Polk County News
2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 12, 2017
NEWS IN BRIEF
Openings on Rec Trails Advisory Board
SALEM — The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is
accepting applications for new members to serve on the Recre-
ation Trails Advisory Council for Congressional District 5.
The district covers Clackamas, Lincoln, Marion, Polk and
Tillamook counties. The council advises OPRD in the develop-
ment of high quality, non-motorized trail systems throughout
Oregon. The council consists of seven members. Deadline for
submitting is Aug. 15. For more information: David Stipe, 503-
986-0740.
CTGR offers free meditation program
GRAND RONDE — The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Peacemaker Program is offering a free meditation program.
The program uses a cultural method of dispute resolution
where well-respected community volunteers undergo conflict
resolution training to help resolve disputes among coworkers,
neighbors, family members, and landlords and tenants.
There is no cost to attend and the process is confidential.
For more information: Annie Schmidt, 503-879-4623.
Indy officer graduates from academy
STEPHANIE BLAIR/Itemizer-Observer
The Brown family altered their reunion plans to include volunteering to move the food bank.
Volunteers move Ella Curran food bank
By Stephanie Blair
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — On
Friday, Boy Scout Troop 38,
food bank volunteers and a
large family reunion joined
forces to help the Ella Cur-
ran food bank relocate one
storefront over from the
space they were occupying,
at 870 N. Main St. in Inde-
pendence.
For the Brown family, vol-
unteering to move the food
bank was a spur of the mo-
ment addition to their re-
union schedule, which was
decided on Friday morning.
The “scout in charge” was
Keith Eberly, who led the
charge as a part of his Eagle
Scout Service Project.
In the pursuit of advanc-
ing from the rank of Life
Scout to Eagle Scout, the
highest rank within the Boy
Scouts, a Life Scout must
“plan, develop, and give
leadership to others in a
service project helpful to any
religious institution, any
school, or (their) communi-
ty,” as explained in the 2017
Boy Scouts’ Guide to Ad-
vancement.
When asked about his
project, Eberly replied that
he was “just making sure
everything goes according to
plan,” while directing foot
traffic and fielding questions
from the surrounding volun-
teers.
The group was made up
of 36 people including the
Boy Scouts, the Brown fami-
ly, food bank volunteers and
Eberly’s grandmother.
The Ella Curran Food
Bank serves the Monmouth,
Independence and sur-
rounding areas.
It is open Mondays, Tues-
days and Thursdays from 9
to 11:45 a.m., with additional
hours on Tuesdays from 4 to
6 p.m.
SALEM — The Oregon Department of Public Safety Stan-
dards and Training will celebrate the graduation of its 368th
Basic Police Class. Police Officer Eric Solberg, of Independence
Police Department, is among the graduates.
The Basic Police Class is 16-weeks in length and includes
dozens of training areas including survival skills, firearms, emer-
gency vehicle operations, ethics, cultural diversity, problem
solving, community policing, elder abuse, and drug recognition.
Basic Police Class 368 will graduate at the Oregon Public
Safety Academy, at 4190 Aumsville Highway SE in Salem, on Fri-
day at 11 a.m. with a reception following the graduation. Inde-
pendence Chief Bob Mason will be the guest speaker.
Volunteers needed for eclipse event
DALLAS — Dallas Vitality Connection is looking for volun-
teers to operate games as part of Dallas’ Great American Eclipse
celebrations from Aug.19 through Aug. 21.
Volunteers would be operating game booths on Saturday
and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Monday from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. Multiple volunteers are needed so no one person is stuck
at a booth for the entire day.
If you are interested in helping out, contact Scott Noon at
scott@stsupportllc.com; Tammy Noon at
tammy@stsupportllc.com; or Emma Guida at
emmagdda@gmail.com.
Lund is DSD ‘Distinguished Educator’
STEPHANIE BLAIR/Itemizer-Observer
Scout Keith Eberly double-checks all work.
DALLAS — Whitworth Elementary School fifth-grade teacher
Chris Lund is Dallas School District’s Distin-
guished Educator for March.
John Wagner, a former teacher, and Lisa
Reamer, a current teacher, nominated him as
“a wonderful, caring and effective educator.”
His students added to the praise: “He
pushes me to do my best, and I like that in
teachers,” and “I know that I will have a
smart mind in the future because of his
teaching.”
Lund
The Distinguished Educator program rec-
ognizes “excellence in teaching and learning” in Dallas School
District schools.
Fatal crash claims lives of Falls City man and boy
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
MCMINNVILLE — A
three-vehicle accident on
July 3 on Highway 99W just
south of McMinnville
claimed the lives of a Falls
City man and boy.
Oregon State Police
troopers and emergency
crews responded to the acci-
dent at 2:15 p.m.
According to police, the
initial investigation showed
a 2003 Pontiac Sunfire was
northbound on Highway
99W and was slowing or
stopped to make a left turn
onto Southwest Durham
Lane. A 1993 Ford F250 tow-
ing a small utility trailer fol-
lowing the Pontiac was un-
able to stop and rear-ended
the Pontiac.
The Pontiac spun into the
southbound lane where it
was struck broadside by a
southbound 2007 Toyota Se-
quoia. After the collision, the
Ford left the highway, struck
a parked car in a driveway,
then a house, police said.
Two passengers in the
Pontiac died, Jeremy M.
King, 29, of Falls City, who
was pronounced dead at the
scene, and Bryan Daniel
Ogden-Scott, 3, who was
taken to the hospital and
later died on July 4.
The driver of the Pontiac,
Billie J. King, 24, of Falls City,
was transported by ground
ambulance to Salem hospi-
tal, and a 7-year-old female
was taken to an area hospi-
tal for treatment.
The driver of the Toyota,
Kris F. Painter, 62, of Amity,
was checked by medical
personnel at the scene but
not transported. Shirley
Robins, 82, of Portland, was
taken by ground ambulance
to Salem hospital. Laurie
Painter, 59, of Amity was
taken by air ambulance to
Salem hospital. Brittany
Painter, 27, of Amity, was
taken by ground ambulance
to Salem hospital.
The driver of the Ford,
Justin M. Sauers, 24, of
Amity, was taken by ground
ambulance to McMinnville
hospital.
OSP spokesman Jeff Proulx
said the accident remains
under investigation, and the
official cause of the crash has-
n’t been determined.
“They are going to do
some more follow-up and
interviews to get a better
idea what happened,”
Proulx said Monday.
He added that no charges
have been filed at this point.
Highway 99W was closed
for about six hours as crews
worked to clear the scene,
and police investigated the
accident.
Oregon Department of
Transportation, the Yamhill
County Sheriff's Office,
McMinnville Police, McMin-
nville Fire and Sheridan Fire
assisted OSP.
Landslides put Doaks Ferry Road projects on hold
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
WEST SALEM — The
Doaks Ferry Road realign-
ment projects are on hold
after geological testing
showed landslides north of
Highway 22 near the pro-
posed route are moving.
The project is part of an
Oregon Department of
Transportation plan to im-
prove safety on Highway 22,
particularly high-crash areas
like Doaks Ferry Road and
the Highway 51 intersection.
Plans include building back-
age roads and eventually an
interchange at the intersec-
tion of highways 22 and 51.
Polk County and ODOT
reached an agreement last
year to have the county build
the first phase of the project,
a backage road from Doaks
Ferry to Riggs Street, with
money provided by the state.
County officials say that
project is in limbo after
landslide movement was
found on the second phase,
from Riggs Street to 50th Av-
enue, which was to be com-
pleted by ODOT.
ODOT spokesman Lou
Torres said the issue was dis-
covered earlier this year fol-
lowing core drilling that was
part of the development
stage of the project. He said a
general footprint for the
route had been selected, but
a final design was not com-
plete.
“They discussed this with
us a month ago and we
came away with the expec-
tation that they were going
to place the project on hold
and monitor the landslide
for another year,” Polk
County Public Works Direc-
tor Todd Whitaker said.
Following an open house
on June 26, county leaders
walked away with the im-
pression the project may
have to go back to planning.
“Because of the analysis
and findings that ODOT has
found on their portion of
their project, they are appre-
hensive of moving forward,”
said County Administrator
Greg Hansen.
Torres said ODOT is as-
sessing the project and may
propose a different route.
“Geologists are recom-
mending a much more de-
tailed and comprehensive
geologic investigation be
performed before doing any
significant earthwork con-
struction in the area in order
to make sure that the work
would not accelerate the
landslide activity,” Torres
said.
Regardless of the out-
come of the larger project,
Whitaker, Hansen and Polk
County Commissioner Craig
Pope would still like to see
safety improvements at the
Doaks Ferry intersection.
“If you look at the trans-
portation study that was
done way back, the first
thing that was discussed was
doing mitigation at the
Doaks Ferry intersection it-
self, (making it) a right in,
right out only,” Hansen said.
“That got skipped because
the money became available
for our project.”
Whitaker added he will
push to have the former
safety corridor on Highway
22 be restored. The section
of the highway from the
bridges crossing the
Willamette River in Salem to
the Rickreall interchange
was a safety corridor from
1993 to 2010.
“The purpose of a safety
corridor is education and
enforcement until safety im-
provements can be made,”
he said.
Pope added improve-
ments have been discussed
for several years and he
would like to see at least left
turns from Doaks Ferry onto
the highway prohibited.
“That is an extremely
dangerous intersection,”
Pope said.
Torres said ODOT agrees,
said but it’s too early to tell if
funding ready for the first
and second phases of the re-
alignment project could be
redirected to intersection
safety improvements.
In the meantime, the
agency’s staff will investi-
gate the right in, right out
option, a median barrier or
other solutions, he said.
“ODOT is committed to
improving safety on that
stretch of (Highway) 22, es-
pecially taking a look at
ways to improve the Doaks
Ferry Road/(Highway) 22 in-
tersection, and other areas
along (Highway) 22 that
have been identified as
high-crash sites,” he said.
POLICE REPORT
Information for the police report
comes from law enforcement agen-
cies. Not all calls for service are in-
cluded. The status of incidents re-
ported may change after further in-
vestigation. Individuals arrested or
suspected of crimes are considered
innocent until proven guilty.
—
DALLAS
Arrests/Citations
• Brittany D. Morgan, 41, of Dallas,
in the 200 block of W. Ellendale Ave.
on July 2 on a failure to appear war-
rant.
• Tina L. Sears, 55, of Dallas, in the
400 block of Main St. on July 4 on a
charge of third-degree criminal mis-
chief – graffiti on signs.
• Brian D. Allen, 53, of Dallas, in the
900 block of SW Birch St. on July 4 on
a charge of offensive littering.
• Dana M. Kropf, 48, of Dallas, in the
400 block of SE Clay St. on July 5 on a
probation violation.
• Robert A. Bat, 50, of Dallas, on
Heath St. on July 5 on misdemeanor
driving with a suspended or revoked
license.
INDEPENDENCE
Arrests/Citations
• Danny Ray Hawkins, 51, of Inde-
pendence, on Hwy. 51 at milepost 4
on June 18 for driving under the influ-
ence of intoxicants.
• Elias Salas Diaz, 30, of Independ-
ence, in the 800 block of N. Main St.
on June 18 for DUII.
• Howard E. Eaton, 48, of Independ-
ence, at Roth’s Fresh Market, 1401
Monmouth St., on June 18 for third-
degree theft.
• John William Burk, 52, of Inde-
pendence, in the 100 block of S. 17th
St. on June 19 for DUII.
• Blake L. Philippi, 24, of Independ-
ence, in the 1300 block of Monmouth
St. on June 20 for third-degree theft.
• Jose Angel Jimenez Zavala, 22, of
Monmouth, in the 1300 block of Mon-
mouth St. on June 22 for parole viola-
tion.
• Benjamin Alejandro Reyna, 18, of
Independence, in the 1600 block of
Monmouth St. on June 23 for urinat-
ing in public.
• Gonzalo Ochoa Manzo, 61, of In-
dependence, in the 400 block of S.
Fifth St. on June 25 for unlawful use or
carry of a weapon – aggravated as-
sault, menacing – use or display of
weapons, and fourth-degree assault.
• Vanessa Anne Rivera, 33, of Salem,
in the 800 block of N. Main St. on June
28 for unlawful possession of
methamphetamine.
• Bulent Simsek, 39, of Independ-
ence, on S. Main St. on July 2 for DUII.
• Ricky Lee Mortimer, 34, of Salem,
at S. Main and B sts. on July 9 for pos-
session of methamphetamine.
• Nickolas Atheryly Quient, 36, of
Dallas, at S. Main and B sts. on July 9
for DUII.
MONMOUTH
Arrests/Citations
• David Calvin Howard Jr., 52, of
Monmouth, in the 500 block of Clay
St. E. on June 24 for parole violation.
• Augustin Pimentel Ignacio, 52, of
Monmouth, at Powell St. E. and
Catron St. N. on June 25 for DUII.
• Joshua Lee Murray, 24, of Mon-
mouth, in the 300 block of Catron St.
N. on June 25 for violating a restrain-
ing order.
• Alisha M. Porter, 35, of Newberg,
in the 300 block of Pacific Hwy. S. on
June 26 for DUII, reckless endanger-
ing, and interfering with a police offi-
cer.
• Damian Alexander Lumbreras, 27,
a transient, at Powell St. E. and Broad
St. N. on July 1 for second-degree fail-
ure to appear.
• Daniel Sean Lumby, 21, of Salem,
in the 500 block of Orchard St. W. on
July 1 on a warrant for failure to ap-
pear.
• Matthew Draper Long, 20, of
McMinnville, in the 400 block of Pacif-
ic Hwy. N. on July 2 for DUII.
• Daniel Polanco, 20, of Salem, at
Pacific Hwy. N. and Powell St. E. on
July 4 for fleeing or attempting to
elude a police officer, DUII, reckless
driving, reckless endangering, and
third-degree criminal mischief.