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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2015)
Polk County Voices Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 16, 2015 4A EDITORIALS How to Contact Officials Never too late to keep learning With the kids back in school, and adults getting ready to start classes at Western Oregon University, it’s a good re- minder that it’s never too late to continue your education. Polk County has many resources to take a class and learn something new, whether it’s a second language or picking up a hobby like knitting or painting or writing. Chemeketa Community College has a campus right here in Dallas open to all, not just high school students working on their fifth year. It’s a great opportunity to go after that college degree you’ve always thought about or polish your computer skills. At WOU, the gamut is wide open as far as class schedule. Prices vary at each institution, but a degree could mean higher salary, too. Classes are available at different times of the day, mean- ing you can fit them around your work schedule. Some at the colleges are even offered online so you can do them at your own pace and time. It’s great to have so many continuing education options right here in our community. It makes it easy to consid- er — and follow through — learning something new. Hops, heritage festival honors Independence The Hops & Heritage Festival is one-of-a-kind. Its small- town charm and lack of hype turns Riverview Park into a quaint gathering of friends and family — community. In its 15th year, the festival strives for that “throwback Thursday” feel, with old-fashioned games, music and competitions. It’s a great chance to learn something about Independ- ence and Polk County, visiting a time when the city was known as Hop Capital of the World. Our favorite thing about the festival is its laid-back, inviting atmosphere. It has an unassuming way of sneak- ing into your heart while you enjoy a pint or feel the cone of a hop plant for the first time. Kids running in the lawn and playing croquet instead of at home on video games brings a smile to our faces. Don’t forget to grab breakfast at the Independence State Airport and watch the hot air ballons launch. It’s a great way to start a Saturday. PUBLIC AGENDA Public Agenda is a listing of upcoming meetings for gov- ernmental and nongovernmental agencies in Polk County. To submit a meeting, send it at least two weeks before the actual meeting date to the Itemizer-Observer via fax (503- 623-2395) or email (ionews@polkio.com). — WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. • Monmouth Planning Commission — 7 p.m., Volunteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-838-0722. THURSDAY, SEPT. 17 • Polk County Fair Board — 8 a.m., Polk County Fairgrounds and Event Center, Main Building, Meeting Room No. 2, 520 S. Pa- cific Highway (99W), Rickreall. 503-623-3048. • Dallas Economic Development Committee — Noon, City Hall, 187 SE Court St., Dallas. 503-831-3502. • Independence Parks and Recreation Board — 6 p.m., In- dependence Civic Center, 555 S. Main St., Independence. 503- 838-1212. • Monmouth Arts and Culture Commission — 7 p.m., Vol- unteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-838-0722. • Rickreall Watershed Council — 1 p.m., Delbert Hunter Ar- boretum House, Dallas City Park. 503-623-9680. • Monmouth-Independence Networks Board — 7:30 a.m., Volunteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-580-8525. MONDAY, SEPT. 21 • Dallas City Council — 7 p.m., City Hall, 187 SE Court St., Dal- las. 503-831-3502. TUESDAY, SEPT. 22 • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. • Independence City Council — 7:30 a.m., Independence Civic Center, 555 S. Main St., Independence. 503-838-1212. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23 • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. GOVERNOR Gov. Kate Brown (Dem.) 160 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-378-4582 Email: via website, http://governor.oregon.gov/ — STATE LEGISLATORS Sen. Arnie Roblan (District 5, Democrat) S-417 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1705 sen.arnieroblan@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/roblan LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Making a short-time commitment to volunteer- ing is commendable. Mak- ing a long-term volunteer- ing commitment is excep- tional. The kind of people who make a lifetime volunteer commitment to being on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without any expecta- tion of when, where or under what circumstances they’ll be called to duty, are, well, hard to describe. We have a few of these in- describable people on our Polk County CERT Team who are recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award for outstanding sup- port of our program in 2014. Please join me in thanking them. Gold Standard Award: Cody Watson (Teen) Inde- pendence and Logan Townsend (Teen) Mon- mouth. Silver Standard Award: David Weston (Adult) Monmouth and Dell Weston (Adult) Dallas. Bronze Standard Award: Colin Howard (Teen) Rickre- all, James Krehmke (Adult) Dallas and Maurice Dalton (Teen) Dallas. Overall, the Polk County CERT program earned a Na- tional Gold Standard Award, and our Teen CERT program a National Silver Standard Award in the Disaster Serv- ices focus area. These awards were made possible through the contributions of each and every one of our 80 members. Thank you all; I am hon- ored to work beside you. and have allowed William and his brother, Henry, to live on our property after they became homeless. Several nights ago we were awakened around midnight by dogs barking in our yard. We went out to help our friends. I saw a pit bull and screamed “get out of here.” He disappeared into the night. Then a white dog looked around the corner of the building. I called to him, and we were able to leash him. The barking dogs were from a parcel of land occu- pied by a woman and her husband who said they were homeless. As for our goats, William had his esophagus ripped out and Henry is trauma- tized. The vet was called and William was relieved of his pain. The sheriff was called and told us they would be out at noon the next day. Around 3 a.m., a pickup came up our drive and the woman wanted to get her dog. We told her we would turn the dog over to the sheriff the next day. We asked about the pit bull but she said, “he didn't come back.” How did she know to come to our home? After nearly $300 for the vet, we are told by the sheriff that they cannot do anything about the pit. The owners moved to the country to “let their dogs wander.” The pit bull has killed, and next time it could be a human death. After all, William weighed over 150 pounds and was attacked while he slept. Kimber Townsend Monmouth Marty Maxfield Monmouth Don’t let country dogs roam free All should be free to follow religion I’m trying to make sense of the death of one of my friends. He was gentle, friendly and a companion to his brother. My wife and I live in rural Polk County This country was founded on religious freedom. Our ancestors forsook all they had to escape persecution so they could freely worship according to their con- Members of CERT earn recognition science. We are now losing that freedom. Those who, according to the religious beliefs and conscience, be- lieve that participating in the marriage of homosexu- als is wrong should be al- lowed to follow their con- science. During World War II, con- scientious objector status was granted to those who believed that killing in war was wrong, even though our nation was attacked and in danger of being conquered by very ruthless and danger- ous enemies. They were per- mitted instead to follow their religious beliefs. This same status should be granted to Christians, Mus- lims and others whose reli- gious beliefs forbid them to participate or enable gay weddings. George Irving Dallas Library impresses with its service Frankly, I don’t think I could sleep nights if I did not tell you of the outstand- ing help I received from Jan- ice Ames and the volunteers who work for you and your readers at your library. Just yesterday my, “plea for ge- nealogical help” phone call was graciously answered by Miss Janice. She suggested I email her the elements of my requests (two obits in the I-O of past Dallas residents). In no time, she emailed back that the obits had been found by Pete, a volunteer, and that they were on their way. Her courtesy and the promptness of her service would put many so-called fast food restaurants to shame. If true, as it is often said, “birds of a feather flock to- gether,” I suspect your en- tire library team is one of which y’all are very proud. Thank you Janice Ames and thank you Dallas! Sen. Jackie Winters (District 10, Republican) S-301 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1710 sen.jackiewinters@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/winters Sen. Brian Boquist (District 12, Republican) S-305 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1712 sen.brianboquist@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/boquist Rep. David Gomberg (District 10, Democrat) H-471 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1410 rep.davidgomberg@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/gomberg Rep. Paul Evans (District 20, Democrat) H-281 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1420 rep.paulevans@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/evans Rep. Mike Nearman (District 23, Republican) H-378 State Capitol 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1423 rep.mikenearman@state.or.us www.oregonlegislature.gov/nearman — U.S. CONGRESS Sen. Ron Wyden (Dem.) 221 Dirksen SOB Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-5244 Fax: 202-228-2717 Salem office: 707 13th St. SE, Suite 285, Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-589-4555 Email: via website, www.wyden.senate.gov John E. Brown Greensboro, N.C. WANT TO WRITE A LETTER? Letters to the editor are lim- ited to 300 words. Longer letters will be edited. Election-related letters of all types are limited to 100 words. Writers are limited to one election-related letter per election season. Election letters from writers outside of Polk County are not accepted. Each writer is restricted to one letter per 30-day period. Letters must include the au- thor’s name, address and tele- phone number. This includes let- ters submitted via the I-O’s website. Names and cities of res- idence are published; street ad- dresses and telephone numbers are for verification purposes only. Letters of thanks to busi- nesses, individuals and organi- zations are limited to 10 names. The deadline for letters to the editor is 10 a.m. Monday. Let- ters submitted may not be re- tractable after this deadline. For the complete letters policy, see polkio.com. — Reach us at: Mail: Editor, Polk County Itemizer-Observer, P.O. Box 108, Dallas, OR 97338. Fax: 503-623-2395. Email: ionews@polkio.com. Office: 147 SE Court St., Dallas. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Dem.) 313 Hart SOB Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3753 Fax: 202-228-3997 Salem office: 495 State St. SE, Suite 330, Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-362-8102 Email: via website, www.merkley.senate.gov Rep. Kurt Schrader (Dem.) 108 Cannon HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: 202-225-5711 Fax: 202-225-5699 Salem office: 544 Ferry St. SE, Suite 2, Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-588-9100 Fax: 503-588-5517 Email: via website, www.schrader.house.gov — POLK COUNTY Board of Commissioners 850 Main St. Dallas, OR 97338 Phone: 503-623-8173 www.co.polk.or.us — CITIES Dallas 187 SE Court St. Dallas, OR 97338 503-623-2338 www.ci.dallas.or.us Falls City 299 Mill St. Falls City, OR 97344 503-787-3631 www.fallscityoregon.gov Independence 555 S. Main St. Independence, OR 97351 503-838-1212 www.ci.independence.or.us Monmouth 151 W. Main St. Monmouth, OR 97361 503-838-0722 www.ci.monmouth.or.us HOW TO REACH US Vol. 140, No. 37 (USPS) - 437-380) The official newspaper of Polk County • Serving Polk County families since 1875 Winner of 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 General Excellence Awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Periodicals postage paid at Dallas, OR, Independence, OR and Monmouth, OR. Published weekly at 147 SE Court Street Dallas, Oregon 97338 Phone: 503-623-2373 Fax: 503-623-2395 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Polk County — One Year $27 Other Oregon Counties — One Year $33 Outside of Oregon — One Year $38 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Polk County Itemizer-Observer, P.O. Box 108, Dallas, Oregon 97338 The Polk County Itemizer-Observer assumes no financial responsibility for errors in adver- tisements. It will, however, reprint without charge for the portion of an advertisement which is in error if the Itemizer-Observer is at fault. NEWSROOM Nancy Adams ...............Publisher/Editor .............................................................nadams@polkio.com Lukas Eggen..................Sports Editor......................................................................leggen@polkio.com Jolene Guzman............Dallas/Falls City/Polk County Reporter ................jguzman@polkio.com Emily Mentzer ..............Monmouth/Independence Reporter ..................ementzer@polkio.com DISPLAY ADVERTISING Heidi Leppin .................Display Advertising Manager ....................................hleppin@polkio.com Rachel Best ....................Display Advertising.............................................................rbest@polkio.com Karen Sanks...................Client Services ...................................................................ksanks@polkio.com CLASSIFIED LINE ADVERTISING Dawn Ohren .....................................................................................................................ioads@polkio.com PRODUCTION Kathy Huggins ..............................................................................................................iosales@polkio.com Karyn Pressel .................................................................................................................iosales@polkio.com BOOKKEEPING Pat Letsch ......................................................................................................................pletsch@polkio.com Web: www.polkio.com Phone: 503-623-2373 Fax: 503-623-2395
