2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 6, 2015
Polk County News
Falls City budget
mostly status quo
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — Falls City’s
$1.85 million 2015-16 budg-
et passed budget commit-
tee review and will now
move before the Falls City
City Council, likely in June.
The city’s budget com-
mittee approved the pro-
posed budget on April 23.
The budget includes a gen-
eral fund of $538,355,
which includes administra-
tion, parks, fire, cemeteries,
planning, municipal court
and some Wagner Commu-
nity Library costs.
Mayor Terry Ungricht,
who is serving temporarily
as city manager, said with
the exception of a few large
projects, the proposal is
status quo.
“It’s pretty much a copy of
(this) year’s budget,” he said.
Included in the 2015-16
proposal is funding to pur-
chase the property sur-
rounding the falls on the Lit-
tle Luckiamute River owned
Government
by the Falls City Alliance. The
city has applied for a grant to
buy the land and develop it
as a park. Also, the city has
budgeted for an update of its
water master plan.
Ungricht said the city in-
creased resources are going
to staffing throughout the
budget, but there are a num-
ber of unknowns surround-
ing how that money will be
spent. The city is without a
code enforcement officer
and is searching for a part-
time city manager.
“What I did was set up a
budget so that when a
manager comes, (he or she)
will have some leeway,” Un-
gricht said.
TRAVEL CHANNEL/for the Itemizer-Observer
Medium Amy Allan sees much activity during her walk through a reportedly haunted home in Independence.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
The Dead Files duo investigate Indy property
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
When investigator Steve
DiSchiavi heard about the
paranormal activities at a
farmhouse in Independ-
ence, it was so bizarre, he
had a hard time believing it.
“The stuff these guys were
telling me that was going on,
I thought I was being punk’d
because I’d never heard any-
thing like it,” DiSchiavi said.
He and Amy Allan from
the Travel Channel’s Dead
Files came out to investigate
in fall 2014. The episode airs
on May 9.
In the Dead Files, DiSchi-
avi and Allan, a physical
medium, investigate para-
normal activity.
They keep their investiga-
tions separate from one an-
other, never speaking until
they come together to reveal
their findings for their client.
The May 9 Independence
episode is titled, “House of
Mirrors.”
During DiSchiavi’s inves-
tigation, he discovers the
disturbing history of the
home and property, includ-
ing the original owner’s pos-
sible suicide and a violent
feud between neighbors.
Allan faces off against
dangerously mischievous
entities capable of ruining
the lives of the living, ac-
cording to the synopsis by
TRAVEL CHANNEL/for the Itemizer-Observer
Searching for evidence and records, Steve DiSchiavi digs
through the archives at a local library. DiSchiavi and
medium Amy Allan investigated an Independence home.
the Travel Channel.
DiSchiavi, a former New
York Police Department
homicide detective, said he
has seen and heard a lot of
disturbing things in both his
career in New York and dur-
ing seven seasons of the
Dead Files.
But what he heard in In-
dependence was “absolutely
bizarre.”
“This is even over the top
for me, and I’ve heard it all,”
he said.
DiSchiavi said he was sur-
prised to hear that Allan was
able to see exactly what the
Independence clients de-
NEWS IN BRIEF
Indy PD enforces crosswalk safety
INDEPENDENCE — The Independence Police Department par-
ticipated in a pedestrian safety enforcement operation between
8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on April 20 at two locations within the
city.
During the operation, 19 warnings were given to motorists who
failed to stop for a pedestrian while in a crosswalk. Five other
warnings were issued as well as four citations for non-crosswalk
driving offenses.
The operation was one of the busiest the police has had, said
Officer David Oliveros.
“Educating our citizens in traffic safety is our only goal when
conducting these types of operations,” he said. “Please don’t be
distracted, pay attention to what is going on around you, and al-
ways drive safe.”
scribed.
“That really took me to
the point of, … listen close
and listen intently, because
you never know if this stuff
is really what’s going on,” he
said. “It all turned out to be
pretty much on point, which
is kind of scary if you live
there.”
“Yes,” Allan agreed. “Very,
very (scary).”
During this, their seventh
season, Allan and DiSchiavi
travel from Jamaica — the
first time the show has
filmed outside of the United
States — to New York, Inde-
pendence, Pennsylvania and
Illinois.
The paranormal inves-
tigative duo chooses clients
who are “middle of the
road” — people who really
need their help.
“We just try to get the reg-
ular, everyday person that
couldn’t be afforded the help
that we can give them,” DiS-
chiavi said. “People that we
go to, really, have nobody to
turn to. They don’t know
what to do.”
Independence isn’t the
only place the pair have en-
countered strange happen-
ings — in fact, they have had
some very intense findings
in this season.
Last season, Allan said 15
dead people latched onto
her and followed her home.
“Unfortunately, in my
need to help, sometimes I go
a little too far,” Allan said. “I
was, not in a conscious way,
… leaving myself open, and
I had about 15 dead people
attach to me.”
She said she became very
ill and was in denial for a
while before she dealt with
it.
Now she sets the proper
boundaries before and after
she does a walkthrough of
the haunted properties.
“Even somebody who has
been a medium my entire
life and doing this profes-
sionally for over 20 years,
sometimes you need to
check yourself,” Allan said.
Auction: Big hopes
for development
Continued from A1
• Parcel B: about 26 acres; minimum bid, $960,000. This
piece has frontage on Monmouth Cutoff Road and is adja-
cent to the former Tyco building and Parcel E.
• Parcel D: about six acres; minimum bid, $225,000. This
parcel is irregularly shaped and has a 6,500 square-foot
shop building on the property.
• Parcel E: 13.75 acres; minimum bid $515,000. The
property has frontage on Southeast Holman Avenue and a
rail line on its north boundary.
• Minimum bid to purchase for all properties: $2.35 mil-
lion.
Matinees are all shows
before 6pm. New pricing for
matinees are: Adult $7.25
Children $6.75 • Senior $7.00
Pricing does not reflect
3D showings.
Friday - Wednesday May 8 - May 13
HOME (Digital 2D) (PG)
(12:20 2:35)
WOMAN IN GOLD (Digital) (PG13)
UNFRIENDED (Digital) (R)
(4:50)
EX MACHINA (Digital) (R)
(11:40 2:10 4:40)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13) (2:20 5:25)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
(12:15)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13) (11:45 2:50)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (NEC Dolby 3D) (PG13) (11:15)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (NEC Dolby 3D) (PG13)
(3:20)
FURIOUS 7 (Digital) (PG13)
(12:40 3:40)
PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 (Digital) (PG)
(12:25 2:45 5:05)
AGE OF ADALINE (Digital) (PG13)
(12:00 2:20 4:45)
6:50
9:10
7:10 9:40
8:30
6:30
6:00 9:05
9:30
6:40 9:30
7:25 9:30
7:15 9:35
Thursday May 14
FURIOUS 7 (Digital) (PG13)
(12:40 3:40)
HOME (Digital 2D) (PG)
(12:20 2:35)
UNFRIENDED (Digital) (R)
(4:50)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Digital 2D) (R)
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (NEC DOLBY 3D) (R)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
(2:20)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13)
(12:15)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Digital 2D) (PG13) (11:45 2:50)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (NEC Dolby 3D) (PG13) (11:15)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (NEC Dolby 3D) (PG13)
(3:20)
PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 (Digital) (PG)
(12:25 2:45 5:05)
PITCH PERFECT 2 (2D) (PG13)
EX MACHINA (Digital) (R)
(11:40 2:10 4:40)
AGE OF ADALINE (Digital) (PG13)
(12:00 2:20 4:45)
6:40 9:30
7:00 9:40
7:15 9:55
6:30
6:00 9:05
9:30
7:05 9:45
7:10 9:40
7:15 9:35