BUY OR SELL
WOU CROSS-COUNTRY
CONSIGNMENT
DAVID
RIBICH
Page 3A
Page 12A
Volume 142, Issue 45
www.Polkio.com
November 8, 2017
$1.00
District
considers
new bond
IN
YOUR
TOWN
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS
DALLAS — The Dallas
School Board looked toward
the future when it decided
how to structure its 2014 bond
payoff schedule before selling
the remainder of its $17 mil-
lion maintenance bond.
The district is eyeing an-
other bond, possibly in 2021,
and the board picked an op-
tion conducive to that goal.
The district will sell $7.3
million in December. It sold
$9.7 million in 2015.
The board chose financing
that assumes higher as-
sessed values in the district
than what Lauren MacMil-
lan, of Piper Jaffray, pro-
posed on Oct. 23, which esti-
mated growth at 2.5 percent.
“We think it’s realistic to
assume that we are going to
at least get the 3 percent
growth over the next four or
five years, so raising the pro-
jection of what we think we
are going to see in assessed
value growth is probably rea-
sonable,” said Mike Blan-
chard, a board member.
He added the district con-
sulted with Polk County As-
sessor Doug Schmidt before
deciding on higher rates.
The board chose an op-
tion that assumes 5 percent
growth rate in tax years 2019
and 2020, 4 percent in 2021
and 2022, and 3 percent in
years after that. Under this
scenario, the bond will ma-
ture in 2024, but the rate
drops significantly in 2023
and 2024.
That saves in interest costs
and leaves the option of
going to voters in a 2021
election to renew the $1.74
per $1,000 of assessed value
for building maintenance.
“We’ve created a lot more
room in those last two years for
a new issue,” MacMillan said.
“The new issue timeline would
still be November 2021 or May
2022 for the election and you
would essentially be cam-
paigning on that $1.74 rate.”
See BOND, Page 5A
Polk County Health
officials confirmed a
case of pertussis at Dal-
las High School.
»Page 3A
FALLS CITY
Falls City’s football
team defeats Echo to
advance to the 1A state
quarterfinals.
»Page 12A
INDEPENDENCE
Residential leaf pick-
up begins Monday.
»Page 8A
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Leanna Deters watches as Cole Ratzlaff tests a temperature sensor on Saturday.
MONMOUTH
Students and adults create prototypes
Make-a-thon inspires
By Jolene Guzman
about the two skills to see
how they work together to
make components function
in the way they want it to.
Next, the group was di-
vided into teams with kids
and adults working togeth-
er. They were given the
choice of three assign-
ments: Automated chicken
coop, automated green-
house, and the “toy of the
future.” Each group re-
ceived technology kits and
“building materials” —
cardboard, tape, and
glue — to work with.
“Using all the craft mate-
rials and the new skills that
they have in terms of coding
and circuit design, they
have to actually quickly pro-
totype their solution by 3 o’-
clock,” said Thompson Mor-
rison, of Innovate Oregon,
one of the event sponsors.
The Itemizer-Observer
D A L L A S — Im a g i n e
building a high-tech green-
house or chicken coop in
one day — with no pro-
gramming experience going
in.
The 50 or so students and
adults who gathered at
LaCreole Middle School for
Saturday’s Dallas Make-a-
thon don’t have to imagine.
They did it.
OK, so they were card-
board prototypes, but the
groups completed func-
tioning models in about six
hours.
Instructor Derek Run-
berg, of SparkFun, began
the day with a “boot camp”
in writing code and circuit
design. His goal was to
teach participants enough
“Most of them have never
written a line of code.”
This was no quiet class-
room. Teams talked over so-
lutions, designed and re-
designed over the course of
the prototype building ses-
sion. They groaned together
when something didn’t
work and celebrated to-
gether when something did.
Runberg would periodi-
cally remind them of the
time to add a little pres-
sure.
More than an hour into
the building session, the
four-person team of teach-
ers Leanna Deters and
Jacob Gradek, and stu-
dents Ethan Carter and
Cole Ratzlaff put its green-
house to the test. It was
designed to open the door
when the temperature hits
a target and close when it
drops below.
They programmed a sen-
sor to trigger the door.
They tested the tempera-
ture sensor with a hair
dryer to heat it up — and
by waving cardboard fran-
tically to cool it down. It
worked, but something was
off — almost literally, as
tape wasn’t keeping the
door attached.
“So, we know it works,”
said Ethan, 13. “Do we want
to make a better door?”
That, too, took a couple
of test runs, but they had it
attached for the final
demonstration of the day.
While some were in a rush
at the end, all groups had
functioning models by 3
p.m. when the whole group
reconvened to show off
their creations.
See MAKER, Page 7A
Changes coming to visitors center
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Dallas
Area Visitors Center is plan-
ning to spice up its events
for 2018, and that effort is
beginning with role
changes.
JD Shinn, the chief execu-
tive officer of the Dallas Area
Chamber of Commerce and
the visitors center, continues
to oversee both organiza-
tions.
Changes are to the re-
sponsibilities of employees
Ashley Kahl and Bonnie
Dreier.
Kahl’s official title is events
and programs director and
Dreier is the events and pro-
grams coordinator. Dreier re-
mains the Polk County Boun-
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
ty Market manager.
“Basically, she (Ashley)
does the big stuff,” Dreier
said. “She goes out and
meets with the people,
makes the connections, gets
the bands.”
Kahl said Dreier is the
“behind the scenes” special-
ist.
“Bonnie is doing all the
paperwork, all that fun
stuff, vendor connections,
making sure everything
stays organized behind the
scenes,” Kahl said. “She
puts all the little pieces to-
gether to make the event
whole. I come in with my
big ideas and my dreamer
mentality, and she helps me
figure out how to make that
a reality.”
See CHANGES, Page 5A
Western Oregon’s
theatre and dance de-
partment will perform
“Radium Girls.”
»Page 2A
SPORTS
Dallas’ boys cross-
country team places
eighth at state.
»Page 12A
Legion to
host
veterans
breakfast
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — The Ameri-
c a n Le gi o n Ve te ra n’s
Breakfast will be from 7 to
10 a.m. on Saturday at the
United Methodist Church,
565 SE LaCreole Drive, in
Dallas.
The menu features pan-
cakes, scrambled eggs,
sausages, coffee, orange
juice and milk.
All community mem-
bers — especially military
personnel, veterans and
their families — are invited.
Live music to be per-
formed by the Orchard
Mountain String Band.
No charge. Donations
accepted.
Online
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Social media
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Greeters were ready for trick-or-treaters at Morrison Campus Alternative School.
wed
thu
fri
sat
The newly finished
Pickleball courts will
get a ribbon-cutting
ceremony this
morning near Dallas’
Roger Jordan Park.
11 a.m. Free.
Young Professionals
will meet tonight at
Independence Grill
for after-hours social
networking for
those aged 21-45.
5:30 p.m. Free.
The VFW and Ameri-
can Legion will host
an inaugural Veter-
ans Auction at the
fairgrounds, with
dinner and music.
5 p.m. $5.
Happy Veteran’s
Day. To honor veter-
ans, many organiza-
tions will host free
breakfasts this
morning. See Page
10A for details.
Rain
Hi: 49
Lo: 42
Rain
Hi: 53
Lo: 44
Showers
Hi: 54
Lo: 43
Mostly cloudy
Hi: 54
Lo: 43
sun
Skip the morning
dishes and have
breakfast at the
Buell Grange in-
stead, off Highway
22.
8-11 a.m. $6.
Rain
Hi: 52
Lo: 42
Follow and like the
Itemizer-Observer on so-
cial media on Twitter
(@PolkIONews and
@PolkIOSports), Instaga-
gram and Facebook.
mon
tue
Evangelical Free
Church, in Dallas, be-
gins accepting shoe-
box gifts for children
in need today
through Nov. 20.
9-11 a.m.
In Dallas or Falls
City, James2 Com-
munity Kitchen will
feed all who are
hungry. See Page
10A for details.
4:30-6 p.m. Free.
Rain
Hi: 50
Lo: 41
Showers
Hi: 49
Lo: 40