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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2015)
MASTER OF THE MAIZE OMLID COMES TO WOU CORN MAZE Page 7A BASKETBALL Page 10A Volume 140, Issue 34 www.Polkio.com August 26, 2015 QUAKE IS COMING? 75¢ IN YOUR TOWN Officials await an ‘overdue’ 9.0 earthquake off the Oregon coast DALLAS NEWS By Jolene Guzman Ron and Cheryl Spicer don’t want shut the doors for a final time at their store, Foster’s Furniture, on Monday. But it’s time to step away. The couple has owned the store for six years — original owner and the couple’s friend, Gary Foster, opened it 20 years before then — and has searched for a buyer without much luck. “I’m going to be 80 on Dec. 3,” Ron Spicer said, explaining the timing of the closure on Monday. “We are hoping someone still will come forward.” The Itemizer-Observer Editor’s note: This is the first in a se- ries of three stories exploring what would happen locally during and after a predicted 9.0 Cascadia subduction zone earthquake off the Oregon Coast. POLK COUNTY — Geologists can’t say precisely when the Cascadia subduction zone will shake the Pacific Coast, but the consensus is it will happen. Given the area is “overdue” for “The Really Big One,” as a recent story in The New Yorker coined it, there’s a chance it could happen within the lifetimes of residents of the Pacific Northwest now. What does that mean for those living in Polk County? Areas not directly on the coast won’t be hit with the one-two punch of violent shaking in a possible 9.0 magnitude quake followed by a devastating tsuna- mi. But it won’t be pretty, especially if it were to happen in the near future. In The New Yorker story published last month, a FEMA official overseeing this region of the country said if the earthquake were to happen now “Our operating assumption is that every- thing west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” State and local officials say “toast” may be a dramatic way of describing what would happen in the Willamette Valley. Althea Rizzo, the geologic hazards program coordinator for Oregon Emer- gency Management, said, no, the valley will not look like a scene from the movie “San Andreas,” though some areas will experience heavy damage, she noted. This far away from fault, the shaking wouldn’t be as strong as on the coast, but nothing to shrug at when you con- sider the age of many buildings and bridges in the area. Rizzo said the first seismic building codes were not established until 1994. “If your building was built since then, it’s very likely it will stand,” she said. “If not, you need to look at retro- fitting.” When Rizzo says “stand,” that is pre- cisely what she means. Buildings up to code should not collapse, protecting the people inside, but that does not mean it will be usable after the quake. From there, it’s dependent on the type of soil your home or office is built on. Soil types common to the valley are prone to liquefaction — similar to turning to mush — while the earth is moving. Landslides are another common secondary risk, so even if your home could survive the shaking, it could suf- fer a different kind of disaster. Infrastructure — electricity, sewer, »Page 3A FALLS CITY NEWS The city of Falls City has applied for two grants to complete more than $3.5 million in road and bridge repairs. If things go as planned, the city may be able to do it without spending a dime. To pull off that magic trick, the city has applied for a grant from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to help pay for much needed repairs to Dutch Creek Crossing. “It’s in bad shape,” Falls City Mayor Terry Ungricht said. “I don’t want to have to put a weight restric- tion on Dutch Creek.” »Page 13A INDEPENDENCE NEWS OREGON RESILIENCY PLAN/ for the Itemizer-Observer When “the big one” hits, liquefaction and landslides will be a factor. water and roads — also will be dam- aged and not functional for a period of time. First-responders will be short- handed, to say the least. So what now? Panic? Move? No, according to local officials, just be prepared. Dean Bender, Polk County’s emer- gency manager, said he’s been asked on a number of occasions since the New Yorker story was published what people should do. He’s appreciative that people are thinking about getting ready, but he also doesn’t want them to panic. “Today is no different from the day before, but just be self-prepared,” he said. “It’s going to be a bad day. There’s no way around it.” Really, it’s going to be a bad stretch of months, according to the Oregon Resilience Plan, which outlines the state’s ability to withstand a Cascadia quake and offers recommendations to prepare over the next five decades. See QUAKE, Page 5A Did you know? • The Cascadia subduction zone is a 600-mile long earthquake fault stretching from offshore northern California to southern British Co- lumbia. This fault builds up stress for hundreds of years as the Juan de Fuca and North America tecton- ic plates push against each other. Eventually, the two plates rip apart, creating some of the largest earth- quakes and tsunamis on earth. Where the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate and the North American con- tinental plate meet is called a sub- duction zone, because the denser Juan de Fuca plate is being pulled under North America. The Juan de Fuca plate is moving to the north- east at about an inch a year as the North American plate moves west. — Source: Oregon Office of Emergency Management. Students in second grade may end up filling jobs that haven’t even been invented yet, said Inde- pendence Economic Development Director Shawn Irvine. “How do you train kids to be adaptable, to be problem solvers, to be critical thinkers, which is ba- sically what you need to be to have the skills for a job that you don’t even know what it’s going to be,” Irvine said. The Technology Association of Oregon Founda- tion designated the city of Independence as an In- novate Oregon city, which will help bring training and resources for educators. »Page 16A MONMOUTH NEWS Funding for the Monmouth Senior Center ex- pansion project is complete with a $90,000 grant awarded on Aug. 17 by the Ford Family Founda- tion. That, coupled with $40,000 from Meyer Memori- al Trust, $30,000 from Oregon Community Fund and $15,000 from the Collins Foundation, will be added to the $127,000 raised by Friends of the Monmouth Senior Center and $120,000 donated by the city of Monmouth. Construction of the 2,133-square-foot addition should be completed in 2016. Tracks on Second to get facelift Independence, Willamette & Pacific work together to repair road, rail By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Mike Danko didn’t think he’d ever see the day when the rail- road tracks on Second Street would get refinished. “I’ve been working to im- prove that railroad (track) for the whole 25 years I’ve been here,” Danko said. After requests from Inde- pendence city councilors dating back 100 years, and the time Danko has spent THE NEXT 7 DAYS PLANNING FOR YOUR WEEK cultivating relationships with directors at the Willamette & Pacific Rail- road, construction will begin Wednesday (today) and continue through the weekend. The work should be com- pleted by Monday or Tues- day, Danko said. It will mean detours around the Monmouth and Second street intersection, but Danko said he hopes it doesn’t cause too much impact on down- town businesses. “This area (downtown) will be open to local traffic,” he said. “We’re going to pro- vide a right-hand turn onto Second Street (from C Street), just one lane so you can go down to B Street. There will be a little impact, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.” Part of the 100-year delay on the project was that, in general, railroad owners don’t care about the condi- tion of the street crossing the rails. “They run a pretty fixed maintenance budget every year, and they’re really tight,” Danko said. “They don’t care if the railroad (tracks) looks bad, they just want it to be safe (for trains).” But the two-block stretch of road was not safe for bicy- clists, wheelchairs — even cars. “People have split their tire on the rail a number of times,” Danko said. See RAIL, Page 14A »Page 5A POLK COUNTY NEWS A suspicious package was neutralized at 10 a.m. Friday after it was discovered in the Grand Ronde Tribal mailroom at about 7. The discovery of the package prompted the clo- sure of Grand Ronde Road. The Salem Police De- partment bomb squad assisted at the scene. The black PVC package was left on the front deck of the mailroom with a Post-it note under- neath it. It was immediately reported to the Grand Ronde Police Department, who cordoned off the area and contacted Salem PD. »Page 3A wed thu fri sat sun mon tue Grab a yoga mat and head to Rogue Hop Farms for some free yoga in the bines. Stay for food and a beverage. 4 p.m. Free. Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts will rock the Rotary stage for the last performance of Sounds of Summer. 6:30 p.m. Free. Watch the debut of Un Carol de Inde- pendence, a play written about and by the Hispanic community. 7:30 p.m. Free. Bring your un- wanted treasures to Main Street Park in Monmouth for the communitywide garage sale. It’s fiesta time for the whole commu- nity all day at Riverview Park and Amphitheater, with food, music and fun. You’re never too old to try something new with the Willamette Valley New Horizon’s Or- chestra. School is around the corner, so stop by Bounty Market and pick up fresh veg- gies and fruits for packed lunches. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Free. 6:30 p.m. $25/month. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. Sunny Hi: 85 Lo: 54 Sunny Hi: 85 Lo: 58 Mostly Cloudy Hi: 74 Lo: 54 Showers Hi: 74 Lo: 52 Partly Cloudy Hi: 80 Lo: 57 Showers Hi: 75 Lo: 57 Showers Hi: 75 Lo: 55
