Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2016)
Polk County Voices Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 10, 2016 4A How to Contact Officials EDITORIALS We count on the mail I got the mail today. A couple of bills. A greeting card. Some catalogs. A news- paper. One package that my wife grabbed right away. (Wonder what that was?) Lately, it occurs to me how completely I take for granted that I will get the mail tomorrow. I’ve had my share of gripes about the mail. As president of the National Newspaper Association, I have fielded our community newspaper members’ postal concerns all year. The mail is slower than it used to be. The U.S. Postal Serv- ice slowed it down by a day, at least, because of financial problems. Newspaper subscribers are unhappy because too often their papers are arriving late. Some local busi- nesses have had problems with cash flow because of late mail. Still, I get the mail every day but Sunday. Bet you do, too. If you follow the news, you know the U.S. Postal Service is in trouble. Because so many people and businesses use the inter- net, there isn’t as much mail to deliver. But we still expect the mail to come. At my newspaper, we look for it on Sat- urdays, too, because weekend mail is extremely important in small towns. (Congress considered ending Saturday mail, but thankfully it has dropped that idea for now.) Beneath the surface, however, we see seismic, economy- rattling changes ahead unless Congress can pass legisla- tion to lower the Postal Service’s cost of doing business. It carries more than $50 billion of debt on its balance sheet. Fortunately, there are bills by Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Elijah Cummings, D-Md, and several other House members, and by Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., Claire McCaskill, D- Mo., Mark Warner, D-VA, Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, that would do the job. Passing these bills is easier said than done. You may have noticed Congress is having a hard time these days getting anything passed. This is what the bills have to fix. A 2006 law imposed a requirement to put advance fund- ing into a federal retirement health plan for postal workers. Other agencies don’t do advance funding. They are on a pay-as-you-go system. That requirement began to cripple USPS within a year or two after its passage. What the 2006 law didn’t do was relieve USPS of also contributing to Medicare for the same workers, which many do not use. So there are two plans for many workers, when only one is used. USPS has to double-pay, which is another way of saying you dou- ble-pay every time you buy stamps — for a total of about $29 billion now paid into the Federal Treasury. The Chaffetz- Cummings and Carper bills would end the double-pay- ment. Retirees would go onto Medicare like the rest of us do, and the other plan would provide supplemental coverage. The Postal Service would be relieved of the debt it is carry- ing from the 2006 law because the funding will be com- plete. Sounds so reasonable, right? Why hasn’t it passed? Because Uncle Sam likes keeping half of that double payment. Somehow, some think tanks inside the Beltway (and I say “think” with my tongue in cheek) believe by end- ing the double payment, USPS would be getting a bailout. But it isn’t a bailout. This is stopping your postage money from being unfair- ly collected and relieving a financial burden USPS did not deserve if Medicare was used as intended. Saving this money may not mean much to you at a few pennies a pop, but to businesses, it is big money that could be used to create jobs instead of lining the federal treasury. Did you know that the mail is responsible for 7.5 million jobs and $1.2 trillion in the U.S. economy? Mail is important. But it has to be reliable and on time. Unless this legislation gets through, mail will get slower and eventually, we won’t be able to take it for granted. If you get a chance this summer, email your members of Congress a note asking them to pass these bills. Or better yet, send a letter by mail. Bet Congress takes that mail for granted every day, too. By Chip Hutcheson President/National Newspaper Association and Publisher/The Times Leader, Princeton, KY 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 Thanks to all for great teen dance I would like to thank Bank of America for use of their parking lot. Also. Courtney and Gabe for the DJing and the other volun- teers that worked the teen dance. Hope you had fun. See you next year. Merlin Berkey Squirrels Taxi Service Inc. Dallas Dallas spending raises questions I do believe that the city council is long overdue for reviewing the expenditures of the city pool and how they can streamline those expenses. However, not only do I find the timing suspicious, but after trying to stick the community with a $10 mil- lion bond, and another bond 10 years from now to repair the city streets, I find it strange that now they have the money to buy the old Radio Shack property. I have not attended city council meetings to find out why, but you bet I’m going to start, and I would suggest the community does as well. For some reason we have a governing body that feels bigger government is better government. I would disagree. It needs to grow with the rate consis- tent with that of the growth of local business. Randy Wisnia Dallas Thank you World War II veterans I spent some time with a World War II veteran recent- ly; he was at the Battle of the Bulge, fought across the Rhine, saw friends injured and killed. I thanked him for his sacrifice and service, but soon realized that we are fast losing these special people. During our conver- sation, I saw a tear in his eye and it became evident that he truly appreciated the recognition of his service. I strongly support recog- nizing all veterans, but feel it is imperative that we rec- ognize the WWII veterans now before they are gone. If you know or see a WWII vet- eran, take a moment to thank them. Whatever prob- lems we have in the world today would be a lot worse if these special people had not stepped up for all of us. Thank you World War II vet- erans. Larry Bowen Dallas Past time to put center on top of list We have been on a long journey. At least 10 years, I have been a member of the build- ing committee. In our jour- ney, we have had lots of de- tours and many dead ends. We have worked hard to comply with the many rule changes and site changes. We have met them and now have the grant from the fed- eral government for nearly $2 million. The site must be owned by the city. In our journey, we have had four different city managers and we are still in a small room behind the library. I would like to appeal to the people in power at the city and the community de- velopment department (which will oversee the proj- ect). Move this project to the top of the agenda. It is time. 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 office: 707 13th St. SE, Suite 285, Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-589-4555 Email: via website, www.wyden.senate.gov June Krause Dallas PUBLIC AGENDA Public Agenda is a listing of upcoming meet- ings for governmental 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 email (ionews@polkio.com). — WEDNESDAY, AUg. 10 • Polk County Board of Commissioners — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, first floor confer- ence room, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. • Polk Soil and Water Conservation District — 6 p.m., USDA Service Center, 580 Main St., Suite A, Dallas. 503-623-9680. ThURSDAY, AUg. 11 • Polk County Fire District No. 1 Board — 6 p.m., Central Station 90, 1800 Monmouth St., In- dependence. 503-838-1510. • Falls City City Council — 6 p.m., Falls City Community Center, 320 N. Main St., Falls City. 503-787- 3631. MONDAY, AUg. 15 • Dallas City Council — 7 p.m., Dallas City Hall, 187 SE Court St., Dallas. 503-831-3502. TUESDAY, AUg. 16 • Monmouth City Council — 7 p.m., Volunteer Hall, 144 S. Warren St., Monmouth. 503-838-0725. • Falls City School Board — 6:30 p.m., Falls City High School, 111 N. Main St., Falls City. 503-787-3521. • Polk County Board of Commission work ses- sion — 9 a.m., Polk County Courthouse, BOC of- fice, 850 Main St., Dallas. 503-623-8173. 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 verification 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. Office: 147 SE Court St., Dallas. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Dem.) 313 Hart SOB Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3753 Fax: 202-228-3997 Salem office: 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 office: 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. 32 (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 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Polk County — One Year $35 Other Oregon Counties — One Year $40 Outside of Oregon — One Year $45 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Polk County Itemizer-Observer, P.O. Box 108, Dallas, Oregon 97338 NEWSROOM Emily Mentzer ..............Editor/Monmouth/Independence Reporter ....ementzer@polkio.com Lukas Eggen..................Sports Editor......................................................................leggen@polkio.com Jolene Guzman............Dallas/Falls City/Polk County Reporter ................jguzman@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 The Polk County Itemizer-Observer assumes no financial responsibility for errors in advertise- ments. It will, however, reprint without charge for the portion of an advertisement Web: www.polkio.com which is in error if the Itemizer-Observer is at fault. Phone: 503-623-2373 Fax: 503-623-2395