.
Oregon’s
other
U.S.
Senator, Republican Gordon
Smith, called for bipartisan legislation to “help restore confidence in the American financial system” and also warned
that the proposal “cannot be a
blank check that allows golden
parachutes and executive compensation
packages
for
bankers and investors that
drove their companies into the
ground potentially leaving taxpayers with generations of
debt.”
“With American’s retirement plans, mortgages and
financial security at risk, we
must act now to bring order
and stability to our markets,”
he said.
Spokane, Wash.; stepdaughters
Loria Lee Kingsberry of
Sept. 10, 1945 - Sept. 17, 2008
Lebanon and Mary and husKeith McKinney, 63, of band Brian Glynn of Holley;
Lebanon, died Sept. 17, 2008, brothers Ron, Dennis and Alan
at his home.
McKinney, all of Lebanon, and
A funeral
Travis McKinney of Portland;
service was
13 grandchildren; and one
held Sept. 22,
great-grandchild.
2008,
at
His father died in 2005.
Trinity Baptist
C h u r c h .
Death notices
Burial took
place at the
Leta Mae Pitts
Lebanon
Leta Mae Pitts, 89, of Sweet
I . O . O . F.
Home, died Sept. 17, 2008.
J. KEITH
Cemetery.
McKENNEY
Sweet Home Funeral Chapel is
He was
in charge of arrangements.
born Sept. 10,
1945, in DeQueen, Ark., the son
of James and Christeen
Richard Amundson
(Woods) McKinney. In 1947, he
Richard Amundson, 75, of
moved with his family to Sweet Home, died Sept. 18,
Idanha.
2008. Sweet Home Funeral
In 1957, he moved to Chapel is in charge of arrangeLebanon, where he operated ments.
his own automobile repair
shop.
Gladys Wilma Wilken
He is survived by his
Gladys Wilma Wilken, 87,
mother Christeen of Lebanon;
daughter and son-in-law of Sweet Home, died Sept. 21,
Kimberly
and
Michael 2008, at her home. Sweet
Dunston of Lebanon; daughter Home Funeral Chapel is in
Dawn Shiree Marcy of charge of arrangements.
J. Keith McKinney
Pregnancy
Continued from page A1
case with local authorities
under the Freedom of Access
to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Tracy hopes the center will
be set up to start seeing clients
again soon.
“The community needs
what we do,” she said. “We’ll
regroup and we’ll rebuild.”
Anyone with information
about the fire, including observations of anything or anyone
suspicious in the area between
late evening Sept. 9 and early
morning Sept. 10, is asked to
contact Sgt. Kevin Martinez at
258-4305 or Detective Dustin
Wyatt at 258-4319; the FBI in
Eugene at 541-343-5222 during
normal business hours; or the
Portland FBI office at 503-2244181, 24 hours a day.
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