Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 19, 2015 3A
Polk County News
NEWS IN BRIEF
Second closed for railroad repairs
INDEPENDENCE — Second Street, from C Street to D Street,
will be closed from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2 in Independence. The clo-
sure is due to railroad track repairs.
This includes the Monmouth Street/Second Street intersec-
tion.
If you are headed to or from downtown Independence head-
ed east or west, you will be detoured. Monmouth Street east-
bound will be detoured at Third Street. If you are traveling on
North Main Street, you will be detoured at B Street. Those on
Corvallis Road will be detoured at D Street.
Willamette & Pacific Railroad and the city of Independence
are working together on the project, which consists of two
blocks of track repairs and road repairs.
Salem man arrested on sex abuse
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Cycle Oregon helped show Monmouth is a bicycle friendly city, which is one of Monmouth Engaged’s focus areas.
MONMOUTH ENGAGED
Four focus areas emerge as residents weigh in on future of city
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Imagine
Monmouth being known far
and wide as the most bicy-
cle- and pedestrian-friendly
town in Oregon.
“Bike trails, better side-
walks, safer crossings,” said
Libby Barg, with Barney and
Worth, the consultants for
Mo n m o u t h’s v i s i o n i n g
process. “The idea is that
Monmouth is relatively flat;
it’s a college town, great for
biking. What can we do to
stand out as a bike friendly,
pedestrian friendly city?”
That’s one of the four
main focus points of the
Monmouth Engaged project,
the city’s visioning process
that is wrapping up after an
open house on Aug. 11.
During the process, 1,400
surveys were returned to
Barney and Worth, Barg
said, noting that for a city
the size of Monmouth, that
was a large participation
rate.
“We have over 700 emails
from people who said they’d
like to stay involved or learn
more,” she said. “Monmouth
is an amazing community
that so many people partici-
pated and so many people
signed up to stay involved.”
The open house on Aug.
11 was to give residents a
chance to sign up and help
make these “focus areas” a
reality. Roughly 35 to 50 peo-
ple attended.
“A bigger picture is that
people love Monmouth,”
Barg said of the visioning
process. “They’re happy with
how things are. If I were to
summarize the results of the
survey, it’s, ‘Let’s do some-
thing more. Let’s do some-
thing exciting. Let’s make a
bike friendly city.’”
Bicycle safety — and the
safety of everyone on the
road — is one of the focus
areas Pat Ohren plans to
help with.
“There needs to be some
safety issues addressed,
both for motorized vehicles,
and for pedestrians, skate-
boards and bicyclists as well.
Nobody’s watching out for
each other,” said Ohren, a
member of the project’s
steering committee.
One way to increase safe-
ty and get closer to the goal
of being a bike friendly city
is to teach youth the rules of
the road at a younger age,
perhaps through a licensing
program, Ohren said.
Now in his 70s, he recalled
going to his local police de-
partment as a boy to take a
bicycle safety course.
“We had to attend a two
or four hour bicycle safety
course,” Ohren said. “That’s
not taught anymore, not
even by parents.”
He admits a licensing pro-
gram might be “a bit of a hard
sell at first,” but said it doesn’t
have to be too expensive.
Overall, Ohren said the vi-
sioning process went well —
smoothly and quickly.
Other focus areas are
more retail shops and
restaurants, including a gro-
cery store; increased part-
nership between the city
and Western Oregon Univer-
sity; and more community
gathering places.
Barg said a variety of citi-
zens participated, from sen-
iors to young families, sea-
soned volunteers to those
who were trying it for the
first time.
“What I like about Mon-
mouth is how engaged peo-
ple are with each other,” she
noted. “People didn’t just
come (to the open house),
they stayed and talked to
each other.”
To see more: www.ci.mon
mouth.or.us.
WEST SALEM — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested
Hugh Reeves, 58, of West Salem in the 2500 block of Lincoln
Road Northwest, West Salem, on Aug. 11 on two counts of first-
degree sex abuse against a non-relative minor female.
Reeves was lodged at Polk County Jail on $150,000 bail.
The arrest came after an investigation that began on July 31,
where the minor reported allegations of abuse to an adult
stemming from an incident on July 30 at Reeves’ home.
Deputies conducted a search warrant at Reeves’ residence on
Aug. 11. During the search warrant, items of interest were
taken, including five desktop computers, one laptop, four ex-
ternal hard drives, four flash drives, two internal hard drives,
two tablets, a camera and surveillance system with cameras in-
side and outside the house.
It is possible other victims are involved who have yet to
come forward.
Anyone with more information may contact Polk County
Sheriff detective John Williams at 503-623-9251.
Willamina couple survives crash
WILLAMINA — Paul Dolan, 80, and his wife, 81, both of
Willamina, suffered minor injuries in a fiery crash on Highway
18 on Aug. 12.
Dolan was driving eastbound on Highway 18 when he ap-
proached a vehicle stopped, waiting to turn onto Pittman
Road. Dolan swerved to the right and missed the stopped vehi-
cle, but over-corrected, crossed the highway twice and went
down a 25-foot embankment. Dolan’s vehicle came to rest up-
side-down and caught on fire.
Witnesses stopped and pulled the couple from the vehicle
before it was fully engulfed.
Salem woman charged for theft
DALLAS — A West Salem woman was arraigned on Thursday
in Polk County Circuit Court after being indicted on 17 counts
of first-degree criminal mistreatment, four counts of first-de-
gree theft and 13 counts of misdemeanor theft.
Victoria Leigh Ruiz, 29, was formally charged by the Polk
County District Attorney’s Office for the acts, which are alleged
to have occurred from January through May against multiple
elderly and dependent victims.
Circuit Court Judge Sally Avera set bail for $195,000.
Salem man faces manslaughter
DALLAS — A West Salem man was arraigned on Aug. 11 on
charges of manslaughter, felon in possession of a firearm and
unlawful possession of a firearm.
Nicholas Anthony Ransom, 34, was formally charged by Polk
County District Attorney’s Office in the fatal shooting of
Matthew Pierce, which occurred in West Salem on July 15.
Ransom’s bail was set by Circuit Court Judge Monte Camp-
bell at $115,000.
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Daryll wishes to give his heartfelt thanks to his friends
- Peter Padilla & family of Padilla Farms Landscaping
for their continous support of resources and precious time.
Also, friends - Randy, Larry, Fred and family, Bob & Barbara;
Master Gardeners - Lee & Carol for bringing jugs of water.
Ann, Judy and so many other symphathetic friends, customers,
neighbors and a special thanks to the City of Dallas, and
the Itemizer-Observer for coming to my aid.
A very personal thank you to my dedicated
employees Nikki & Josiah, my wife Phyllis
and my father Robert for their
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Daryll’s Nursery 15770 W Ellendale Rd, Dallas • 503-623-0251 • www.daryllsnursery.com • Mon - Sat 9 am - 5 pm