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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
Polk County Voices Polk County itemizer-Observer • august 30, 2017 4A LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Tennis a sport you can grow old with My grandad is 85, and he plays tennis three times each week. Perhaps that is why I like the sport so much – it is one you can play your entire life. The annual Dallas youth tennis camp was held as a fundraiser for the Dallas High School tennis teams. If it weren’t for Julie Hertel (girls coach) and Mary Christensen (boys assistant coach), the camp would not have happened. Approxi- mately 40 youths participat- ed, and high school players helped instruct. Often, there are a core set of folks who do a lot of vol- unteer work that goes un- noticed (shout out also to our “super fan” Petra Cole). I wanted to let them know that I do notice, and I truly appreciate all they do, not only for the high school teams, but for the youth in Dallas as a whole. You are absolutely incredible and, because of you, I will likely be playing tennis when I am 85, too. Ryan Bibler Dallas Commissioners not doing jobs I have read recent letters to the Itemizer-Observer and Statesman Journal regarding the lackadaisical attitude of the Polk County commis- sioners when presented with blatant zoning and land-use violations. This could affect any neighbor- hood, rural or town, at any time. Our homes/farms are our most valuable asset, and our property values are neg- atively impacted when the commissioners fail to up- hold the current zoning laws. When this happens, a clear message is sent to all who wish to invade our neighborhoods with illegal land usage. Current home- owners should be treated at least as fairly as the new guy on the block when these vi- olations occur. This does not appear to be the case, and this is neither right nor fair treatment of the invest- ed tax-paying homeowner. Apparently, there is no state oversight to come to our rescue. The county seems to be an entity of its own, upholding the law as it chooses. We pay taxes, some of which pay the commission- ers’ salaries. Maybe it’s time we had new commissioners who are willing to do the job. Judy Hamel West Salem Let’s keep ‘Polk’ in Polk County This letter is in regards to Mr. Nearman initiating a petition to have the name of Polk removed from Polk County and renamed Rea- gan County. I spoke with Mike Near- man about this petition, and he stated that he was embarrassed that the name associated with Polk Coun- try, James Polk, our 11th president, was a slave owner. He wants to change the name to Reagan Coun- try after our 40th president. His reasoning was that there was nothing negative asso- ciated with Reagan. As I stated to Nearman, I would expect this from our liberal members of govern- ment but not our conserva- tive members. Nearman is starting to go down a very slippery slope by initiating this change. No. 1, anything that has a negative association to it and easily offends people will need to be addressed and changed. Example: How about Dallas High School for starters. At some point, someone will figure out that the Dragons will need to be changed because it brings up negative feel- ings of referring to the KKK. I realize this isn’t the case, but someone will be offend- ed and demand change. No. 2, we cannot simply change or erase history or our historical figures. When these leaders were in office, it was legal for these indi- viduals to own slaves. Does it make it right, no. But you can’t simply erase these in- dividuals from our history. If you do then you will leave a large hole in our history. There are better things to worry about in Polk County than changing the name be- cause the individual our county was named after owned slaves. Let’s start fo- cusing on the important is- sues of Polk County and not worry about who owned what. Jimmy Christensen Independence Dallas Family Night Out success Dallas Family Night Out is in its sixth year of helping families prepare their kids for school with a fun, free afternoon/evening. A free meal, clothing, backpacks and school supplies, access to community resources, games and entertainment are part of the event. Sheri Beehner, of the Willamette Valley Housing Authority, has been its chair during this time. She’s been a strong, driving force to help make this a great event. This year, she came up with the idea to have a 5K Solar Run to help with funding next year’s event. Sheri had to suddenly take medical leave about a week and a half before the 5K (and slightly over two weeks before DFNO itself). Brent DeMoe, director of the Polk County Communi- ty and Outreach Depart- ment, with his employees Stephanie Gibert (of Early Learning and Family En- gagement) and Amber Hoff- man (of the Family Naviga- tor program) stepped into the breach to help lead the committee to pulling off the WANT TO WRITE A LETTER? Letters to the editor are lim- ited to 300 words. Longer let- ters will be edited. Election-related letters of all types are limited to 100 words. Writers are limited to one elec- tion-related letter per election season. Election letters from writers outside of Polk County are not accepted. Each writer is restricted to one letter per 30-day period. Letters that are libelous, ob- scene or in bad taste will not be printed. attacks by name on businesses or individuals will not be printed. Letters to the editor that are obvious promotions for a busi- ness, products or services will not be printed. The Itemizer-Observer does not guarantee the accuracy of facts presented by letter writ- ers; dissenters are welcome to respond. Letter writers who dis- agree with other published let- ter writers should maintain a civil discourse and address the subject, not the author. Letters, like all editorial ma- terial submitted to the newspa- per, are edited for length, grammar and content. Letters must include the au- thor’s name, address and tele- phone number. This includes letters submitted via the I-O’s website. Names and cities of residence are published; street addresses and telephone num- bers are used for verification purposes only. Letters must be submitted from individuals, not organiza- tions, and must be original sub- missions to the I-O, not copies of letters sent to other media. Letters of thanks to busi- nesses, individuals and organi- zations are limited to 10 names. The deadline for letters to the editor is 10 a.m. Monday. Letters submitted may not be retractable after this deadline. — Reach us at: Mail: Editor, Polk County Itemizer-Observer, P.O. Box 108, Dallas, OR 97338. event. We had 110 partici- pants and were blessed with lovely weather. The community is fortu- nate to have the support of businesses and community members to put on this event. Barb Chrisman Dallas Eclipse provides time of reflection The total eclipse was in- credible, cool, even mysti- cal. Anyone who was out- side experiencing the totali- ty can attest to that. I felt it was a spiritual event. As such it should not have been hyped and commer- cialized. It was a brief time for every human being to contemplate their existence on this planet. Such con- templation will lead one to recognize the damage the human race is inflicting on the earth; through its over- population, pollution, over- consumption of resources, and the endless striving for growth on a limited planet. We need to integrate this in our lives and as individu- als and, as a whole, take or support all actions neces- sary to correct and balance our existence with this plan- et. We must be the wise and caring stewards. Charles Krogman Dallas Rep. wants positive changes Four weeks ago, on Aug. 2, I wrote a letter outlining the lasting impacts of a nasty fuel spill at E.E. Wil- son Refuge. My statement explained the preventative nature of the spill, the need to estab- lish thoughtful policies crafted to avert similar dis- asters in the future, as well as a brief description of available, publicly-owned technologies that could and should be used. On Aug. 9, a reader pub- lished a rebuttal, sharing his belief that I was merely try- ing to “cause panic” in order “to justify the removal of fossil fuels and go to green- er alternatives.” Contrary to the reader’s belief, I am not interested in fear-mongering — ever. It is true that I support the de- velopment of green energy solutions. There are many ways to both protect our air, lands and waterways, and promote a vibrant economy. My motive is simple: to bring attention to the envi- ronmental damage and lin- gering consequences — in our own backyard — of al- lowing existing policies to continue. E.E. Wilson Refuge is a cautionary tale for all of us who care about our natural world. It is time we change course. We can improve the safety of our roadways, re- duce the costs associated with hazardous materials transportation through re- ductions in clean-up fees and fines, and we can pro- tect our increasingly fragile environment. I ask you to join me in working together in facilitat- ing a new approach for im- proved safety and steward- ship of our natural treasures. Together we can make a dif- ference; together we will. Paul Evans Monmouth Time to build the nation from home Elitist politicians from both parties and their allies in the Pentagon-Industrial complex have spent the past 16 years failing in the Middle East. We have lost thousands of lives and caused the deaths of hun- dreds of thousands of civil- ians, yet have achieved al- most nothing. While half of Americans can’t handle a $400 emer- gency without going into debt, half of the federal in- come taxes taken out of our paychecks fund over-bud- get, behind-schedule boon- doggles like the Joint Strike Fighter. Only a small fraction buys the armor and weapons that our soldiers and marines need to survive or the meager paychecks that provide for their fami- lies. The basic truth that we desperately need to accept is that both parties lie to us about the nature of the ter- rorist threat. War does not make us safer. Every civilian we accidentally shoot or bomb produces another ter- rorist. Our wars in the Mid- dle East since the 1970s are the reason terrorists target us in the first place. Worse, our actions have succeeded in turning most of the world against us, undermining our economic and diplomatic competitiveness. Democrats, despite their rhetoric, do little to materi- ally resist a president who openly sympathizes with homegrown Nazis and the KKK. Republicans have aban- doned all pretense of in- tegrity or morality in ac- cepting the devil’s bargain they have been offered. Both parties have betrayed America; both will continue to betray America until they are defeated. We need a non-partisan movement capable of de- feating the D.C. elites with- out falling prey to the parti- san traps they use to main- tain their stranglehold on our democracy. We must amend the Constitution and delegate most federal pow- ers to a set of regional capi- tols. Let the Pacific States and the Southern States be free of one another. Let all Americans, wher- ever they choose to live, do some nation-building at home. Andrew Tanner Independence Editorial gets it wrong on reform This is in response to the editorial in the Aug. 23 Itemizer (Postal Reform ...). I am a retired letter carrier (with 16 years of service). My husband is a retired let- ter carrier (with 37 years of service). When you work for any company, and you are promised “X benefits,” most people weigh those benefits when deciding when to re- tire. Any changes to benefits should not affect those al- ready retired. HR 756 wants to switch retirees to Medicare, right when politicians want to gut Medicare. Switching ac- tive carriers to Medicare is one thing. They can/will factor that into their retire- ment decision. Plus, Trump’s proposed budget eliminates the COLA for current and future re- tirees. That could reduce the monthly annuity of many retirees by as much as 33 to 45 percent. Mr. Paxton mentions the $57 billion deficiency on the USPS balance sheet, and that Congress caused most of it, but didn’t explain that. USPS is the only organi- zation that is required to pre-pay retirees’ health ben- efits to Congress. So even in years that they make a prof- it, the balance sheet shows them in the red. Please don’t support HR 756 if you agree that you wouldn’t want your prom- ised retirement benefits to be drastically cut, 15, 30, or even more years, after being on a fixed income. Karen Neagle Dallas Gala Park delays concern citizens I’m writing with my con- cerns about Gala Park. I’ve observed that Gala Park, on the corner of Hankle Street and Uglow, has been torn up for right around a year. Today, I stopped in at the parks department and asked a reason for this. I was informed that it’s taken so long because of equipment failure and a subcontractor that did not do what they were hired to. The parks department told me that they were currently seeking a different contrac- tor to do stem walls to hold in the bark dust. My concern is that the highest population of chil- dren in the city live nearest to this park, and every time I drive by, they are just play- ing in a big dirt hole. In the past year, I’ve seen the city start and finish other proj- ects — a bridge to the dog park, and this week start on a pickleball court near the aquatic center. Seems to me Gala Park just isn’t a big priority for anyone down at the city. Most certainly, the city has the equipment needed to pour curb-type stem walls and spread bark dust. Richard Thompson Dallas HOW TO REACH US Vol. 142, No. 35 (USPS) - 437-380) The official newspaper of Polk County • Serving Polk County families since 1875 Winner of 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 General Excellence awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers association Periodicals postage paid at Dallas, OR, independence, OR and Monmouth, OR. 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