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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2022
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Pollen
Continued from Page 1A
double-edged sword, according to Tra-
vis Knudsen, the public affairs manager
for Lane Regional Air Protection Agency.
The rain is beneficial for the local forests
that have endured a drought so far this
year, but it also will encourage plant
growth and can lead to higher pollen
counts, he said.
“It could be great now, but then in a
couple of days it will sort of double
down and see the pollen everywhere
again,” he said, noting that grass pollen
season tends to start around late May or
early June.
One basic tip for those who suffer
from allergies mentioned by Knudsen
was to make sure all doors and windows
are closed to prevent pollen or other
particles from getting in. He also sug-
gested using a HEPA air purifier to im-
prove indoor air quality, and noted hav-
ing a HEPA filter on vacuum cleaners
helps prevent sending harmful particles
airborne inside homes.
“With any sort of dust or pollen that
can be aggravating to people that gets
Resignations
Continued from Page 1A
the condition he takes domestic vio-
lence classes and doesn’t enter a bar or
use alcohol or controlled substances.
Ewing said he left the job because of a
dispute over the terms of his employ-
ment, which he said included being paid
$3,600 for 20 hours of work per week,;
concerns about the district’s contract
with a design studio to build a new fire
station due to ties with a firm his son
works for; and a rumor he was trying to
end the district’s paramedic response.
The district named Chad LaVallee, a
volunteer firefighter, as its acting fire
chief immediately after.
At its board meeting on Jan. 18, board
member Walt Collier resigned. On Feb.
23, the board chose Don Tesdal to re-
place him, but he wasn’t sworn in.
According to the draft minutes of the
Feb. 23 board meeting, LaVallee said the
board was not going to allow public
into the carpet, the moment you
vacuum, if it doesn’t have one of those
filters on it, it sort of throws it all back up
in the air,” Knudsen said.
To measure the pollen count, Oregon
Allergy Associates uses a vacuum pump
that pulls air through a small port on a
measurement device, which is directed
into the wind. The air hits a greased mi-
croscope slide, and afterwards Moran
and others use a microscope and count
how many pollen grains there were over
a 24-hour period to calculate the
amount of pollen period per cubic me-
ter.
Moran noted that grass pollen tends
to be more harmful to people in the area
with allergies than tree pollen, given the
amount of grass seed harvesting in the
Willamette Valley. Oregon has some of
the highest grass pollen counts in the
world, she said, typically reaching its
peak in late May and June.
“When some of these fields pollinate
and you know it’s actually visible to the
naked eye,” she said.
Louis Krauss covers breaking news
for The Register-Guard. Contact him at
lkrauss@registerguard.com, and follow
him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.
Lane County is experiencing some of the highest pollen counts in the nation.
DREAMSTIME/TNS
comment, then proceeded to discuss
how the district could eliminate one of
the two part-time positions, the one
held by Lt. Laura Harris, at the end of
the fiscal year in June.
After community member Vicki Spi-
er objected during the meeting to elim-
inating the position, she said upsetting
comments were made following the
January meeting.
Spier said she wanted the fire district
to move forward and the way to do that
is not to call the community members
“A**holes,” according to the minutes.
LaVallee apologized, according to the
draft minutes.
Board member Linda Stice said she
felt like she was being attacked at the
prior meeting, according to the draft
minutes.
Eric Page, also a Detroit city council-
or, then asked for board member Lyn
Schultz, who did not return a call for
comment, to step down.
On Feb. 24, board members Schultz,
Stice, Charene Ziebert and Jeff Skeeters
resigned. LaVallee said he resigned the
same day. Reached by phone, LaVallee
said a reporter needed to contact the
district for more information.
No one left
With no board members in office,
someone had to appoint new members.
According to state law, it fell on the
Marion County commissioners to deter-
mine who would fill out the board.
One at a time at the county’s office in
Salem on Wednesday, the three county
commissioners gave the names of their
four choices from among the five candi-
dates for positions on the Idanha-De-
troit Rural Fire Protection District board
of directors.
There were some well-credentialed
candidates: two fire chiefs, a mechanic
who volunteers to work on the cars and
trucks for the district and an accountant
who serves in the fire corps.
The commissioners gave their rea-
soning for their choices. They eventual-
ly decided to appoint former Aurora fire
chief Gregory Dyke, former Sublimity
city councilor and career fire chief Bran-
don Hamilton, mechanic Matthew Lof-
ton and accountant Serena Morones.
The department is still without a fire
chief.
“There’s just been this (butting
heads) up there, and I think they’re go-
ing to get the support of community
members around them,” Marion County
commissioner and Detroit resident Kev-
in Cameron said.
Cameron said he received a message
from state fire marshal Mariana Ruiz-
Temple that she was aware of the situa-
tion at Idanha-Detroit. The message
said she had gotten support for nearby
districts to back up Idanha-Detroit if
help was needed.
All four of the new board members
will serve terms to June 30, 2023, when
the positions will be up for election.
The next board meeting is scheduled
for 5 p.m. April 15 at the Idanha City Hall.
Bill Poehler covers Marion County for
the Statesman Journal. He can be
reached
at
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
Dairy
Business Journal listed as the account
member.
Continued from Page 3A
Nest egg depleted by bills
Taylor. It was in the middle of the week,
and the diner was closed during regular
business hours.
An employee let him in, informing
him there was a water leak and Taylor
was out of town.
While there, Miller noticed a Point of
Sale (POS) system on an iPad at the
counter — not the same system Blan-
chard had used — and snapped a photo
of the screen with his cell phone.
The screenshot, which he shared
with the Statesman Journal, shows
gross sales of more than $53,000 for
May 12 to Aug. 25. Sales for those three
months were about what the restaurant
averaged during normal times, accord-
ing to Blanchard, and would have been
enough to pay the bills.
Miller went down to the basement
that day and said there were so many
boxes of empty beer cans it looked like a
frat house. He also saw a bed and mat-
tresses. Next to a couch was a five-gal-
lon bucket full of mail, most of it un-
opened. Miller showed the Statesman
Journal photos on his cell phone.
It looked like people lived in the base-
ment, which the building manager said
was not allowed by fire code.
Miller said he inspected the walk-in
freezer and saw food and produce im-
properly stored. He also saw black mold
on the wall. He couldn’t believe food
from that freezer had been served to
customers.
He said he called Taylor, who had no
idea he was standing inside the restau-
rant, informing him that he planned to
change the locks. Taylor didn’t argue
much, but Miller said he mentioned
something about an attorney and that
he was in Mexico.
Miller told him he’d be happy to talk
to his attorney.
The next day, Taylor sent Blanchard
back-to-back texts, which the States-
man Journal saw on her phone.
“I will be back home this Weekend.
The restaurant is fully stocked with gro-
ceries. We need to meet with your attor-
ney on Monday. I have worked very hard
for the restaurant as you know. We have
a amicable settlement. My rent check
cleared a few days ago to Keith. And I
just paid AutoChlor. Locking me out of
the building helps no one. I need a de-
fault notice from you.
“Then legally I have 30 days to settle.
Let’s not fuss. Care too much about you
Marlene.”
She said she had no clue what he
meant by settlement. The building
manager told the Statesman Journal
Taylor paid only $500 of the $1,500
lease in August. The diner leased its
commercial dishwasher from Auto-
Chlor System.
Taylor and Punley sold the Salem
Business Journal last fall, not long after
Miller changed the locks at Court Street
Dairy.
Taylor was last listed as the publisher
in the masthead of the September issue.
Jonathan Castro Monroy and Jesse
Lippold Peone III took over in October as
co-owners. Castro Monroy is the pub-
lisher.
Castro Monroy said Taylor told him
during negotiations he wanted to sell
because he was retiring, had health is-
sues and was moving out of the area.
In December, Taylor filed a new busi-
ness with the Secretary of State’s office
called Mark PR. Perry B. Taylor is listed
as the registrant and owner, with both
the Salem P.O. Box address he used for
the Salem Business Journal and his
most recent residential address, a con-
dominium in Lake Oswego.
Taylor moved out of the condo in
early February, according to the neigh-
bor next door, and it recently sold. Tay-
lor’s wife was listed as the owner.
No criminal charges or civil lawsuits
have been filed against Taylor in relation
to his involvement with Court Street
Dairy Lunch.
Taylor maintained he owned the res-
taurant but never answered the States-
man Journal’s emailed questions, in-
cluding why he would allow Blanchard
to “repossess” it if he had legally pur-
chased it or why the lease and utility
bills were unpaid.
“I did the best I could running the res-
taurant,” he said during the phone call.
“I owe nobody money.”
Blanchard was able to sell the busi-
ness in September to Repplinger and a
partner. But after bills, her nest egg was
gone.
Her son consulted an attorney to see
if they had grounds for a civil case
against Taylor. The biggest concern for
the attorney, Miller said, was that Blan-
chard did not have a legal document
that would hold Taylor accountable. Ev-
erything was based on trust.
Miller broke the news to his mom,
who was embarrassed but more hurt by
what had happened.
“The story has got to get out about
him,” Blanchard said, “so nobody else
trusts him.”
She continues to battle cancer and
may face more chemo and radiation. But
she recently received good news. A scan
showed the tumor in her pancreas has
shrunk.
Capi Lynn is a veteran reporter at the
Statesman Journal. She can be reached
at 503-399-6710 or clynn@Statesman-
Journal.com, or follow her on Twitter
@CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiL-
ynnSJ.
This box of business cards was discovered at Court Street Dairy Lunch by former
owner Marlene Blanchard's son in late August after the locks were changed on
the restaurant. CAPI LYNN / STATESMAN JOURNAL
That weekend, Taylor arranged a
time to clear out the basement and
gather some personal belongings at the
diner. Miller said it wound up being a
three-day process. Blanchard said Tay-
lor took several things belonging to the
restaurant, including plates and a pani-
ni press.
Blanchard never was contacted by an
attorney representing Taylor.
The restaurant remained closed until
it sold to its current owners in Septem-
ber. Repplinger was one of the buyers.
Unpaid bills, utilities pile up
Court Street Dairy Lunch needed
some repairs and a deep cleaning before
Blanchard could sell.
One side of the fryer wasn’t working.
When Blanchard contacted the repair
company she had used in the past it de-
clined to do service, saying it never was
paid for work done while Taylor was
overseeing operations.
That was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Statesman Journal saw the stack
of unpaid bills and collection agency
notices, including $20,000 for the lease,
$28,500 to American Express and near-
ly $19,000 to Bank of America. The latter
two were accounts Blanchard used to
buy produce and other groceries from
regular suppliers.
She doesn’t remember the balances
before her cancer diagnosis and doesn’t
know if Taylor made charges to the ac-
counts because the bills were going to
the restaurant.
With no payments made for more
than a year, she and her son said the bal-
ances soared because of late fees and
rising interest rates. Both accounts were
turned over to collection agencies.
Unpaid utilities added up, too.
From what Blanchard could piece to-
gether, the restaurant was on a CO-
VID-19 payment plan for some utilities.
But months of electric, gas and garbage
bills — about $3,000 worth — still went
unpaid and further depleted her pro-
ceeds from the sale of the business.
Blanchard had to settle with the
building owner before the sale could go
through.
She had a longtime relationship with
the Morris family, which had owned and
operated the diner for three generations
and still owns the building.
She always paid the monthly lease on
time and was current through March
2020, according to records provided to
the Statesman Journal by the Morris
family.
Keith Morris, 95, the son of Court
Street Dairy founder Glenn Morris, is
the building owner. His son, Michael
Morris, had been managing the building
but became ill in 2020 and died in Janu-
ary 2021.
Keith’s son-in-law, Clyde Tambling,
took over and went to work on a forensic
analysis of building finances.
Records were muddled during that
time, according to Tambling.
He said he had contact with Taylor,
who acted as if he were the owner or at
least someone with authority. He said
Taylor told him he made payments of
$500 in cash to Michael Morris when he
could, but never provided proof.
Taylor told the Statesman Journal he
made those payments weekly.
“The rent was only $1,500, and we
were paying $2,000,” Taylor said during
the phone call. “I have a record of it.”
When asked to provide those records
to the Statesman Journal, Taylor said:
“Who are you to see our records? You’re
just a (expletive) newspaper. Are you
kidding me?”
Tambling informed Taylor he
wouldn’t accept cash payments, and
Taylor wrote him a check for $500 that
day. But Tambling said that was the last
he saw for two months.
Taylor intermittently made partial
payments, Tambling said. But after it
was all said and done, Court Street
Dairy Lunch was behind $20,000 on the
lease from spring 2020 to fall 2021.
Tambling knew the restaurant had to
be behind on utilities, too. The build-
ing’s water was shut off for a couple of
days in September. Tambling discov-
ered some of Court Street Dairy’s util-
ities had been transferred under the Sa-
lem Business Journal name.
Blanchard showed the Statesman
Journal a Salem Electric bill with Salem