2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 18, 2015
Polk County News
Library a gardening resource
Seed lending
program starts
at Monmouth,
is open to all
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Whether
you’re new at gardening or a
regular green thumb, there’s
one thing all planters need:
seeds.
Monmouth Public Library’s
new Seed Lending Program
provides a plethora of seed
packets for the pleasure of
gardeners young and old.
With no strings attached
— no library card is needed
— people may take home up
to five seed packets per adult
each day, said Vivian Byers,
library aide.
“The object is to get peo-
ple interested in growing
their own food,” Byers said.
Byers grew up in a de-
pressed town on the Oregon
Coast, and recalls the impor-
tance of growing her own
food.
“If you didn’t grow, you did-
n’t eat a whole lot,” she said.
Now, she continues gardening
— even though she swears
she has a “black thumb” —
because some foods she
wants to eat are hard to find in
the grocery store or else they
are expensive.
Byers said people keeping
regular gardens has fallen
out of style, but it’s making a
comeback with emphasis on
Community is focus
of police discussion
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Monmouth Library Director Krist Oberst looks over the planting and harvest calendar
at the Seed Lending Library. Vegetables, flowers and some herbs are available, all free.
eating locally grown foods,
free of pesticides and geneti-
cally modified organisms.
“People don’t know how to
grow it (food), or preserve it,
or — what do I do with a
rutabaga?” Byers said.
So far, the more than 1,000
seed packets in a variety of
vegetables, flowers and some
herbs, have been donated by
various people and busi-
nesses. In the first week of
the program, 213 vegetable
packets were taken home,
and 124 flower packets.
Byers said librarians are
not Master Gardeners, but a
Facebook account set up just
for the seed lending program
will let patrons share their
successes and ask questions.
“People can post pictures
of their garden, brag about
having the first tomato of the
year, or post questions,”
Byers said.
Planters could also leave
reviews about favorite vari-
eties of vegetables or tips on
planting.
One request Byers has:
Don’t let things go to waste.
“When they do grow their
garden, we hope that if they
have extra produce they’re
not using, that they’ll con-
sider donating to neighbors
or food banks,” she said.
“Pay it forward.”
Throughout the spring and
summer, the library will host
a variety of gardening classes,
including all about compost-
ing with worms and special
workshops aimed at children.
The Seed Lending Pro-
gram is open to everyone in
Polk, Yamhill and Marion
counties, no library card
needed.
For more information:
Monmouth Public Library,
503-838-1932.
INDEPENDENCE — Sgt.
Tino Banuelos led a discus-
sion about the state of
policing in the U.S., but
more specifically, in Inde-
pendence.
About 20 people sat in on
an open discussion format
at Friday’s Latino Round-
table, a monthly gathering
to discuss topics of impor-
tance to Independence’s
mixed community.
Banuelos said with so
many police incidents, par-
ticularly the race-fueled
shootings in places like Fer-
guson, Mo., and most re-
cently in Pasco, Wash., the
Independence Police De-
partment wanted to open
communication with its
community.
“We would like input
from different perspectives,”
he said. “We want to regu-
larly engage the community
that we serve. With current
events across the nation, it’s
more important than ever.”
Some of the things
Banuelos said he would like
to cover at future forums in-
clude why the police func-
tions the way it does and
why officers respond in cer-
tain ways.
Independence PD tries to
mirror its community, he
noted.
“Of our 13 officers, includ-
ing administration, three are
of Latino descent,” Banuelos
said. “Five are bilingual.”
The department is still
not 35 percent Hispanic,
which would be a true rep-
resentation of the Latino
community in Independ-
ence, but it’s getting there,
Banuelos said.
“We want to stay on top
of this,” he said. “In this line
of work, part of what we
want to do is educate the
public on why we respond
in certain ways. There’s a lot
of gray
area in
the deci-
s i o n -
making
that we
have to
make.”
In ad-
dition to
Banuelos
future fo-
rums with the Latino com-
munity, Banuelos said the
police department has
goals including meeting
with high school students
to get their perspective on
police and community; put-
ting together a citizen’s po-
lice academy; growing the
cadet program; and recruit-
ing more citizen volunteers.
“We’re not just a uniform;
we’re not just a badge,” he
said. “We’re human beings
who have families and care
about our communities.”
For more information:
Sgt. Tino Banuelos, 503-
838-1214; or via email to
Banuelos.juventino@ci.in-
dependence.or.us.
Polk County nonprofit volunteers still learning relatively new IRS tax rules
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — Volun-
teers of service clubs and
other small nonprofits may
or may not have accounting
backgrounds, which can
make things tricky come tax
season.
“With a lot of volunteer
organizations, the treasurer
is probably whoever misses
a meeting and gets voted
into it,” Mike Blanchard of
Dallas said while chuckling.
Blanchard, a certified pub-
lic accountant with Johnson,
Glaze & Co., said the tax rules
for filing as a nonprofit
changed a few years ago, but
volunteers are still getting
used to the new system.
If a Form 990 is not filed
for three consecutive years,
nonprofits are decertified
and published on a list
showing which charitable
organizations are no longer
tax exempt.
A number of Polk County
organizations are listed on
the IRS website. Most recent-
ly, Monmouth Garden Club
was added to the list of those
organizations that has had
its exempt status revoked.
“It gets complicated when
you change officers every
year,” said Diane Ostrom,
Monmouth Garden Club
president.
It makes it even trickier
when past treasurers say
they’ve taken care of things,
but communication has
lapsed, Ostrom added.
At the garden club, the last
treasurer moved and the
new person has a lot on her
plate, Ostrom said.
It’s not the end of the
world if a nonprofit has been
decertified by the IRS, Blan-
chard said, but it is much
easier to stay in compliance
than the alternative.
The IRS has established a
process to get back to certifi-
cation, he said, but it is
painful. Blanchard said it
took a year to re-establish a
nonprofit that lost its certifi-
cation a couple of years ago.
For more information:
www.irs.gov.