DALLAS SOFTBALL MOVES TO 8-0 IN
LEAGUE Page
PLAY
10A
Volume 142, Issue 17
www.Polkio.com
April 26, 2017
$1.00
Two men
IN
arrested YOUR
on assault TOWN
TO THE RESCUE
Unlikely hero rescues stranded kite from tree
By lukas Eggen
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — A
rescue of sorts took place
on Thursday.
No, it didn’t require a
daring act of bravery, but
it did reunite a boy and his
new favorite toy — his
kite.
—
Ever since the Swanbor-
ough family went to the
Independence library,
they’ve had kite fever.
“They had an event
where they built kites,”
Tracy Swanborough said.
“They (her children) had a
lot of fun, but when the
kids tried to fly the kites,
they didn’t fly very well. It
reminded me of how fun
it was to fly a kite. The
ones we have are beat up.
My mom asked me for
Easter basket ideas for the
kids, and so she got each
of them a kite. Lachlan fell
in love with it the most.
He’s wanted to fly it every
day.”
Whether at a park or in
the street, Lachlan, 8, can
be seen running this way
and that to make his kite
go.
“It’s my first kite,” he
said. “I got it on Easter. I
like that you can go high
and it can stay up in the
air. The more wind you
have, the higher it can go.
I realized that this is fun.”
On Thursday, Lachlan’s
kite got into a little pickle.
“I was flying the kite on
the street and I didn’t no-
tice I was about to hit a
tree,” Lachlan said.
See KitE, Page 7a
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Police arrested
two men in Dallas Thursday
on assault and menacing
charges following an early
morning fight.
At about 7:14 a.m. Thurs-
day, Dallas officers responded
to 911 calls reporting two men
fighting with another man in
the 200 block of Southwest
Walnut Avenue, according a
Dallas Police report.
Witnesses told dispatch
that one of the men had a
gun in his hand.
According to court docu-
ments, suspects Carlos
Ho m i l E s c a l e r a , 3 1 o f
Willamina, and his brother,
Emanuel Escalera Lopez, 29,
of Portland, spotted the vic-
tim of the assault, Kenneth
D. Edwards, getting out of his
car near their sister’s house.
Edwards had a “no con-
tact” order with their sister,
according to the probable
cause affidavit filed on the
arrests by Dallas police. The
order is part of a separate
case.
The pair confronted Ed-
wards, reportedly punching
him in the head and then got
back in Lopez’s car. Accord-
ing to the report, they re-
turned and punched and
kicked him for up to three
minutes, a witness said.
They returned to the vehi-
cle, and then pulled up to
Edwards. This time, Escalera
pointed a gun at him.
“Multiple witnesses saw
Carlos pull out a black pistol
and point it at Kenneth and
start backing him up,” the re-
port read.
See aSSault, Page 3a
TRACy SwAnBOROuGh/for the Itemizer-Observer
lachlan Swanborough, 8, left, stands with his hero of the day, Minet technician
Ruban ulloa, who rescued his kite from the clutches of a tree.
Costs outpace revenue in DSD budget
General fund cuts necessary, but no layoffs in Dallas School District’s 2017-18 proposal
By Jolene Guzman
DSD 2017-18 proposed budget
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Dallas schools
2017-18 budget proposal, in-
troduced to the district’s
budget committee Monday,
features more money, but
that is countered by rising
costs.
Tami Montague, the dis-
trict’s director of fiscal serv-
ices, said the district based
the 2017-18 budget on the
plan presented by the co-
chairs of the Legislative Joint
Ways & Means Committee,
which allocates $7.8 billion
to schools in the 2017-19 bi-
ennium.
That is lower than Gov.
Kate Brown’s proposal of
sending $8.01 billion to
schools, which state officials
said still wouldn’t prevent
cuts.
Montague said it’s unusu-
al for the co-chairs to pro-
pose less than the governor,
but there isn’t much indica-
tion that figure will change
at this point in the legislative
session.
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
General fund — $33,340,400
Special Revenue Grants & Projects — $3,793,642
Capital Construction Bond Projects — $14,550,000
Food Services — $1,030,150
Student Activity Funds — $1,200,000
Debt Service Fund, general obligation bonds —
$2,465,130
“They are sticking hard to
that number because there’s
a huge deficit at the state
level they are trying to fill,”
she said. “We decided as a
district that we would take a
conservative approach, and
base our budget on the $7.8
billion because feel like we
won’t get less than that.
There is a chance we could
get more.”
The district’s total budget
is about $9 million more
than the current budget, but
most of that is accounted for
in building maintenance
projects paid for with a 2014
voter-approved bond. Bond
projects will jump from
$8.095 million this year to
$14.5 million in 2017-18.
“We also have our bond
dollars coming in, so while
we are talking reduction on
this side, we are spending a
lot of money on specific
projects where we have tar-
geted dollars for,” Mon-
tague said.
General fund revenue is
proposed to increase nearly
$1.9 million, mostly through
growth in state support and a
beginning fund balance that’s
higher than was expected.
“We are actually going to
get more revenue next year,
but with our PERS cost in-
creases and just inflationary
costs increases, we fell
short,” Montague said.
PERS costs amount to
$699,331, up from the ex-
pected $660,000.
“Even though it feels like
there’s a ton of volatility in
that system, we do have
some markers that let us
make some predictions that
were fairly accurate,” Mon-
tague said. “We were able to
tell a while ago that was
coming, which led us to
make some plans for last
year. That’s why we didn’t
add a ton of extra stuff and
we held steady.”
Another large part of the
increase is due to enroll-
ment growth at the charter
schools the district spon-
sors, so most of $293,543 in
additional revenue will go to
those schools.
Increases in transportation
($107,164), staff salary 1 per-
cent cost-of-living-adjust-
ment ($283,240), benefits
($158,044) and an increase to
the district’s contingency
fund ($500,000) will claim the
remainder — and then some.
That means general fund
reductions, though no lay-
offs are necessary.
“Any positions where
we’ve had to reduce are
done so through attrition,”
said Superintendent
Michelle Johnstone. “We are
not using the layoff process.”
Classes sizes at the pri-
mary grades are projected at
fewer than 30 students, but
to provide more support, an
additional special education
teacher in the K-3 schools is
proposed. The district is
moving a part-time coun-
selor to full-time at LaCreole
Middle School, as well.
“We’re seeing significant
concerns in our student
population that we are try-
ing to address with addition-
al mental health services,”
Montague said. “Middle
school kids are especially
vulnerable.”
Programs providing dedi-
cated funding to career and
technical education
($945,000) and English Lan-
guage Learner program im-
provements ($90,000) are in-
troduced in the 2017-18
budget.
The budget committee
will meet next at 6 p.m. on
May 17 at the district office,
111 SW Ash St., Dallas.
DallaS
American Gas & Tech
to name school after
former Tyco building
owner.
»Page 5a
FallS CitY
Budget committee
approves 2017-18
budget.
»Page 3a
iNDEPENDENCE
Central senior Chris
Polanco honors family
on tennis court.
»Page 10a
MONMOutH
Applebox Children’s
Theater, city council
butt heads.
»Page 2a
SPORtS
Falls City track and
field team eyes qualify-
ing multiple athletes for
state.
»Page 10a
EDuCatiON
Students get a
chance to experience
new cultures.
»Page 12a
Dallas High
presents
‘Bully Plays’
itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — Dallas
high School will present
a series of student-di-
rected plays Thursday
and Friday.
The Bully Plays are a
collection of short plays
set in different places
and times showing the
many different types of
bullying and the way
they affect people.
The shows are at 7
p.m. in DhS’ Bollman Au-
ditorium, 1250 SE hol-
man Ave., Dallas.
Advanced theater stu-
dents are directing the
plays as an exercise for
the class.
The plays are recom-
mended for audiences
13 and older because of
the content which deals
with suicide, suggested
nudity and some lan-
guage.
General admission is
$4. Tickets are available
at the door.
A little effort.
A big difference.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
need to take a break
from your young-
sters? Respite care
offers free child care
for parents to run
errands or just relax.
1-3 p.m. Free.
Join other musicians
at the Dallas Senior
Center for an old-
time, gospel music
jam. Bring a favorite
finger food.
6:30 p.m. Free.
Do you love Bat-
man? how about
wonder woman?
Show off your inner
hero during na-
tional Superhero
Day.
Celebrate trees at
Mount Fir Park as In-
dependence marks
five years as a Tree
City, uSA, and tour
Inspiration Garden.
1-4 p.m. Free.
Answer every ques-
tion asked of you
today truthfully to
mark national hon-
esty Day.
Get outside and cel-
ebrate spring during
May Day!
young dancers will
perform a variety of
dance styles during
the France School
of Dance recital at
DRV.
4:30 p.m. Free.
Rain/showers
Hi: 56
Lo: 41
Showers
Hi: 57
Lo: 38
Partly cloudy
Hi: 58
Lo: 37
Partly cloudy
Hi: 60
Lo: 42
Partly sunny
Hi: 61
Lo: 43
Partly cloudy
Hi: 60
Lo: 43
Partly cloudy
Hi: 65
Lo: 45