FALL SPORTS
SECTION
SECTION C
Volume 142, Issue 36
www.Polkio.com
$1.00
September 6, 2017
The kid and the cop
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
PHOTO COURTESY OF POLK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Trinity Markel and Deputy Marty Watson pose for a photo together.
FALLS CITY — Polk Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Deputy Marty
Watson was at the ATM at
Frink’s General Store in Falls
City in mid-August when he
was approached by a nerv-
ous 6-year-old girl.
She had short reddish
hair, freckles and just
enough courage to reach her
hand out to shake the
deputy’s hand.
“Thank you for protecting
my community and my life,”
she said.
Just moments before, the
girl, Trinity Markel, expressed
fear of police officers, believ-
ing they had only one pur-
pose: Arresting people.
“Are they going to arrest
me, too?” Trinity asked her
mother, Sarah Markel, after
seeing Watson’s patrol car
while riding her bike down
North Main Street in Falls
City. “Because I’m a brat
sometimes?”
Sarah explained police of-
ficers arrest people only
when they’ve done some-
thing to hurt the communi-
ty. Officers protect people,
she told her daughter.
With this new perspective,
Trinity decided to talk to
Watson, who was getting
cash so he could buy lemon-
ade from another young girl
who had set up a stand. Wat-
son was busy looking for a
suspect in a stolen-vehicle
case and had a pile of work
to complete during his shift
that day.
His mind was occupied
when Trinity offered her
thanks.
“I thought, ‘What a brave
little girl.’ You could see she
was just scared and nervous,”
Watson recalled. “It was
about the darn cutest thing I
had ever seen. It was one of
those melt-your-heart kind
of moments. It was really
busy, and I was kind of
stressed about all the stuff
that I had to take care of that
day. It really was so uplifting.”
Watson put his day on
hold for a minute to sit down
and talk to Trinity.
“I asked her about what
school she goes to and little
things like that,” Watson
said. “Her mom was there
the whole time. You could
tell that her mom, Sarah, is
just confident, poised — and
after meeting her later, talk-
ing with her a little more —
a really, really good mom.”
Trinity said that her fear
stemmed from portrayals of
police officers she had seen
on television. After her inter-
action with Watson, she’s ex-
cited when she sees a Polk
County Sheriff’s Office car,
always asking,
“Is that Marty?”
See KID, Page 5A
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
Work resumes at Gala
Park after weather and
contractor delays.
»Page 8A
INDEPENDENCE
City gets approval to
purchase a water right.
»Page 6A
MONMOUTH
Western Oregon’s
women’s soccer team
falls in season-opening
matches.
»Page 11A
PERRYDALE
Pirates’ football team
rallies to beat Maple-
ton.
»Page 11A
SPORTS
Central ’s football
team defeats Bend 35-6
in its season-opener.
»Page 11A
EDUCATION
Kubista begins year as superintendent
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Students
bustled through the halls of
A s h C re e k E l e m e n t a r y
School on Tuesday morning
with a certain excitement —
it was the first day of the
new school year.
Parents carried plastic
bags filled with the needed
supplies for their kids’ class-
rooms and waited in line to
find out what teacher would
be spending the year with
their child.
Superintendent Jennifer
Kubista started her day at
ACES, greeting children and
parents as they made their
way down the main hallway,
complimenting them on
their choice of apparel.
“That’s a great T-shirt,”
she said to one student,
whose shirt read, “Kinder-
garten stud.”
Silvia Johnson, mother of
Kirby Johnson, stopped to
ask Kubista about Tuesday’s
schedule. With the heat wave
in effect until 5 p.m. Tuesday,
and smoke filling the air, Sil-
via wanted to know if school
would be let out early.
Kubista assured her that,
while morning recess could
likely go on as planned, the
kids would spend the after-
noon inside out of the heat
and smoke, but school
would not be canceled early
— at least that was the plan.
See KUBISTA, Page 5A
Itemizer-Observer staff report
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer
Jennifer Kubista talks with Silvia and Kirby Johnson.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
STEVE POWERS/for the Itemizer-Observer
STEVE POWERS/for the Itemizer-Observer
A shot of the wetlands at Baskett Slough National
Wildlife Refuge from 2016.
»Page 14A
Air quality
alert through
Friday
Baskett Slough battles water primrose
2017
2016
DALLAS — Baskett Slough
National Wildlife Refuge is
looking a little drier than
normal for this time of year,
and it isn’t because of the
warm summer.
The culprit is a plant with
little yellow flowers that
doesn’t belong here: the in-
vasive water primrose.
“It’s fairly common in the
main stem of the Willamette
River, but it wasn’t present in
Baskett Slough,” said Gra-
ham Evans-Peters, the refuge
manager for Baskett Slough
National Wildlife Refuge. “It’s
really aggressive. The fear is
that it can create a monocul-
ture. It’s considered a nox-
ious weed by Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture.”
See BASKETT, Page 5A
Meet your new prin-
cipals at Lyle and Ash
Creek schools.
The invasive water primrose has caused refugee em-
ployees to drain the wetlands at Baskett Slough.
POLK COUNTY — The
S o u t hw e s t C l e a n A i r
Agency and the Oregon
Department of Environ-
mental Quality issued a
smoke air quality alert ear-
lier this week.
As of press time, the
alert will remain active
until noon on Friday.
Wildfires burning in
the region combined
with forecast conditions
will cause air quality to
reach unhealthy levels at
times through Friday
morning.
The alert stated that for
much of the region, condi-
tions are expected to im-
prove through the middle
part of the week.
Pollutants in smoke
can cause burning eyes,
runny nose, aggravate
heart and lung diseases,
and other serious health
problems.
ODEQ recommends
limiting outdoor activities
and keeping children in-
doors if smoky.
Conditions caused Dal-
las High School to cancel
soccer matches scheduled
for Tuesday after press
time.
For more information:
www.oregon.gov/DEQ.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Test your word
knowledge by join-
ing Scrabble with
Betty at the Inde-
pendence Public Li-
brary.
1 p.m. Free.
September is here,
but there’s still time
to find your latest
treasure at the Polk
County Bounty Mar-
ket.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Come support your
local teams! Dallas,
Central and Perry-
dale high schools
host home football
games this week.
7 p.m.
The Ash Creek Arts
Center’s Second Sat-
urday family art
class will offer a fin-
ger-painting class
led by Berik Bassline.
2 to 4 p.m. Free.
The Buell Grange
Breakfast returns to
the Buell Grange
Hall, 5970 Mill Creek
Road.
8 to 11 a.m. $6.
The Itemizer-Ob-
server remembers
and honors the vic-
tims and heroes
from Sept. 11.
The Independence
Riverview Market
offers a chance to
grab cool finds and
tasty treats at
Riverview Park.
2 to 7 p.m.
Showers
Hi: 83
Lo: 60
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 77
Lo: 58
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 76
Lo: 52
Mostly sunny
Hi: 76
Lo: 55
Mostly sunny
Hi: 82
Lo: 55
Mostly sunny
Hi: 91
Lo: 57
Mostly sunny
Hi: 85
Lo: 53
