Salem in 2001

World Events

• The Taliban begins destroying ancient Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan. Later this year, the US invades Afghanistan as The War on Terror.
• George W. Bush is inaugurated as president in January, promises tax cuts as his priority. He establishes the Office of Homeland Security. 
• Almost 3,000 are killed in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Towers (which collapse), the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania when terrorists take control of US airliners in suicide missions.
• Anthrax spores are sent through US mail: 22 persons exposed, 5 die.
• ENRON files for bankruptcy after an 8 billion buyout is cancelled: the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
• Roy Moore is removed as Supreme Court Justice in Alabama after defying a court order concerning a religious monument he placed on state property. 
• iPod is introduced by Apple. 
• Wikipedia is launched (NOTE: Many of the items included in World Events listings on this website are selected from Wikipedia.)
• Academy Awards:"A Beautiful Mind" (US), "No Man's Land" (Bosnia). Prize-winning Books: The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen and The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay, Michael Chabon.In Salem

Memorials were erected to worldwide victims of the 9/11 attacks and to a local resident.

After the 9/11 disasters, vigils at Riverfront Park give residents of Salem an opportunity to express public sympathy for the loss of life in the terrorist attacks on our citizens. A memorial is mounted in Riverfront Park. Two months later, a memorial observation platform was erected at Basket Slough for Rich Guadagdo who died in Pennsylvania during that attack.

When you visit
 The Riverfront memorial to worldwide victims is mounted at the south end of the park overlooking the Willamette Slough and Pringle Creek.
Follow this map link to the Rich Guadagno Observation Platform, or or follow these directions to drive to the Basket Slough National Wildlife Refuge, located 10 miles west of Salem in Polk County. From Marion Street Bridge, drive west on Route 22 for 9.7 miles and turn right on 99W. Drive north 1.9 miles to Coville Road and turn left. After 1.5 miles, you arrive at the Trail head parking lot and information kiosk. Begin the moderate uphill trail and turn left at the junction. The memorial is .4 miles from the parking lot. (Note: walk softly: on our last visit to the memorial, a deer crossed the path and stood to gaze at us.)

Other events

• At Riverside Park in June, a joyous occasion is celebrated as the Carousel opens. Hazel Patton, a local community activist in historical preservation, inspired the project. The mission of the carousel is to enhance the quality of life in the Willamette Valley by invigorating community cohesiveness, fostering cultural and educational opportunities, creating a living history, and increasing tourism. The project brought together artists and experts in many creative occupations and is enjoyed by residents and visitors of all ages. A visit to Riverfront Park should include a stop at the Carousel, even without children. No one can resist the appeal to listening to the familiar music (if you are old enough to remember the experience from your own childhood) and watching the joy of the children passing as they ride the horses around in a lively circle. As you leave, notice the mementos inscribed in tiles along the walkway. In this fashion, local families have contributed to the lasting heritage of this historical entertainment. Hours of operation vary, but generally it is opens every day, 11-5 with a fee for children, but no cost to accompanying parent.
• Bob DeLong is appointed City Manager.
• The City Council also experiences changes, giving Mayor Mike Swaim his "first friendly majority since his election in 1996". The Statesman recorded the council's opposition to "unfettered growth", years-old rules concerning land use for builders, as they raised minimum wages for city workers and employees of contractors and began work on "corporate disclosure that would require contractors to submit information on environmental, labor and consumer relations records." Mayor Swaim announced he would not seek re-election next year.
• In a local poll taken at the end of 2001, readers of the Statesman Journal report the outstanding local story of the year was the economic crisis when low rainfall and federal decisions caused Detroit Lake to be drained to meet fish needs and water quality downstream. Because of the hardship caused to recreational business and families sustained by them, the Save Our Lake committee is formed and the area put under a federal recreation lake program to bring money for improvement projects.
• The attraction of the Carousel and the opening of the Oregon Garden in Silverton tie for second place in the newspaper poll. In the following year, the garden attraction added another feature with the relocating of the Gordon House to the property: bringing to our area of Oregon a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• A traffic accident south of Salem causes the death of Albany police officer Jason Hoeroef and Oregon State Police senior trooper Maria Mignano. A young driver, Jacob Todoriko, fell asleep at the wheel of his pickup, which left the highway and struck three officers who were helping a disabled motorist. State Police Sgt. John Burright is critically injured. Todoriko's sentence includes public addresses to inform other motorists of the dangers of driving while drowsy.
• As meth addiction in Oregon and Marion County deepened, Congress allocates $580,000 to help combat the production and trafficking of the addictive stimulant.
• Local school news includes the $5,700, 000 sale of historic Bush School, the last downtown elementary school, to Salem Hospital for demolition. Parents are relieved that a replacement Bush School on 14th Street (near Mill Street) will alleviate traffic concerns on Mission Street, but concerned because that the new construction will demolish 16 homes in the SESNA neighborhood.
• Other school construction, funded by a $177 million school bond of 1998, creates four new schools in the Salem-Keizer School District. The bond also funds renovations at other schools, including a new wing at North Salem High School and a student commons at South Salem High School.
• The Statesman describes the Salem downtown as being threatened with "decaying buildings, climbing vacancy rates, fizzled improvements, and economic doldrums". Suburban malls and conflicts between teens and merchants are also mentioned. One business that closed this year is the more than 80-year-old Anderson's Sporting Goods on Liberty Street. However, an encouraging event is the new National Register listing of the Salem Downtown Historic District.

Salem in 1997

World Events

• Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron in Palestine after a 30 year absence to celebrate Israel's return of West Bank Palestinian cities.
• The United Kingdom lease on the territory of Hong Kong expires. Its administration is taken over by the People's Republic of China.
• The Nobel Peace Prize is shared by Jody Williams (US) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (Switzerland) for their campaign to ban and clear anti-personnel mines around the world.
• Madeleine Albright becomes the first female US Secretary of State.
• Diana, Princess of Wales, with her companion Dodi Fayed, dies in a Paris auto crash in the Pont de L'Alma tunnel. (The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown, 2007.
• Pathfinder sends Mars photographs back to earth.
• In London, DNA on a Neanderthal skeleton supports the theory of an African Eve of 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
• The F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
• Timothy McVeigh is convicted of multiple murders in Oklahoma City bombing in previous year. Andrew Cunanan shoots and kills fashion designer Gianni Versace outside his Miami home.
• Academy Awards: "Titanic"(US), "Character" (Netherlands). Prize-winning Books: Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier and Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Milhauser.

World Beat Festival 1997

In Salem

The Salem Multicultural Institute is founded in February of 1997. Two moms with young daughters saw the need to create a positive, tangible response to growing concern about racial tensions in Salem. This grass-roots effort grew out of meetings in living rooms and coffee shops into a meaningful celebration and year-round community volunteerism, taking the form of a festival, celebrating all of the many cultures that make Oregon such a wonderful place. Their first event, World Beat, was held in Riverfront Park in the next summer. The photograph above is from the 1998 Statesman Journal files with the caption, " Middle Eastern dancer Naia of Eugene whirls across Riverfront Park's outdoor stage in the World Beat Festival and the official dedication of the park."
Held annually at this "front yard" of Salem, the summertime festival has grown from the amphitheater park site, shown above, to encompass the whole 23-acre park with more 250 exhibitors and performing arts groups, 400 volunteers and 70 sponsors involved with the festival annually. The average annual attendance has reached approximately 30,000 guests.
The Institute continues to follow its original vision: to create an environment of openness for all people. SMI aims to be family-friendly, economically inclusive, and culturally authentic. Although a voluntary donation is welcome at all entrance gates, the Institute does not have an entrance fee for its World Beat Festival or for its exhibits at the Reed Opera House World Beat Gallery or lecture series. SMI also hosts an annual Multicultural Ball each October in the Reed Opera House Ballroom.


When you visit

World Beat Gallery in Reed Opera House 2014

 In 2006, the Salem Multicultural Institute moved their office downtown and opened the World Beat Gallery at the Reed Opera House with an exhibit entitled Diversity in the Philippines. The gallery has since hosted other cultural exhibits, including Holidays Around the World, Black Voices from Salem’s Past, Scotland and Her People, Windows into China and three series about international marriage customs. The Performance and Lecture series, which began in 2007, encourages local ethnic communities to showcase cherished traditions in the intimate, historic setting of the Reed. A small staff coordinates the work of volunteers, curates the exhibits and organizes the year-round events

Other events

• Raul Ramirez is the first Hispanic to be elected as Marion County Sheriff. A star athlete and student leader, eighteen-year-old Raul Ramirez was ordered to report to his Woodburn High School principal’s office. There he found the local Police Chief waiting to talk to him. "I didn’t do it," thought Ramirez, sure he was about to be blamed for something. As he explains it, "Back then, law enforcement was not a friend of the Hispanic community. "
  Until then, Ramirez's goal was to be a physical education teacher and work with youth. But his meeting with the Police Chief that day changed his life -- and his future career.
  Police Chief Bob Prinslow wanted Ramirez to help police build relations with teen-agers. "I needed him," Prinslow later said. "There was a lot of juvenile crime at the time and I wanted a leader to help me. Raul was a natural." Ramirez became the department’s first police cadet and was later hired as a part-time dispatcher. Prinslow was the Marion County Under Sheriff when Ramirez was hired as a deputy. The two have remained friends and Prinslow watched proudly as Ramirez replaced him as Marion County Sheriff.
• The Oregon Garden in Silverton is begun with a groundbreaking ceremony in June. It will open to the public in April 1999.
• The transit district, following ADA guidelines, converts buses for the use of disabled patrons.
• The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a minor league baseball team, is organized. They are a Short-Season Class A team in the Northwest League, and are an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. They play their home games at Volcano Stadium that seats 4,252 fans.
• A group of prisoners in the State Penitentiary dig a tunnel 24 feet long before their escape route is discovered.
• In January of 1996, Keiko, the killer whale star of Free Willy and Free Willy II, was moved from Mexico City via cargo plane into his new home at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Over the next 32 months, Keiko is rehabilitated at the aquarium, where more than 2.5 million people pay him a visit. In the fall of 1998, Keiko was moved to a pen in the waters of the North Atlantic off Iceland, rehabilitated for living on his own. He died December 12, 2003, after the sudden onset of pneumonia in the Taknes fjord.
• In 1997 several "Salem Public Library History" exhibits were mounted in the Heritage Room. In March, Tired Old Barns was the exhibit with over 40 Marion Court Historical Society photographs taken by Al Jones. Other collections on display included "Oregon Covered Bridges" and Salem Public Library History.