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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 2021)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2021 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Proposed chicken ranch ruffles feathers Neighbors fear loss of area’s tranquility Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK SCIO – Glenda and Monty Brooking tired of the chaotic city life in Tualatin and wanted a peaceful place in the country. Two years ago, they found it on a secluded “mini- farm” at the end of a dirt road, surrounded by farm fields mid-way between Jefferson and Scio where the only distractions are the North Santiam River a quar- ter-mile away and the stunning view of the snow- capped Cascade Mountain range to the east. There are days when the only traffic by her house is her driving down the dirt road to go to work or neigh- 'They bought a place isolated' bor Cassandra Schrunk riding a horse, with a three- legged dog trailing behind. Last summer, a neighboring farm was put up for sale and the Brookings briefly considered purchasing it, but the advertised price was too steep. The person who did buy the property, Eric Simon, has proposed to turn about 20 of the acres of what is now grass seed into 12, 60-foot by 600-foot chicken coops – and an accompanying barn for manure and wood shavings – to raise 580,000 broiler chickens at a time for Foster Farms. The Brookings' paradise could soon be changed for- ever. “I’ve never lived next to a chicken farm, so I don’t know,” Glenda Brooking said. Brooking and a number of neighbors are concerned about how the proposed chicken ranch will impact their tranquil piece of the world. They’re concerned about how their quiet arm could soon have multiple semis driving on the dirt road past it multiple times a day, how the view from her living room would change from a field of fescue to large white barns with huge fans on the exterior -- all servicing hundreds of thousands of chickens. The estimated size of each flock is 580,000 chick- ens, with the facility growing six flocks per year. That adds up to 3.4 million chickens a year — a lot of poultry going down the skinny road in front of the Brookings' house. See CHICKENS, Page 3A Lyndsey Rosas-Ortiz’s doughnut creations are worth a drive Emily Teel Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK An artist’s rendering of the proposed additions (in yellow) to the Judy Schmidt Memorial Skate Park in honor of Jason Franz. GEOFF PARKS/ SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Community effort to expand Silverton skate park hits its mark Geoff Parks Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Maybe he’d just recently been sitting in a hard met- al chair answering reporter’s questions for too long, because Dakota Becerra slid into the bowl but just couldn’t hit a gnarly RockNRoll like the Ripper he is. Becerra, 17, and boarder buddy Ethan Piaskowski, 18, were at Silverton’s Judy Schmidt Memorial Skate Park to skate a bit and show off the smoothness and challenges of the bowls. Becerra — to translate the above skater lingo — was flubbing a maneuver (unlike the veteran he is), while Piaskowski paced himself with shimmery patterns across the bowl. Also with them was community advocate Sue Roessler. All three later described how close the com- munity is to welcoming a new addition to Silverton’s impressive little skate park. The park was named for former Silverton City Council member Judy Schmidt, who worked closely with dozens of volunteers to make the park a reality in 2013. Now, other community volunteers like Roessler, Becerra and Piaskowski have done the same for the coming expansion of the park. The expansion will include features tailored to be- ginning skaters along with a bench for parents and others who want to watch the action. Also to be in- cluded is a memorial wall and plaque dedicated to Ja- son Franz, whose decade of volunteer work resulted in the completion of the original park in 2013. “It took (Franz) a really, really long time to get the How to make the doughnuts See SKATE PARK, Page 2A Oregon wildfires leave smaller landowners scrambling for seedlings as demand spikes Adam Duvernay Register-Guard USA TODAY NETWORK Last year’s wildfires created a shortage of seed- lings available for replanting burned and logged trees, a situation that could put smaller landowners in a bind. Much of the land scorched by wildfires like the Beachie Creek Fire left private and industrial timber- land with damaged and destroyed trees, leading to a great deal of logging and a West Coast-wide demand for seedlings to replace them. Industrial logging has, in some cases, shifted to harvesting burned trees in an attempt to salvage mar- ketable timber. Private landowners are harvesting, too, but often lack the resources and planning for re- placement seedlings larger timber producers have. “The wildfire situation has really only exacerbated a situation that’s been of concern specifically for small landowners for some time,” Private Forests Di- vision Family Forest Land Coordinator Ryan Gordon said. “Wildfire strikes unpredictably in unpredictable areas, so it’s difficult to plan for it. It takes a few years to turn a seed into a seedling.” News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: h Photo galleries Karin Young, a food broker with Rich Products Corporation, supplies Rosas-Ortiz with the glazes, frostings and par-fried doughnuts she uses as the canvas for her creations. The Stop-N-Save doesn’t have the full ventilation system and equipment to make the doughnuts and toppings from scratch. Similar to many grocery store bakeries, Rosas-Ortiz’s creations are based on fro- zen, par-fried donuts she finishes baking in the See DOUGHNUT, Page 2A Replanting required by law Oregon law requires replanting after harvesting trees for timber, but there now is a spike in demand for See SHORTAGE, Page 4A Vol. 140, No. 15 Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Inside a retro bakery case in a Scio convenience store, next to the bait cooler, you’ll find doughnuts people line-up for on weekends. Lyndsey Rosas-Ortiz, deli manager of the Stop-N- Save, somehow finds enough time in between stints at the register and making pasta salad and dunking jojos into the fryer, to dream up doughnuts. By the time she’s walking the day’s tray of dough- nuts over to the case, in her head she’s already think- ing about the next task on her list. “Right now I’m just trying to get my back stock done so I can concentrate on my hot case and get my lunch specials out.” Her story bears a few similarities to Waitress, Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film, now also a Broadway musical, about a waitress who daydreams fantastical pies as a way of expressing herself and hopes to one day have a bakery of her own. Where Shelly’s main character, Jenna Hunterson, invents pies — strawberry chocolate oasis pie, deep- dish blueberry bacon pie, marshmallow mermaid pie — Rosas-Ortiz dreams in doughnuts. Every week, she finds inspiration in the store aisles — produce, cereal, candy. The owners of the store, she said, have been very supportive of her doughnuts endeavors. “It makes it a lot easier to be creative if I can just walk down an aisle,” see a grocery item that gives her an idea “and say, ‘Oh that’s what I’m going to do.’” She typically offers four special flavors each week in addition to a limited selection of classic glazed, plain chocolate, and maple. She shares the dough- nuts she dreams up on Facebook in a group called “Scio Stop N Save Deli Specials!“ More than 2,400 people have joined the Facebook group. One recent week, Rosas-Ortiz’s creations were: h a doughnut dusted in sugar and split open like a sandwich, filled with cream and fresh strawberries and raspberries; h thick chocolate enrobed a s’mores doughnut h a double-dipped take on maple bacon; h a bright turquoise doughnut inspired by an ice cream sundae, topped with caramel sauce, shards of waffle cone and a cherry on top; h glossy red sour cherry pie filling crowned clouds of piped cream rosettes on a cherry cheesecake do- nut. “During the week if I put this stuff out it usually doesn’t sell, because everybody’s just going to work, but on the weekends they’re like, let’s take our kids for some fun.” She fills the case at 8 a.m. on weekends and said people are frequently waiting in the parking lot al- ready. Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal QEAJAB-07403y ©2021 50 cents Printed on recycled paper Lyndsey Rosas-Ortiz with her donuts at the Stop-N-Save on March 4 in Scio. ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
