Polk County
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Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 1, 2015 4A
EDITORIALS
Our nation’s Declaration of Independence
Editor’s Note: the entire text of
the Declaration of Independence
to mark the occasion of our na-
tion’s 239th birthday follows ....
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
When, in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the politi-
cal bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of
nature’s God entitle them, a de-
cent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalien-
able rights, that among these are
life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-
piness. That to secure these rights,
g ove r n m e n t s a re i n s t i t u t e d
among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any
form of government becomes de-
structive to these ends, it is the
right of the people to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing
its powers in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to ef-
fect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established
should not be changed for light
and transient causes; and accord-
ingly all experience hath shown
that mankind are more disposed
to suffer, while evils are sufferable,
than to right themselves by abol-
ishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long
train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same ob-
ject evinces a design to reduce
them under absolute despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government, and
to provide new guards for their fu-
ture security. —Such has been the
patient sufferance of these
colonies; and such is now the ne-
cessity which constrains them to
alter their former systems of gov-
ernment. The history of the pres-
ent King of Great Britain is a his-
tory of repeated injuries and
usurpations, all having in direct
object the establishment of an ab-
solute tyranny over these states.
To prove this, let facts be submit-
ted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to
laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors
to pass laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless sus-
pended in their operation till his
assent should be obtained; and
when so suspended, he has utter-
ly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other
laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the
right of representation in the leg-
islature, a right inestimable to
them and formidable to tyrants
only.
He has called together legisla-
tive bodies at places unusual, un-
comfortable, and distant from the
depository of their public records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing
them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved representative
houses repeatedly, for opposing
with manly firmness his invasions
on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time,
after such dissolutions, to cause
others to be elected; whereby the
legislative powers, incapable of
annihilation, have returned to the
people at large for their exercise;
the state remaining in the mean-
time exposed to all the dangers of
invasion from without, and con-
vulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent
the population of these states; for
that purpose obstructing the laws
for naturalization of foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encour-
age their migration hither, and
raising the conditions of new ap-
propriations of lands.
He has obstructed the adminis-
tration of justice, by refusing his
assent to laws for establishing ju-
diciary powers.
He has made judges dependent
on his will alone, for the tenure of
their offices, and the amount and
payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of
new offices, and sent hither
swarms of officers to harass our
people, and eat out their sub-
stance.
He has kept among us, in times
of peace, standing armies without
the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the
military independent of and supe-
rior to civil power.
He has combined with others to
subject us to a jurisdiction foreign
to our constitution, and unac-
knowledged by our laws; giving
his assent to their acts of pretend-
ed legislation:
For quartering large bodies of
armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock
trial, from punishment for any
murders which they should com-
mit on the inhabitants of these
states:
For cutting off our trade with all
parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us with-
out our consent:
For depriving us in many cases,
of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas
to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system
of English laws in a neighboring
province, establishing therein an
arbitrary government, and enlarg-
ing its boundaries so as to render
it at once an example and fit in-
strument for introducing the
same absolute rule in these
colonies:
For taking away our charters,
abolishing our most valuable
laws, and altering fundamentally
the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legisla-
tures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government
here, by declaring us out of his
protection and waging war
against us.
He has plundered our seas, rav-
aged our coasts, burned our
towns, and destroyed the lives of
our people.
He is at this time transporting
large armies of foreign mercenar-
ies to complete the works of
death, desolation and tyranny, al-
ready begun with circumstances
of cruelty and perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the most barbarous
ages, and totally unworthy the
head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow
citizens taken captive on the high
seas to bear arms against their
country, to become the execution-
ers of their friends and brethren,
or to fall themselves by their
hands.
He has excited domestic insur-
rections amongst us, and has en-
deavored to bring on the inhabi-
tants of our frontiers, the merci-
less Indian savages, whose known
rule of warfare, is undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions.
In every stage of these oppres-
sions we have petitioned for re-
dress in the most humble terms:
our repeated petitions have been
answered only by repeated injury.
A prince, whose character is thus
marked by every act which may
define a tyrant, is unfit to be the
ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in
attention to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time
to time of attempts by their legis-
lature to extend an unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us. We have re-
minded them of the circum-
stances of our emigration and set-
tlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magna-
nimity, and we have conjured
them by the ties of our common
kindred to disavow these usurpa-
tions, which, would inevitably in-
terrupt our connections and cor-
respondence. They too have been
deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, there-
fore, acquiesce in the necessity,
which denounces our separation,
and hold them, as we hold the rest
of mankind, enemies in war, in
peace friends.
We, therefore, the representa-
tives of the United States of Amer-
ica, in General Congress, assem-
bled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world for the recti-
tude of our intentions, do, in the
name, and by the authority of the
good people of these colonies,
solemnly publish and declare,
that these united colonies are,
and of right ought to be free and
independent states; that they are
absolved from all allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all politi-
cal connection between them and
the state of Great Britain, is and
ought to be totally dissolved; and
that as free and independent
states, they have full power to levy
war, conclude peace, contract al-
liances, establish commerce, and
to do all other acts and things
which independent states may of
right do. And for the support of
this declaration, with a firm re-
liance on the protection of Divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our lives, our fortunes
and our sacred honor.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dallas High should
change mascot
South Carolina Governor
Nikki Haley made the cor-
rect call in demanding the
removal of the confederate
battle flag from the capital
grounds. In my observation,
that flag has always repre-
sented hatred toward
African Americans. Speak-
ing of racist symbols, per-
haps Dallas High School
should consider changing
their mascot dragon to
something more acceptable.
Hood River Valley recently
changed dragons to eagles.
Being a lifetime resident of
Polk County, we all know
what the dragon represents
and it is not Chinese food!
Dallas School Board should
take immediate action on
this matter.
James Allgood
Independence
cleaned berries were deliv-
ered on June 4.
Profits from the sale will
be used for next year’s $1,000
scholarship for a graduating
senior at Central High School
and for the student exchange
program that enables a local
high school student to study
in a foreign country for one
year. The Rotary Club also
uses profits from its straw-
berry sale to purchase dic-
tionaries, which are given
free to every fourth grader in
the Central School District.
Also, the annual awards
dessert for freshmen, sopho-
more and junior high stu-
dents at Central High School
is funded by the strawberry
sale project. Hundreds of stu-
dents have been recognized
at these awards desserts over
the past 35 years.
Paul Doellinger
Monmouth
Leaders don’t
Profits from berries serve the people
benefit CHS seniors
I am an American. I be-
Strawberry jam, strawber-
ry shortcake, strawberries
and ice cream. Many area
families will be enjoying
such flavorful treats from
the strawberries they recent-
ly purchased during the an-
nual Monmouth-Indepen-
dence Rotary Club Straw-
berry Sale.
The Rotary Club reported
its most successful sale ever
when 720 buckets of freshly
picked, stemmed and
lieve in the policies and
ideals behind the founding
fathers of this country —
never in history has there
been such an instance
where the citizens of a na-
tion would determine the
laws that they were to live
under. And as an American,
I am different from every-
one else in the world. No
one cares about where my
parents came from, or what
their background was. It
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doesn’t matter to an Ameri-
can. What does matter are
the freedoms that I have as
an American, as stated in
our Constitution, the gov-
erning law of our country.
And the country is at a
crossroad. We are having
our personal freedoms leg-
islated away.
We have elected individu-
als to represent us and enact
laws to govern our activities,
and they have forgotten
their oath of office. For
some reason, they now rep-
resent a political party agen-
da, instead of representing
us, the people. They vote on
governing laws that they do
not have any idea of what
the actual laws are, and they
refuse to discuss the details
of the laws that they vote on
with the people who elected
them. When questioned
about their activities, they
have responded by lying re-
peatedly.
The definition of insanity
is doing the same thing
multiple times, expecting
that there will be different
results each time.
Our elected politicians
have assured us that they
can represent us in the fu-
ture far better than they
have in the past. They have
become professionals at
their job. Their continued
existence means that we are
living in a time of insanity.
Richard C. Evans
Monmouth
Does council want
new businesses?
I still don’t get it! Why is it
we can’t accommodate new
businesses wanting to lo-
cate in Dallas? I have two
perfect examples I would
like to cite.
There is a piece of prop-
erty on Ellendale that Jiffy
Lube was interested in pur-
chasing and building on.
Jiffy Lube was told, by the
city, it would never work
due to the fact that there is
no access off of Ellendale,
nor would they get access.
Long story short, there was
already deeded access (the
City never checked) and
ODOT stated they would
allow right in and a right
out. The city contacted Jiffy
Lube to let them know the
property would work for
them however, they moved
on to another site.
The second example is
property on east Ellendale
that is zoned residential but
lies between Grace Commu-
nity Church and Village Mis-
sion. A local, successful
business man wanted to
purchase the property, tear
down the old building and
build a new office. He would
also bring in additional em-
ployees. After many weeks
of frustration with the City,
he has moved on.
This “no help” attitude is
exactly why we can’t get
businesses to locate in Dal-
las. A series of road blocks
and excessive fees frustrate
new, potential businesses.
On Dec. 2014, Mayor
Brian Dalton wrote an arti-
cle in the Dallas News Let-
ter, stating that Dallas “was
a shopping mecca for a
large territory. We offer up-
scale restaurants, fine art
and boutique shops. We are
a regional center of culture,
commerce, industry, educa-
tion and government.”
Mayor Dalton, when was
the last time you walked
downtown Dallas?
It would behoove our city
council to step out of their
box and get more involved,
get a better understanding
of what potential businesses
have to do to appease the
City Fathers.
Nancie Rogers
Dallas
Father’s Day event
was a success
The men and women of
the Dallas Fire Department
would like to thank the more
than 500 people who attend-
ed our annual Father's Day
Breakfast on June 21.
Proceeds from this event
will be used to help support
two major community
events we are actively in-
volved in, the Harpy Bovard
Scholarship Fund which
provides college tuition as-
sistance to a Dallas area stu-
dent and the Dallas Fire &
EMS Relay for Life team.
Special thanks to the vari-
ous local businesses that
helped support this event
and the Dallas Starbucks for
their generous donation of
coffee.
We appreciate the ongo-
ing community support and
assistance and look forward
to seeing you all at Dallas
Summerfest when we host
hydro cart races and the
Oregon Vehicle Rescue Com-
petition.
Thank you, Dallas!
Andrew Woolsey
President
Dallas Volunteer Firefighters
HOW TO REACH US
Vol. 140, No. 26
(USPS) - 437-380)
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