GEARING UP FOR
SOCCER SEASON
Page 10A
Page 7A
Volume 140, Issue 22
www.Polkio.com
75¢
June 3, 2015
IN YOUR TOWN
DALLAS NEWS
Unless a sales offer comes in at the last minute,
Dallas Health & Vitality Center on Oak Street will
close its doors at the end of this month.
Owner Laurie Vail will hold a liquidation sale,
which began Tuesday and will run through June
27. The sale will feature discounts on merchandise
and will include equipment and furniture.
Vail said after nearly five years, the business she
opened to help people avoid driving out of town
to find all-natural and gluten-free food and supple-
ments is requiring too much time away from her
family.
»Page 2A
FALLS CITY NEWS
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas High School pottery class students from top Hannah Nelson, Isabella Nelson and Grant Tallon work on potter’s
wheels in John Beck’s sixth-period session last week. Beck has taught art at DHS for almost 20 years.
A LEGACY OF ART
John Beck retires from program after 20 years
Miya Altermatt, 9, was surprised when Leo the
circus clown picked her from the crowd.
“He wasn’t looking at me,” she said.
Miya, who lives in Dallas, was selected to help
entertain the crowd in Falls City during Wednes-
day’s first show of the Culpepper & Merriweather
Circus.
She more than held her own with the practiced
professional, who dressed her up in a silly costume,
had her perform goofy stunts around the circus
ring, and falsely accused her of shooting air darts
into his backside.
»Page 14A
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — For nearly two
decades, John Beck has had
crowded classrooms at Dal-
las High School.
Far from complaining,
Beck likes knowing that —
unlike in other places —
many a DHS student has ex-
perienced art while in
school.
“It’s a place where kids
who aren’t successful aca-
demically can be success-
ful — and really shine. It
gives them a place where
they can feel good about
what they are doing,” Beck
said, explaining why he
thinks art is a crucial part of
K-12 education.
While the classes between
now and the end of the school
year won’t be his last, “Mr.
Beck” will retire from the
ever-popular program he
helped build come June.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Beck in the sunroom community members helped build
and furnish with potter’s wheels after his first year at DHS.
Community support has been strong for the program.
—
Beck, 66, was one of those
kids who didn’t have a lot of
academic success. He is
dyslexic and struggled learn-
ing to read. Beck wasn’t di-
agnosed until later in his el-
ementary school years, but
knowing the problem didn’t
help much.
“They didn’t know what to
do with me, so they kept
passing me from grade to
grade,” Beck said. “I graduat-
ed with below a sixth-grade
reading level. School wasn’t
a lot of fun for me.”
He may have found an
outlet in art, but an incident
during seventh grade dis-
couraged that.
“I had gotten in trouble, I
think it was about seventh-
grade, for drawing on my
desk when we were supposed
to be reading,” Beck said.
He was drawing the car-
toon character “Li’l Abner,”
covering the entire desk.
Beck’s punishment: a three-
day suspension and scrub-
bing all the desks in the
classroom.
“I didn’t draw again until I
was 35,” Beck said.
He also had, by that time,
taught himself to read, with
the help of western novelists
Zane Grey and Louis L
’Amour.
See ART, Page 15A
INDEPENDENCE NEWS
Monmouth-Independence Networks (MINET)
must find new avenues to increase revenues if it is
to be self-sustaining, Director Don Patten said to
the board at its Thursday meeting.
“As a result in the change in demand and fewer
addresses to serve, MINET cannot save for the fu-
ture, cover debt and cover operating costs using
the traditional business model,” he said.
Patten has previously suggested a purchase
service model, where the company would lease
out excess data infrastructure. While he is working
on that, he proposed citywide WiFi or a low-level
broadband for Monmouth and Independence.
»Page 3A
MONMOUTH NEWS
By Emily Mentzer
It was a moment 17 years in the making.
Western Oregon’s Director of Sports Perform-
ance Cori Metzgar-Deacon was named a Master
Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate
Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association
(CSCCA) in a ceremony May 7. She joins elite com-
pany in her field — there are 160 master coaches
nationwide, including fewer than 15 women.
Metzgar-Deacon qualified for the honor two
years ago. It wasn’t until now that she felt com-
pelled to accept when — like throughout her ca-
reer — she could accomplish a bigger purpose.
The Itemizer-Observer
»Page 10A
Burglary suspect found in crawl space
Indy Police officers seize more than 300 items in search warrant
INDEPENDENCE — Eric Spier, 29, of
Independence was arrested on May 27
after the Independence Police Depart-
ment executed a search warrant at his res-
idence, 14 Maple Court, Independence.
The search warrant was based on in-
formation received from someone who
was burglarized that morning and had
information that their property was at
the address, Sgt. Tino Banuelos said.
Upon arriving, Banuelos said an offi-
cer was certain he saw two people in
the residence, though only Emily Bens-
ing, 18, was found.
“The situation in general didn’t sit
well with our guys,” he said. “We con-
tinued to search, checked the attic, but
then they found the entrance to the
crawl space.”
Things didn’t look right, Banuelos
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
POLK COUNTY NEWS
INDEPENDENCE POLICE DEPARTMENT/for the Itemizer-Observer
These items found during the search have been claimed by their owner.
said. Officers found a few items near
the location, and when the household
dog began whining, Banuelos said he
wed
An artist reception
at WOU’s Cannon
Gallery will feature
students’ works in
two and three di-
mensions.
4:30-6 p.m. Free.
Showers
Hi: 68
Lo: 48
It is that time of year again, when school is al-
most over for the summer. That means the Class of
2015 is gearing up for graduation and all that goes
along with it.
Check Page 16A for the schedule of all of Polk
County’s high school graduations. Next week, the
Itemizer-Observer will feature more details about
the Class of 2015 and photos from some of the cer-
emonies. Post your pictures to the I-O’s Facebook
page and share your high school memories via
email at ionews@polkio.com.
believed someone was under the
house.
See SEARCH, Page 6A
thu
fri
Find out what all the
“roar” is about at
Dallas Lions Club,
which meets today
at Hong Kong
Restaurant.
Noon. Free.
Independence Grill
kicks off weekends
of music tonight
and tomorrow, fea-
turing local acoustic
guitar during dinner.
6:30 p.m. Free.
Mostly Sunny
Hi: 74
Lo: 48
Sunny
Hi: 83
Lo: 54
sat
»Page 16A
sun
mon
tue
Start the day off
with a filling break-
fast at Monmouth
Senior Center’s
monthly all-you-
can-eat affair.
Who knows what
you will find at the
Polk Flea Market?
Check it out today at
the Polk Fairgrounds
& Event Center.
You’re never too old
to learn an instru-
ment, that’s what
the folks at the New
Horizon’s Orchestra
always say.
Monmouth’s Main
Street Park fills with
music and fresh
fruits and veggies
during Polk County
Bounty Market.
8:30-10:30 a.m. Free.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. $1-$5.
6:30 p.m. $25 monthly.
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.
Sunny
Hi: 90
Lo: 56
Sunny
Hi: 89
Lo: 55
Sunny
Hi: 80
Lo: 55
Sunny
Hi: 79
Lo: 52