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
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Mail: Editor, Polk County
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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
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Vol. 142, No. 35
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