ANNUAL ZUCCHINI RACES DALLAS AND CENTRAL
TAKE OFF
Page 8A
Volume 142, Issue 40
HOMECOMING
Pages 6A & 13A
www.Polkio.com
October 4, 2017
$1.00
New
business
comes
to Dallas
IN
YOUR
TOWN
dallaS
Council passes utility
license fee.
Jiffy Lube, Love
Love Teriyaki to
fill some town
vacancies
»Page 7a
PEdEE
Kids in Pedee and
Kings Valley have a new
4-H Club.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
»Page 3a
SPoRTS
Photo courtesy of Audra Marsh/for Itemizer-Observer
Elise, left, with her mom audra Marsh at Elise’s unicorn-themed 12th birthday party in June.
Business
DALLAS — Two addi-
tions to the Dallas busi-
ness landscape are in the
construction or remodel-
ing phase, and a third in
is negotiations with the
city.
“You’ve probably seen
the big hole in the ground
at Uglow and East Ellen-
dale,” said Jason Locke,
Dallas community devel-
opment director at the
Dallas City Council sub-
committee meeting on
Sept. 25. “That is the fu-
ture site of the Jiffy Lube.”
The car service center
is slated to open in Janu-
ary, Jennifer Friedmann,
Jiffy Lube spokeswoman,
said in an email.
“The four-bay store will
offer oil change services
in addition to brakes, tires
and other preventive
maintenance services,”
she said.
Vince Edwards owns
the new franchise and has
operated Jiffy Lube cen-
ters in Salem and Port-
land for the last 36 years.
He has been in the
process of building the
new store for about a
year, Friedmann said.
He will be hiring for his
Dallas and Salem stores,
she added.
Locke said local chain
Love Love Teriyaki is
opening a restaurant in
the former Arctic Circle
Building on Main Street.
Love Love Teriyaki has lo-
cations in Salem and Al-
bany.
“The former Arctic Cir-
cle building is being re-
habbed on the inside,”
Locke said. “All of it, basi-
cally, is being torn out
and redone.”
He said a third possible
development, Grocery
Outlet, is in talks with the
city to open a location in
Jasper Crossing, near Rite
Aid on West Ellendale.
“We had a pre-applica-
tion meeting with Gro-
cery Outlet. It looks like
that will move forward,”
Locke said. “We’re work-
ing with them and have
been for a couple
months.”
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
»Page 14a
SPECIAL EDUCATION
EduCaTIon
Dallas parent files complaint against district for failing to educate
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — A parent of a
special education student
attending in the Dallas
School District has filed a
due process complaint al-
leging the district has failed
to provide her daughter with
appropriate special educa-
tion services during the last
three school years.
Audra Marsh filed the
complaint on behalf of her
daughter, Elise Marsh, now a
seventh-grader, on Jan. 26 of
this year. The complaint
covers the two years before
the complaint filing, but lists
several incidents dating
back to the 2010-11 school
year.
The 59-page complaint
alleges that the district failed
to identify or misidentified
Elise’s disabilities, failed to
properly evaluate her, and
failed to provide her an ap-
propriate placement in the
2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-
17 school years.
Elise, 12, has Dandy-
Walker Syndrome, a brain
malformation that makes
her hearing and visually im-
paired, among other condi-
tions.
She has an orthopedic im-
pairment and suffers from
seizures on occasion. Her
hearing, visual and orthope-
dic impairments all affect
how she learns, according to
the complaint. While attend-
ing school, Elise requires a
nurse and one-on-one edu-
cational assistant.
The complaint also al-
leges that the district has at
times failed to properly care
for her daughter’s health is-
sues while at school, and,
during the times Elise has to
stay home, has provided her
with an hour of tutoring in-
stead of a full-day of school.
Complex case
Marsh said she filed the
complaint to compel the
district to offer Elise an ap-
propriate education.
“In a perfect world, I
would love to see my child
excited about going to
school again,” she said. “I
would love to feel that she is
safe and for her to feel safe,
for her to be provided with
an education that has trajec-
tory — that’s going some-
where — by people who are
skilled and know what they
are doing.”
Marsh, who is represent-
ed by Diane Wiscarson, a
lawyer specializing in spe-
cial education and disability
law, is asking the district to
provide her daughter with
“compensatory education”;
to train its staff to meet the
needs of her child; conduct
proper evaluation, place-
ment and establish an indi-
vidual education plan — a
guide to how to educate stu-
dents with special needs —
that identifies and addresses
her disabilities; and provide
a deaf-blind intervenor.
Rulings in special educa-
tion cases do not include
monetary awards, but rather
education and staff training
to make up for what the stu-
dent missed.
Those costs are paid by
the district, and if a judge
rules in favor of the student,
all costs of the hearing and
attorneys are covered by the
district.
Kelly Noor, the district’s
lawyer, declined to discuss
many specifics of the case
and about Elise, but did say
that Elise’s medical condi-
tions have greatly compli-
cated the district’s efforts to
educate her.
“She has some very seri-
ous health issues, to the ex-
tent that she needs a full-
time nurse,” Noor said.
“Those played a huge role in
everything, to the student’s
ability to attend school, the
student’s ability to pay at-
tention. All of those are criti-
cal factors in looking at a
very complex child.”
Noor said in the more
than 10 years she’s been rep-
resenting the district, this is
the most complicated case
she’s ever seen.
See EduCaTIon, Page 5a
Airstreams to converge on Main Street
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE —
Roughly 20 Airstream trail-
ers will line Main Street in
downtown Independence
this weekend, starting Fri-
day and leaving Sunday.
It’s the 22nd Airstream rally
held this year by the Oregon
Airstream Club, and one that is
unique to the Oregon chapter.
“A few years ago, a club in
the Midwest did an
Airstreams on Main Street,”
said Brad Taylor, club presi-
dent. “Part of our mission is
to give back to the commu-
nity and try to be generous
in our lifestyle.”
This rally differs from the
norm for club members in
many ways.
Photo illustration courtesy of Independence Downtown Association
This is what Independence could look like this weekend.
First, it is in an urban en-
vironment rather than a
state or county park. Sec-
ond, club members will not
be providing coffee or food
for each other — instead
WOU Cross-Country’s
Dustin Nading makes
his own destiny.
they will support the local
businesses in downtown.
“Normally, whoever our
host is arranges all the
meals,” Taylor said. “Where-
as here, we’re looking at
boosting the income of local
businesses.”
Third, participants won’t
be able to come and go as
they please. Parking the
trailers front-to-back along
Main will take some maneu-
vering. The street will be
closed for an hour on Friday
for people to park, and for
an hour on Sunday for peo-
ple to depart.
“For our participants,
they have to be there at a set,
specific time, and can’t leave
until a set, specific time,”
Taylor said.
See Rally, Page 7a
OHSU nursing stu-
dents learn to look at
the whole health of pa-
tients.
»Page 2a
Dallas
council talks
summer ’18
Itemizer-observer staff report
DALLAS — In October
of last year, a taskforce
began to meet bringing
together businesses and
organizations involved
with activities revolving
around the Great Ameri-
can Eclipse.
While the group wasn’t
responsible for all plan-
ning, it was a good way to
s t ay u p - to - d ate w i t h
eclipse activities and
events, said one of the
taskforce’s founders Dallas
Mayor Brian Dalton.
He and a few other
people in the taskforce
would like to see it contin-
ue with a new mission:
Summer 2018.
The new taskforce will
have its first meeting on
Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at
Pressed Coffee & Wine Bar,
788 Main St. More meet-
ing will be scheduled if
the group decides to con-
tinue working.
Dalton said after the
success of the eclipse
event, many people want
to see local events im-
prove. He introduced the
idea of the summer events
taskforce to the Dallas City
Council Monday.
Work on that front has
already begun at the Dal-
las Area Visitor’s Center,
the host of events such as
Freedomfest, Sounds of
Summer and Summerfest.
The organization has
formed a group looking at
revamping Summerfest.
Dalton said in an invita-
tion to the first meeting
that the goal for the group
isn’t to plan each activity
or to duplicate the effort
of others, but serve as a
“c r o s s - o r g a n i z a t i o n a l
forum to coordinate the
events coming up this
summer.”
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Grab a ukulele and
join in the jam ses-
sion at Dallas Public
Library — or come
listen as others play
the instrument.
5 p.m. Free.
It’s the battle of the
minds at Independ-
ence Public Library’s
regular chess club
for youths. Put your
wits to the test.
4:30 p.m. Free.
BodyVox, a dance
group, will bring
Halloween to life on
the Rice Auditorium
stage at Western
Oregon University.
7:30 p.m. $30.
Independence’s
farmers markets run
through the month
of October so you
can enjoy the fall
bounty.
9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Find out how to get
your family prepared
for whatever comes
at a training session
at Christ’s Church in
Monmouth.
3 p.m. Free.
Central boys soccer
hosts Crescent Val-
ley at Panther Sta-
dium.
Come out and sup-
port your Panthers!
6 p.m.
Pack up the family
and head to Mon-
mouth Public Li-
brary for some
bookworm fun dur-
ing story time.
10:15 a.m. Free.
Mostly sunny
Hi: 71
Lo: 42
Sunny
Hi: 73
Lo: 45
Sunny
Hi: 73
Lo: 46
Partly Cloudy
Hi: 66
Lo: 43
Sunny
Hi: 64
Lo: 45
Sunny
Hi: 68
Lo: 43
Mostly sunny
Hi: 66
Lo: 43