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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2016)
Polk County Voices Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 3, 2016 4A How to Contact Officials EDITORIALS Minet board should reconsider options The board of directors of Monmouth Independence Networks (Minet) decided Thursday to indefinitely table an idea of the telecommunications company providing free WiFi access to residents and visitors of both cities in exchange for possible debt relief from the two cities. Board president Scott McClure said he didn’t want Minet Executive Director Don Patten to put any more time into looking at the details: how much it would cost Minet, how much debt relief they would request from the cities, or how much time and manpower it would take, or whether grants are available to help build the system. He implied that it would be a waste of Patten’s time to continue to look into it, comparing it to if he suggested to the Monmouth City Council that they sell Main Street Park. His reasoning didn’t seem to come from the debt for- giveness, but from a fear that people would drop their In- ternet services from Minet and just use free WiFi. It’s great for using a cellphone or other devices, because it can help you save on data. It’s also great for accessing the Internet in the park or at a coffee shop. But it’s generally spotty. It’s not secure. It’s is no replacement for secure data access. As for the debt forgiveness Patten suggests in exchange for providing such a service, this is a matter that should be discussed by the councils and, more importantly, the citi- zens — and it should be something Minet’s board, who should be working on behalf of the company, is interested in. Ratepayers of Monmouth and Independence already contribute to the debt that was incurred to help build Minet. The two cities are the ones who took out the money to build the company, and it is the cities’ responsibilities to pay it back. We realize that the idea was that Minet would one day be able to afford its operating costs and pay back the $25 million in debt, but the fact is that that isn’t happening. In December, the two cities covered 80 percent of Minet’s debt payment. That means the power customers in Monmouth and the water customers in Independence paid 80 percent of Minet’s debt in December. We think it is worth investigating. We think the board of Minet should pass this one over to the people and the city councils and let them decide: is free WiFi worth taking some of the pressure off Minet to repay the millions of dol- lars the cities took out to build them? It has been a long time — roughly a decade — since any- one has asked the public what they think about Minet. The least they could do is ask now. 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, FEB. 3 • Monmouth Historic Commission — 6 p.m., Volunteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-838-0725. • Monmouth Planning Commission — 7 p.m., Volunteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-838-0725. • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, irst loor conference room, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. MONDAY, FEB. 8 • Hops and Heritage Festival Commission — 6 p.m., Independ- ence Elks Lodge, 289 S. Main St., Independence. 503-838-1212. • WIMPEG Board of Directors — 7 p.m., 150 N. Knox St., Monmouth. 503-838-0725. • Dallas School Board — 6:30 p.m., Dallas School District of- ice, 111 SW Ash St., Dallas. 503-623-5594. • Southwest Polk Fire Protection District Board — 7:30 p.m., Rickreall Fire Station, 275 Main St., Rickreall. 503-831-3530. TUESDAY, FEB. 9 • Independence City Council — 7 p.m., Independence Civic Center, 555 S. Main St., Independence. 503-838-1212. • Polk County Board of Commission work session — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, BOC oice, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10 • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, irst loor conference room, 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 Help promote live music in the area My name is Bob Rause; I am a member of a musical group called Parish Gap. I would like to help promote live music in Dallas. We are probably the longest continuously per- forming band in the state of Oregon. The band has swapped out a few musi- cians over the years, but the line-up of bass, guitar, keys, vocalists and percussionist hasn’t changed in several decades. We have worked across America and Canada. On Saturday, we will be playing at Tony’s in Dallas at 9 p.m. I am on a personal cru- sade to get live music hap- pening again in our area. I remember a time when there were a lot of places having live music, every- thing from country to jazz regularly. I miss those days and would like to see them happen again. We have been having phenomenal crowd reac- tions at every place we have played in the past couple of years with many people making a point to tell us that we really put on a great show and gave them a really special evening of entertain- ment. Our history is long, storied, and we believe a great human interest story as well as a testament to dedication to great musical art. We have two full-length albums to our credit and are constantly adding to our own music legacy catalog. Your consideration and help would be greatly ap- preciated, and we feel your own reading public would enjoy hearing our story. It has been a fun, and often heartwarming ride. Bob Rause Albany Watch out for your rights this season Dangerous bills are being introduced. These are dangerous bills that remove your constitu- tional rights without due process. If the Legislature can do it here, they can do it to all other rights. Even if you don’t own firearms, your other rights are at risk. Article 1 Section 27: The people shall have the right to bear arms for defense of themselves and the State ... . Senate Bill 1551: Under this bill, a person with no mental health credentials, who may have never even met you, can take away your right to acquire a firearm with an anonymous call to the state police. The state police are not allowed in- form you that your rights are gone, not allowed to re- veal who made the accusa- tion and are not allowed to reveal how long your rights are suspended. House Bill 4147: This bill prohibits transfer of a firearm without the ap- proval of the Oregon State Police. Currently a dealer may transfer a firearm to a buyer after three days if the state police issues a delay. This bill will prohibit that and allow the OSP to delay you literally forever. Stand up for your rights or lose them. Gary Weis Dallas Today is National Day the Music Died Day The Day the Music Died Day is always ob- served on Feb. 3. This day we remember the unfortunate and untimely death of singers 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 17-year-old Richie Valens, and 28-year-old J. P. Richardson, aka: “The Big Bopper.” These three singers died in an airplane accident on Feb. 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa. Their pilot, Roger Peterson, also died in the crash. The Day the Music Died was dubbed so by Don McLean’s song “American Pie.” Buddy Holly’s band was on tour and had played at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. They were headed to their next destination in Moorhead, Minnesota. For this leg of their journey, they decided take a charter plane rather than go with their tour bus. Richard- son “The Big Bopper,” had swapped places with Waylon Jennings, taking the latter’s 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 oice: 707 13th St. SE, Suite 285, Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-589-4555 Email: via website, www.wyden.senate.gov place on the plane and Tommy Allsup had lost his place to Ritchie Valens in a coin toss. Not long after takeoff, they were no longer able to be reached by radio and they did not reach their destination. The aircraft was reported missing. The next day, the wreckage was found less than 6 miles northwest of the airport in a cornfield. Poor weather conditions and pilot error were determined, during investigation, to have been the cause of the pilot losing control of the plane. This event has echoed through history for over 50 years. Visitors still make the pilgrim- age each year to Clear Lake, the resort town about 110 miles north of Des Moines, as this was the point of their last concert before the fatal accident. — Source: NationalDayCalendar.com 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 elec- tion-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 that are libelous, ob- scene or in bad taste will not be printed. Attacks by name on businesses or individuals will not be printed. Letters to the editor that are obvious promotions for a busi- ness, products or services will not be printed. The Itemizer-Observer does not guarantee the accuracy of facts presented by letter writers; dissenters are welcome to re- spond. Letter writers who dis- agree with other published letter writers should maintain a civil discourse and address the subject, not the author. Letters, like all editorial mate- rial submitted to the newspa- per, are edited for length, grammar and content. Letters must include the au- thor’s name, address and tele- phone number. This includes letters submitted via the I-O’s website. Names and cities of res- idence are published; street ad- dresses and telephone numbers are used for veriication pur- poses only. Letters must be submitted from individuals, not organiza- tions, and must be original sub- missions to the I-O, not copies of letters sent to other media. 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. — Reach us at: Mail: Editor, Polk County Itemizer-Observer, P.O. Box 108, Dallas, OR 97338. Fax: 503-623-2395. Email: ionews@polkio.com. Oice: 147 SE Court St., Dallas. Sen. Jef Merkley (Dem.) 313 Hart SOB Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3753 Fax: 202-228-3997 Salem oice: 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 oice: 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. 141, No. 5 (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 inancial 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 Web: www.polkio.com Phone: 503-623-2373 Fax: 503-623-2395
