FALL 2015 SENIOR
CENTRAL SENIORS FORM
LIVING GUIDE
SPECIAL
BOND
Section D
Page10A
Volume 140, Issue 40
www.Polkio.com
October 7, 2015
75¢
IN YOUR TOWN
DALLAS NEWS
If you have a disabled parking placard, do you
know what your privileges are parking in the timed
parking zones in downtown Dallas?
Dallas Police Chief Tom Simpson said it’s a cause
of confusion for permit users from time to time be-
cause the rules can vary by city or county.
There are three types of parking placards.
Simpson said disabled parking placards allow
holders to park in marked disabled parking
spaces, but the same rules apply to them when
parking in timed spaces or metered spaces as to
anyone else.
»Page 3A
FALLS CITY NEWS
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
More than 60 students, faculty and staff at Western Oregon University gathered Saturday for a candlelight vigil in
support of the victims and survivors of a mass-casualty shooting at Umpqua Community College.
STEPS TO RECOVERY
Mass-casualty shooting in Roseburg touches everyone; would we be ready?
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — A bell
chimed and a moment of si-
lence was held Saturday
night at Western Oregon
University for each person
who was shot and killed at
Umpqua Community Col-
lege on Thursday.
Nine times that bell
chimed, following the read-
ing of each person’s name.
Rebecca Strader, a pastor
at WOU and in Falls City,
helped organize the candle-
light vigil, hosted by West-
ern Compass Campus Min-
istry and attended by more
than 60 students and em-
ployees.
The event provided a time
and place for students and
staff at Western to mourn
the mass-casualty event that
brought attention from
around the world, another
school shooting, this time in
Roseburg.
Watching the events un-
fold so close to home made
it clear: it could happen any-
where.
“I don’t think you’re ever
ready, to be honest,” said Re-
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
People helped each other light candles in remembrance.
becca Chiles, WOU’s public
safety director. “But we are
preparing. We are trying to
make sure that our commu-
nity is prepared.”
Chiles said she has
learned from things that
didn’t go quite as planned in
Roseburg. The college’s pub-
lic safety notification system
failed during the active
shooter event.
“We tested our alert sys-
tem this morning,” Chiles
said Monday. “It went well.
We’ve learned new things
about our system.”
Upgrades have made it
possible for Western’s stu-
dents to add their parents to
the alert system, Chiles said.
A few weeks ago, public
safety started hosting a class
called ALICE — alert, lock-
down, inform, counter,
evacuate.
“We’re teaching that to
both our students and our
faculty and staff,” Chiles
said. “It teaches people,
and gives them options
from the moment that they
are alerted that an active
shooting is happening, to
the moment that law en-
forcement arrives to en-
gage the shooter.”
Media relations for WOU
Lisa Catto said she believes
the campus is ready for an
emergency such as an active
shooter.
“Over the past week or so,
a printed emergency proce-
dure quick guide was dis-
tributed around campus,”
she said. “One of the sec-
tions details how to respond
in an active shooter situa-
tion.”
Also, the ALICE training
was given to new students
during New Student Week,
Catto said.
See VIGIL, Page 5A
Meadow Creek property tax up 56 percent
Real market values increased, assessor says, while seniors are outraged
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Residents of Meadow
Creek Village, a manufactured home
park in Dallas, received unwelcome
news in their mailbox a few weeks ago.
Each of the approximately 100 resi-
dents opened a letter from the Polk
County Assessor’s saying property
taxes were about to increase — a lot.
The increase was on average 56 per-
cent, the largest Polk County Assessor
Doug Schmidt had seen in seven years
as the assessor and 18 years before that
as an employee in the office.
The residents, needless to say, were
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
none-to-pleased.
“We are all angry,” said Meadow
Creek resident Vera Cronin. “We all feel
like we are being penalized.”
On Thursday during a meeting at
Meadow Creek, Schmidt heard that,
and a number of other concerns from
residents wondering why their taxes
could make such a huge leap in one
year.
Schmidt answered that it was a
product of home sales in the park that
occurred between January 2014 and
March 2015.
Seven sales were completed in that
time period, six of which sold for
amounts significantly more than the
assessor’s office had for real market
value on the properties.
The pattern was too consistent for
the office to ignore, Schmidt said.
“Those seven sales are indicators of
what we felt the market value was,” he
told the crowd of about 60 gathered to
at the park’s clubhouse Thursday.
Sale prices ranged from $32,500 to
$55,000, in some cases double what the
office had as real market value.
Noticing the trend, Schmidt separat-
ed the park from other similar parks in
the county — before this, they were as-
sessed as a group — and reassessed all
the properties in Meadow Creek.
See TAXES, Page 5A
wed
thu
fri
sat
Pick up your crochet
hook or knitting
needles and join
Yarning for Others in
making clothing for
those in need.
3-5 p.m. Free.
Young Professionals
aged 21 to 45
gather once a
month at businesses
throughout the
county to network.
5:30 p.m. Free.
Listen to the unique
style of 3 Leg Torso
at Western Oregon
University, part of
the Smith Fine Arts
Series.
7:30 p.m. $28.
Tour the Brunk
House at a cider-
pressing event.
Enjoy apple desserts
and pick up a gallon
of fresh cider.
10 a.m.-3 p.m. $5.
AM Showers
Hi: 72
Lo: 52
Partly Sunny
Hi: 74
Lo: 53
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 75
Lo: 59
Rain
Hi: 68
Lo: 54
Every winter those living in an approximately
square mile zone near Sheldon Avenue in Falls City
experience frequent and sudden looding.
Thanks to more than 18 months of detective work
on the part of Oregon State University students,
namely master’s degree candidate, Joe Kemper, res-
idents in the area are closer to inding a cause.
Kemper, a master’s degree candidate in the ield
of water resources engineering, is using the project
as his thesis subject. He hopes to ind feasible ixes
for residents who have been dealing with the prob-
lem for decades.
»Page 13A
INDEPENDENCE NEWS
Pending council approval, youths coming and
going across the city border with Monmouth will
no longer be confused about curfew.
A proposed change to the curfew ordinance will
make it easier for oicers to understand, too, said
Independence Police Chief Bob Mason at a joint
city council work session on Sept. 29.
The councils and mayors from Monmouth and
Independence listened to a joint presentation by
police chiefs Mason and Darrell Tallan on the topic.
The concerns about the inconsistent curfews be-
tween the two cities came up at Independence’s
April council meeting.
»Page 3A
MONMOUTH NEWS
An open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday will
be held at the Monmouth Senior Center to thank the
community for its dedication to seeing the expansion
project completed.
Because of fundraising eforts by the Friends of
the Monmouth Senior Center, donations from the
community, contributions from the city of Mon-
mouth, and grants from the Collins Foundation,
Oregon Community Fund, Meyer Memorial Trust
and Ford Family Foundation, the senior center has
raised enough money to be able to pay for the ex-
pansion.
For more information: 503-838-5678.
POLK COUNTY NEWS
More than 140 students attending schools in
Dallas, Central, Falls City and Perrydale experienced
homelessness during the 2014-15 school year, ac-
cording to a state report released last week.
For the purposes of the report, homeless stu-
dents are deined as: living in shelters, staying in a
motel, sharing housing with relatives or friends, or
living in a car, tent or other substandard housing.
According to the report released by the Oregon
Department of Education on Thursday, two local
school districts saw increases in the number stu-
dents considered homeless: Dallas and Falls City.
»Page 13A
sun
Eat pancakes, hash
browns or French
toast, sausage and
eggs at the Buell
Grange’s monthly
breakfast.
8-11 a.m. $6.
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 68
Lo: 50
mon
tue
Oct.12 annually cel-
ebrates National
Freethought Day. It
is anniversary of the
efective end of the
Salem Witch trials
on Oct. 12, 1692.
Try your hand at
crafting fun at Inde-
pendence Public Li-
brary, where
families may create
fall crafts.
4 p.m. Free.
Mostly Cloudy
Hi: 68
Lo: 48
Sunny
Hi: 73
Lo: 46