RELAY FOR LIFE
MAGIC OF RELAY
Volume 142, Issue 23
Page 9A
www.Polkio.com
June 7, 2017
$1.00
Dallas softball team takes second in state
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DAllAS
Dallas council ap-
proves budget includ-
ing the recreation coor-
dinator position.
»Page 7A
FAllS CIty
Students learn life
and work lessons
through FaCES pro-
gram.
»Page 3A
INDEPENDENCE
luKaS EGGEn/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas High School girls softball team took second place in the state championships Saturday. For more on the story, see Page 13A.
»Page 2A
Sheriff talks online ‘stranger danger’
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — On-
line safety for children is a
lot more complicated than
“don’t talk to strangers.”
That’s still critical advice,
but Polk County Sheriff
Mark Garton had much
more to tell fourth- and
fifth-graders at Independ-
ence Elementary School
about safe internet use and
cyberbullying during a pres-
entation May 31.
He started with explaining
why children shouldn’t chat
with people they don’t know
while gaming.
“Stop doing that,” Garton
said. “I will tell you why.
That’s really scary because
you don’t know who you are
talking to. If the other per-
son is grown up and they are
talking to you, sometimes
that can be bad.”
He added to pay attention
when downloading a game.
“A lot of times when you
download a game to your
phone or your tablet, it will
ask to look at your contacts
or use your camera or use
GPS,” Garton said.
JOlEnE Guzman/ Itemizer-Observer
Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton leads a presentation on online safety for fouth- and
fifth-graders at Independence Elementary School on May 31.
Garton said never allow
GPS to be activated.
“Because it can track you,
right?” he said. “If the police
can figure out where you are
by tracking your phone, so
can bad guys.”
No less crucial is avoiding
arranging to meet in person
strangers they’ve met online.
“Just don’t meet anyone
that you’ve met online,” he
said. “You just don’t do it.”
The presentation is part
of a program the sheriff’s of-
fice started last year empha-
sizing safety and drug pre-
vention education for chil-
dren and parents. The pro-
gram consists of presenta-
tions and school visits from
a deputy dedicated to work-
ing in schools — or some-
times, the sheriff himself.
Garton stresses educa-
tion, but also positive inter-
actions between police and
children.
“When I was their age, the
only time a cop ever showed
up, it was for something
bad,” he said. “It’s neat to
have kids come up to you
and not just look at you and
turn around. That is what
school resource stuff is all
about, connecting.”
That worked at IES. After
his presentation, Garton was
mobbed with questions
from children who were
supposed to be headed back
to class.
Nina Bravo, the school’s
counselor, had to encourage
them to get back on schedule.
“Boys, boys. Class,” she
said, then laughing after
they disappeared down the
hallway.
See SAFEty, Page 5A
Program quiets cycle of repeat crime
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Polk County’s new
Mental Health Court, or Friday
Court, helped give Anthony Brown
and Kelly Fields their lives back.
Brown and Fields are the first two
graduates of Friday Court, which
began April 1, 2016. It was formed to
help those charged with crimes
whose actions were caused in part
by symptoms of mental illness.
A team including representatives
from Polk County Circuit Court, the
Polk County District Attorney’s Of-
fice, Polk County Behavioral Health,
Community Corrections, the Polk
County Board of Commissioners,
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
and law enforcement and defense
attorneys, met for about a year to
design Friday Court, modeled after
similar programs in Marion and
Clackamas counties.
Polk County Circuit Court Judge
Norm Hill said the intent was to
break the cycle of defendants com-
mitting crimes, getting sentenced to
probation, failing to get treatment,
and then committing more crimes.
Friday, during Brown and Field’s
graduation ceremony, Hill said he’s
seen proof that has worked.
Fields, 38, the first participant in
the program, started when he was in
recovery and receiving treatment
with the help of his family.
“But this is not easy. Kelly, you
struggled with some personal
things,” Hill said. “You had chal-
lenges that you overcame. You never
looked back. You moved forward
through each of the steps. I know
other members of the program
looked up to you as a role model.”
Robin Rogers, Field’s mother, said
that stands in contrast to where her
son was not that long ago.
“Kelly was here in the Polk County
Jail for six weeks and, during that
time he was, in my opinion, psychot-
ic,” she said. “He had delusions and
he heard voices. He had all the symp-
toms of schizophrenia. At that time,
the program hadn’t started yet.”
During his time in jail, he wasn’t
receiving treatment and had to be
little Free library
dedicated on Friday at
mount Fir Park’s Inspira-
tion Garden.
placed in solitary confinement, said
Robin’s husband, Brett Rogers,
Field’s stepfather.
“I said, ‘How is it that this kid was
locked up when he obviously had
significant mental illness issues,’”
Robin recalled thinking then. “At
that time, that was what happened.”
He was released, but found himself
in the system again later. This time, he
was placed with Friday Court.
“It was amazing. I just can’t say
enough good things about the pro-
gram,” Robin said. “My son today —
through their help, their guidance,
through their medication manage-
ment — they have just turned him
around. I’m so grateful to this.”
See Court, Page 5A
MoNMoutH
los angeles Chargers
wide receiver and WOu
alum Tyrell Williams will
help with a youth foot-
ball camp.
»Page 13A
EDuCAtIoN
Falls City High School
Class of 2017 graduated
Friday.
»Page 15A
Fire causes
damage to
home in
Perrydale
Itemizer-observer staff report
PERRYDalE — a lawn
debris fire got out of hand
monday night, damaging
a house in Perrydale.
Firefighters were called
to a home in the 800 block
of Perrydale Road at 7:27
p.m. after a fire the home-
owner thought he had put
out reignited and caught a
hot tub on fire.
“He and a neighbor
were trying to put it out,”
said april Welsh, spokes-
woman for Dallas Fire &
EmS.
By the time firefighters
arrived, the fire had
reached the home. Com-
plicating matters were
nearby powerlines that
needed to be shut off for
firefighters to safely fight
the fire.
“The house and con-
tents are a 50 percent
loss,” Welsh said.
The man living in the
house is staying with fam-
ily.
Firefighters responded
from Southwest Polk, Dal-
las Fire & EmS and Polk
Fire no. 1. Crews were on
scene for about two hours.
no injuries were reported.
monday proved to be
an active night for emer-
gency crews in the area.
See FIrE, Page 6A
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Knitters and cro-
cheters meet
monthly to make
clothing and acces-
sories for those in
need.
3-5 p.m. Free.
See what’s new and
fresh at the Polk
County Bounty mar-
ket on the corner of
academy and main
streets.
Donate blood, save
a life at the ameri-
can Red Cross blood
drive at the Polk
County Fire District
no. 1 Station 90.
Noon-5 p.m. “Free.”
Skip cooking and
head to Buell
Grange Hall, on mill
Creek Road, just off
Highway 22, for
breakfast.
8-11 a.m. $6.
Today is national
loving Day, marking
the Supreme Court
decision to overturn
laws banning inter-
racial marriages.
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.
Soar with the Young
Eagles and take a
free flight in an ex-
perimental aircraft
at the Independ-
ence airport.
8:30-11:30 a.m.
Free for ages 8-17.
The Independence
Riverview Farmers
market adds Tues-
days starting today
at the top of
Riverview Park.
1-6 p.m. Free.
Mostly cloudy
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Lo: 56
Showers
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Lo: 47
Chance thunder
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Lo: 46
Cloudy
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Lo: 46
Partly cloudy
Hi: 68
Lo: 45
Mostly sunny
Hi: 66
Lo: 46
Showers
Hi: 62
Lo: 46