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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2016)
Polk County News DEADLINES NEWS DEADLINES For inclusion in the Wednesday edition of the Itemizer-Observer: Social news (weddings, engagements, anniver- saries, births, milestones) — 5 p.m. on Thursday. Community events — Noon on Friday for both the Community Notebook and Community Calendar. Letters to the editor — 10 a.m. on Monday. Obituaries — 4 p.m. on Monday. ADVERTISING DEADLINES Retail display ads — 3 p.m. Friday. Classified display ads — 11 a.m. on Monday. Classified line ads — Noon on Monday. Classified ads are updated daily on www.polkio.com. Public notices — Noon on Friday. CORRECTIONS The Polk County Itemizer- Observer is committed to pub- lishing accurate news, feature and sports reports. If you see anything that requires a cor- rection or clarification, call the newsroom at 503-623-2373 or send an email to ementzer@polkio.com. WEBSITE The Polk County Itemizer- Observer website, www.polkio.com, is updat- ed each week by Wednes- day afternoon. There, you will find nearly every story that appears in the print version of the newspaper, as well as some items, in- cluding additional photos, that do not appear in print due to space limitations. The Itemizer-Observer is also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Watch for breaking news, links to sto- ries, sports scores updates and more. WEATHER RECORDED HIGH LOW June 14............. 64 June 15............. 65 June 16............. 69 June 17............. 73 June 18............. 68 June 19............. 78 June 20............. 80 46 46 47 53 50 50 53 RAIN .02 .01 .T .T .20 .00 .00 Rainfall during June — 0.61 in. Rain through June 20 — 20.91 in. Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 22, 2016 3A Stewart resigns from Dallas council By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — Dallas City Councilor Murray Stewart has resigned his seat. Stewart submitted his res- ignation effective Tuesday and the Dallas City Council accepted the resignation on Monday. Stewart’s letter to the council announcing his de- parture stated that the rea- son he is stepping down is a job transfer that has him moving to Eugene. He wrote that he has appreciated working on the council for the residents of Dallas. “I have had many posi- tive experiences, and bright accomplishments in serving the citizen of Dal- las,” he wrote. Stewart was appointed to the council in 2011, filling a seat vacated by the resigna- tion of former councilor Dave Voves. Stewart won election to the council in November 2012, and his term is up in December. Regarding council vacan- cies, the Dallas City Charter simply states, “Vacancies in elective offices in the city shall be filled by vote of a majority of the incumbent members of the council.” The charter doesn’t speci- fy what method the council should use to select a candi- date. In the two previous ap- pointments, the council ap- proved an application and interview process. Deferring the appointment until after the November election was also presented as an option. The city council approved using the same process as before and will adopt a pro- cedure and application form. Once adopted, the va- cancy will be publicized and applications will be accept- ed until 5 p.m. on July 8 or 22. Western Oregon to start CERT program Chief: Board will finalize timeline for recruitment By Emily Mentzer Continued from Page 1A Olson will be acting chief until a permanent chief is hired. The board was presented with a timeline for recruit- ment, assuming it would search for outside candi- dates as it has in the past. Because board members changed their minds and decided to look at current staff first, with the option to The Itemizer-Observer MONMOUTH — Western Oregon University is starting a County Emergency Response Team on campus. The team is in the beginning stages, said Rebecca Chiles, director of WOU Public Safety. The decision to have a team dedicated to the campus came from trainings, upcoming classes, and expanding as- sets to respond to emergencies, Chiles said. “I had CERT training previously,” Chiles said. “I found out that we had an actual CERT trainer that worked here on campus, which was Kimber (Townsend), I said, why are we not offering this on campus.” Townsend is the director of Polk County CERT and works at WOU. As Chiles put together a team for a FEMA class, which will be for all of Oregon’s public universities and hosted by WOU in July, she decided the campus should have its own CERT. “Kimber’s responsible for Polk County, so she’s not going to be able to respond up here,” Chiles said. Susan Griffin was put in charge of WOU’s team. “She’s an organized, detailed, passionate person,” Chiles said of Griffin. “That’s what it really takes for something like this, because it’s volunteer. You have to like it. You have to want to do it, and she really does.” When it comes to responding to any kind of emergency — flood, fire, active shooter or a 9.0 earthquake — it comes down to assets, Chiles said. “CERT’s a big one to me, but we need it organized,” she said. “We’ve been to the training; we have people training all over campus. This is a way to bring people together and say, ‘What are you willing to do during an emergency?’” Chiles said some people participated in the training be- cause they wanted to learn, but she wants a commitment from people on a voluntary basis to respond if a disaster happens at Western. People already on the Polk County CERT may cross over and be on the call or notification list for Western, Chiles said. Western’s team will be open to anybody, not just those as- sociated with campus. “We’re encouraging our employees and our students to go to trainings, but it’s absolutely open to everybody,” Chiles said. Right now, Griffin is working on gathering those with CERT training together to see who wants to be on Western’s team. “If you’re talking a large-scale, mass-casualty type disaster, it’s just another thing,” Chiles said. “What’s out there for us to pull from for resources? We managed to get all these people (CERT) trained, so it’s just a good way to go with it.” For more information: griffins@wou.edu. Building your emergency kit The American Red Cross has designed a 24-week calendar to build a two-week home disaster kit. The following is the third and fourth weeks. The I-O will occasionally sup- plement the checklist with tips from local experts. To see other weeks, go to www.polkio.com. Week 3 • Two gallons of water • Two cans of meat* • Two cans of fruit* • Feminine hygiene supplies • Paper and pen • Local map • Pain reliever • Laxative Additional: • One gallon of water for each pet Actions steps: • Find out what kinds of disasters can happen in your area. • Encourage neighbors to develop their own plans. *Per person Week 4 • Compass • Medicines or prescriptions “for emergency use.” • Contact-lens supplies Action Steps: • Develop a family disaster plan, including where to meet if separated, name and number of out-of-area contact, and what information to give that contact in an emergency. — Source: American Red Cross. seek outside candidates later, the timeline could be shortened. The timeline will be fi- nalized at a meeting Wednesday (today) at 6 p.m., but board members said they hope to open re- cruitment on Thursday. With that decision, the board will determine how the interview process will go. The proposed process includes interviews with citizen and volunteer com- mittees to give input to the board on who they think is the best candidate. A public meet-and-greet would be scheduled. With an internal applica- tion, fewer committees may be needed. For an update on this story after the Wednesday board meeting: polkio.com. Community art exhibit seeks entries Itemizer-Observer staff report MONMOUTH — Sub- missions for the Mon- mouth Fourth of July Festi- val’s Community Art Exhi- bition will be accepted on July 2 from 9 a.m. to noon. Only one entry per artist will be accepted and any medium will be taken. Artwork must be ready to display. Artwork may be picked up between 4 and 5 p.m. on July 4, or make other arrangements. People’s Choice winners will be retained after the show for display at the Monmouth and Independ- ence libraries. Entry forms are available online at www.ci.mon- mouth.or.us.
