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Lane County, Oregon
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eGovernment
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RIS Celebrates 40th Anniversary!
See reunion photos here:
Photos page 1 Photos page 2 Photos page 3 Photos page 4 Photos page 5
On Saturday, January 24th, 2004 there was a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Lane County Regional Information System. All people who have worked for RIS or with RIS were invited. About 80 people attended, with attendees coming from Georgia, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona, as well as the Pacific Northwest. Well over half of those attending began their association with RIS in the 1960s or early 1970s.
The event was held in the EWEB North Building with a beautiful view of the Willamette River. People began arriving at 11:00am, and at 1:00pm there was a program of speakers introduced by RIS Director Paul White, who began the program by recounting some of the events prior to 1964 that led to the formation of the Lane County Cooperative Computer Center that later became the Lane County Regional Information System. The second speaker was Pauline "Polly" Parks, wife of Keith Parks who was Lane County CAO during the years in which the RIS organization was formed. She spoke of her memories of the people and events from 40 years ago when computers were first being used by local government in Lane County in ways not yet happening anywhere else in the nation. The third speaker was Ken Omlid, former member of the Lane County Board of County Commissioners and Lane County Tax Assessor prior to his election to the BCC. He spoke of the importance of the early use of computers in Lane County government and some of the challenges that needed to be overcome in automating County functions. The final speaker was Paul Weber, who was RIS Director until 1977 and the person who led the formation of RIS. He spoke about what made RIS special and successful, and he called upon the audience to share their thoughts and memories of that as well.
The anniversary celebration was organized by Gerald Betts (RIS/EWEB 1969 - 2003), Knut Jensen (IBM 1968 - 1993), Paul Weber (RIS 1964 - 1977), and Paul White (RIS 1973-present). Catering was provided by Cafe Lafayette, and EWEB donated the use of their building for the event. Wally Leja (Lane County 1989 - 2003) took photographs that are posted for viewing by clicking the links at the top of this page.
