Mehama News

The North Santiam River was so high last week that very few people have been fishing.

An upcoming Christmas tree sale is a fundraiser for Stayton Area Relay for Life.

The number of highway troopers in many states has not kept pace with population growth.

The rains have kept the river high for about three weeks. Clarity has been tolerable, so a few anglers have been fishing a few places that will hold resting steelhead and salmon even when most of the river is too high for comfort.

The river is deeper and faster than usual this week because of the storm last week.

Truck commander Staff Sgt. James Smith of Riverside, Calif., has one final setting to make as the Mine Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle lumbers into its nine-hour overnight run.

Up and down river levels last week were because of equipment testing by the water district.

Raindrops and cooler weather will remove some of the humanity near the North Santiam River this week.

Members of the Dallas crew salute the departing soldiers as the jet backs away from the skyway.

Walk past the neon Coors and Michelob signs, the video-poker machines, the shuffleboard game and pool table, and hanging on the back wall of the Red Barn Bar & Grill you'll see it: a photo of the band that plays the joint, and perched in between the musicians is the bartender -- the one plenty of patrons fondly call "Mom." Around the photo's frame ...

No one in the bar on a recent afternoon could say who draped the ribbon there, but every customer on every stool knew why.

Spc. Jeremy Pierce's tour of duty in Iraq was cut short by a roadside bomb in mid-August, just hours after the Oregon Army National Guard had taken over convoy security.

Two or three weeks ago, one lonesome Coho arrived at the fish trap above Packsaddle, and another was observed on the Little North Fork about 9 miles upstream from the main river.

Spc. Jeremy Pierce has taken his first steps toward returning to duty with the Oregon Army National Guard.

River volume is quite a bit higher now than it was during summer. It is more challenging to find the fish because there is more water for them to hide in.

Do you want to get your event or news item into the newspaper? People who read The Stayton Mail live and/or work in Stayton, Sublimity, Aumsville, Turner, Marion, Mehama, Mill City, Lyons, Gates, Scio and more.

'Special alert' - at 7 p.m. Sunday night, Shuttle Bob drove across Mill City Bridge and noticed that the large branch that was stuck above Mill City Falls has washed down and partially blocked the boat channel.

Students in the North Santiam School District have returned to schools in Lyons/Mehama , Stayton, and Sublimity, bringing an end to the slower pace of summer.

A fund has been established at US Bank for Spc. Jeremy Pierce, the Oregon National Guard soldier who was severely wounded in Iraq, and his family.

The algae and sediment bloom last week was caused by a malfunction at the Detroit Dam complex.