Tag: Lane Electric Coop

Sweet Lorane Community News, March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019Newspaper Columns, , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
March 7, 2019
By Pat Edwards

Well, I’m hoping that by now, everyone has had their power restored from the recent snowstorm. My brother-in-law and his wife were without power near Saginaw for almost 9 days. It was a massive job for all of the linemen and women who were working to clear away fallen trees, plow the roads and restore power to the thousands of homes throughout Lane County that were affected.

Yvette Hamby, a friend and local resident, works in the office at Lane Electric Cooperative, and she reported working 16-hour days for well over a week. We all owe a great deal to these people as well as neighbors who looked out for each other. Thank you to all.

Here’s a repeat notice from a previous column… The Lane County Pomona Grange’s Prime Rib Dinner fundraiser to raise money for scholarships offered to youth throughout Lane County was postponed, due to inclement weather. It is now scheduled for Saturday, March 16, at 5:00 p.m. at the Dorena Grange near Cottage Grove. It will include not only dinner, but music and a silent auction as well.

The Pomona Grange of Lane County oversees and coordinates events between the 22 granges in Lane County including Lorane and Crow. Grange is a fraternal organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community as well as agriculture, and is frequently the voice of each community it represents. They have long provided local scholarships to graduating seniors in our high schools to help with the high cost of college.

This month, the Lorane Grange’s Spaghetti dinner and bingo is scheduled for Saturday, March 23—typically the 4th Saturday of each month during the school year—with dinner at 5:30 p.m. with bingo for the whole family following.

The Crow Grange’s dinner and bingo nights are held every 1st and 3rd Saturdays beginning at 6:00 p.m. for dinner and 7:00 p.m. for family bingo.

And, if you’re a bingo player, Creswell has begun its own bingo fundraiser at the Creswell VFW at 6:30 p.m. It’s going to be held the 2nd Friday of each month.
All of these events are family-friendly and your participation helps to fund the many projects these organizations sponsor that benefit each of our communities. Please lend them your support and participation whenever you can.

As we all crawl out of our enforced confinements because of the snow, let’s look forward to the gentler days of spring that can’t be too far away. Here’s to gentle spring rains interspersed with sunshine. The crocuses and daffodils seem to be ready!

Sweet Lorane Community News – May 19, 2016

May 19, 2016Newspaper Columns, , , , , , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
May 19, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I’m writing this column almost a week before you read it because I have gotten myself into commitments for the whole weekend and I need every minute of prep time in the days leading up to it. Our family’s big event… and the one that I’m most looking forward to, is our son Rob’s 50th Birthday BBQ which, by the time you read this was last Saturday. I have been working on a commemorative birthday album for Rob for the past few months. I scanned almost every picture we’ve ever taken of him and helped myself to some that others have taken from his Facebook page and have designed a 13″ x 10″ hardbound photo album/book to present to him. I’ve also included messages and memories that other friends and family members submitted to me for inclusion. These are the publishing projects I most love. I did it for his sister Gloria a year ago, too… it seems I’ve begun a tradition. The one black cloud hanging over the Saturday festivities (literally) is the weather forecast for thunderstorms.

I inadvertently committed myself to counting ballots for the Lane Electric Coop election  on Friday, too. I’ve done it before and I’ve had a lot of fun. The staff at the LEC office makes sure we feel welcome and appreciated… they even provide lunch. Usually, my good friend, Judie Brantley, also of Lorane, and I partner while doing the counting and she and I have proven to be a pretty good team. Since I don’t get a chance to see her as often as I once did, it’s a fun way to reconnect.

Then on Sunday morning (last Sunday morning to you), Jo-Brew and I head to McMinnville to give one of our Highway 99 talks at the library there. By the time we get back, I have no doubt that I will be totally exhausted.

Speaking of Lane Electric Coop, I think this week would be a good time to include…

A Bit of Lorane History:

“In the 1920s, Lorane obtained its first electrical generating plant. The Blaine Addison family put in a Delco plant and wired their home and store for electric lights. There was a ‘pumphouse’ where the motor was housed which had shelves of glass batteries to keep the motor running. The house and store were destroyed by fire in 1932, but Harold Shortridge managed to save the old Delco plant and set it up again by the Lorane I.O.O.F. Lodge building.

“On April 3, 1933, permission was given to W.T. Anderson by the Lorane High School board to use the high school auditorium for a talk to be given on ‘Electricity and Power for the Community.’ The first electric power lines were put up by Pacific Power Co. in the late 1930s. They came into Lorane from Cottage Grove and provided power to those along the route into Lorane central, Territorial Road south and as far north as the ‘Y’ where Old Lorane Road meets Territorial Road. The REA had plans to run lines into Lorane from Eugene before World War II. Meter boxes were installed at homes along the way, but no electricity was supplied to the people along Territorial Road north, Old Lorane Road and Siuslaw River Road until after 1945, when the War had ended.

“Josie Doughty remembers buying her first electric refrigerator/freezer and washing machine from the 1947 Oregon State Fair.

“Before the time that electricity came to Lorane, and for some time afterwards, carbide lights, kerosene lamps and gasoline lanterns were commonly used.” (From Sawdust and Cider; 1987; 2006)