Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 20, 2015 3A
Polk County News
Memory of scout honored
Boys Scouts of America present ‘Spirit of the Eagle’ honor to Indra
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Daniel Indra
was a good big brother,
doing everything with his
younger brother, Liam. He
loved sports, video games,
and especially activities with
his Cub Scout pack.
The 8-year-old was about
to start a new year in the
program when he suffered a
tragic acci-
dent.
In Sep-
tember,
Daniel was
helping
renovate a
barn on his
grandpar-
Daniel Indra ent’s prop-
erty in
Monmouth when he fell
through a hole in the second
story floor and later died of
his injuries.
On May 11, the National
Court of Honor of the Boy
Scouts of America awarded
Daniel with the Spirit of the
Eagle Award, a posthumous
recognition of an active
Scout younger than 21 who
dies of illness or accident.
“I thought it was really
neat. He really liked scouting
and we always wanted him
to achieve all that he could
in Scouts and obviously he
didn’t have a chance to go as
far as he could,” said
Daniel’s father, Nicholas
Indra. “It really recognized
what he could have been.”
Indra said the highest
rank a Scout can achieve is
Eagle Scout, so as the name
implies, Spirit of the Eagle is
like an honorary Eagle rank-
ing.
“We didn’t really know
about it until somebody at
the (Cub Scout) pack men-
tioned it to us,” Indra said
following the May 11 award
ceremony at St. Philip
Catholic Church in Dallas.
“It was a great way to re-
member him. I think it’s re-
ally great that the scouts de-
veloped this honor.”
Welcome home soldiers on Friday
DALLAS — More than 900 Oregon Army National Guard sol-
diers from Oregon have been returning from deployments all
over the world and Dallas is looking to give those from Polk
County a warm welcome.
The Dallas Area of Chamber of Commerce is organizing a
homecoming event Friday at noon on Main Street, inviting all
citizens to join in the show of support. Those wanting to partic-
ipate are asked to line Main Street holding flags and signs.
Soldiers and families of those returning home are asked to
meet at the former Arctic Circle parking lot at 11:45 a.m. to be
escorted down Main Street.
After the procession, soldiers and their families will stop at
the Polk County Courthouse lawn to receive thanks from the
community.
The event is to “make sure all these men and women coming
home are welcomed and thanked for their service,” said Chelsea
Metcalfe, the executive director of the chamber.
For more information, Chelsea at chelsea@dallasoregon.org
or 503-623-2564.
Ag tech innovation group to gather
Photo courtesy of Nicholas Indra
Items commemorating Daniel Indra were set up as part of the “Spirit of the Eagle”
award presentation that took place at St. Philip Catholic Church in Dallas on May 11.
Daniel, who had just
started third grade at Mon-
mouth Elementary School,
was excited about
scouting — and
liked to share
the experience
with others.
He had al-
r e a d y
earned a
“r e c r u i t e r
badge” for
successfully
encouraging
his friends to
join the Scouts,
Indra said — and
he could have done
so much more.
Spirit of the Eagle honors
that.
“This award is bestowed
by the National Court of
Honor as part of the celebra-
tion of life of this young per-
son,” reads the official award
application. “It recognizes
the joy, happiness, and life-
fulfilling experiences the
Scouting program made in
this person’s life.”
Indra said the award is
just another example of the
overwhelming support his
family has received
from the Scouts
and the com-
munity since
t h e i r s o n’s
death.
In the
months
since, in
D a n i e l ’s
honor, Indra
and his wife,
Alissa, have
tr ied to give
back.
It might be small
things — like donating
books Daniel liked to his
school’s library — or be-
cause Daniel was an organ
donor, life-altering gifts.
Four people received organs
from Daniel.
Indra said he’s now fo-
cused on developing a busi-
ness that he hopes will help
families facing the same sit-
uation his did when looking
for an urn to hold Daniel’s
ashes.
He said finding one ap-
propriate for a child proved
impossible because they
were all designed for adults.
Indra has created a proto-
type “Lego-man” urn with a
3-D printer and hopes to
gain permission from the
company to sell it.
“It’s something we hope
to offer to other families,” he
said.
Indra is in the process of
raising money to buy the
commercial-grade printer
needed if the idea does grow
into a small business.
He said since the acci-
dent, his family’s life has
been hectic with finding
ways keep Daniel’s memory
alive.
But that, in a way, has
been healing.
“We all miss him a lot,”
Indra said of his son. “But at
least there is a few good
things that came out of it.
We just try to focus on that.”
INDEPENDENCE — The Technology Association of Oregon
will host the Independence Agriculture Technology Innovation
Hub from 3 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Independence Civic Center,
555 S. Main St.
Using Monmouth-Independence Networks (MINET) and the
ecosystem, the workshop is meant to help develop and apply
agricultural technology. With participation from farmers and
engineers, people will look at how to use Polk County’s rural
areas as test beds to create new, low-cost technology to deal
with wind, weather, water, crop sorting and communication.
The event is sponsored by INTEL and the city of Independ-
ence, as well as Technology Association of Oregon, Oregon In-
stitute of Technology, Western Oregon University and the South
Metro science, technology, engineering, math partnership.
To register for the event: www.techoregon.org.
Accident in Dallas disrupts power
DALLAS — A Dallas man was arrested Saturday on charges
of driving under the influence of intoxicants and reckless driv-
ing after the truck he was driving crashed into a power pole.
The accident happened in the 500 block of Main Street in
Dallas near the Academy Building at about 2 p.m., according to
Dallas police.
Witnesses to the accident say the pickup truck driven by Mil-
ton S. Wenstrom, 60, drifted off the roadway and struck a power
pole, shearing it off and cutting power in the area. Dallas Lt.
Jerry Mott said Wenstrom then tried to back out from under-
neath the pole.
Police arrested Wenstrom on charges of driving under the in-
fluence of intoxicants, reckless driving and second-degree crim-
inal mischief as a result of the accident.
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