Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • September 14, 2016 3A
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Blue Garden
project paused
temporarily
Cohen to lead workshop on critical thinking
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — The remodel
and reopening of the Blue
Garden on Main Street in
downtown Dallas is on
hold — for the moment.
Owner Bob Collins said
work has paused for the time
being so he can focus on
bringing money into his busi-
ness, Collins & Lindsey Con-
struction, to finish the project.
He said he has two homes
under construction and two major
home remodels in the works.
“We will be back on the
Blue Garden project soon,”
he said. “Working on the Blue
Garden is a passion. My wife
keeps me grounded and re-
minds me that I need to stop
and make money instead of
spending it all the time.”
While active on the project,
Collins demolished and re-
modeled the interior, installed
new plumbing and a grease
trap, replaced sewer lines, in-
stalled new grill kitchen floors,
added two bathrooms and
the back alley façade was re-
paired and painted.
The most visible improve-
ment is on the front of the build-
ing, the renovated sign and new
front windows and doors.
DEADLINES
nEWS DEADLInES
For inclusion in the
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engagements, anniver-
saries, births, milestones) —
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Community notebook and
Community Calendar.
Letters to the editor —
10 a.m. on Monday.
Obituaries — 4 p.m. on
Monday.
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ads are updated daily on
www.polkio.com.
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on Friday.
CORRECTIONS
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Observer is committed to pub-
lishing accurate news, feature
and sports reports. If you see
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rection or clarification, call the
newsroom at 503-623-2373 or
send an email to
ementzer@polkio.com.
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The Itemizer-Observer
JOLene GuzMAn/Itemizer-Observer
Doaks Ferry Road is the subject of safety concerns.
Details emerge
for Doaks Ferry
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
WEST SALEM — A project
that would redirect some of
the traffic using Doaks Ferry
Road to increase safety will
cost significantly more than
the $2.1 million the state has
available for Polk County to
complete it.
The cost overrun isn’t un-
expected, said Polk County
Public Works Director Todd
Whitaker.
Oregon Department of
Transportation estimated it
would cost $5.1 million to
complete if the state per-
formed the work. The state
had only $2.1 million to do it
and established an agree-
ment with Polk County in
hopes the county could re-
duce costs. Whitaker said the
agreement gave the county
the right to back out if it
proved too expensive.
Preliminary designs were
recently completed on the
project that would close
Doaks Ferry to all turns ex-
cept for right turns off High-
way 22. Left turns and right
turns onto the highway
would be moved west to
Riggs Street.
The design is estimated to
cost $600,000 more than the
county has at its disposal.
“When we started this
project, we knew funding
would be a challenge, but we
needed to get to this stage of
the project to really know if,
and to what degree, we were
underfunded,” Whitaker
said. “While the current esti-
mate of $2.7 million con-
firms the expectation that
Polk County can deliver the
project for less, it also con-
firms that the available
funding is inadequate.”
Whitaker said the Polk
County Board of Commis-
sioners have a number of
options moving forward, in-
cluding: supplementing the
project budget with county
funding; seeking additional
money from ODOT; adjust-
ing the project to cut costs;
or turning it back to ODOT.
If the project does pro-
ceed, construction probably
won’t happen until 2018,
Whitaker said.
Adding another wrinkle in
the timing, ODOT is working
on engineering the next
phase, which will extend
Doaks Ferry from Riggs
Street to 50th Avenue. The
extension is scheduled for
2019 and is contingent on
the Riggs project being com-
pleted.
“Like our project, they are
not sure if the funds avail-
able will be sufficient, but
they need to get through the
preliminary design to get a
better idea,” Whitaker said.
MONMOUTH — With
24/7 access to news, it may
be tough to sift between the
wheat and the chaff.
“It’s pretty much cliché
now to say we’re over-
whelmed with information,
but it’s true, and a lot of that
information is misleading,”
said Donna Cohen. “Even
the news, especially televi-
sion news. When I was a
kid, the nightly news would
be 25 minutes of straight re-
porting, and then the last
five minutes would be, ‘this
is our editorial’; or ‘this is
our opinion.’ Now a lot of
the news is opinion, it’s part
of the news.”
Cohen, who has a back-
ground as a teacher and li-
brarian, will present “Misin-
formation and Political
Propaganda” from 6 to 7:30
p.m. Thursday at the Mon-
mouth Public Library. It’s
one of three workshops she
presents called Civics for
Adults, in hopes of creating
more informed, more en-
gaged citizens.
“It’s a challenge to take in
the information and stop
and think, is this really true
what’s being said here,”
Cohen said. “But we live in
a democracy. Self-govern-
ment does not work if peo-
ple aren’t informed about
the decisions that are being
made on our behalf. We
need to think more critical-
ly about things that are
coming at us.”
People will make as-
sumptions about data by
Check it out
What: Misinformation and Political Propaganda, with
Donna Cohen.
When: 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Where: Monmouth Public Library, 168 ecols St. S.
Admission: Free.
Of note: Cohen will present examples using current
political candidates. She said her intent is nonpartisan,
only to evaluate the form and accuracy of those mes-
sages.
reading a headline, for ex-
ample, but when the full ar-
ticle is read, it puts the in-
formation in a different
light, Cohen said.
“I don’t expect people to
analyze everything they
come across, but if this
headline means some-
thing to you, you really
should read the article,”
she said.
Another example of mis-
leading information can be
found in political advertise-
ments. Cohen said she will
present samples of these at
the presentation.
“My goal is to help peo-
ple do this kind of (critical)
questioning, critical think-
ing by showing various
ways that information can
be distorted, everything
from headlines, to graphs,
to photos,” she said.
Then, Cohen will take
people through steps to un-
cover good information.
“The first thing, there are
sites like Politifact,
factcheck.org, but you
shouldn’t necessarily accept
everything they say, either,”
Cohen said. “Then we go
over some tricks to search
online.”
Some basic tools in a
search can limit results to
more reliable sources, such
as educational institutions,
nonprofit organizations or
original documents, Cohen
said.
Not that all nonprofits
are unbiased, Cohen added.
“Cascade Policy Institute
is right-leaning, and Ore-
gon Center for Public Policy
is left-leaning,” she said.
“You can establish quickly
where these organizations
are coming from. It doesn’t
mean that you shouldn’t
read something from an or-
ganization, but you should
be aware.”
A few red flags that an
opinion is included in the
news include the phrase,
“more people,” or the word,
“only,” Cohen said.
“The moment you hear,
‘more people,’ the first
thing to remember is there
are more people — more
people in our nation, more
people in the world,”
Cohen said. “That alone
isn’t sufficient information.
You have to look at the larg-
er context.”
This is one of several
workshops Cohen leads in
hopes of inspiring civic en-
gagement.
Solution on Page 6A
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10am - 4pm
Kids 10 yrs & under Free
Food Available Polk County Fairgrounds
on site 520 Pacific Hwy W, Rickreall
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RECORDED
By Emily Mentzer
RV Space Available
everyone is aware of the catastrophic effects
on europe, Africa and Asia produced by the
World Wars…But how did the World Wars
impact Polk County? What was the war like
here at the “Home Front”? This is a part of
Polk County history that is little known
today, forgotten as the population has aged.
How did we deal with the local effects of
the war: rationing, labor shortage, black-
outs, fear of invasion, the disruptions caused
by the establishment of Camp Adair, the
concerns for loved ones who were in the
Services and the new pressures on women
who had to deal with life in the absence of
their men gone into the war effort?
How did Polk County change?
These are the topics that we wish to examine.
A joint effort of the Itemizer-Observer and the
Polk County History Museum is soliciting
input from anyone who wishes to participate.
Are you old enough to remember those
times (at least WWII), do you have old
letters, newspapers, photos, family history
or diaries? We are open to almost anything
that could give us an idea of “…how it
was…” back then.
I welcome your contributions…I can be con-
tacted at: davidm3123@aol.com.