KIDS SHARE LETTERS
TO SANTA
SCHOOLS FACE INCREASE
Page 8A
Volume 141, Issue 51
IN PE MINUTES
Page 10A
www.Polkio.com
December 21, 2016
$1.00
Officer injured, man killed in shooting
By lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Jeremiah N.
Anderson was shot and
killed during an officer-in-
volved shooting in the Dal-
las Walmart parking lot on
Friday evening, according to
Oregon State Police.
A preliminary investiga-
tion by OSP and its part-
ners revealed that at 5:26
p.m., three Dallas police
officers responded to a
complaint of an adult male
who appeared intoxicated
in the parking lot at Wal-
mart.
OSP Captain Bill Fugate
said that an officer does not
have to catch someone driv-
ing, but can use probable
cause to determine if they
were operating a vehicle
while intoxicated.
Officers attempted to take
Anderson, 36, of Dallas, into
custody for driving under
the influence of intoxicants.
According to the report
from OSP, Anderson resisted
arrest and fired as many as
two rounds, striking Sgt. Rob
Hatchell in the leg. Hatchell
and officer Mike Fleming re-
turned fire, striking Ander-
son, reports state. Anderson
was pronounced dead at the
scene.
Hatchell was released
from the hospital shortly
after receiving treatment for
his injuries.
All three officers have been
placed on paid administra-
tive leave pending the out-
come of the investigation.
Officer Aaron Mollahan
was also present and was
not injured.
Investigators located An-
derson's firearm at the
scene.
Fugate said Monday that
he did not know who the
gun was registered to nor if
police video of the incident
was available. He said infor-
mation would be shared
once authorized by District
Attorney Aaron Felton.
Anderson had previous
police encounters, accord-
ing to court records. The
most recent was a 2015 vio-
lation of his probation fol-
lowing a conviction in a
DUII incident that took
place in late 2013.
The community has re-
acted in a variety of ways.
DAllAS
lost wedding ring
found returned to
owner.
»Page 2A
FAllS CiTY
school district passes
on social media moni-
toring program.
»Page 12A
inDEPEnDEnCE
lukas eGGen/ Itemizer-Observer
Walmart was closed while an officer-involved shooting was investigated Friday night.
Dallas Police Chief Tom
Simpson said the depart-
ment gives any threat the
appropriate level of atten-
tion and shares information
with other public safety offi-
cials in the region.
OSP is leading the investi-
gation at Simpson’s and Fel-
ton’s request.
OSP is being assisted by
Grand Ronde Tribal Police,
Polk County Sheriff’s Office,
Monmouth Police Depart-
ment, Independence Police
Department, Salem Police
Department, and Dallas Fire
& EMS.
Spirit of giving
shines through
darkest of times
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
»Page 7A
MonMoUTH
Western Oregon’s
women’s basketball
team picks up its first
road win of the season.
SPoRTS
Falls City faces possi-
ble reclassification for
the 2017-18 school
year.
The Itemizer-Observer
THE NEXT
City council, plan-
ning commission takes
a closer look at marijua-
na businesses.
»Page 11A
By Emily Mentzer
DALLAS — As the snow
continued for a second
week, Laurie Smith lis-
tened on a scanner to the
public works road crews
and first responders work
ing to keep the community
safe.
“These people are civil
servants,” Smith said.
“We’re complaining that
it’s cold; we can’t get out of
our driveway. These people
are seeing — who knows
what they’re seeing when
they go out to an acci-
dent.”
Then, after the shooting
on Friday, Smith remem-
bered what Mr. Rogers
used to say: When you see
bad news, look for the
helpers.
“I thought, ‘I’m going ot
help the helpers,’” she
said.
What started out as an
idea on the Dallas commu-
nity Facebook page turned
into a sort of community-
service.
Smith contacted the
Dallas Dutch Bros and told
them she wanted to some-
how buy coffee for all
those county and city
workers who have been
working hard, long hours.
“I did it, and it just flew,”
Smith said.
Dutch Bros. put the first
$100 on the card Friday
night. By Tuesday morn-
ing, the donations had
mounted to more than
$900.
The card is available at
Dallas Dutch Bros for any
county or city worker, in-
cluding Falls City and Rick-
reall fire department vol-
unteers, Smith said.
IN
YOUR
TOWN
»Page 10A
City tours
watershed
improvements
itemizer-observer staff report
JOlene Guzman/Itemizer-Observer
laVonne Wilson has served the Dallas community for decades, including 32 years on the city council.
STANDING TALL
Wilson proves size doesn’t matter when it comes to service
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — It’s safe to say LaVonne
Wilson is rarely the tallest person in the
room. She isn’t the loudest, either.
That hasn’t stopped her from giving
decades of time and energy in service
to her community — or speaking up
when the situation called for it.
“She’s not tall in stature, but she’s
very tall in character,” said David Par-
rett, the executive director of Dallas Re-
tirement Village. Wilson is the presi-
dent of DRV’s board of directors.
Parrett calls Wilson formidable, but
in a kindly and considerate way, and
only for the benefit of her community.
“She’s been an absolute servant to
wed
Dallas’ girls basket-
ball team takes on
Hillsboro at 1:30
p.m. in the team’s
final game until
playing sherwood
on Tuesday.
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the city,” he said. “She’s very positive.
She’s very consistent and fair. I think
she believes there is a right way to gov-
ern and does her best to follow that.”
Wilson’s long record of service in
Dallas is highlighted by the 32 years
she spent on the Dallas City Council.
Her council career came to an end on
Dec. 5, the last meeting of the year,
opening two Monday evenings a
month in her schedule.
Those who know her wouldn’t bet
against her finding a productive way
of filling that time — perhaps even
in the audience to some of the coun-
cil’s deliberations. She’s warned the
incoming council that she will be
paying attention. Wilson said she
doesn’t shy away from saying some-
thing that she believes needs to be
said and has no intention of holding
back now.
“I said, ‘OK kids, I’m going to sit in
the back and I may, once in a while,
have a three-minute with you guys,’”
she said, referring to the amount of
time audience members have to ad-
dress the council at each meeting.
In addition to the council, Wilson
has served with more organizations
and boards than she can remember, in-
cluding the Dallas Area Visitors Center,
the Dallas School District’s Finance
Committee, Dallas’ Urban Renewal
District Advisory Committee and a
group that represents Ceres Gleann
neighborhood residents.
See WilSon, Page 5A
Dallas — On Dec. 13,
a group of citizens and
elected officials toured re-
cent restoration work in
the upper Rickreall Water-
shed.
The upper Rickreall
restoration project includ-
ed air-lifting logs and plac-
ing them in and along the
river to dissipate stream
energy, catch gravels for
fish spawning and reduce
erosion.
Benefits from the
restoration will increase
over the years, helping to
cool late summer water
temperatures and provide
upstream water filtering
that improves the city’s
drinking water quality.
By reducing sediment
flowing downstream,
fewer chemicals are need-
ed to make the water safe
for drinking.
The project was made
possible through a collab-
oration of many groups,
including the city of Dallas,
Hancock Forest manage-
ment, Polk County soil and
Water Conservation Dis-
trict, Rickreall Watershed
Council and the Bureau of
land management.
I-O announces
early deadlines
For the Christmas holi-
day weekend, the Itemizer
has early deadlines. see
Page 6a for details.
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Check out Central’s
girls basketball team
when the Panthers
host summit in a
nonleague battle.
Dallas’ boys basket-
ball team takes on
Roseburg in day
three of the Rebel
Basketball Classic.
5 p.m.
Happy Hanukkah!
The Festival of
lights begins at
sundown today and
continues for eight
nights.
merry Christmas
from all of us here at
the Polk County
Itemizer-Observer to
all of our readers
and advertisers.
The Polk County
Itemizer-Observer’s
office will be closed
today in observance
of Christmas.
Dallas’ girls basket-
ball team opens the
nike Interstate
shootout against
sherwood at 8 p.m.
at lake Oswego Hs.
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5 p.m.
Showers
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Lo: 35