KNOW WHAT TO DO
SLOWING DOWN TO
SURVIVE A STROKE MAKE THE MILES
Page 7A
Volume 140, Issue 19
Page 10A
www.Polkio.com
May 13, 2015
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IN YOUR TOWN
DALLAS NEWS
Before taking over Starlite Lanes in Dallas, Mike
Reed had done every job there is to do in a bowl-
ing alley — except own one.
Now he can cross that off his list.
“I’ve always wanted my own place,” Reed said.
Reed got his start working in or for bowling al-
leys, coincidently, at Starlite Lanes.
“I started out as a pin chaser in high school,” he
said.
After Starlite Lanes, he’s worked in bowling al-
leys in Silverton, Wilsonville and Alaska. Reed has
about 30 years of experience in the industry.
»Page 2A
FALLS CITY NEWS
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Beekeeper Gary Pierce carefully cuts away branches around a swarm of bees in a tree at a home in Dallas last week.
LET THEM BEE
Dallas resident rescues traveling bee colony resting in tree
For just a brief moment, Lori Jean Sickles, the
owner of The Boondocks in Falls City, was on televi-
sion.
“I missed it!” Sickles said of her short “cameo” on
Discovery Channel’s “Unearthed,” which was filmed
in and around Falls City.
Friday night, the bar was showing the second
episode of the reality show about competitive pro-
fessional truffle hunters who live in the area.
Spending much of the evening in the kitchen,
Sickles walked up front just seconds after her
“scene” in the episode.
»Page 3A
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Pat Smith’s
neighbor could hear them
before he saw them.
Making a loud, constant
buzz, it didn’t take long to
locate the mass of bees that
had gathered in Smith’s tree
in her front yard.
“He rang my doorbell and
said ‘Do you know you have
bees?’” Smith said.
The conundrum — what
do you do with a colony of
bees in your tree? — made
for an interesting afternoon
at the end of Applegate Trail
Drive in Dallas.
A neighbor, Brenda Miller,
suggested calling the city to
see if someone was available
to remove them. That was
the right call.
The city dispatched Gary
Pierce, who, at one point in
his “hobby,” had 26 colonies
of bees on his property. At
the time he was called to
help Smith with her seem-
ingly docile, but still not-
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Bees in the colony began adjusting to their new home
within minutes of being placed in the hive box.
welcome visitors, he only
had one colony.
That was about to change.
“Settle down girls,” Pierce
said quietly to the bees as he
cut away branches of Smith’s
tree surrounding the colony,
which had the appearance
of a large, ever-moving bird’s
nest.
Pierce wore a beekeeper
hat and gloves and moved
deliberately to keep from ag-
itating the bees. They
buzzed around him, but did-
n’t seem to be too alarmed.
Pierce said the swarming
bees had likely splintered off
a larger colony when a new
queen bee was born and
kicked out the old queen. A
portion of the workers and
drones will follow the old
queen to a new hive. They
probably thought the
branches of Smith’s tree
were a good place to rest
temporarily while looking
for a new home.
Pierce made that search
easy.
After removing a few
limbs, Pierce struck the
branch holding the bees and
a mass dropped into a wait-
ing hive box. He quickly cov-
ered it and climbed down
the ladder and placed it on
the ground.
Needless to say, the bees
were a little agitated then, fly-
ing around in all directions.
His hope was that the
queen was in the middle of
that mass of bees, and once
the confusion of being
moved passed, the bees
would start making a home
in the box.
See BEES, Page 6A
Woman allegedly kidnapped mom
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Maura Olsson, 36, was
arraigned Monday afternoon in Polk
County Circuit Court, charged with
eight crimes, including second-degree
kidnapping, for an incident on Thurs-
day.
Olsson was arrested on Friday near
the city of Coquille where she was at a
friend’s house.
Monday, Olsson was charged with
first-degree robbery, a Class A felony
with a maximum 20 years in prison
and $350,000 fine, second-degree kid-
napping, unauthorized use of a motor
vehicle, menacing, first-degree theft,
pointing a firearm at another, harass-
ment and unauthorized use of a
weapon.
At about 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, Polk
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
County deputies responded to a report
of Karen Pangburn calling for help in
the roadway in the 16000 block of
Bridgeport Road outside of Dallas.
Pangburn reportedly
had duct tape over
her mouth and
wrapped around her
head.
She alleged that
her daughter, Olsson,
had taken her at
shotgun-point from
her travel trailer in
Olsson
the backyard into the
main residence, where Olsson lives
with her husband and their two chil-
dren.
Pangburn said it was in the main res-
idence where Olsson allegedly duct-
taped her to a chair in the dining room
and stuck her in the back of the head
with a shotgun.
Olsson allegedly stole $1,000 in cash,
a cellphone and a 1997 green Toyota
Camry from Pangburn and headed
south.
Friday, an Oregon State Police troop-
er pulled the car over and noticed the
driver was acting suspiciously, Polk
County Sheriff Lt. Jeff Isham said.
“It ended up being her (Olsson’s)
husband,” Isham said. Olsson’s hus-
band led Coos County Sheriff deputies
to Olsson’s location. Polk County
deputies took custody of her there and
lodged her in Polk County Jail.
Isham said no drugs were involved
in the incident.
Olsson is being lodged in Polk Coun-
ty Jail on $250,000 security. She was ap-
pointed an attorney from Chris Lille-
gard’s office. She is scheduled to ap-
pear in court at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday.
INDEPENDENCE NEWS
Things are looking up for the city of Independ-
ence as far as the budget is concerned, Budget Of-
ficer and Finance Director Gloria Butsch said at the
April 29 budget meeting.
“With this budget, we continue the climb back
to fiscal health,” she said. “In this budget, we can
see the positive impacts of our improving econo-
my.”
Butsch noted an increase in building in both res-
idential and industrial areas as one reason for the
improving economy, but noted that the city will
proceed with some caution as it rebuilds its work-
force.
»Page 2A
MONMOUTH NEWS
Attention all Monmouth residents: your city
wants you — or at least, your ideas and thoughts
about what the future of Monmouth will look like.
Monmouth Engaged, a communitywide vision-
ing process, is underway with surveys going out to
residents and businesses on Friday.
“The primary purpose of this process is to en-
gage everyone in the community,” said Libby Barg,
co-coordinator for the project.
Barney & Worth Inc., out of Portland, was con-
tracted by Monmouth City Council to organize the
engagement project.
»Page 6A
POLK COUNTY NEWS
American Cancer Society Relay for Life of Polk
County teams are busy raising funds for this year’s
24-hour relay on May 30 to 31 at LaCreole Middle
School in Dallas. The community is invited to be
part of these upcoming relay team-sponsored ac-
tivities.
Relay for Life of Polk County relay team “The Be-
lievers” will benefit from an event Wednesday
(today) at The Pink House in Independence, across
the street from Independence Cinema. Proceeds
(15 percent) from purchases of breakfast, lunch or
dinner will go toward Relay for Life.
»Page 5A
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Do something for
your health and get
a free blood-pres-
sure check at West
Valley Hospital, sur-
gery admitting area.
2-3 p.m. Free.
Have lunch and lis-
ten to a speaker
with the Mon-
mouth-Indepen-
dence Rotarians at
First Baptist Church.
Noon. Free.
Support Dallas Lions
Club at the club’s
garage sale on Clay
Street. All proceeds
go toward Lions’
service projects.
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.
Spruce up your
home and neigh-
borhood during M-
I’s annual cleanup
day, starting at
Riverview Park.
9 a.m. -2 p.m. Free.
Treat your ears to
concert pianist Pas-
tor Sam Rotman
during a perform-
ance at Evangelical
Bible Church.
6 p.m. Free.
Join other business
people and network
at the monthly Dal-
las Chamber of
Commerce lunch-
eon at The Majestic.
Noon. $12.
See youths perform
at the Polk County
France School of
Dance concert,
while supporting
the food bank.
6 p.m. Free.
Showers
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Lo: 47
T-storms possible
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Cloudy
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Cloudy
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Partly cloudy
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Sunny
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Lo: 47
Partly cloudy
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Lo: 46