CAKES, CONFECTIONS
JANESOFSKY IS A
CRITELLI SWEETS
SLAM
DUNK
Page 10A
Page 13A
Volume 141, Issue 12
www.Polkio.com
March 23, 2016
75¢
Crash
closes
Ellendale
Saturday
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
A garage ire last
week displaces two Dal-
las families. Both fami-
lies are in need of assis-
tance.
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — A
single car accident caused
a road closure on East El-
lendale Road just east of
Bowersville Road due to a
downed power line pole
on Saturday.
The Polk County Sher-
iff’s Office received a call
at 8:15 a.m. about a single
car accident. Responders
arrived on scene and
found that Erika Breeden,
22, of Dallas, veered off
the road and collided with
a power pole, knocking it
down.
“(Breeden) believed she
fell asleep,” Sheriff Mark
Garton said.
Breeden was transport-
ed to Salem Hospital with
minor injuries.
The downed power pole
caused minimal outages,
but also damaged a sec-
ond pole.
“The initial outage im-
pacted one customer,” Pa-
cific Power Regional Com-
munity Manager Doris
Johnston said. “The line-
men assessed the situa-
tion and saw that we
needed to replace two
poles. We did a lot of work
to get everything set up
before we took an outage
for additional customers.”
Linemen replaced the
fallen pole and the pole
directly across from it. Ap-
proximately 188 cus-
tomers were without
power from 3:27 p.m. to
6:08 p.m. while workers
replaced power lines be-
tween the two newly-in-
stalled poles.
Ellendale Road re-
mained closed until ap-
proximately 6:45 p.m. on
Saturday.
“We want to emphasize
safety for our customers
and employees,” Johnston
said. “We’ want people to
be cautious of changing
weather conditions and to
just be careful.”
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Three of the nine horses living in a pasture near Highway 51 in Independence, graze on Monday. The muddy field
conditions and no shelter for the animals has been a cause for concern for neighbors in the area.
VET FINDS NO NEGLECT
FALLS CITY
Funding, options to
be explored for Wagner
Community Library.
»Page 3A
Nine horses near Independence are fed high-quality alfalfa, supplements
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — In
Oregon, horses are consid-
ered livestock.
That means the legal
standard of care for horses is
different than for domestic
animals.
The case of a group of
horses in an unfortunately
muddy field in Independ-
ence has put the legal re-
quirements of the care of
horses into sharp focus.
“There are minimum
standards for equine and
livestock: It is food — good
food, essentially — potable
water and vet care, if neces-
sary,” said Sheriff Mark Gar-
ton. “Those are the three for
livestock. Shelter is not a re-
quirement.”
That is the problem for
most people who have re-
ported concerns about nine
horses living in a field on
Stryker Road near Highway
51 in Independence. The
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
has taken numerous calls
and has made several visits
to the property since reports
began in November.
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — In-
dependence Cinema will
host a viewing party of
Western Oregon’s men’s
basketball team’s Elite Eight
game Wednesday (today).
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Game begins at 6:30 p.m.
There is no cost to attend,
but seating is limited.
To reserve seats: 503-
838-8710.
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
»Page 16A
By Emily Mentzer
Itemizer-Observer staf report
7
A Dallas 4-H club
wants to know how you
feel about plastic bags.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
A vet evaluated the horses in February, finding no neglect.
“Horses have no shelter
and (are) standing in mud
up to their knees,” a caller
reported on Feb. 1 according
to a call summary provided
by the sheriff’s office.
Other callers cited physi-
cal and psychological health
risks for the animals living in
the field and two horse res-
cue operations have been
contacted.
“Perhaps a vet could be
sent to the location to check
for thrush, hoof rot, skin ail-
ments,” another caller said.
A veterinarian has visited
the property twice, most re-
cently on Feb. 9 when Ben
Braat with Linn Veterinary
Hospital in Albany, was
asked by the sheriff’s office
to evaluate the animals.
A summary of his report
said that the horses were
being fed high-quality alfalfa
and four of the older horses
were given “senior equine”
supplements. He found a
few of the horses were thin,
but attributed that to their
advanced age. The horses
range in age from 6 to 27
years old.
One horse had rain rot on
its back, according to the re-
port summary, but Braat re-
ported that allegations of
neglect were unfounded.
With that, the sheriff’s of-
fice has concluded its inves-
tigation.
“We can’t force ourselves
on a situation we don’t have
any reason being there,”
Garton said.
He noted this isn’t the
only place where horses are
living in similar conditions
and said if signs of neglect
were evident, his office
would take action.
“We are always very thor-
ough and we have not shied
away from taking animals,”
he said.
The horses have been on
the property since August,
but the problems began
with the rain.
The field had worse-than-
expected drainage issues
and little ground cover be-
fore the horses were placed
in the pasture.
See HORSES, Page 6A
Legislators sound off on minimum wage
WOU
viewing
party
THE NEXT
»Page 7A
SALEM — The Oregon
Legislature wrapped up its
2016 short session on March
3 and left in its wake 166 bills
passed by the House and an-
other 157 passed by the Sen-
ate. Gov. Kate Brown has
signed 63 so far.
“It was the worst session
I’ve ever attended,” said Sen.
Brian Boquist, who has
served in the legislature
since 2000. “The intent of
the short session was sold as
being a budget rebalance
and any minor technical
fixes.”
That is not what this was,
Boquist said.
wed
Take your young
reader to the Dallas
Public Library where
he or she can prac-
tice reading to
Davos the dog.
4 p.m. Free.
Rain
Hi: 58
Lo: 44
“You have people come in
with these massive policy
concepts,” he said, among
them minimum wage and
the clean coal standard,
which, Boquist said, was
“rammed” through the short
session to prevent ballot
measures.
Rep. Paul Evans disagrees
that the minimum wage bill
was pushed through the 32-
day session.
“We really began public
hearings in ’15,” Evans said.
“This was not rushed. It was,
perhaps, not pretty, but it
was not rushed.”
The new law is based on a
three-tier system and will be
phased in over six years.
See SESSION, Page 6A
thu
Are you living with
someone with
Alzheimer’s? Join a
support group at
Monmouth Senior
Center.
9:30 a.m. Free.
Showers
Hi: 54
Lo: 41
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH
Polk County marijua-
na taxes may boost
general funds.
»Page 8A
SPORTS
Dallas softball coach
Brandi Jackson’s irst
game was a family afair
against her former
coach — and father.
»Page 13A
EDUCATION
Schools are exploring
ways to it in more PE.
»Page 15A
MES To host
playground work
day on Friday
Itemizer-Observer staf report
MONMOUTH — The
playground at Mon-
mouth Elementary
School has been lood-
ed for much of the
school year, said Princi-
pal Kim Seidel.
To get the issue ixed,
the school will host a
maintenance day on Fri-
day starting at 8:30 a.m.
People may bring
tools and equipment —
or just themselves — to
help dig up the play-
ground and lush the
drainage system.
Once that is done,
volunteers will lay down
river rock, gardening
cloth and bark chips.
People may come
help at any time of the
day on Friday, Seidel
said.
For more informa-
tion: email kseidel
@central.k12.or.us.
Lawmakers recently ended the short 32-day session.
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Easter Egg Hunts
begin today at Jef-
ferson Lodge Mem-
ory Care and go
throughout Satur-
day. For more Easter
activities: Page 12A.
See dolls and doll-
related items of all
types at the 34th an-
nual Doll Show at
the Polk County
Fairgrounds.
Happy Easter!
Whether you cele-
brate the day at a
sunrise service or at
brunch at a local
venue, may your day
be illed with joy.
The Dallas Garden
Club will demon-
strate container gar-
dening recycling old
bird baths at its
monthly meeting.
6:30 p.m. Free.
James2 Community
Kitchen ofers meals
to all who are hun-
gry at St. Philip
Catholic Church
each Tuesday.
4:30-6 p.m. Free.
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 55
Lo: 38
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 55
Lo: 42
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 56
Lo: 39
Showers
Hi: 53
Lo: 38
Sunny
Hi: 61
Lo: 48
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.