REAL LIFE FANTASY
AMTGARD
CENTRAL, DALLAS
Page 10A
Volume 142, Issue 6
WRESTLING Page 13A
www.Polkio.com
Dallas
chamber
names
award
winners
February 8, 2017
$1.00
IN
YOUR
TOWN
ROUNDABOUT
dallaS
Woman OK after
heating pad fire.
»Page 8a
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FallS City
DALLAS — If you are a
regular attendee to the
Dallas Area Chamber of
Commerce’s annual Com-
munity Awards, you will
notice a few changes this
year.
The biggest change is
that there are fewer
awards.
JD Shinn, the chamber’s
chief executive officer, said
the reason for that isn’t
that there are fewer people
in town worthy of awards.
The chamber simply
wanted the awards it gives
out to mean more, he said.
“We want to make to
make sure they are per-
ceived as a prestigious
thing,” Shinn said, noting
in other communities with
similar traditions, perhaps
as few as three awards are
presented each year. “We
were giving out 10.”
Shinn said he noticed
some overlap in the quali-
fications for awards and
narrowed them down so
that each is unique.
This year, which marks
the celebration’s 60th year,
the award winners are:
First Citizen — Jinett
Yeager, who started Jinett’s
Closet, a clothing closet at
Dallas New Life Church of
the Nazarene.
Business of the Year —
Heartstrings Florist & Arti-
sans, whose owner, Linda
Taylor, organized a down-
town turkey giveaway that
helped connect local busi-
nesses and donated
turkeys to the Dallas Food
Bank.
Young Pros of the
Year — Devin Colby
Jones and MacLarin
Jones, the owners of Har-
vest Crossfit, which
opened in 2014.
Organization of the
Year — CASA of Polk
County, an organization
of volunteers who repre-
sent the interests of fos-
ter children in the court
system.
Excellence in Arts —
Abe Huff was selected for
the honor by the Dallas
Arts Association, which
will present to award to
him during the ceremo-
ny.
Winners will be recog-
nized at the Community
Awards Banquet on Feb.
24 at 6 p.m. at the Ne-
smith Readiness Center in
Dallas.
Washington Street
Steakhouse will cater a
prime rib dinner, and Em-
maly and Wyatt Basaraba
will provide live jazz music
for the 60th anniversary
celebration.
See aWaRdS, Page 5a
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
OSAA to hear Falls
City about staying in
Class 1A.
»Page 5a
indePendenCe
Central School Dis-
trict learns to Be GLAD.
»Page 8a
monmouth
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
the oregon department of transportation has begun initial work to install a roundabout at Clow Corner and 99W.
ODOT studies show roundabouts reduce injury accidents by 75 percent
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — Studies nation-
wide show that modern roundabouts
reduce fatal crashes by 90 percent.
They reduce injury accidents by 75
percent.
Those statistics, courtesy of the Fed-
eral Highway Administration and Insur-
ance Institute for Highway Safety, are
just two of the reasons the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation has lobbied
for a roundabout at the intersection of
Clow Corner Road and Highway 99W.
Until recently, local officials have ad-
vocated for a traffic light at the inter-
section, citing the success of the Hoff-
man Road and 99W traffic light in-
stalled about 15 years ago. There have
been no fatalities at the intersection,
and the number of crashes has de-
clined by 71 percent, according to
county officials.
The Polk County Board of Commis-
sioners voted, with some reservations,
to work with ODOT on installing a
roundabout at Clow Corner, the site of
a fatal accident in September. All three
commissioners said they felt a light —
the less expensive option at about $1.2
million compared to about $5 million
for a roundabout — would be effective
there, but wanted to move on making
the intersection safer.
Tim Potter, ODOT’s Area 3 manager,
said an evaluation performed in 2016
had the intersection failing “warrants”
for a signal. The study evaluated a set
criteria, or warrants, including traffic
volumes over and an eight- or four-
hour period, peak hour traffic, pedes-
trian usage, and how close the intersec-
tion is to a school or rail crossing.
“Franky Clow Corner didn’t meet any
of those warrants,” Potter said. “That
immediately sets an uphill challenge
(for a light).”
He added that while they are close
together, Hoffman and Clow Corner
are not identically situated. Hoffman is
closer to an urban area in Monmouth,
Potter said. Drivers traveling north on
the highway just left an urban area and
wouldn’t be surprised to encounter an-
other signal, he said.
However, the same evaluation was
done in 2007, and Clow Corner passed
the warrants test. At the time, the
analysis was conducted as part of an
overall highway corridor study and
didn’t have funding attached.
When money was placed in an ac-
count for a safety upgrade in 2013,
ODOT had begun looking at other so-
lutions, including a roundabout and
redesigning the intersection to improve
safety.
“We were looking for a solution that
we felt would overall solve the problem
better than a signal could,” said Angela
Kargel, ODOT’s Region 2 traffic manager.
Kargel said she didn’t think the suc-
cess of the light at Hoffman Road
would be repeated at Clow Corner.
“It doesn’t solve the problem,” she
said. “It most likely will not solve the
problem.”
Todd Whitaker, Polk County’s public
works director, said the Hoffman signal
has outperformed the averages.
“Right now, we’ve seen a 71 to 73
percent reduction in serious and fatal
accidents at Hoffman Road, but that is
better performance than they see na-
tionwide,” he said. “Generally, they see
40 to 50 percent crash reduction.”
Whitaker said he didn’t agree with all
of the engineer’s conclusions in the
2016 warrants analysis, but agreed it
would be a difficult sell to continue to
ask for a signal.
Potter said roundabouts greatly re-
duce the chance of high-speed rear-
end accidents and eliminate the possi-
bility of red-light running accidents,
which can be severe. He said the one-
way traffic flow of roundabouts reduce
the number of “conflict points” —
where cars can collide — to just one, so
drivers don’t have to time the move-
ments of multiple vehicles.
See RoundaBout, Page 5a
Dreier takes reins of Dallas visitors center
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The new face of
the Dallas Area Visitors Cen-
ter isn’t someone new at all.
Bonnie Dreier, who has
worked for the chamber and
visitors center since 2007,
has taken over as the visitors
center director and events
coordinator. Dreier is the
Polk County Bounty Market
manager, but has helped or-
ganize all chamber and visi-
tors center events for years.
She moved to her new job
in early January and has
been busy setting up this
years slate of events, includ-
ing the Dallas Awards Cele-
bration, Bounty Market,
Freedom-
fest, Sum-
merfest,
Tr i c k ’ n’
Treat and
Winterfest.
This year
brings a
unique op-
dreier
portunity
in the Aug. 21 solar eclipse,
and Dreier is working with
businesses and organiza-
tions for Dallas’ downtown
party.
Dreier said so far, the step
up has been a lot of work,
but she’s also found plenty
of support.
“I had lots of the people
come and saying ‘How we
can help?’” she said.
JD Shinn, the Dallas Area
Chamber’s chief executive
officer, also hired a part-
time administrative assis-
tant, Ashley Kahl, to round
out the organization’s staff.
Dreier said Kahl, who
started on Jan. 23, is helping
with event coordination.
“She’s been amazing,” she
said. “This place is being re-
vitalized.”
Shinn, who was brought
wed
thu
fri
sat
Do something
healthy for yourself
and get your blood
pressure checked
for free at Salem
Health West Valley.
2-3 p.m. Free.
Want to quit, but
don’t know how?
WVP Health Author-
ity hosts a freedom
from smoking series
at the Flaming center.
9:30-11 a.m. Free.
Dust off your instru-
ment and join local
musicians at Guthrie
Park Community
Center for the
monthly music jam.
6:30-10 p.m. Free.
Share your vision for
the Polk County
Fairgrounds & Event
Center at the fair
board’s annual work
session.
8 a.m. Free.
Rain
Hi: 46
Lo: 44
Rain
Hi: 53
Lo: 42
Showers
Hi: 46
Lo: 34
Showers
Hi: 48
Lo: 31
on board in October, said the
more he worked with Dreier,
the more he knew she was
the best person for the job.
“Bonnie has really
stepped up a lot,” he said. “I
knew the potential was there
… . She has continued to
surprise herself and confirm
what I saw in her.”
Shinn said Kahl, as the
most recent addition, is
bringing more talent to the
new team.
“They have so many
strengths that I don’t have,”
Shinn said. “I’m thrilled to
have both of them on
board.”
sun
Why not take the
morning off from
cooking and grab
breakfast at the
Buell Grange, just
off Highway 22.
8-11 a.m. $6.
Partly sunny
Hi: 48
Lo: 33
Dollar Zone aims to
save customers money
and help them have fun
while shopping.
»Page 3a
eduCation
Students create their
own eclipse myths.
»Page 16a
SPoRtS
Dallas swimmer Jolie-
Rae Ford hopes to
make it to state for the
fourth time.
»Page 13a
BOC to hold
hearing on
bond
itemizer-observer staff report
POLK COUNTY — The
Polk County Board of
Commissioners is holding
two public hearings re-
garding the proposed up
to $10 million bond for
maintaining existing
county facilities on Feb. 15
at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Both meetings are in
the Polk County Court-
house conference room at
850 Main St., in Dallas.
If approved by the
board, the measure would
be before voters in the
May 2017 election. At $10
million for 10 years, the
bond would cost an aver-
age of 20 cents per $1,000
of assessed value on prop-
erties.
For more information:
503-623-8173.
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mon
tue
Clutter can accumu-
late everywhere.
Take a moment to
clean up your com-
puter on National
Clean Out Your
Computer Day.
Happy Valentine’s
Day! What better
way to celebrate
than saving a life
through donating
blood at WOU?
10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Partly sunny
Hi: 50
Lo: 36
Partly sunny
Hi: 54
Lo: 38