Ride with us on the Republican float in the Veterans Day Parade!

Benton County Republicans will sponsor a float in the Albany Veterans Day Parade on Friday, November 11! This parade is the largest Veterans Day Parade west of the Mississippi!

You’re invited to help us get the float ready for judging (be at the float at 8:00 a.m. to prepare for judging at 9:00 a.m.) To ride on the float, be there at 10:30 a.m. We will be float # 173. To find us, go to the information booth in front of the Law Enforcement Building on Jackson Street in Albany. They can tell you exactly where to find us.

Veterans, you are encouraged to wear something that identifies you as a veteran. Patriots of all ages are welcome to ride on the float. Oregon’s candidate for Miss USA will be on the Benton County Republican float. Come ride with us and meet her!

Parade Route: The parade starts at the overpass on Pacific Highway, then right on Lyons, left on 2nd to Ferry St., left to 4th, ending at the Linn County courthouse at 300 3rd Ave. SW. For more information see City of Albany - Veterans Day Parade Read More......

Riparian Issue: Albany poised to act on controversial Goal 5 rules

9/25/2011 - The Albany City Council is poised to act on new land use regulations potentially affecting an estimated 1,000 property owners, but how much depends on the individual case. ✧ The city staff says the changes are intended to protect natural resources such as fish-bearing streams and streamside habitat, along with significant wetlands. Read more at the Democrat Herald... Read More......

Corrected local Town Hall Schedule for Rep. DeFazio

Here's the correct information for U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio's local town hall meetings:

Thursday, August 25, 2011
1:30pm-2:30pm, ALBANY (Senior Town Hall) - City Council Chambers, Albany City Hall, 333 Broadalbin St. 5:30pm-6:30pm, CORVALLIS - Main Meeting Room, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 NW Monroe Ave.

Read More......

Apartment residents told to take down U.S. flags

KATU.COM (Portland), 10/13/2009 by Melica Johnson and KATU Staff (Hat tip: Charles Nelson)

Oct. 15 UPDATE: Management got the message. All's well & flags are flying again!

ALBANY, Ore. - At the Oaks Apartments in Albany, the management can fly their own flag advertising one and two bedroom apartments - but residents have been told they can't fly any flags at all. ∴ Jim Clausen flies the American flag from the back of his motorcycle. He has a son in the military heading back to Iraq, and the flag - he said - is his way of showing support. ∴ "This flag stands for all those people," said Clausen, an Oaks Apartment resident. "It stands for the people that can no longer stand - who died in wars. That's why I fly this flag." ∴ But to Oaks Apartment management, Clausen said, the American flag symbolizes problems. ∴ He was told to remove the red, white and blue from both of his rides, or face eviction. ∴ "It floored me," he said. "I can't believe she was saying what she was saying."

Even long-time residents like Sharron White, who has flown a flag on her car for eight years, has been told to take it down. ∴ White said management told her that "someone might get offended."

"I just said to her 'They'll just have to get over it,'" White said.

Resident we talked to who had been approached to take down their flags all told us the same thing: that management told them the flags could be offensive because they live in a diverse community.

Attempts to find out for ourselves why management would ban flags were unsuccessful. KATU wanted to talk to management at Oaks Apartments, but no one has returned our calls. The woman we were told had made the decision said she was "not going to answer any questions."

The mother of one soldier fighting in Iraq put up a poster in her son's apartment window when she learned of the ban. Her son's roommate said he'll risk eviction to make sure it stays.

Another Oaks Apartment resident, Judith Sherer, doesn't have a car. Instead she carries an American flag around the complex to protest the ban, and wonders if the flag pin she wears is next to be "singled out."

"If I put it on and I walk outside, what's going to happen?" Sherer muses. "Am I going to be confronted by a manager about this?"

We're told the ban includes sports flags and even flag stickers on cars. Read More......