BIRDWATCHING AT
CENTRAL GIRLS TENNIS
KYLIE
SMITH
LUCKIAMUTE
Page 7A
Page 12A
Volume 141, Issue 17
www.Polkio.com
April 27, 2016
75¢
What to do about
STREETS?
By Jolene Guzman
Measure 27-119
The itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Proponents of the proposed
residential street repair bond for the city of
Dallas say the time is now to fix the streets
before the problem becomes worse.
Among the arguments of those opposing
the bond is city should have dealt with the
problem long ago when the maintenance
backlog wasn’t so lengthy or expensive.
Pete Christiansen, who served on the cit-
izens’ committee that recommended the
10-year, $10-million bond as a first step to-
ward addressing Dallas street situation, ac-
knowledges that concern.
He said his preference would have been
for a plan put in place years ago, but he
added pointing out oversights of the past
doesn’t change the issue before the city now.
“Here we are and we need to repair it
now,” Christiansen said. “We need to get
our streets fixed.”
As of now, repair would cost $15 million
to have every street rated as “good” or
higher. That price tag has gotten larger.
“Back in 2002, it was just over $2 million
to fix the problem, and every time we look
at it, it has gone up by a lot,” City Manager
Ron Foggin said. “We are now to the point
of $15 million.”
How did the city get to this point?
Foggin said resources to pay for street
upkeep haven’t kept pace with cost increas-
es. In the current budget, the city received
$1.1 million from federal gas tax and state
highway appropriations to care for streets.
He said the federal gas tax rate hasn’t
changed since 1992, and has no way of ac-
counting for fuel efficient vehicles or those
that run on alternate fuels.
In addition, the money doesn’t all go to
street repair, but it is the funding source for
the entire street department. Expenses in-
clude paying for employees, materials and
services, sidewalk repair, maintaining and
operating street lights, and street repairs.
In 2015-16, $270,000 went to actual
APRil WelSH/ for the itemizer-Observer
Dallas firefighters were on scene for about an hour to ex-
tinguish a fire on Fairview Avenue on Thursday.
Fire destroys
Dallas home
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — At 5:27 a.m.
Thursday, Dallas Fire and
EMS responded to the 1900
block of Southwest Fairview
Avenue on a reported house
fire.
Dallas Police also respond-
ed. Senior Officer Colby
Hamilton and Officer David
King arrived before the fire
department and tried to lo-
cate a person dispatch had
lost connection with.
King went through a back
door of the burning house
and found an unresponsive
woman on the floor. He
began pulling her out, and
she regained consciousness.
They were able to get out
and she survived.
The woman was trans-
ported by Dallas Fire & EMS
to Salem Hospital, where
she was treated and released
with non-life threatening in-
juries.
About 20 firefighters were
on scene for about an hour
working to extinguish the
fire.
The residence and con-
tents appear to be a total
loss due to fire and smoke
damage, said April Welsh,
spokeswoman for Dallas Fire
& EMS.
Dallas Fire was assisted by
Southwest Polk Rural Fire
District, Falls City Fire, Polk
County Fire District No. 1
and the Oregon State Fire
Marshal’s Office.
No firefighters were in-
jured. The cause of the fire is
under investigation.
Amount: $10 million.
Cost: $1.09 per $1,000 of assessed
value on properties.
Interest: 2.4 percent, bringing the
total cost to $12.3 million.
What it would do: Repair 22 miles of
streets to good or better condition.
Learn more: Open House, Wednes-
day (tonight) at 7 p.m. in the Polk County
Commissioner’s conference room, Polk
County Courthouse, 850 Main St.
street maintenance. Foggin said an engi-
neering study completed in 2014 by IMS
Infrastructure Management estimated
simply keeping up with maintenance
would require $660,000 annually.
With limited resources, the city chose to
prioritize those streets with the highest
traffic and those that serve businesses,
Foggin said. Residential streets have been
left off the list. Dallas is presenting voters
with a possible solution on the May 17 bal-
lot in Measure 27-119, which would cost
$1.09 per $1,000 of assessed value on prop-
erties. It would fix 22 miles of streets.
That would put a major dent in the back-
log, but it doesn’t solve the whole problem
and doesn’t include future maintenance
costs, two steps that the city will address
later, Foggin said. That could include im-
plementing a “street fee” or local gas tax for
upkeep and a second bond to repair the ap-
proximately 11 miles of streets that funding
from this measure wouldn’t cover.
“In this three-step process (we) end up
with good or better roads throughout the
community, and we end up with mainte-
nance money to take care of them over
time, which make sense,” Foggin said. “In-
vesting in infrastructure and not having
money to take care of it didn’t make sense
to any of the committees that looked at
this.”
See STREETS, Page 5A
Dallas memorial inspired by tradition
Nursery owner Daryll Combs donates plants to honor the late Ron Lines at Dallas City Park
By Jolene Guzman
The itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — On a recent
visit to Daryll’s Nursery, Ann
Hurd noticed something she
thought was curious: a tree
with a collection of beer bot-
tles surrounding it.
Interested, she asked the
owner, Daryll Combs, what
was going on with the bottles.
Combs said that he was
continuing a tradition with
his “brother,” the late Ron
Lines.
Lines was the parks su-
pervisor for the city of Dallas
and the pair were close
friends. They had a hobby in
common.
“Ron and I liked to test
new beers together,” Combs
said, noting that he kept try-
ing beers following Lines
death in January.
In response to Hurd’s
question, Combs explained
their shared love of a good
brew and said of the collec-
tion underneath the tree:
“Those are Ron’s bottles.”
Combs had wanted to do-
nate the tree, a blue atlas
weeping cedar, in honor of
Lines, but wasn’t sure yet
where it should go.
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
JOlene GuzMAn/ itemizer-Observer
Daryll Combs pours a drink for the late Ron Lines, who was the Dallas City Parks su-
pervisor. A memorial was planted in honor of Lines at Dallas City Park on April 20.
Hurd, who lives near Dal-
las City Park, often worked
with Lines through the
Hayter Street Neighborhood
Watch. She had the perfect
place in mind.
A large two-level concrete
planter marks the entrance
to Dallas City Park at Acade-
my Street, and it was in des-
perate need of an upgrade.
Hurd said the planter had a
dilapidated city park sign
and a collection of unkempt
rhododendrons.
“They had lived their life,”
Hurd said.
She talked to Combs
about her idea, and to her
neighborhood watch group,
which agreed to raise money
to purchase new plants.
The group donated $350
and appealed to the city to
transform the planter into a
memorial more appropriate
to honor a dedicated parks
supervisor. Combs donated
the rest of the plants and,
naturally, volunteered be the
master planner on the me-
morial.
Later, a plaque dedicating
the entrance to Lines will be
installed.
“It was a joint effort, and
the parks and the city were
all for it,” Hurd said.
The centerpiece of the
memorial is the weeping
cedar, minus the beer bot-
tles.
On April 20, a group of
volunteers and city staff, in-
cluding Eric Totten, Dallas’
new parks supervisor, and
Combs planted the memori-
al. They put in fresh soil, new
plants, decorative rocks and
the tree that started it all.
Combs added a final
touch. He toasted his friend
by opening a bottle of beer
and pouring it at the base of
the tree.
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
Paul Mannen left a
strong legacy with Dal-
las athletics.
»Page 2A
FALLS CITY
A bond measure that
would result in a new
multipurpose gymnasi-
um and cafeteria at the
elementary school is
ready to hit the ballots.
»Page 5A
INDEPENDENCE
Two Central High
seniors had their school
designs immortalized
on water bottles.
»Page 16A
MONMOUTH
The Monmouth Sen-
ior Center expansion
project is back on track.
»Page 3A
SPORTS
Western Oregon’s
softball team clinched
its berth in the Great
northwest Athletic
Conference Softball
Championships.
»Page 12A
EDUCATION
Central School Dis-
trict’s budget is in good
shape.
»Page 15A
Funnel cloud
forms Friday
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MOnMOuTH/inDePen-
DenCe — The national
Weather Service received
a report of a funnel cloud
appearing in the Mon-
mouth/independence
area around 11 a.m. on Fri-
day.
The funnel cloud did
not touch ground.
Funnel clouds generally
form on stormy days
when high winds and
water form rotating
columns of air.
Funnel clouds are not
dangerous until they
touch ground, according
to the national Weather
Service, but it recom-
mends finding safe shelter
if you see a funnel cloud.
if it touches down, it
becomes a tornado and
can cause flying debris. if a
tornado forms, find safe
shelter immediately or
stay as low to the ground
as possible and cover your
head.
To report a funnel
cloud sighting: 503-261-
9246.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Grab a brew of your
choice and head to
St. Thomas episco-
pal Church to learn
about and discuss
the Old Testament.
7 p.m. Free.
Jane Kirkpatrick will
discuss her new
book, “The Power of
Stories in Our lives”
at the Dallas Public
library.
6 p.m. Free.
Celebrate Arbor Day
today by planting a
tree or taking a walk
in one of our beauti-
ful city parks to ad-
mire the work of
volunteers.
Model train enthusi-
asts unite at the
Model Train Swap
Meet at the Rickreall
Grange Hall today
and Sunday.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. $5.
Rickreall Fire De-
partment will host
its annual pancake
breakfast at the sta-
tion at the corner of
99W and Church St.
7 a.m.-1 p.m. $6.
it’s never too late to
pick up an instru-
ment with the new
Horizons Orchestra,
which meets at Cen-
tral High School.
6:30 p.m. $25/mo.
independence Pub-
lic library’s spring
fun club will have a
Mother’s Day pro-
gram for children of
all ages.
4 p.m. Free.
Showers
Hi: 61
Lo: 43
Partly cloudy
Hi: 64
Lo: 41
Cloudy
Hi: 63
Lo: 42
Partly cloudy
Hi: 68
Lo: 43
Sunny
Hi: 76
Lo: 47
Sunny
Hi: 81
Lo: 49
Partly cloudy
Hi: 73
Lo: 46