Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2017)
ECLIPSE 2017 Volume 142, Issue 34 www.Polkio.com August 23, 2017 $1.00 Weekend brings no major incidents for first responders By Emily Mentzer The Itemizer-Observer POLK COUNTY — While the weekend was packed with live concerts, street performers, food trucks, beer and wine gardens, culminating in the big event — the Great American Eclipse — for law en- forcement, it was mostly business as usual. Sheriff Mark Garton credited that to the commu- nication between agencies prior to the event. “If we didn’t plan well enough, it could have gone really bad,” Garton said. “Everyone was really guess- ing in our planning stages. A good thing is all the dif- ferent agencies — public safety, the hospital, vine- yards, the farming community — we had meetings often for the last six to eight months.” Dallas saw a few incidents, said Dallas Police Lt. Jerry Mott. “We had one significant domestic violence inci- dent involving a gun where the suspect fought po- lice,” Mott said. “He had been drinking and carrying the gun concealed at the event downtown, but the actual call and arrest came after he drank some more at home.” A couple people were warned about using mari- juana in public. Others were encouraged to leave the event safely when they were intoxicated and be- coming disorderly. A few people were arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants, but Mott said those were not necessarily related to the Dallas Eclipse Celebration on the Square. “We had an unconfirmed report of men urinating on a business across from a bar and exposing (them- selves) to passing females,” Mott said. “No urine was present when officers arrived. No one exposing themselves, either.” Some girls found a “significant amount of money” and turned it into police, Mott said. “If the owner isn’t found, they will get to keep it,” he said. At one point, officers left the event in downtown to look for a small child who went missing, Mott said. “An officer found him sleeping in a closet at home,” he said. Overall, Mott said the incidents encountered over the weekend were “not a lot of problems.” See ECLIPSE, Page 11A Background photos by ROGER HARNACK and JEFF MENTZER Polk County Courthouse by DAVID ROSEN For more Eclipse coverage, see Pages 6A and 7A. Lifelong dream realized at Illahe Vineyards Eclipse chasers find joy, delight in Great American Eclipse viewing party in Polk By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — At about 9:25 a.m., Lisa Hoople looked up at the sun shortly after the Great American Eclipse began at Illahe Vineyards in Dallas. “It’s starting to really shape up as the moon now,” she said. Hoople, from Port- land, watched the eclipse with her husband, James Hoople, and Carrie De Graaf, who visited them from Michigan just for this occasion. They had planned ahead. They even made a dry run of their drive from Portland on all back roads to get to the vineyard in case of bad traffic. It took two hours, so they stayed for a wine tasting after route testing and made a connection with Illa- he’s tasting room man- ager Kathy Greysmith. “She was pouring for us and we had a blast,” James Hoople said. “We fell in love with this place right then and there.” Monday, the three of them were ready to final- ly experience the event they had been looking forward to for so long. James Hoople has been talking and think- ing about it for two years. He considered it an item on his bucket list, and the day seemed almost spiritual for him. De Graaf also had been planning for two years to view the eclipse in the path of totality. In her home state, the view would be only 75 to 80 percent. Monday, she soaked up as much of it as she could. She leaned back in her chair with her solar glasses on and just watched. “I’m comfortable and my head is in the right spot,” she said. When the eclipse was at 75 percent, she said: “This is what it’s going to be like at home.” Greysmith witnessed the 1979 eclipse, but could only experience it through a pinhole pro- jector. She squealed with glee when she put on a pair of viewing glasses at the be- ginning of the eclipse. Later, as totality ap- proached, she emerged from the tasting room, glasses in hand saying for everyone to hear, “It’s going to happen!” The air cooled — tem- peratures dropped 20 degrees by totality — as the sky got darker. Peo- ple pointed to Venus as it emerged bright in the sky. Totality brought a round of applause from watchers at the vineyard. “It was everything they said it was going to be,” De Graaf said. The experience brought James Hoople to tears, marveling at the rareness of the event and having been at the right place and time to see it. “I have a very short bucket list, and seeing the eclipse was on it,” he said. “To see something like that, it took my breath away.” After totality, Grey- smith laughed at her re- action, saying: “I’m still a child at heart.” Still, she said seeing the moon block out the JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer Kathy Greysmith, Illahe Vineyard’s tasting room manager, squeals with delight as she puts on her eclipse viewing glasses to witness the dance between sun and moon. sun was momentous. “I don’t have any words that are beyond what anybody else has said,” she said, pausing. “It’s beyond words. I was just so excited inside. A great event in my life- time.” Around 10:45 a.m., people began to make plans to head home, but Lisa Hoople and De Graaf were still watching the second half of the eclipse. “It’s an eyebrow now,” De Graaf said describing the shape of the sun. “Or a frown,” Lisa Hoople said. “No. It’s an eyebrow,” De Graaf said. “There are no frowns today.” wed thu fri sat sun mon tue Sunny Hi: 81 Lo: 55 Partly cloudy Hi: 76 Lo: 50 Sunny Hi: 82 Lo: 52 Sunny Hi: 90 Lo: 56 Sunny Hi: 92 Lo: 57 Sunny Hi: 92 Lo: 58 Sunny Hi: 90 Lo: 56