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Polk County News Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 30, 2016 5A Council to label Minet debt ‘bad’ By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer OREGON LOTTERY A Dallas couple wins the grand $1 million prize in the Oregon Lottery’s St. Patrick’s Day Raffle on March 17. DALLAS COUPLE WINS BIG Locals win top prize in St. Patrick’s Day Raffle with Oregon Lottery By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — A Dallas cou- ple had the luck of the Irish in Oregon Lottery’s St. Patrick’s Day Raffle, but it took some time to realize it. Usually the top raffle prize winners show up the day the winning numbers are an- nounced, Lottery spokesman Chuck Bau- mann said. Not this time. The lottery office had to resort to issu- ing a press release a week after the numbers were an- nounced in an attempt to find the winner. Baumann said he sent out the release at 8:30 Thursday morning. It didn’t take long to find the winner after Ore- gonlive posted a story. “I was literally reading that story when I was getting a call that the winner (was at the office),” Baumann said. That lucky person is Dal- las resident Pam Hoefling. She told lottery officials it didn’t occur to her for a while to check the two tick- ets she purchased. When she took them to Safeway, she was in for a pleasant sur- prise. “They scanned the ticket and told me it said I needed to go to Salem. I thought, ‘Oh, OK,’ but didn’t know WOU to host geographic bee Friday Itemizer-Observer staf report MONMOUTH — Western Oregon University will host 103 contestants vying to win the 2016 National Geographic State Bee on Friday. The state champion will represent Oregon in the Na- tional Geographic Bee Championship May 22-25 at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington D.C. The winner also will receive $100, the National Geo- graphic book “The National Parks: An Illustrated History” and a medal. The bee will take place in the Pacific Room at WOU’s Werner University Center, 345 Monmouth Ave. N. Prelimi- nary rounds begin at 10 a.m. and the final round is slated for noon. The national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geo- graphic Society. The National Geographic Bee is a program of the Na- tional Geographic Society. For more information, www.natgeobee.org. how much I’d won,” Hoe- fling said. “So they printed the winning raffle numbers and then checked those with my ticket.” They were a match. “Then we all freaked out," she said. Hoefling and her hus- band, Rick, buy two tickets with each raffle. Whether it’s Rick or Pam who buys the tickets, they let the other half pick one of the tickets for their own. “Left or right,” Rick Hoe- fling explained as their selec- tion method. “I had a 50 per- cent chance of winning this.” But alas, it was Pam’s tick- et that won. Rick said he found out she had won when she an- nounced Thursday that she was going to Salem. “She said, ‘I’m going to the lottery office,’” he re- called. “And she showed me the ticket.” Rick said the couple had planned to take a few trips in the coming years. “We can speed that up now,” he said. After taxes, the Hoeflings will receive $670,000 from the $1 million raffle. Safeway will share in the luck, receiv- ing a 1-percent selling bonus for being the location where the winning ticket was purchased. Falls City School District to host bond meeting By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer FALLS CITY — The Falls City School District will host an informational meeting Tuesday regarding the bond to build a gym at Falls City Elementary School. Voters will decide the issue in the May 17 election. The meeting is open to the public and will be at 6 p.m. at the elementary school, 177 Prospect St., in Falls City. The project man- ager and architect will be at the meeting to answer ques- tions and lead a discussion about the bond. The $2 million bond will cost $1.30 per $1,000 of as- sessed value and, if passed, will build a multipurpose gym and cafeteria at the school. For more information: 503-787-3521. RECYCLE MONMOUTH — In an effort to preserve the city’s cash flow and bond rating, the city of Monmouth will consider labeling receiv- ables from Monmouth In- dependence Networks as non-collectible. The discussion came during a presentation of the city’s audit during the March 15 city council meeting. “They’ve been able to pay essentially all the prin- cipal, not the interest,” said Mark Dunmire, Monmouth finance director. “They’re paying what they owe, just not the interest.” The debt totals $13,749,646. “That principal is sitting on our balance sheet,” Dunmire said. “We thought it was a way to record — not a forgiveness of debt, but the likelihood of their ability to pay.” The debt was taken out by the cities of Monmouth and Independence to pay for the infrastructure to build Minet. The cities make payments to the banks, loans and bonds and wait for Minet to repay the cities. “Whatever Minet doesn’t pay, we will transfer from Power and Light,” Dunmire said. In Independence, that money comes from the water utility fund. Dunmire said the debt is “definitely a negative against the city.” In terms of reporting, considering the debt not collectible is a safe move, Dunmire said. “I know Minet is looking at a number of options to increase revenues,” he said. “They’re stable from an op- erational standpoint, but they’re not able to cover the whole debt. We’re grateful for what they do cover and wish they could cover more.” Historically, Minet has not been able to pay its debt, Dunmire said. “We wouldn’t consider them collectible unless something changed,” he said. A representative from Grove, Mueller and Swank, the accountants who per- formed the audit, said the debt would go to zero and be considered a bad debt if Minet could not pay it. The city of Independ- ence also considered a sim- ilar course of action for debt owed to it from Minet. In other business, the council, acting as the Urban Renewal Agency, ap- proved a $300 grant for the Monmouth Montessori School to reconstruct a walkway. The money is half the cost of the new sidewalk, making the school wheel- chair accessible. You’re Invited Third Annual Survivor Dinner & Celebration hosted by Eola Hills Winery sponsored by Relay For Life of Polk County & Team Perrydale Saturday, April 2 at Eola Hills Wine Cellars 501 S. Pacific Highway 99W, Rickreall 5:30 ~ Doors open, Meet & Mingle 6:15 to 8:00 ~ Dinner with entertainment by Oregon Spirit, award-winning chorus selected to perform this December at the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Every survivor and guest will be guests of honor. Please join us for an evening of food, fun and festivities. RSVP your name and the name of one guest to Vicki Bailey at 503-623-5241 or vickibaile@aol.com. RSVPs are encouraged. Solution on Page 3A A Pleasant Place to Buy or Sell Your RV CALL TODAY FOR A NO-CHARGE EVALUATION. OPEN K! S A WEE 9-5 Y A D 7 • Sat Mon-Fri 9-6 -4 Sun 10 Ruben 503-915-2080 Rick 503-437-5398 4075 NE Three Mile Lane, McMinnville, OR www.macrvsales.com Next to the Spruce Goose Aviation Museum macrvsales@gmail.com The Itemizer-Observer Your community news source Look what’s coming up.... Senior Living Retirement Deadline to reserve: April 6 Publish date: April 20 Reserve your space today! Explore Polk County Deadline to reserve: May 3 Publish date: May 25 Call heidi, rachel or karen at 503.623.2373 Itemizer-Observer 147 SE Court St, Dallas • www.polkio.com
