Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 8, 2015 15A
Polk County News
Dallas family breathes life into comic con Partnerships adds to
By Jolene Guzman
providing better care
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — When the
doors open at Cherry City
Comic Con in Salem this
weekend, that is the mo-
ment John Roach is looking
forward to most.
A Dallas resident and new
owner of the show, now in its
second-year, Roach per-
formed a feat worthy of the
costumed super heroes who
will patrol the show floor
when he saved the show.
“I’m looking forward to
people being happy and see-
ing that this show is so much
more than they thought it
would be,” Roach said. “And
to bring this to Salem when
it had died. It wasn’t just like
the show was canceled, it
was buried in a hole and
somehow digging itself
deeper every day.”
A small event last year,
Cherry City Comic Con ran
into financial trouble. This
year’s event was canceled and
vendors who had already
paid didn’t receive a refund.
Roach and his wife, illus-
trator Nicole Brune, were
vendors at the 2014 event,
having recently moved from
Southern California to Dal-
las. He said the show, in
spite of its size, was one of
their best of the year.
He believed the show
could carry on, and had the
background in marketing
and live-event planning to
make it happen.
Roach became the proud
owner Cherry City Comic
Con on Jan. 6 and he spent
the remainder of the month
trying to rebuild burnt
bridges with vendors and
the venue, the Oregon State
Fairgrounds.
“I had to basically give the
fairgrounds my resume and
show all this stuff because of
all the problems they had
with the previous show,”
Roach said. “I had to con-
vince them to let us keep
having the show.”
He said 65 to 75 percent of
the vendors stayed, and he
and Brune began making
calls to their contacts in the
comic con world.
In a few months, the show
brought in 120 exhibitors
and an impressive list of
celebrity guests, including:
Parker Jacobs art director on
Nickelodeon’s “Yo Gabba
Gabba!” Naomi Grossman,
Pepper on the most recent
West Valley, OHSU and Salem
Health work to streamline services
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
John Roach (center) and his wife, Nicole Brune, saved Cherry City Comic Con.
season of “American Horror
Story,” and Keith Tucker, an
animator on such cartoons
as “Pinky and The Brain,”
“He-Man”, and “Animani-
acs.”
“Our show floor has sold
out now three times and I
keep adding spaces because
people want to come,”
Roach said. “We are doing
our big push to get as many
people this weekend as we
possibly can.”
The two-day event will be
filled with artist panels,
games, costume contests,
roaming cosplay characters
ready to take pictures with
guests, and a large vendor
show floor. Roach said he
booked a wide range of
artists and guests to give
people of any age a reason
to come to the show.
“This is not last year’s
show. It’s way bigger and
Comic Crazy
What: Cherry City Comic Con.
When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday.
Where: Oregon State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE,
Salem.
Admission: $15 Saturday; $10 Sunday. Two-day pass
$20. Free for active military members with ID and children
ages 12 and younger are free with paid adult.
For more information about schedule, vendors and
guest artists: www.cherrycitycomiccon.com.
better,” Roach said, adding
he’s passionate about bring-
ing a quality event to his
new home.
Roach, Brune, and their
d a u g h t e r, Ro s e Ma r i e,
moved to Dallas in late 2013.
Looking to move away from
the Los Angeles area, they
slowly crossed off all other
locations. Dallas was left
standing.
“I love it up here. It’s been
really nice, it’s really relax-
ing,” Roach said. “When we
first moved up here, I just
kept catching myself with
this big grin on my face.”
He’s hoping this weekend
he will see plenty of others
with a smile on their faces at
the new-and-improved
Cherry City Comic Con.
“I want everyone to have
a really fantastic time” he
said. “I want to bring a real
show to this town, and I
want everybody to really
enjoy it.”
Dallas Alteration will be changing
DALLAS — Salem
Health, the parent compa-
ny of Dallas’ West Valley
Hospital, is working toward
establishing a partnership
with Oregon Health Science
University to streamline
hospital services.
This affiliation has been
about a year in the making,
with Salem Health issuing a
“request for proposals” for
a partner in 2014.
The organizations will
issue a “letter of intent”
outlining the new relation-
ship early next month, after
which the details will be
hammered out before the
end of the year.
Essentially the partner-
ship will integrate patient
care at all three locations,
referring patients to the
best place to receive what
they need.
For instance, OHSU can
take the most critical pa-
tients from any of the three
hospitals, while Salem
Health can provide for less
serious cases.
For those in the Dallas
area, primary care will most
likely happen in Dallas, but
referrals to the other hospi-
tals would be readily avail-
able.
“We will try to serve the
patient at the best location
possible,” said Bob Wells,
Salem Health Board chair-
man.
Wells said Salem Health
sought the partnership as a
way of lowering the cost of
providing health care and
offering patients better ac-
cess for more services. He
noted consolidation seems
to be the trend in the health
care industry and having
started this process a year
ago put Salem Health in the
position to pick its partner.
“We have been spending
the last year talking about
how we would make that
happen,” Wells said. “We
have an advantage of time
to do this type of align-
ment.”
He added the partner-
ship won’t result in any no-
ticeable changes at West
Valley in the near term.
“West Valley will remain
a strong part of the system,”
Wells said. “You will see the
benefit of having a larger
partner.”
Wells believes the combi-
nation of Salem Health and
its affiliate hospitals and
OHSU creates what he
thinks “is the premier
health organization in Ore-
gon.”
“We are really excited
about the chance to part-
ner with OHSU,” Wells
said. “There are 400,000
people in our coverage
area of Marion and Polk
counties. This is a really
good benefit for all of
those patients.”
The Itemizer-Observer
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131 SW Mill St. • 503-623-2283
It’s That Time!!!
Advertise in the
2015-2016 Polk County
Phone Directory!
2015 Relay for Life
of Polk County
What Have You Done
For Me Lately?
To hold an event like Relay For Life year after
year calls for a sense of dedication and determination from a
lot of people ~ planning committee, participants and their
teams, local city governments, and school districts just to name
a few. This same dedication to Polk County’s Relay and determina-
tion to find a cure for cancer have led five sponsors to support Relay
for ten years, more than half the event’s history! Who are they and what
have they done for us lately?
Central Lions Club ~ Dallas Family Medicine ~
Dallas School District ~ Siletz Trucking Company ~
West Valley Hospital
Over the past ten years, donations from these very generous sponsors
have contributed to services provided to nearly 600 Polk County patients
and caregivers: 1,300 wigs, scarves, and hats to wear during treatment and
recovery · 100 nights of lodging for patients’ long-distance treatment · 360
trips to and from treatment through the “Road To Recovery” program ·
100 women served through the “Look Good...Feel Better” program.
The legacy of these sponsors and the lives they’ve touched here in Polk
County are remarkable, and it’s a privilege to recognize and honor them for
their continued support.
A special thank-you goes to Bollman Funeral Home for
their 13 years of support through sponsorship.
Please join us in thanking our nine(*) most recent sponsors, along with
the following businesses, organizations, health care professionals, and fami-
lies for their commitment to Relay For Life and its mission to win the fight
against cancer:
• H & R Block of Dallas & Monmouth
• Southview Medical Arts
• Dutch Bros. Coffee
• Dallas Retirement Village
• R & J Mobility Services
• Dallas Family Medicine
• Dallas Glass & Window
• Siletz Trucking Company
• Western Days
2015 Relay For Life
of Polk County
It’s a
CELEBRATION!
Free event for all caregivers,
cancer survivors, and those currently
in treatment and their families!
Sunday, April 19, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Dallas Aquatic Center
1005 SE LaCreole Dr, Dallas
Contact the
Advertising Department
at the Itemizer-Observer,
503-623-2373
for more information.
Visit online at
www.polkio.com/polk-directory/
Eagle Directories
Polk County Telephone Directory
Snacks, Swimming, Bingo and Prizes!
For more information: Tammy or Jennifer
2015relayforlifepc@gmail.com
147 SE Court St., Dallas, OR 97338 • 503-623-2373
• West Valley Hospital
• West Valley Physicians & Surgeons Clinic/Dr. John Hadley
• West Valley Surgical Specialty Clinic/Dr. Alison Smith
• Monmouth Medical Center/Dr. Charles Essex
• First Community Credit Union
• OREPAC Building Products
• Michelle Hasbrook, DDS
The deadline for
• Rotary Club of Dallas
submitting a
• James W. Fowler Co.
sponsorship is
• Mitch Ratzlaff State Farm
April 15.
• Polk County Association of Realtors
Make this the year
• Bollman Funeral Home
your family, company
• Washington Street Steakhouse & Pub
or organization signs
• Limeberry Frozen Yogurt
on to finish the fight!
• Polk County Fairgrounds & Event Center
If you or someone you
• Elkay Manufacturing
know is interested in
• White’s Collision Service
sponsorship, contact
• Van Well Building Supply
Lyla Bruce at
• Bookey Strong
503-508-9277 or visit
• Dallas Aquatic Center
our website at
• NW Natural
www.relayforlife.org/
• Monmouth-Independence Rotary
polkcountyor
• The Majestic
• Republic Services
• Les Schwab Tire Centers of Dallas,
West Salem, & Independence
Relay For Life 2015
• Partnerships In Community Living, Inc.
will take place
• Central Lions Club
May
30-31, at LaCre-
• Royal Flush
ole Middle School in
• Dallas School District
Dallas
• Hancock Forest Management
• Eola Hills Wine Cellars
• Polk County Itemizer-Observer