I was born in Kansas City Mo and have lived cost to cost and know what snow and ice is. Have chained up many a times. One of the nice things about Oregon and living in the northern part is you don’t get snow and ice or at least not often and not much to brag about. You just drove an hour to Mt Hood and you can have all you want. WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that has ended this past week and coming week. It has snowed every day and some ice every day. This weekend it snow and ice storm mix, now to most that is no big deal if you live where you see lots of both. But keep in mind I am living in a state that doesn’t and so people don’t know how to drive in it and schools close the min the news said the word SNOW. The kids have missed a full week of school and I have to agree getting to work this week and home have been stressful but I just put my car behind an 18wheeler and stayed there as they are driving slow and chained up. It will be a white Christmas and it has been years since that happened, the last good snow storm I remember was 1968 and it reached the top of our cattle fence. 

Yesterday in Woodburn was the memorial for our police officer who lost his life in the bombing of one of our banks (see blog below) today will be the one for the state officer who lost his life.  They have arrested a man and his son for this bombing.  http://www.kptv.com/news/18318666/detail.html

Due to weather I have not gotten my Christmas shopping done, but told my daughter if it snows I will stay home and have a late one with them. There are only 33 miles from me but on ice that can be a long 33 miles. I will miss a wonderful dinner that my daughter does but maybe if I am lucky she will keep me some leftovers..lol

I did a Christmas letter this year to put into my cards, how do people make them so interesting and funny? I was lucky I got 1 page and hope it doesn’t put anyone to sleep when they read it. Do you do a Christmas letter? If so how do you make it so interesting? Maybe I need to keep a journal all year and take from that.

I wish you all a safe and wonderful Christmas and may 2009 be very good to you.

PEACE!

Jessie

This weekend in my town of Woodburn Oregon, someone put a bomb at one of the banks. This action killed two police officers and one left in critical condition at OHSU in Portland Oregon.

This loss to the families and Woodburn of these two men cannot be measured or put into words. My heart goes out the families of all 3 of these men who were married and had kids.  

WOODBURN, Ore. - Hundreds of law officers spent Saturday looking for clues, interviewing potential witnesses, and gathering what evidence they could in connection with the bombing inside a Woodburn bank.

A manager at the West Coast Bank branch on Highway 215, just east of I-5, found that bomb late Friday afternoon, in the bushes outside the bank. This followed a bomb scare which had occurred earlier in the day at another bank, which is right next door.  After the bank employee found the device, police came back, and for some reason, took the bomb inside the bank, where it exploded.

The blast killed William Hakim, a senior state trooper and explosives technician; and also killed Woodburn Police Captain Tom Tennant. Both Tennant and Hakim were 51 years old. The critically injured victim was Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell. He was taken to OHSU Hospital in Portland.

Hakim is survived by a wife, a 16-year old son and 18-year old daughter, the State Police said. Tennant was a 28-year veteran of the Woodburn force with a wife and children ages 24, 22 and 17.

Asked why officers took the bomb into the bank, Lt. Gregg Hastings, spokesman for the Oregon State Police, said Saturday: "That we don't know."

But with a bomber apparently on the loose, authorities had more pressing things to worry about. They had no suspects and no motive in Friday's bombing.

"That person is dangerous and needs to be found as soon as possible," Hastings said. Federal authorities said they were offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.  That reward could grow; the Oregon State Police Officers Association is taking donations to add to the reward total. To donate to that reward fund, call 503-393-6535. And the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has set up a Hotline to gather information. Anyone with any information about the bombing, possible suspects or any information which may be pertinent is asked to call that ATF Hotline at 1-800-800-3855.The explosion around 5:30 p.m. Friday followed a bomb threat call to a nearby Wells Fargo branch bank. The State Police said Saturday that investigators found "a suspicious object" that turned out to be harmless.
But the police said their investigation led next door to the West Coast Bank, where the bomb was found.

Bank President and CEO Robert Sznewajs said the bank manager found the device Friday in a survey of the grounds undertaken after an employee got a call about the Wells Fargo incident and law enforcement officers had made a check.

Hastings declined to describe the bomb in detail but indicated it was powerful. The inside of the bank was extensively damaged, state police said, and a female employee was treated at Salem Hospital and released. Another bank employee was uninjured.

Police said late Friday that a Woodburn police officer had died. The State Police said Saturday that one of their bomb technicians had also died at the scene.

Police opened up a large area around the bank Saturday that had been sealed and allowed traffic to move freely on a nearby state highway. They had earlier said there was no evidence of more bombs.

Investigators included state and local authorities as well as officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Detectives were still in the bank building on Saturday.

The federal agencies were acting as advisers and hadn't taken over the case, said Marion County Undersheriff Jason Myers.

"At this point, it's still a local-level investigation," he said.

Joe Langley, who pumps gas at a Union 76 station a few blocks away, said the blast sounded like thunder.

"It's just a small bank with nice people working there," he said Saturday. "I don't know why anybody would do this."

Woodburn is about halfway between the Salem and Portland. It has a population of about 21,000 and is home to many blue-collar and agricultural workers in the valley's extensive nursery crops business.

The two bank buildings are near each other in a commercial strip through the center of town.