Polk County
Voices
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • December 21, 2016 4A
How to
Contact
Officials
EDITORIALS
‘A Visit from
St. Nicholas’
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
(Also known as, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”)
By Clement Clarke Moore
’Twas the night before Christmas,
when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With a sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too —
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And he filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight —
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Source: The Random House
Book of Poetry for Children, 1983
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dance troupe
raises money, food
The Polk County France
School of Dance would like
to thank all the dancers and
families that helped with
the Dec. 13
performance/food drive at
LaCreole Middle School.
We collected $252 and
420 pounds of food for the
Dallas emergency food
bank. The France studios
have collected over 60,000
pounds and thousands of
dollars for Marion-Polk
counties. Admission to the
performance was three cans
of food or $3 per person and
per dancer. All proceeds
benefit Dallas Food Bank.
Thank you for giving us
the opportunity to rent
LaCreole. We will be having
our next performance/food
drive at LaCreole in late
May.
For more information,
please contact us at 503-
390-3481, www.fsodance.
com, like us on Facebook.
Linda France Martin
CITY
Dallas community
pulls together
We at the Dallas Food
Bank would like to extend a
heartfelt thanks to Safeway
and the Dallas community
for the enormous success of
the Thanksgiving “Turkey
Bucks” fundraiser.
Safeway collected $11,154
to donate over 3,222 pounds
of food to the Dallas Food
Bank. These donations al-
lowed about 200 families to
partake in a traditional
Thanksgiving meal.
We also would like to say
a big thank you to the Dal-
las Merchants Association
for their donation of 28
turkeys.
Thanks again to all for
making Thanksgiving a spe-
cial, delicious and happy
day for these families.
Mona Ordonez
Dallas Food Bank
Reader shares own
candy failures
We have been enjoying
your feature articles regard-
ing the I-O staff making
Christmas candy, and we
give you a huge kudos for
“sticking” with it (pardon
the pun).
I would like to share this
35-year-old story about the
candy maker who resides at
our home.
Greg is known for his
wonderful peanut brittle,
and has even received some
high marks at our local fairs
for it.
However, when he made
his first few batches, it re-
sembled peanut syrup. We
raise chickens, and keep a
“chicken bowl” that receives
leftover stuff from the
kitchen (non-meat stuff). So
we rationed maybe the
chickens would like the
peanuts that was in the
syrup state.
We fed the chickens, and
the next day, three of our
birds were sitting in the
coop with their heads down
and not moving. I picked
one bird up, and instead of
squawking, it just looked at
me, closed beak.
I noticed its beak seemed
to be sealed shut. You
guessed it; the peanut brit-
tle syrup had sealed the
poor bird’s beak closed. So,
after working the beak
open, we looked for the re-
maining syrup to get it out
of the coop, and it was
gone.
What we also noticed was
a small hole under the fenc-
ing in the coop. Strange, the
hole wasn’t there before.
A few days later, one of
our neighbors told us their
dog had vomited in their
house, and the vomit con-
tained peanuts.
I guess even if your candy
making isn’t as picture per-
fect as it shows on the inter-
net, if it’s eatable, then
you’re still in the game.
Deb Darr
Falls City
Editor’s note: We appreci-
ate you sharing your experi-
ence, Deb Darr and family.
We will keep working on our
baking and candy making
skills.
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
PUBLIC AGENDA
Public Agenda is a listing of upcoming meetings for gov-
ernmental and nongovernmental agencies in Polk County.
To submit a meeting, send it the Itemizer-Observer via email
(ionews@polkio.com).
—
WednesdAy, deC. 21
• Glenn-Gibson Watershed Council — 5:30 p.m., Salem-
towne Breezeway Room, West Salem. 503-623-9680.
ThursdAy, deC. 22
• Monmouth-Independence networks Board of direc-
tors — 7:30 a.m., Henry Hill Education Support Center, 750 S.
Fifth St., Independence. 503-837-0700.
TuesdAy, deC. 27
• Independence City Council — 7:30 a.m., Independence
Civic Center, 555 S. Main St., Independence. 503-838-1212.
• Polk County Board of Commission work session — 9
a.m., Polk County Courthouse, BOC office, 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.
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.
For the full letters policy:
www.polkio.com, or call 503-
623-2373 ext. 117.
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
neWsrOOM
Emily Mentzer ..............Editor/Monmouth/Independence Reporter ....ementzer@polkio.com
Vol. 141, No. 51
(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
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
Phone: 503-623-2373
Fax: 503-623-2395
which is in error if the Itemizer-Observer is at fault.