ÿþ<html> <head> <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="As I See It, Mary Schamehorn, Bandon, Oregon, Mayor Mary"> <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="As I See It by Mary Schamehorn, Mayor of Bandon, Oregon"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="CACHE-CONTROL" CONTENT="NO-CACHE"> <title>As I See It</title> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.mongoland.tv/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <link rel="icon" href="http://www.mongoland.tv/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff" link="#ff0000" vlink="#800080" alink="#0000ff" background="http://www.mongoland.tv/background/jpgbackgroundlighthouse.jpg"> <br><br> <center><b><font color="#000000"><font face="Tahoma,Comic Sans MS,Arial"><font size="+4">As I See It</font></font></font></b></center><br> <center><b><i><font color="#000000"><font face="Tahoma,Comic Sans MS,Arial"><font size="+3">by Mary Schamehorn</font></font></font></i></b></center><br> <center><img src="http://www.mongoland.tv/celebs/okaskmary00.jpg" title="Mary Schamehorn" alt="Mary Schamehorn"></center><br> <center><b><font color="#000000"><font face="Tahoma,Comic Sans MS,Arial"><font size="+2">February 01, 2012</font></font></font></b></center><br><br> <font face="Tahoma,Comic Sans MS,Arial"><font color="000000"><font size="+1"> I ve heard varying reports of how many house burglaries there have been in the last couple of weeks, but I know for sure that a vacation rental dwelling in the Sunset City Addition (which is very near town but outside the city limits) was hard hit by burglars.<br><br> I believe that they pretty much took everything they could carry away, including appliances, rugs, towels, TVs, etc.<br><br> It s unlikely that the neighbors would even notice a strange vehicle in the driveway since the VRD is popular and very often rented, so there s seldom the same vehicle there. In a neighborhood of single-family homes, your neighbor might notice if a strange vehicle were there for an extended period of time. Or at least you hope they would.<br><br> Apparently entry was gained with a crowbar.<br><br> I ve also heard that another residence in the same area lost a lot of tools, but I m not sure it was a VRD.<br><br> The police apparently have a lead on who s responsible for at least some of the recent burglaries, but it doesn t hurt for people to be a little more aware than usual about what is going on next door and in the neighborhood.<br><br> It s better to call dispatch and report something & and find out that the person has the right to be there & than it is to do nothing and find out your neighbors have been burglarized.<br><br> <center>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</center><br> I don t think anyone was more surprised with the huge turnout at the Bite of Bandon (Bandon Youth Center) auction than the youth center board members. I understand they finally had to turn people away. Last year the attendance was small, and this year they decided to ramp things up a bit by having foods from a lot of different restaurants and lots of publicity. Or maybe it was the fact that they sold tables in advance. But when I arrived, there was a line waiting to get into the Harbortown Events Center & and people just kept coming and coming and coming.<br><br> My guess is that next year they ll have it at the Barn/Community Center, which can hold considerably more people.<br><br> That will also be the venue for the Bandon Rotary Club auction, scheduled for April.<br><br> I am not sure how much the Youth Center raised, but I would guess it was their most successful fundraiser to date.<br><br> <center>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</center><br> I m always surprised when I find out what people are paying for high-end homes in this economy. I understand that the late Don Arvold home on Trout Pond Lane was donated to Sacred Heart Hospital by the current owners. A friend says that although it didn t sell at auction, it sold a short time later for $175,000. Having been in the house, I can only say that was literally a steal for a beautiful home overlooking the water. I know it was listed at one point for more than $900,000.<br><br> There are some wonderful deals out there if one just knows how to find them.<br><br> <b>Note: The source of my information about the Don Arvold house was not correct. Sacred Heart did receive a $175,000 offer on the house, but it was not accepted, and at the present time, they will either rent it or wait until the market rebounds and sell it.</b><br><br> <center>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</center><br> I ve been sorting through some of the thousands of old negatives and well-worn black and white snapshots that I ve saved over the years & including many from my decades as reporter/editor of Western World. Actually I was doing that when I should have been writing my column, but it is so cool to look at the old pictures and try to remember how things were in Bandon when I was growing up. I found one of me standing beside a man, who I assume was George Chappell, because it s alongside a gas pump at the Chevron station that he owned across from the cheese factory property. (It s now the gravel parking lot east of the Station Restaurant). But, from what I can gather by the background, the enlarged cheese factory hadn t even been built yet as the building across the highway was the Dairy Co-op, which I gather was the small building that housed the original Coquille Valley Dairy Co-op. I have other pictures that show the feed store alongside the Co-op, with a road leading from the highway back to Third Street. Later the feed store was torn down to make way for the larger cheese factory, which was torn down a few years ago by Tillamook Cheese.<br><br> Hopefully, it won t be long before Bandon can brag that it once again has a cheese factory, and if that happens, you can thank Urban Renewal for having purchased the property from Tillamook.<br><br> A private developer has pledged to build the cheese factory, and they have been in negotiations with milk producers, etc., as they finalize their plans.<br><br> <center>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</center><br> My sisters and I were sitting in the sun in front of Pacific Blues Saturday when a man ran up and asked if he could have part of our paper. My first thought was:  actually we just bought it and we haven t even had time to read it, let alone share it with you. <br><br> That was before I realized that his little dog had just left his  calling card on the sidewalk in front of the Continuum, and he wanted to clean it up. So, of course, we immediately shared one of the sections of paper that we weren t planning to read anyway.<br><br> This leads me into a subject that is dear to responsible pet owners who enjoy walking the trails and pathways around Bandon & if they can avoid the piles of dog poo that seem to be everywhere.<br><br> It seems that no matter how many signs you put up, there are still a lot of people who simply don t care enough to pick up after their animals. And, unless the police actually see it, or someone else sees it and is willing to sign a complaint (if they can find out the name of the offender  the owner, not the dog) it s hard to ticket someone.<br><br> I understand there s a pretty stiff fine for not picking up after your animal, but it s kind of like smoking within 10 feet of a door or window in the business district, unless someone files a complaint, nothing is likely to happen.<br><br> It would seem that if a person loves his or her dog enough to take him for a walk, he would be conscientious enough to pick up after him.<br><br> But I guess, in many cases, I m wrong.<br><br> <center>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</center><br> As I was reading the daily Governing.com website, an item titled  Small-Town Kentucky Mayor Shot Dead, got my attention.<br><br> The article doesn t say anything about a motive, but apparently a man walked into the police station in the town of 2,500 people around 1 in the morning and announced that he had killed the mayor. They went to the mayor s home, where they found him dead in the bedroom.<br><br> Where is Paul Harvey when we need him? I would definitely like to know  the rest of the story. <br><br> I am sure it s more salacious than disagreeing with the mayor over a lot-line adjustment.<br><br> <br> </font></font></font> <center><font color="#000000"><font face="Tahoma,Comic Sans MS,Arial"><font size="+2"><a href="http://www.bandon.tv/html/marymenu.html">previous columns by mary schamehorn</a></font></font></font></center> <br><br><br> </body> </html>