DALLAS HIGH SCHOOL
WRESTLING Page 10A
Volume 143, Issue 2
www.Polkio.com
January 10, 2018
$1.00
Dallas Bank of America to close in April
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — The Bank of
America Dallas branch will
close its doors on April 3.
The decision was based
on customer behaviors, said
Britney Sheehan, media re-
lations manager.
“We’ve seen a shift in our
industry,” she said. “Every
day, we’ve seen more cus-
tomers using mobile phones
for banking.”
Customers come inside
the bank for more detailed
banking needs, such as to
speak to mortgage loan offi-
cers or wealth advisors,
Sheehan said.
Day-to-day transactions,
including transferring
money between accounts,
withdrawals, deposits, and
paying bills, are done more
online and on the mobile
platform, Sheehan said.
The bank’s ATM will re-
main on site until the
building is sold, which will
likely be in a year or two,
Sheehan said. The employ-
ees of the Dallas branch
may find work at another
location.
“The bank works to place
employees in other posi-
tions or works to find them
other arrangements when
there are closures,” she said.
Salem is the nearest
Bank of America financial
center, at 390 High St. NE,
Sheehan said, noting it is
about 13.8 miles from the
Dallas location. She would
not disclose the number of
Dallas customers held at
the location.
“We definitely look for-
ward to serving our cus-
tomers online, on mobile,
through the ATM and in
Salem,” she said. “We hope
people will stay with us,”
and come to Salem “when
they do need to have those
more complex conversa-
tions.”
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
Boys and girls basket-
ball begin league play
»Page 11A
FALLS CITY
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Bank of America is closing based on customer behavior.
The Falls City School
District secures a loan
to begin building a gym
and classroom facility.
Commissioners to explore countywide broadband
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
POLK COUNTY — The
Polk County Board of Com-
missioners may join the city
of Independence in a grant
application to pay for a
study looking at ways to pro-
vide broadband internet
service countywide.
Gov. Kate Brown’s office
g a v e Bu s i n e s s O re g o n
$500,000 to offer in grants
for the Rural Broadband Ca-
pacity Pilot Program. The
program was created “to
kick start funding opportu-
nities to assist with planning
for and deployment of
broadband project targeting
rural and underserved pop-
ulations.”
Shawn Irvine, Indepen-
dence’s economic develop-
ment director, said the city
replied to Business Oregon’s
request for information in
the fall of 2017, but wanted
to include Polk County in the
grant application because
most rural/underserved
areas are outside of cities.
“We have a good case to
be made as a potential test
site because we’ve got a fiber
system in place in Independ-
ence and Monmouth,” he
said. “We are doing some-
things that could leverage it
in town, but we could lever-
age it better out of town … if
there was better service.”
Irvine said the idea is to
find out who owns fiber net-
works and where, if there’s
capacity to serve others and,
if it’s possible to lease or ac-
cess those networks.
“The intent is to explore
countywide service,” Irvine
said.
Independence has al-
ready been in contact with a
consultant that performed a
“scope of work” and cost es-
timate on a feasibility of
building a network to pro-
vide access to rural resi-
dents. According to the con-
sultant, the study would cost
$50,000, and Irvine suggest-
ed applying for a grant for
that amount.
See COUNTY, Page 5A
SW Polk hopes for new contract
»Page 12A
INDEPENDENCE
Indy Police arrest five
for DUII in December.
»Page 3A
MONMOUTH
The Monmouth City
Council approved a
zone change for a strip
of land at the south end
of the Marr Bark Dust
property.
»Page 3A
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
SPORTS
DALLAS — In the face of
Falls City area residents’
concer ns, members of
Southwest Polk Rural Fire
Protection District Board
vowed Monday night to
strike a new contract with
the city for fire service.
On Jan. 2, Southwest
pulled its two trucks and a
quick response SUV after
contact negotiations broke
down between the district
and Falls City.
“I realize that this particu-
lar issue has not been an
issue in the past,” said board
member Rod Watson. “We
will get this resolved. We
have no intentions of leav-
ing you guys hanging out
there forever.”
At the board’s meeting
Monday night, several Falls
City residents were in atten-
dance, and three spoke
about their fears of dimin-
ished service in and around
Falls City.
Southwest board mem-
bers pointed out that Falls
City Fire will respond via
mutual aid, but that did little
to calm those at the meet-
ing.
Jennifer Wright lives five
minutes from the Falls City
Fire Station, but believes
that the fire engine remain-
ing at the station won’t make
it down her driveway. She’s
afraid if an incident were to
happen at her home, that
help would have to come
from Dallas.
“That’s a 25-minute wait,”
she said.
Bob Davis, a Southwest
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
Central’s boys basket-
ball team enters league
play ready for a stiff
challenge.
»Page 10A
Police
investigate
broken
windows
Itemizer-Observer staff report
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Southwest’s Rickreall Station is one of two places from which district firefighters could respond to Falls City.
board member and profes-
sional firefighter, disputed
that, saying he’s witnessed
that engine perform a simi-
lar job when it was in service
in Salem. He said if a drive-
way meets access standards,
the truck should be able to
drive it.
“I don’t know the condi-
tion of your driveway, but I
can tell you the ability of
that truck because it did that
very thing for 18 years in the
city of Salem,” Davis said. “It
happened to be at Station
Nine that was on the rural
edge of the city. That engine
will make any driveway in
reasonable condition.”
Wright said she wasn’t
convinced, based on what
members of Falls City Fire
told her.
“I’ve had multiple ones
tell me it is a pavement vehi-
cle, not an off-road vehicle,”
she said.
Falls City Fire Chief Bob
Young said the trucks South-
west placed in Falls City
were meant to complement
those the city owned.
“Everything we’ve done is
try to offset each other —
work together so we have
apparatus that can do all
these different things. If it’s
a big structure-type fire,
then we take our city en-
gine out because it has a
bigger pump. If it’s a narrow
driveway, we worked on
getting a four-wheel drive
engine out here,” he said
last week after Southwest
removed its tr ucks. “I
worked with (Southwest)
when we ordered those
things, when we put that
truck together for specifi-
cally our area.”
Falls City residents asked
that Southwest give negotia-
wed
thu
fri
sat
Get lost in a great
story the whole
family can enjoy at
Family Story Time at
Independence Li-
brary.
10:30 a.m. Free.
Find out what the
Independence
Downtown Associa-
tion is all about dur-
ing its meeting at
Independence Grill.
8 a.m. Free.
Dallas High School’s
boys basketball
team hosts Crescent
Valley for a Mid-
Willamette Confer-
ence showdown.
7 p.m. $5/adults.
The Ash Creek Arts
Center holds its Sec-
ond Saturday art
class. This month’s
topic is birch tree
landscape painting.
2 to 4 p.m. Free.
Rain
Hi: 47
Lo: 44
Rain
Hi: 54
Lo: 41
Cloudy
Hi: 50
Lo: 37
Partly sunny
Hi: 52
Lo: 36
tions another shot — and
find a way to compromise —
to re-establish a contract.
“I don’t think you guys re-
ally want that,” said Falls
City resident Tiffany Weems.
“You guys want to takeover.
You want to force people out
and takeover.”
District residents said
that is especially important
because of the district’s re-
cently passed bond to pro-
vide better service, some-
thing some district residents
living near Falls City don’t
believe they are getting.
See FIRE, Page 5A
sun
Start your Sunday
morning with a
tasty bite to eat at
the Buell Grange
Breakfast at Buell
Grange Hall.
8 to 11 a.m. $6.
Partly sunny
Hi: 51
Lo: 38
DALLAS — Several Dal-
las businesses have had
their windows smashed
with rocks or other objects
in recent days.
Dallas police officers are
investigating whether the
incidents are connected,
said Dallas Police Lt. Jerry
Mott.
Four incidents were re-
ported on Dec. 29 at loca-
tions throughout town.
La Herradura on Main
and Washington streets
repor ted a pumpkin
tossed through the win-
dow, while H2O said a
bench taken from Forest
River was thrown into the
front store window, ac-
cording to Dallas’ daily po-
lice log.
More broken windows
were reported on Jan. 3.
This time, the unknown
suspect or suspects used a
rock and brick to smash
windows at businesses in
Monmouth Cutoff Road
and on Southeast Uglow
and Lyle streets, the daily
police log said.
mon
tue
Western Oregon
University will hold
several events dur-
ing the week to cel-
ebrate Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
See Page 2A.
Central’s girls bas-
ketball team contin-
ues Mid-Willamette
Conference play
against South Al-
bany.
7 p.m. $6/adults.
Rain
Hi: 49
Lo: 41
Showers
Hi: 49
Lo: 40