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Volume 140, Issue 24
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June 17, 2015
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IN YOUR TOWN
DALLAS NEWS
Blue Garden’s sign is gone, but downtown Dallas
history buffs shouldn’t fret. It will be back — re-
stored — soon.
The building’s new owner, Bob Collins, had the
iconic sign, put up in 1924, taken down last week
to be assessed and refurbished by Martin Bros
Signs out of Salem.
“The idea is to do as little to it as we can,” Collins
said. “We are trying to keep as much of it original as
possible.”
Collins estimates the sign will be gone three weeks
to a month and return, he hopes, as good as new.
»Page 2A
FALLS CITY NEWS
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Lt. Rick Igou has a memory — good or bad — of nearly every home and business within Independence city limits.
LIVING HIS DREAM
Rick Igou to retire after more than 30 years in law enforcement
By Emily Mentzer
Meet Rick
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — A po-
lice officer visited a fourth-
grade classroom and
brought along his police-
issue Harley Davidson.
A young Rick Igou sat in
that classroom, spellbound.
“He (the officer) was on
one side of the room and it
was parked on the other side
of the room,” Igou, now 50,
recalled. “He would ask the
motorcycle questions, and
the motorcycle would an-
swer him. That was it. I was
hooked. The mind of a 9 or
10 year old, right?”
Of course now he realizes
the motorcycle in his fourth-
grade classroom wasn’t ac-
tually doing the talking, but
it was enough to make him
commit to a career in law
enforcement that would
span 32 years.
Independence Police Lt.
Igou will retire from the de-
partment on June 30 after
spending his adult life in law
enforcement.
The Central High graduate
Photo courtesy of Independence Police Department
Heidi and Rick Igou look forward to spending the Fourth
of July someplace besides Rick’s patrol car this year. Rick
said Heidi has been integral to his success as a policeman.
and Rickreall native, Igou
spent his younger years
preparing for his career, even
enlisting in the U.S. Marine
Corps Reserves as military
police officer when he turned
18 while he went to Western
Oregon State College, now
Western Oregon University,
for criminal justice.
One of the biggest chal-
lenges of his career has
come from the changes in
technology, Igou said.
“I started out and we
hand-wrote reports,” he
said. “Now everything’s fully
computerized. Where we
used to just get in a car and
go out and do police work,
Rick Igou, 50, started
his career in law enforce-
ment in the Marine
Corps Reserves at the
age of 18. He was in uni-
form with Monmouth
Police Reserves by the
age of 21.
Rick plans to travel
and get back to an old
favorite hobby: wood
working.
A celebration of his
career and retirement
will be held from 2 to 5
p.m. on June 30 at the
I n d e p e n d e n ce C i v i c
Center, 555 S. Main St.,
Independence.
nowadays you have to come
back and be a slave to the
computer, so we’ve lost
some of that contact.”
It’s sad in a way, but also a
huge benefit. While officers
spend more time writing re-
ports on the computer, re-
ports also are more detailed,
Igou said.
See IGOU, Page 14A
Fight for fifth-years not over yet
The July 3 celebrations in Falls City appear to be
in jeopardy due to concerns over insurance.
The Falls City Booster Club had taken over coor-
dinating the event for the first time this year and
had planned to make it a fundraising event by
charging for parking or admission for those not
parking.
However, those plans were nixed at Thursday’s
Falls City City Council meeting when the city’s in-
surance company and city attorney said charging
for the event would increase the city’s liability too
much.
»Page 13A
INDEPENDENCE NEWS
When one of Central High’s newest graduates,
running back/defensive back Wes Riddell, takes the
field at the Les Schwab Tires Bowl in Hillsboro on
Saturday, he knows it’ll be a challenge.
The all-star game for seniors in Class 6A and 5A
features some of the best football players in the
state of Oregon.
“I’m expecting quite a bit of good competition,”
Riddell said. “I get to go against some of the best
players in Oregon. It’s going to prepare me, and I’m
just excited to have some fun with it.”
Panthers coach Shane Hedrick will serve as one
of the assistant coaches for the South team.
»Page 11A
MONMOUTH NEWS
Monmouth City Council approved expanding
the city’s chicken ordinance to include ducks.
Under the new rule, which will go into effect
sometime this summer, the ordinance, which al-
lows five hens per residence, will be altered to
allow ducks as well. The number of total poultry
will remain five, but property owners may choose
to have a mix of fowl.
Marianne Novotny of Monmouth testified at the
council’s June 2 work session that she hadn’t come
across any issues with poultry, including ducks, in
her research of city codes that allow the birds.
»Page 3A
Amendment to Senate Bill 418 may see Extended Campus type programs end
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — Same idea, differ-
ent bill.
Another bill proposing the end of
high school fifth-year programs, like
those in Dallas, Falls City and Central
school districts, is sitting before the
Oregon Legislature’s Joint Ways and
Means subcommittee on education.
The second bill aiming to end the
programs introduced this session, the
proposal is included in an amendment
to Senate Bill 418, legislation intro-
duced to create statewide funding
mechanisms for accelerated college
credit programs in high schools.
The amendment, proposed by Rep.
THE NEXT
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PLANNING
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Mark Johnson (R-Hood River), would
limit programs to the schools that had
them in the 2014-15 school year and
phase them out by 2018. SB 418 would
establish a pilot pro-
gram including
schools with fifth-
year offerings, as well
as a taskforce to study
how those programs
benefit students.
Fi f t h - y e a r p r o -
grams allow students
Green
to defer receiving a
standard high school diploma to pur-
sue an advanced diploma and attend
classes at a community college. Be-
cause they are still considered high
school students, the state school fund
wed
Enjoy a fun-filled
evening of music,
food and craft beer
at Rockin’ the River,
an auction benefit
for LWC at Rogue.
5-8 p.m. Free.
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pays for expenses.
SB 418’s taskforce would be asked to
make recommendations of how to ex-
tend benefits of fifth-year programs
statewide while simultaneously shut-
ting down fifth-year options in the 26
districts that have them.
A similar bill, Senate Bill 322, died in
committee earlier this year after dis-
tricts with the programs agreed to work
with lawmakers to solve concerns —
namely funding — about offering fifth-
year programs.
Those in favor of ending the pro-
grams cite the use of the K-12 funding
for a first year of college as problematic
and unfair to students in districts that
do not have such programs.
See SB 418, Page 14A
PERRYDALE NEWS
After more than a year of negotiations, the Perry-
dale School Board and the Associated Perrydale
Teachers (APT) have approved a three-year con-
tract.
The new contract includes the current (2014-15)
school year and expires June 30, 2017. Both sides
were able to hammer out an agreement during a
five-hour face-to-face meeting earlier this month
that included the district’s lawyer, Superintendent
Eric Milburn, and teacher group’s representative.
In previous mediation sessions, the two groups
were kept in separate rooms.
»Page 15A
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Get lost in the sto-
ries told by award-
winning Christopher
Leebrick at Wagner
Community Library
in Falls City.
10 a.m. Free.
Celebrate the art of
Dallas painter Deb-
bie Howe at this
month’s art display
at the Dallas Public
Library.
4:30 p.m. Free.
Support Partner-
ships in Community
Living while enjoy-
ing great food and
wine at Eola Hills
Wine Cellars.
5 p.m. $25.
Celebrate Father’s
Day by taking Dad
to the annual Dallas
Fire and EMS break-
fast for pancakes
and all the fixings.
7-11 a.m. $5.
Learn more about
continuing your ed-
ucation at this
month’s Dallas
Chamber’s lunch-
eon.
Noon. $10-$15.
James2 Community
Kitchen serves a
free meal to anyone
who wants one at
St. Philip Catholic
Church.
4:30 p.m. Free.
Sunny
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Sunny
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Lo: 51