Polk County News
10A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • December 6, 2017
Gallant living the dream Contract
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — If there
was one thing Brendon Gal-
lant was sure would happen
in his life it was owning a bi-
cycle shop.
“I moved down here from
Alaska with the intent on
owning and running a bike
shop one day,” Gallant said.
Little did he know that
day would come much
sooner than expected, as
Gallant and his business
partner own and operate the
Bicycle Shop, formerly Veal’s
Bikes Plus, in Monmouth.
It was earlier this spring
that Gallant happened upon
Veal’s Bikes Plus.
“I found this place on ac-
cident during a ride,” Gal-
lant said. “A buddy of mine
broke his chain and this was
the closest place.”
The previous owner want-
ed to close the store.
Gallant and his business
partner had been talking
about running a store to-
gether for years.
“That turned into us buy-
ing the business, the assets
and everything,” Gallant
said. “It was a well-timed co-
incidence.”
—
Gallant was born into a
bike family.
“Our family has a motor-
cycle dealership in Alaska,”
Gallant said. “I could never
afford one, but we also had a
bicycle shop. My parents got
divorced when I was, I don’t
know, 8, 9, 10, and they lived
three miles apart. The easi-
est way for me to go back
and forth was to ride a bike.”
During the summer of
2008, Gallant took his riding
to a new level.
“That was the turning
point where it went from a
hobby to a really strong pas-
sion that has been really in-
fluential in my life,” Gallant
said.
Gallant tried to join a pro-
fessional cycling team after
earning his graduate degree
in 2010. It didn’t work out,
but he gained something
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Brendon Gallant is one of the two co-owners of The Bicycle Shop in Monmouth.
Go for a ride
What: The Bicycle Shop
Where: 155 Main St. W., Monmouth
Hours: Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat-
urdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information: www.thebicycleshopmon-
mouth.com.
more valuable — his first
connection with his future
business partner, Graham
Howard.
They pair knew early on
they would work well to-
gether.
“We have skill sets that
complement each other,”
Gallant said. “His experience
in the industry surpasses
mine, and I can put more of
the business structure to-
gether.”
At first, Gallant’s plan was
to step into a leadership role
at his family’s dealership in
Alaska. But, he yearned to
return to Oregon.
“I wasn’t really happy with
my work-life balance,” Gal-
lant said. “I missed the
lifestyle I had in Oregon.”
So, he returned, got a job
at a bicycle shop and waited
for the perfect opportunity.
Now that it’s here, Gal-
lant is eager to get the ball
rolling.
“It’s surreal in the sense
that I don’t feel like I’m going
to work,” Gallant said. “I
never really have felt that
way. When I start to feel like
that, it’s time to move on.”
Currently, the shop offers
bike sales and repairs.
Rentals will be offered in the
future.
“The service center is a
big push for us,” Gallant
said. “We want to take care
of people in 24 to 48 hours.”
Gallant said the shop will
also be active in the com-
munity, reaching out to col-
lege students and communi-
ty members.
“There are fewer people
getting on bikes and fewer
bicycle stores year over year
since about 2010,” Gallant
said. “Those are pretty big
red flags. My takeaway is you
can’t have a business where
you expect people to buy.
You can have it in the back
of your mind, but if you treat
people like a transaction,
they aren’t going to come in.
What do we provide? Our
culture. Our vision. This is
fun for me, but I treat it with
respect. Our passion is what
brings people in.”
As is their knowledge of
all sorts of bikes — and their
ability to make it easy to un-
derstand.
“We focus on what people
want to do,” Gallant said.
“You don’t need a $3,000
mountain bike if you just
want to ride to work. We also
want to get rid of the words
or phrases that the industry
creates. That may be good
for us, but my job is to trans-
late them into real terms.”
The short-term goal is to
get the business, which the
duo self-financed, to a self-
sustaining level.
As the Bicycle Shop gains
its footing, Gallant is excited
to see what the future holds.
“We have little projects
here and there,” Gallant
said. “It feels like things are
coming together, but con-
tinuing to progress forward.”
Continued from Page 1A
“Target solution is just
training, it tracks your
training. It doesn’t provide
you with policies. It doesn’t
provide you with how you
enact those policies,” Her-
tel said. “It doesn’t provide
you operational guidelines.
It doesn’t do any of that. All
it does is provide you with
training. … My fear is that
we have a group of people
who are trained to operate
one way in a certain geo-
graphical area and another
way to operate in a differ-
ent geographical area. How
are they going to keep track
of that?”
Bob Davis, Southwest
board member, said Falls
City seeking third-party
help pushes them further
apart on a new agreement.
“You have taken steps to
make that negotiation
harder because now you’ve
got another entity in here,”
Davis said.
Ungricht said he didn’t
believe he had a choice be-
cause the draft contract
had Falls City paying
$36,000 for Southwest’s ad-
ministrative services, but
only receiving about
$27,000 for Falls City fire-
fighters assisting on inci-
dents in the district. He
said the city can’t afford
that and was disappointed
that the two sides couldn’t
continue the partnership
they’ve had for decades in-
stead of what he feels is a
Southwest attempt to take
over Falls City’s depart-
ment.
“It was put to me that we
would contract with South-
west to run all of our sta-
tion operations. That is
what I heard at that (nego-
tiation) meeting. I did not
record it or take minutes,
but that’s what I heard,”
Ungricht said. “You were
going to rent the station for
$1. We were going to pay
you $36,000, and it
wouldn’t be our depart-
ment, it would be South-
west.”
Falls City City Councilor
Tony Meier, who has at-
tended negotiations, said
he understood the discus-
sion the same way.
Rod Watson, Southwest
board member, said that
was never the case and fi-
nancial negotiations are
still on the table.
“I would like to think it’s
not a takeover. Falls City
would still be its own de-
partment, and the only
purpose we have is to help
you stay trained, reporting,
everything that needs to
take place so none of us are
in trouble,” Watson said.
“I’m hoping that the board
can, in the next 30 days, we
can get together and see
what the bottom dollar is,
and we can access things
that Falls City’s going to pay
for out there and the things
that Southwest is going to
pay for out there.”
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer file
Falls City and Southwestern Polk Fire have found it dif-
ficult to reach an agreement.
OBITUARIES
Loren Ediger
Aug. 11, 1921 – Nov. 25, 2017
Loren Ediger passed from
this Earth to Heaven on Nov.
25, 2017, aged 96 years.
Loren
Donald
Ediger was
born on
Aug. 11,
1921, in
Dayton.
He was
the oldest
son of AW and Helen (Dick)
Ediger. Growing up, he lived
in Dayton, Dallas and the
surrounding communities,
the oldest of nine children.
He went to school at the
Polk Station School, which
sits today on the grounds of
the Dallas Christian & Mis-
sionary Alliance Church.
Loren met Betty June
Wedgwood, of Bremerton,
Wash., when she came to
Dallas along with some
other girls from her church
at the invitation of Loren’s
younger brother Jamie.
The two found that they
had many similar interests
and eventually both attend-
ed Simpson Bible College in
Seattle.
They married after gradu-
ation on June 14, 1947, in
Bremerton.
It was at Simpson where
they heard the call to be-
come missionaries, after
hearing Dr. John Dale talk
about his work among the
Indians in Mexico.
With a few large trunks
and no knowledge of the
Spanish language, they
headed to Tamazunchale,
Mexico, to join the Mexican
Indian Mission.
In 1947, most travel in
Mexico was by train, burro,
or foot.
They learned Spanish and
then were assigned to the
small village of Zapotitlan,
in the Mexican jungle about
halfway between Mexico
City and the Gulf of Mexico.
It was a five-hour hike from
the nearest road.
Later, they settled in
Cuautempan, Puebla — a
small village deep in the
Sierra Nevada Oriental in
the northern part of the
state of Puebla. The pre-
dominant language of the
area was Aztec.
Loren loved the Mexican
people, missionary work,
and the Lord. He was always
a humble man.
Together, Loren and Betty
Fini-Warren Kirby Erickson
Dec. 21, 1946 - Nov. 7, 2017
Fini passed away November 7th peacefully in his
daughter’s home, after battling lung cancer for 4 years.
He was born in Clay Center, KS. He grew up in Wichita,
KS. He served 8 years in the Air Force. He was adventur-
ous and loved to travel. He married the love of his life Pa-
tricia A. Goyer on Feb. 12 1977. They
moved to Dallas, OR in 1978 where he
spent most of his remaining life. Enjoy-
ing the community and finding his cho-
sen family. He started his own business,
Finius Fog Chimney Sweeping, for
which he worked 20 years. He was a very handy man.
There was nothing he could not fix. He always had his
dogs by his side. He loved playing guitar with his many,
many friends. Fini fished, hunted and had a true love for
the outdoors and nature.
His wife passed away in 2001.
He is survived by his daughter Lynette L. Chasse,
grandchildren Victoria L. Baker, and Austin D. Chasse
and 2 great grand children. His brother Leif Erickson Mac
Martin, nieces and nephews, and his beloved dog Lizzy.
A celebration of life will be held at the American Le-
gion, Post 10 in Albany, Oregon at 11 a.m. on December
16, 2017. Later that evening, friends and family will
gather to do one of Fini's favorite things; A school house
jam in Salt Creek.
Salem
412 Lancaster Drive NE
Salem, OR 97301
served in Mexico as mis-
sionaries for nearly 30 years
and along the way had six
children: Rebecca, Edwin,
Emily Ruth, Thomas, Loren
Jr., and Nathan.
They moved back to
southern California in 1976,
and worked in various jobs
and ministries until 1978,
when they were called to be
the Directors of Harbor
House, an inner-city mis-
sion in Oakland, Calif.,
where Loren preached and
ministered and Betty played
the organ and taught music.
They taught English to the
area’s large Hmong and
Mien immigrants.
They “officially” retired in
1982 to Junction City, but
then moved back to Califor-
nia in 1986 and lived in Ar-
leta, Rosamond, Castaic and
Sacramento.
Loren and Betty lived in
Auburn, Calif., in the Sierra
Nevada foothills until Betty’s
death in 2005.
They were married for 57
years.
In 2013, Loren moved to
the Los Angeles area to be
closer to family.
In addition to his six chil-
dren, he is survived by 16
grandchildren and 18 great-
Dudley’s
Hearing Aid Service
(503) 581-6265
Low Cost
Cremation & Burial
Funerals & Memorials
Simple Direct Cremation $595
Simple Direct Burial
$710
Traditional Funeral
$2,275
Discount priced
Caskets, Urns and
other Memorial items.
Privately owned
cremation facility.
Locally owned and operated
by Oregon families.
www.ANewTradition.com
541-741-2936
Testing • Sales • Service
Dallas Senior Center
955 SE Jefferson St.
Dallas
10 am - Noon
Every Tuesday
Servicing Polk County
Since 1987
grandchildren.
He is preceded in death
by his wife Betty, his broth-
ers Jamie and Richard, and
grandson Matthew Schoof.
A Celebration of Life will
be held on Saturday, Dec. 16,
2017, at 10 a.m. at the Valen-
cia Hill Community Church
in Santa Clarita, Calif., 24933
Avenue Stanford, Valencia,
CA 91355.
Medardo Richard
Sanchez
June 8, 1936 – Dec. 2, 2017
Medardo Richard
Sanchez, 81, of Monmouth,
died Dec. 2.
He was born on June 8,
1936 to Natividad and
Manuela (Martinez)
Sanchez in Hebbronville,
Texas.
Medardo married Judith
Carlotta Petersen on Feb. 14,
1960, in Monmouth.
Surviving Medardo are
sons, Richard ( Taunia)
Sanchez, of Utah, and Ray
(Trisha) Sanchez, of Oregon;
daughter Yolanda Kent, of
Iowa; seven grandchildren;
and great-grandchildren. He
was preceded in death by his
wife, Judith.
Medardo’s life will be cele-
brated at a private gathering
at a later date.
Farnstrom Mortuary han-
dled arrangements.
To leave an online tribute:
FarnstromMortuary.com.
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Information
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and service notices run
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