Sweet Home,OR...I need a bit more info. (Eugene: insurance, crime)

[Montuckey Monkey]

So first I'm 40,single no kids (per say dog and cat) my mother is 65 and lives with me as of two years ago. I live outside of Kellogg,ID in the mountains and winters are the real deal here and my mother has already fallen and broken her arm last year and has had many minor others in the time she's been here...I don't care who you are you're going to eat some donuts in winter here,period...not a matter of if but when. So the weather there I don't see any problem with. I guess what I'm really looking for is info on how bad is crime there? One of the places I am looking at sits at the bottom of Foster Dam...will that be an issue as in flood insurance? Any info would be appreciated because I am for sure coming to OR just trying to decide where and won't live "in the city" and I myself am also tired of having to drive over a mountain pass just to go see a movie. I guess I should add as well that I trade currency so I really don't need a job but will be glad to be near a larger market.

[Montuckey Monkey]

Oh and how's the fishing in the river there? I have driven through Sweet Home but never stopped to fish the river always head up to Green Peter and further into the "green zone".

[Billy_J]

There is crime everywhere in Oregon, but in smaller towns like Sweet Home, it is almost nothing compared with large cities like Los Angeles. Here is a crime link on their police web site...

City of Sweet Home - Crime Statistics

There is also a movie theatre in Sweet Home...

RIO

FYI - There is a town in Oregon with the name of "Boring". They don't have a movie theatre there, but I always thought it would be funny if they opened one and called it the "Boring Theatre"!

[Montuckey Monkey]

Funny you mention "Boring" as I have been looking there as well. I do realize crime is everywhere as well...I grew up in OC,CA and know about it far to well. After HS I moved to Boise and lived there until my family asked for me to move back to "help" around "home". I left the OC in 2003 and have been up north since. My father lived in Bend and my uncle lives in Eugene so I know OR a bit and actually spent the summer of 2008 fishing the Cascades and Lake Billy Chinook caught about a 8lb Bull Trout there and had 100 fish days there many times that summer caught many nice 3-8lb Rainbows and Browns from the Deschutes as well.
Thank you for the reply and the info about the theatre.

[Montuckey Monkey]

I guess really my only concern is really the flooding issue. How often do the houses down river from Foster dam flood? Mainly the ones within a mile of the dam.

[Billy_J]

Its not the closeness to a dam which means a home would be flooded frequently, rather the elevation or height of the home (in relation to nearby rivers/creeks). For example, there are some homes in the valley (where all the water goes) which get flooded first, before anything else does.

I think it is USGS or US Geological Survey which has flood maps? But you can call the Sweet Home Planning Department (or other city's Planning Departments) and ask where to find flood maps on the internet.

Also you may want to ask about homes and flooding on the main Oregon forum (not in the Salem sub-forum where this post is located). More people read that and you might get more info on flooding for Oregon.

City of Sweet Home web site...
City of Sweet Home

[Jen71]

Originally Posted by Billy_J

There is crime everywhere in Oregon, but in smaller towns like Sweet Home, it is almost nothing compared with large cities like Los Angeles. Here is a crime link on their police web site...

City of Sweet Home - Crime Statistics

There is also a movie theatre in Sweet Home...

RIO

FYI - There is a town in Oregon with the name of "Boring". They don't have a movie theatre there, but I always thought it would be funny if they opened one and called it the "Boring Theatre"!

I have to add something to this. I rarely post here but I felt that you should know some things about small town Oregon.

I live in one of these small towns in the WV. I live next door to a pedophile who molested his children. I checked the crime stats for this kind of perversity before I bought the house. But because he was classified as 'non predatory', he will not show on the database. This is an Oregon law (fairly recent). His family members told me so that I did not hear it from others in the neighborhood first.

I was also assaulted in my home this year by an illegal immigrant. The DA decided not to press charges even though he was arrested. Another crime that doesn't show in the stats.

So, be mindful is all I'm saying. It's been a shocking year in this 'quaint' little town.

[redrebel66]

I grew up in Boise and left when i was 25 and moved here to oregon. i now live in sweet home and am doing my research to find a better place to live. This town has high taxes and low everything else including police enforcement.

As for flooding dont buy a house on the river and there wont be an issue. It is at the base of the Cascade mountains and the weather here is usually different from the rest of the valley. Unless its just raining.

For a small town of about 10k there is a lot of drug crime. From what i am told heroin is the drug of choice here but watch out for the tweakers tearing around on bikes looking for something to loot.

It is to far away from anything besides wal mart so to go shopping look at eugene and salem. i frequent salem and portland a lot just because of the selection of everything.

There are more homeless here then I saw on my recent visit to Boston. There is more showing up every day it seems. Nothing is done about them at all. Don't leave anything unlocked or untied as it will disappear.

People are not all that friendly for a small town. There is the typical small town "click" that is headed by the bigger logging company wife. Jobs are scarce and the only reason i live here is because I have one of the few here. We do get snow about once a year (nat this last winter though) and anything more than an inch shuts down the whole valley. Along with the snow usually comes power outages (year round) that are more frequent than any place I have ever lived.
Fishing at foster lake is sub par and really all there is to catch are stocked trout. You can catch some small mouth bass but they aren't that great tasting. The lake has a few bout ramps and a camp ground but actual lake access is non existant. Poverty beach, as they call it, is right before you cross the dam and is a boulder beach. There is also lewis creek that is a dau use park with a roped off swimming area that is paved under the water. I think it is a $6 fee per car but get there early on hot weekends or you wont get a spot. There are some other non descript places to reach the water but all in all the lake is not very user friendly without a boat.

All in all sweet home isn't very sweet at all and most of the mid valley for that matter. Rude people, poor service, a lot of grey skies makes this a very depressing place to live. I would kill to move back to the Treasure Valley if only my wife would agree.