Former Marion County Judge
Launches Practice as Mediator
Pamela Abernethy,
Mediator, Arbitrator & Judge
After completing 18 years of service as a
Marion County judge, Pamela Abernethy is
launching the next phase of her career as a
mediator, arbitrator, and litigator in Salem.
Pamela Abernethy has
joined the firm of Harrang
Long Gary Rudnick P.C.
and will begin working fulltime
on January 3, 2012
in the firm’s Salem office,
serving clients in Portland,
Salem, Eugene, and the
mid-Willamette Valley.
Ms. Abernethy will serve
as a mediator, arbitrator,
and reference judge in all
areas of law, including:
business and tort litigation;
transaction disputes;
professional liability
actions; employment and labor matters;
personal injury claims; and family and
probate matters. She will also practice as an
attorney with an emphasis on government
and public law and complex civil litigation.
While on the bench, Abernethy handled
an individual calendar of civil and criminal
cases and spent 8 years as the juvenile
court judge. Prior to serving on the bench,
Abernethy was an experienced civil litigator
in both state and federal courts. She worked
for 12 years as a civil litigator for the Oregon
Department of Justice where she also held
a variety of top management positions
including Special Counsel to the Attorney
General, Chief Counsel and
Administrator for the Civil
Enforcement Division and
was the founding attorney
in charge of the Special
Litigation Unit.
“We are looking forward
to the additional energy,
experience, and presence
that Pamela will bring to our
Salem office and the firm as
she launches the next stage
in an already distinguished
and accomplished
professional career,” said
Jens Schmidt, President
at Harrang Long Gary Rudnick P.C. “She
brings a wealth of expertise to the firm in
a wide variety of legal areas along with a
deep understanding of human conflict and
systems change.”
A long-time Salem resident, Abernethy
graduated cum laude from Willamette
University College of Law and clerked for
the Oregon Supreme Court and Oregon
Court of Appeals.
Valley Credit Union Donates Hundreds Of Pounds
Of Pet Food To Willamette Humane Society
Valley Credit Union was thrilled to deliver
hundreds of pounds of cat and dog good
to the Willamette Humane Society’s Pet
Food Bank. The food, purchased from a
staff charitable giving fund and donated by
members, will help families keep pets fed
and safe in their homes this winter.
“The tenacity of our staff and members
never ceases to amaze me. Their efforts will
ensure families can properly feed their pets
during this tough economy, keeping them in
their homes and out of shelters,” said Jean
Wheat-Palm, President and CEO of Valley
Credit Union.
WHS’s Pet Food Bank is designed to help
keep pets in homes by offering temporary,
limited food assistance to area dog and cat
owners experiencing financial hardship.
Last year, they distributed more than 14,000
pounds of food.
In addition to donations brought in by
members, Valley’s
staff used monies
from a charitable
payroll deduction
fund to purchase
additional cat and
dog food. The fund
is supported by
money allocated
from employees’
p a y c h e c k s
voluntarily each
month to support
charitable causes
throughout the year.
The Willamette
Humane Society was
founded in 1965 and serves Marion and
Polk counties. It is dedicated to promoting
the welfare of animals through leadership,
education and action. For more information
on WHS, visit
willamettehumane.
org.
Valley Credit
Union is a locallybased
financial
cooperative serving
employees, students
and volunteers in
the Healthcare and
Wellness fields,
employees of the
Postal Service and
courier providers,
and their families in
the Mid-Willamette
Valley.
For questions or additional information,
please contact Steve Pagenstecher, VP
Member Relations at Valley Credit Union
at 503-364-7999 or stephen@vhpecu.org.
The Year In Review, Happy New Year
Bill Isabell At Large
Two thousand and eleven was a very At Large Bill Isab ell
interesting year for me as a columnist
for the Salem Business Journal (SBJ).
Last year I wrote columns on 10 people,
1 organization and 1 event. In case you
missed those columns, here’s a list for you.
If you see one you didn’t get to read, maybe
about someone you know, all you have to
do is go on-line at salembusinessjournal.
com, hit “Past Issues” and select the issue
you want to read.
Starting off the year in January, I wrote
about a dentist you might even look forward
to visiting. Dr. Robert Friess, general
dentist, was my subject matter that month
(fyiofdentistry.com). He’s been practicing
around Salem for over 34 years so I know a
lot of folks living here know him and maybe
even members of his wonderful family
several of whom work with him. Not only
is his family wonderful but the dental work
he does is pretty good too. In the words of
one of his assistants, Jolene Mitchel, “he’s
an absolute artist whose equal she’s never
seen”.
We all have
interesting
unique
stories
to tell,
whether
we admit
or even
understand
it or not. What's your story?
In February I revisited the very first
column I’d written for the SBJ where I
analyzed that year’s Salem and laid out my
plans for future columns. In this February
column I identified where we are now in
contrast to that first column and all of the
positive changes I’d witnessed since June
of 2005. I summarized that we’d come a
long way.
March’s column took us through the life
of my good friend, Greg Astley, paying
particular attention to his past experience
as a cheerleader for the University of
Oregon and as a “temporary” Puddles, the
Oregon Duck mascot and his life-long and
continuing obsession with Elvis Presley
and the 49ers.
I also examined his business, Astley
Consulting Group (astleygroup.com), a
multimedia communications, public affairs
and political consulting firm where, Greg
states proudly, “At the end of the day I want
to help people succeed”.
In May I shed some light on Marlene
Blanchard, owner of Court Street Dairy
Lunch (courtstreetdairylunch.com) where
I have lunch nearly every Friday with
two of my special friends, Lon St Dennis
(he winters in Phoenix) and Dr. Maury
Johnson (Johnson and Associates, Inc.).
Marlene’s been involved with Court Street
Dairy Lunch in one way or another as
cook, partner, and sole owner, since it
passed from the Morris family in April
1994. The oldest restaurant in Salem where
“everybody” goes!
Also in May, I wrote about a
competitive cheerleading gym here in
Salem Champion Cheer Athletics (CCA,
championcheerathletics.com). I discovered
them through my daughter, Taylor, who
was recruited away from her senior year of varsity basketball at Sprague by them in the
fall of 2010. Taylor had always wanted to
give competitive cheerleading a try and this
was her last chance. I wrote how CCA was an
unsung ambassador of Salem from Seattle,
Washington to Dallas, Texas and down to
Anaheim, California and that it had won
a number of national championships that
were never written about in the local paper.
CCA with 5 teams formed from 150 female
student athletes from
just about every
elementary, middle
and high school in
the Salem/Keizer
area, and beyond,
led by owner/coach,
Lynelle Blum, that
competition season
won these titles:
National Grand
Champion, National
Champions twice,
and Best Regional
Program for the
season. Seventeen
fifty McGilchrist St
SE is there new home
now. Check it out.
And, as I always do
every year in June’s
edition, I wrote
about the fabulous
n o t - f o r - p r o f i t
World Beat Festival
(worldbeatfestival.
org) which always
occurs on the last
weekend in June
at Riverfront Park,
and the governing
body, the Salem
M u l t i c u l t u r a l
Institute (SMI)
located on the second
floor in Roger Yost’s
Reed Opera House.
The inaugural
Salem World Beat
Festival, “The
Beat” was held in
conjunction with the
grand opening of
Salem’s long-awaited Riverfront Park on
June 27-28, 1998. Two thousand and eleven
was The Beat’s 14th anniversary and, as
someone who helped found it 15 years ago,
I’m proud and humbled to say the World
Beat Festival, as of June, 2011, has been
honored, thanks to all of the hundreds of
volunteers, by these awards, among others,
has been named by the Oregon Festival
and Events Association:2006 & 2007 Best Cultural Heritage Event; 2008 Best
Festival in Oregon; 2009 Best Performing
Arts Event; and 2010 Best Music Program
Within a Festival.The Festival will be held
June 30 and July 1st 2012.
Because of the positive connections made
at the festival, the organization’s volunteers
have been called to serve the community in
many other areas of cultural programming,
referrals and committee work throughout
the year.
July brought a column on Shawn Abbey
and his business, Abbey Carpet Care. “Rug
Boy” as I’ve been known to affectionately
call him, like all of those people who
preceded him in my column, had an
extremely interesting story. Shawn’s
been a very active Salem Chamber of
Commerce member having served as past
Greeter’s Chair from 2004 to 2005. He’s currently a Chamber
Ambassador and
past Chamber
Ambassador Chair.
He also currently serves on the Chamber’s
Greeters Advisory Council
Check out Shawn’s website at:
abbeycarpetcare.com. And if you’re
looking for the “right” carpet cleaner in
Salem following your holiday parties and
someone who does any and all the things
that Abbey Carpet Care does, look no
further than Shawn Abbey. Abbey Carpet
Care, committed to excellence!
Speaking of the Salem Area Chamber
of Commerce (salemchamber.org), my
August column was centered on its new
president and CEO, Jason Brandt. It had
to do with whether readers and members
were comfortable with a new Chamber
leader as young as Jason. Well, all concerns
should have been put to rest after reading
my August column. I identified many of
his accomplishments, talents, skills and
business philosophy which, ironically,
mirrored his extremely popular and
successful mentor, the previous president
and CEO of the Chamber, Mike McLaran.
Today, it appears to me that he’s continuing
on Mike’s path with passion, energy and
full commitment to the Chamber and to the
community as a whole.
In September I wrote about an amazing
woman, Bry Taylor, owner and operator
of Hot Rod Hair in Dallas, Oregon
(hotrodhair.com). Bry is someone who is
not your stereotypical hair stylist. I noted
how she has a class A Commercial Drivers
License, holds a Competent Toast Masters
(CTM) designation from Toastmasters
International, won all kinds of rodeo
pageants, can ride horses with the best
of’em, races cars, promotes car shows,
works on cars, styles hair and is soon to
lead the largest business networking group
in Salem, The Salem Area Chamber of
Commerce’s weekly Greeters networking
group (150 to 200 strong), among other
things.
October’s column was on long time
restaurateur and native Salemite, Scott
Collette, the current manager of my
favorite coffee shop, French Press Coffee
and Crepes (FPCC) at the corner of South
Commercial and Fairview Avenue. As I
stated in my column, Scott’s had a lot of
experience in restaurants, some that he
even owned (remember Collette’s where
Copper Hill just recently closed its doors)
in his life but FPCC seems to be the best
fit of all, and he sees a very positive future
ahead. If you frequent FPCC then you know
how great it is and what a great guy Scott
is. If you’ve never been there or haven’t
been there for awhile, you’re missing out
on something special. Visit the web site at:
frenchpressroasters.com and by all means,
try the new deserts.
In November, it was my pleasure to
interview one of the neatest couples I
know, Todd and Brenda Londin, owners
of ABC Window Cleaners & Building
Maintenance. As successful as they are
with their businesses, what emerged from
that interview was how important it is to
them to do what they can to take care of
their fellow men and women, and I don’t
just mean employees. They use their
businesses as vehicles to accomplish that
end and it really comes across when you
meet them or check out their web site at:
www.abcwindowsor.com.
And finally, the last column I wrote for
2011, December’s column, was on the Union
Gospel Mission’s (UGM) Mike Rideout.
His mantra is: RESTORING HOPE AND
RESTORING LIVES and he and his wife
work to that end each and every day. I
reported how Mike had been living in the
fast lane but not happy. Changing all of
that would prove to be the most important
decision of their lives and, lucky for us,
ultimately led them to Salem, Oregon’s
UGM in 2007.
Mike dispelled the myth that the UGM
need coincides with the Christmas season.
The revenue opportunity occurs best
then (and when he must raise 65% of his
operating costs and not looking so good
in 2011) and it’s when the public usually
responds, but the need is year round. You
can find all the information about the
UGM’s numerous programs listed on their
web site at: www.ugmsalem.org. They need
you now more than ever so please, do what
you can.
So there you have it. That’s what I
wrote about in 2011. Again, if you see one
above you didn’t get to read, maybe about
someone you know, all you have to do is go
on-line at salembusinessjournal.com, hit
“Past Issues” and select the issue you want
to read.
I have some interviews lined up for 2012
and am anxiously awaiting the extremely
interesting stories from those people. It’s
always funny how my subjects typically
don’t think they are very interesting but in
each and every case, they are. We all have
interesting unique stories to tell whether
we admit or even understand it or not.
What’s your story? How’d you get where
you are today? Maybe I’ll be calling you in
2012.
Happy New Year again and thanks for
reading the Salem Business Journal and
me.
Bill Isabell is chief meteorologist for
KBZY Radio, 1490am and a property and
casualty specialist for Vandelay Allstate
Insurance Agency at 735 Browning Ave
SE, Suite 120, in Salem, Oregon
