14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 21, 2015
Polk County Sports, News
Listener: Braun works with several groups
Continued from Page 1A
“We have to see some re-
ally horrendous things and
we have to deal with that as
individuals. He helps us out
individually, as well as the
public, trying to deal with
death.”
Braun, 55, said his gift for
helping people through their
worst moments is a God-
centered calling, as well as a
family trait. Braun’s father,
George, was a Mennonite
pastor in Canada for more
than 40 years.
Growing up, Braun didn’t
want to be a pastor. He
wanted to be an architect,
but he enrolled in Bible
school, a family require-
ment, anyway. The mini-
mum one year turned to two
after Braun met his future
wife, Debbie.
The couple decided to get
married and Braun left Bible
school to find work, but soon
“the family business” called.
In 1989, the family — Ken
and Debbie with their two
children, son Jason and
daughter Teri — moved to
Fresno, Calif., where he at-
tended graduate school.
His plan was to finish
graduate school and find a
church to lead in his home
country.
However, his wife, had
considered that another sce-
nario was possible.
During the move, Debbie
turned to him and said:
“What happens if God wants
you to have a church here in
the States?” he recalled.
“I turned to her and said,
‘He won’t do that. He knows I
don’t want to be here.’”
God, as they say, had
other plans.
After graduating in 1992,
he started looking for
churches with a couple in
Canada looking promising.
However, at the same time
members of the Mennonite
Brethren Church in Dallas
asked to interview him.
Dallas, Oregon, was not
Canada, but he kept his
mind open.
“I had a friend who was in
seminary with me who had
grown up here in Dallas and
he thought it would be a
good fit for me,” Braun said.
After an interview, the
church’s selection commit-
tee asked him to come to the
church to “candidate.” Like
an internship, “candidating”
has a prospective pastor
work in the church for a pe-
riod of time to see if it’s a
good fit.
It was.
He moved to Dallas in Au-
gust 1992 and was the pastor
at the church until January
2005, when he resigned. The
church closed a week later.
“That was devastating for
me,” Braun said.
He was no longer a pastor,
but within weeks Braun
found another role.
In 1983, the Mennonite
Brethren Church started the
mediation service Victim Of-
fender Reconciliation Pro-
gram (VORP), now Commu-
nity Mediation Service for
Polk County. In 2005, the
VORP executive director was
stepping down and the orga-
nization’s board was looking
for a replacement.
A VORP board member
with mediation experience,
Braun was nominated.
“It actually felt like a pretty
good fit,” Braun said.
Careful listening is equally
important when serving as a
mediator, but so is fostering
another skill that is quickly
going by the wayside: talking
face to face.
VORP typically works with
the victims and perpetrators
of property crime, a surpris-
ingly traumatic experience
for victims.
Braun said healing begins
with the perpetrator sincere-
ly admitting to the crime —
something that doesn’t al-
ways happen during a crimi-
nal trial.
“Then they (victims) get to
say, ‘This is what it was like to
have that done to me. This is
how my life has changed,’”
he said, noting that is often
eye-opening for the offender.
Braun has seen people
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Braun is involved in four Polk County Service Integration Teams. Here he attends the SIT for Central School District.
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Ken Braun stacks wood at the barn in Dallas where the Royal Order of the Red Sus-
penders stores the donated firewood it collects, splits and delivers to people in need.
who at the beginning
couldn’t be more distrustful
of each other hug at the end
of mediation.
“Those are the transfor-
mational kinds of things that
can happen when you sit
down and have a conversa-
tion,” Braun said.
Braun’s community in-
volvement doesn’t stop there.
He’s a member of four Polk
County Service Integration
Teams, a group of agencies
and organizations in a com-
munity that meet regularly to
help those in need, and on
the board of the Dallas Min-
isterial Association. He also
attends the Victim Impact
Panel, part of the county’s
DUII diversion program.
One or two Saturdays a
month, he does something
entirely different as a mem-
ber of the Royal Order of the
Red Suspenders. The group
— yes, members wear red
suspenders — is organized
through Salem Alliance
Church and collects, splits
and delivers firewood to
those who can’t afford it.
“They are a great bunch of
people. Our sole purpose is
to split wood. It’s a really fun
change of pace for me,
where I really don’t have to
listen to people,” Braun said,
smiling. “I put on earmuffs
and run a chain saw.”
Burn: Training key for firefighters Readiness: Test
Continued from Page 1A
When asked how it felt to
know she could join the fight
on the next fire, Welsh said:
“I don’t even know what to
say. I’m overwhelmed. It’s a
feeling beyond any other.”
Dallas Fire Chief Fred Her-
tel said now that Dallas no
longer has its own training
facility, Saturday’s burn to
learn is all the more impor-
tant for new firefighters like
Welsh and veterans alike.
“Every house is unique, so
every house presents its own
challenges,” Hertel said.
“This is the only way we can
get those challenges on a
semi-consistent basis.”
Hoxie said he was grateful
for the donation and for resi-
dents putting up with traffic
delays and smoke so crews
could train.
After running several exer-
cises, firefighters lit one last
fire and let the house burn,
monitored closely. The fiery
spectacle drew a small
crowd, huddled under um-
brellas and rain coats in the
persistent downpour Satur-
day afternoon.
“We have an awesome,
great group of volunteers
and we are always looking
for more,” Hertel said. “And if
anybody wants to volunteer,
they get to come and have
exciting days like this.”
To volunteer or donate a
structure for training, call
503-831-3530.
results can help
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Smoke begins to drift from the house as a crew awaits its
turn to put out a training fire set during Saturday’s “burn
to learn” exercise on Orchard Drive in Dallas.
Continued from Page 16A
“That’s part of what we
look at to give us an aware-
ness when they walk in the
door,” he said. “This gives
us a foundation: what do
these kids look like and
what are their needs?”
Falls City kindergarten
teacher Katie Waugh said
she does use the ODE as-
sessments to guide her in-
struction.
“We use Easy CBM, an
online program where all of
these (state) tests actually
originate,” Waugh said
about the Falls City School
District. “We are able to use
this data at the beginning of
the year to see where (stu-
dents) are at and meet
them where they’re at.”
Either way, through state
assessments or teacher test-
ing, knowing where a
kindergarten student is
when he or she walks in the
door is important, Waugh
said.
“If it’s too easy, they’ll get
bored and frustrated and
have problems,” she said.
“If it’s too hard, they get
frustrated and have prob-
lems, too.”
Deadine for reporting Oregon hunting results is Jan. 31
Itemizer-Observer staff report
SALEM — Any hunter who purchased 2014 big
game or turkey tags needs to report their hunt re-
sults by the deadline, which is Jan. 31 for most tags.
Hunters are required to report results on each
deer, elk, cougar, bear, pronghorn and turkey tag
purchased — even if they were not successful or
did not hunt. Sports Pac license holders need to re-
port on each big game or turkey tag issued.
Hunters have two ways to report their information:
Online via www.odfw.com or reportmyhunt.com
either at home or by visiting an ODFW office with
a computer available for hunter reporting.
By telephone: Call 1-866-947-6339 to talk to a
customer service representative. Hours are 6 a.m.
to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
Reporting deadlines are:
Jan. 31 for all 2014 hunts that end by Dec. 31.
April 15 for all 2014 hunts that end between Jan.
1 and March 31, 2015.
Hunters need the following pieces of informa-
tion to report, which takes just a couple of minutes:
Hunter/Angler ID number (located on ODFW li-
censes, tags and applications; this is a permanent
number that stays the same from year-to-year)
The two digit Wildlife Management Unit (WMU)
number of the Unit you hunted in most and the
Unit you harvested an animal in if successful (see
pages 94-95 of 2014 Big Game Regulations or
Hunting Unit Maps webpage).
The total number of days hunted (including
mentoring youth), the number of days hunted in
the WMU hunted most, and the number of days
hunted in the WMU you harvested an animal in if
successful.
Hunters who fail to report 2014 deer or elk tags
on time will be penalized $25 when they purchase
a 2016 hunting license. This penalty is assessed
once, regardless of the number of unreported tags.
“The information hunters provide is used when
setting controlled hunt tag numbers and hunting
seasons,” said ODFW Game Program Manager
Tom Thornton. “We really appreciate hunters tak-
ing a few minutes of their time to complete the re-
port.”
ODFW used to get this data through phone sur-
veys, but these became more difficult and expen-
sive as hunters moved or screened their calls. The
mandatory reporting program was put in place in
2007 so these calls could be phased out.
A penalty of $25 was added two years ago be-
cause even after several years promoting the pro-
gram and providing incentives to
report, only about 40 percent
of tags were being reported
on time. This rate was too
low to for ODFW to even use
the data.
After the penalty was im-
plemented for 2012 tags, rates
jumped to 80 percent or more.
This has allowed ODFW to
phase out its big game survey
calls; the agency no longer
makes these calls.
Hunters who report on time
are entered into a drawing to win a
special big game tag. ODFW selects three
names each year and the winners can choose
a deer, elk or pronghorn tag. Hunters who win may
hunt an expanded hunt area and extended season,
similar to auction and raffle tags that hunters can
pay thousands of dollars for.
For more information on mandatory reporting:
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/re-
porting/index.asp.