Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 24, 2017 3A
Dallas Wine Down brings business on Sunday
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Right: Harrison Williams, a teacher’s assistant with Oregon State University, pours wine during the Dallas Wine Down on Sunday.
Left: A participant in the Dallas Wine Down walks past a wine station at Some Things on Sunday.
Hunt elected to Dallas School Board
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Dave Hunt’s
election victory on May 16
will make him the newest
member of the Dallas
School Board when he takes
his seat in July.
Last week, that reality was
sinking in for the retired fire-
fighter and member of the
district’s budget committee.
Hunt defeated opponent
Ivan Barnes 2,276 to 836 or
72 percent to 27 percent.
Barnes was running to serve
on the board for the first
time.
“I’m getting used to it,”
said Hunt,
61.
E v e n
though he’s
serving on
the budget
committee
and has
worked on
Hunt
other un-
elected district committees,
it was an extraordinary feel-
ing for him to see early re-
turns on May 16.
“My first thought was
that 2,000 people, at least,
cared enough for what I
presented to say, ‘we would
like you to do that,’” he
said. “It’s just fun to be in-
Central School District results
• In Central School District’s two contested races, Peggy Clyne
defeated Salvador Diaz for Position No. 2 on the board.
• Kristina Mann won the Position No. 5 seat over opponent
Steve Milligan.
volved. After 35 years of
being a public servant and
retiring, it’s kind of let me
fill a void in my life.”
Hunt brings a varied
background to the post. He
recently retired from Tu-
alatin Valley Fire & Rescue;
he’s raised children who
graduated in Dallas; and in a
twist of fate, is now raising
two children who attend
Oakdale Heights Elemen-
tary.
“My wife and I started
foster parenting 10 years
ago, and we ended up
adopting our soon-to-be 8-
year-old daughter and our
4-year-old son. We’ve had
them since birth,” Hunt
said. “We hadn’t originally
planned on being adoptive
parents, but it kind of hap-
pened that way.”
That makes him a retiree,
grandparent and a parent of
young children all at the
same time.
“I have a lot of different
perspectives that not every-
body has,” he said. “Hope-
fully that will be an asset.”
He acknowledged many
of the decisions the district
and school board make re-
late to funding, but he has
other objectives in mind.
“For me it’s a lot more than
money,” he said. “The people
here approach it more like a
calling than a profession.
They are motivated in ways
that a lot of big city districts
can’t match.”
At the top of his list of
what he wants to accom-
plish is reducing class sizes
and letting people know
about the opportunities at
Dallas schools.
“I would also like to get
the word out to the com-
munities around us, and
statewide, that we have a
lot to offer families that
want to raise their kids in a
sterling school system. I
would like to see us be
more family-or iented
rather than a retiree-ori-
ented community,” he said,
then adding, “And I say that
as a retiree.”