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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2015)
RIVERWOOD ORCHARDS FALL SPORTS PREVIEW SWEET APPLES INSIDE Page 7A Volume 140, Issue 35 www.Polkio.com Section D September 2, 2015 School bullying’s new face In the age of social media, it’s impossible for kids to escape harassment By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer POLK COUNTY — These days a bul ly may not be after your lunch money. In fact, he or she may not be saying or doing anything in the halls at school. “It’s almost faceless,” said Jamie Richardson, principal of LaCreole Middle School in Dallas. “It’s not the Scut Farkus who is going to be in your face all day long and smash your face into the snow, it’s something that happens at 10 o’clock at night, and is now not only viewed by one person, it’s viewed by however many friends you have or however many likes you have. It’s probably our No. 1 thing.” Unlike the yellow-eyed, yellow-toothed bully from “A Christmas Story,” bullying in schools today has taken on a more silent, passive-aggres- sive form via social media. “I think kids are more em- powered to say things because Richardson you’re not face-to-face with some- body,” said Doug Gouge, su- pervisor of Polk County’s school-based mental health program. “You can say some things that are pretty hurtful, and a lot of kids can gang up on them and do that. It’s a worry.” On social media, hurtful messages get out quicker and to more people, Gouge added. “If you wrote in the bath- room, the only people who saw it were p e o p l e who went into the bathroom,” he said. “Maybe t h e y ’d come out Tillery a n d s a y, ‘hey, guess what was written in the bathroom about Doug.’” Richardson said the adult equivalent of kids using so- cial media to bully others is writing a scathing email — saying something you would- n’t say if you were sitting right next to them. For kids, it’s the same kind of thing. “They can say things they wouldn’t typically say to someone’s face,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately, if it was done at 10 p.m., it draws into the next day and be- comes a school issue, and it just impacts kids’ learning, and that’s when we need to step in.” One of the tough parts about combating bullying is defining the term. “It means something dif- ferent to each person,” said Steve Tillery, former princi- pal at Independence Ele- mentary School. “Your per- ception is your reality, so what you’re perceiving may or may not be truth, but it is truth to you.” When a child reports being bullied, it is the princi- pal’s job to find out what re- ally happened and help cor- rect the behavior, Tillery said. See BULLY, Page 10A 75¢ IN YOUR TOWN DALLAS NEWS Is your lawn a little on the yellow and crispy side? You aren’t alone. Voluntary water conservation appears to be working in Dallas, Monmouth and Independence. Dallas residents have cut daily usage by a whop- ping 300,000 gallons per day since the city issued a request to cut water usage. City leaders are more than pleased with that. “We were actually pleasantly surprised with how the community responded,” said Fred Braun, Dallas public works director. »Page 6A FALLS CITY NEWS Students in Falls City are back to the books a week earlier than usual. Monday marked back to school for the Moun- taineers. The early start is due to a quirk in the calendar and the district four-day school week system. With Labor Day falling so late in September this year, be- ginning classes after the holiday would push the end of the year to June 16. “Everybody on the staff felt that was way too late in June to be ending school,” Superintendent Jack Thompson said. »Page 14A INDEPENDENCE NEWS In her career as a salon owner, Hermelinda Garcia can count 42 years, three locations, and countless friends. Garcia, who goes by “Linda,” recently surpassed another milestone, age 70. “It was time to retire,” she said Monday, a week after her last day at Hermelinda’s Beauty Salon. “I’ve been doing it all my life.” Garcia began cutting hair for family and friends at an early age, but when it came time to select a ca- reer, she took a different path — for a while. »Page 3A JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Ryan Kelley, front, and Brad Ford, back, launch their journey to Portland from Independence on Saturday. The cargo in their canoe includes Project 1899 pinot noir, a special vintage made without electricity or modern technology. Wine ‘shipped’ the old-time way Made without electricity, Illahe’s 1899 is delivered with only muscle power By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Leave it to Brad Ford and the crew at Illahe Vineyards to do something that likely hasn’t been done commer- cially in decades: delivering wine via boat on the Willamette River. Specifically, by canoe, from Independence to the riverfront in Portland. Ford and fellow river pad- dler, Ryan Kelley, loaded a canoe with Illahe’s Project 1899 pinot noir — four cases encased in bubble wrap and dry bags for safe keeping — and camping supplies for three days on Saturday morning. “I hope this thing floats,” Kelley said looking over the loaded canoe just before they launched at about 9:30 a.m. Soon they would find out, THE NEXT 7 DAYS PLANNING FOR YOUR WEEK JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Ryan Kelley loads bubble-wrapped and dry bag-pro- tected Project 1899 wine into a canoe on Saturday. pushing the boat into the stream, which due to stormy weather and wind, had a pretty swift current. It floats, and the current whisked them north, nearly out of sight in just a few minutes. With the wind at their backs, it’s a good start to a long journey for the pair — and their precious cargo due in Portland by Tuesday. The delivery excursion isn’t just an excuse for Ford and Kelley, both experienced canoers, to spend some time on the river. It’s in keeping wed thu fri Want to test your Scrabble skills? Come down to the Independence Pub- lic Library for “Scrab- ble with Betty” 1 p.m. Free. Fall may be in the air, but there still are plenty of fresh fruits and vegies at the Polk Bounty Market in Dallas. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Like to play or listen to live acoustic music? Guthrie Park is once again host- ing its Friday jam sessions. 7 to 10 p.m. Free. Partly cloudy Hi: 71 Lo: 48 Partly cloudy Hi: 70 Lo: 47 Mostly cloudy Hi: 70 Lo: 47 with how ‘1899’ is made — without electricity, modern equipment, or techniques common to current wine- making practices. Ford thought, why not fin- ish the job by delivering it to the distributor the old fash- ioned way, too? Making it easy is the fact that Illahe’s distributor, Casa Bruno, is located right on the Willamette in Portland and was willing to take the wine from the river to its warehouse by bike. 1899’s trek began on Fri- day, when Illahe’s resident team of Percheron draft horses, Doc and Bea, carried the wine three miles by wagon from the vineyard lo- cated outside Dallas to Rid- dell Road. From there, a bike messenger pedaled the wine to The Three-legged Dog in Independence, where it stayed overnight. See WINE, Page 6A sat Polk Community Free Clinic will pro- vide medical and mental health care at Dallas’ Trinity Lutheran Church. 7 to 11 a.m. Free. Mostly sunny Hi: 74 Lo: 49 MONMOUTH NEWS Monmouth Independence Networks employees have been busy getting updates made and security improvements done. “We’re doing work on basically all the systems, all the guts of the system,” said Scott McClure, MINET board vice president and Monmouth city manager. “The idea is to get a handle on the core technology — the computers, the servers, the networks — and get it all buttoned down as tight as possible.” The work started after an in-depth system audit was completed. »Page 3A POLK COUNTY NEWS Two men who were arrested for posing as police officers after allegedly pulling over a woman on Highway 22 will appear in Polk County Circuit Court Thursday for a preliminary hearing. Kurt F. Von Allmen, 55, and his son, Seth Von All- men, 18, are both facing one charge of imperson- ation of a peace officer following the Aug. 21 incident. The victim, Diana Ledbetter, reported the inci- dent to police at about 6:45 a.m., saying two men in wearing black uniforms and driving a black Ford Crown Victoria used the vehicle’s lights to pull her over, according to court documents . »Page 2A sun mon tue TJ Farm is hosting special guest Light- house Quartet at its Ramming Steer Gospel Music Roundup. 5 p.m. Free. Happy Labor Day Polk County! Have a safe and happy holi- day. The I-O’s office is closed today in honor of the occa- sion. James2 Community Kitchen offers a free meal to those in need at St. Philip Catholic Church in Dallas. 4:30 to 6 p.m. Free. Sunny Hi: 79 Lo: 50 Mostly cloudy Hi: 79 Lo: 53 Mostly cloudy Hi: 79 Lo: 51