The INDEPENDENT, April 17, 2008
Page 13
Banks City Council presented with 2007 Tree City Award by ODF
It was standing room only at
the April 8 Banks City Council
meeting. The scheduled meeting
was preceded by an executive
session, then a work session to
discuss the city’s park manage-
ment agreement and the public
hearing process. The regular
meeting began at 7:30 p.m.
Eric Perkins, Oregon De-
partment of Forestry – Forest
Grove Branch, presented the
Banks Tree Board and the city
with the 2007 Tree City Award.
According to Perkins, to qualify
for the award, the city must
adopt a tree care program, es-
tablish a tree program, $2 per
capita must be paid toward
trees, and the city must hold an
Arbor Week Ceremony. Perkins
said that “the city should be
proud of this accomplishment -
there are only 3,800 Tree Cities
nationwide with 48 of those
Tree Cities in Oregon.”
Perkins presented the city
with t-shirts, hats, stickers, a
1998 replacement Tree City
flag and a 2007 Tree City flag.
A decision on where to hang
the Tree City flags will be on the
Council agenda for next month.
Mayor Teri Branstitre pro-
claimed April 25 as Arbor Day
and read the City of Banks Ar-
bor Day Proclamation, as fol-
lows:
Whereas in 1872, Mr. J. Ster-
ling Morton proposed to the Ne-
braska Board of Agriculture that
a special Arbor Day date be set
aside for planting of trees –
2008 is the 136th anniversary of
Arbor Day. In celebration of this
effort, the citizens are invited to
attend a tree-planting ceremony
at the Banks School District Of-
fices at 10:00 a.m. on Friday,
April 25.
Branstitre proclaimed April
22 as Earth Day and supports
community wide activities and
events that remind us of our
connection to the earth and our
responsibility to conserve our
environment. She also encour-
aged all citizens, businesses,
organizations, schools, clubs,
congregations, neighborhoods
and families to participate in
community Earth Day activities,
and to engage in environmen-
tally sensitive activities. There
will be a doggie clean-up Earth
Day activity in Greenville Park
on Tuesday, April 22 at 10:00
a.m. Dr. Steve Vrendenburg of
Banks Veterinary Service do-
nated an all-weather, green
aluminum outdoor Mutt Mitt
Dispenser, that will be hung in
the park.
Deputy Tran reported that
there were 37 calls for service
in February, four arrests, and
31 citations issued. In March,
there were 21 calls for service
resulting in 6 arrests; 62 vehi-
cles were pulled over for
speeding, resulting in 17 cita-
tions.
Tran explained a computer
presentation which graphed the
annual police activity in Banks.
The data broke down to 514
calls for service, 489 traffic
stops, 159 written police re-
ports, 99 citations and 43 ar-
rests. The top two, mostly juve-
nile-related crimes, were crimi-
nal mischief (28) and theft (22),
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with 15 assaults, seven tres-
passes, seven frauds, five sex
crimes, three DUIIs, three bur-
glaries, and two harassments.
Tran said that “Jim’s Thriftway
gets hit really hard at lunch
time” with kids stealing. He
added that criminal activity in
the city has mellowed out since
the sheriff’s office has had the
contract to monitor the city, and
that most of the undesirable
folks who lived in Banks seem
to have moved away. Tran still
has concerns but, “speed
seems to be the real issue in
the City of Banks.”
Sheriff Rob Gordon and Pete
Morris made a presentation on
Senate Bill 111, which requires
municipalities to establish a Use
of Deadly Force Policy, and re-
quires counties to form advisory
panels to develop a standard
county-wide policy.
Gordon said that part of the
plan deals with the discretion of
the District Attorney’s (DA)
statutory and constitutional
duty in deciding whether to im-
mediately empanel and pres-
ent the matter of use of deadly
physical force to a grand jury. In
Washington County, the DA will
review the Major Crime Team’s
investigation and then decide
whether to present the case to
a grand jury; the timing of the
decision will be when he feels
there is sufficient information
for a competent decision.
Washington County D.A.
Bob Hermann does not believe
that a grand jury is needed im-
mediately after the use of dead-
ly physical force. Gordon said “I
appreciate our DA’s stance on
that; it’s a brave one.” When
council asked Gordon if he
thought the plan was a good
Please see page 14
Library Plant and Book Sale, May 2 - 3
The annual Plant and Book
Sale sponsored by the Friends
of the Banks Public Library will
be held for two days next
month, on Friday, May 2, 3-
7:00 p.m., and Saturday, May
3, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It
will be held at Banks Public Li-
brary, 111 Market Street.
Books for all levels of read-
ers will be offered for sale, as
well as some videos, maga-
zines and other materials.
Items for sale will come from
donations and from library with-
drawals. A wide selection of
reasonably priced plants will be
available, including vegetable
starts, annuals, perennials,
herbs and trees. Master Gar-
deners will be available to an-
swer questions.
The Plant and Book Sale is a
good place to pick up plants for
your garden and books for
summer reading. It is also a
major fundraising activity for
the Friends of the Banks Public
Library.
Funds raised by the Friends
are used to purchase best-
sellers and current titles, CDs,
Trimmers Starting at
FS 45 TRIMMER
Low cost, homeowner trimmer.
Lightweight with dual line, TapAction™
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DVDs, equipment and pro-
grams for the Library through-
out the year. The Friends also
fund a weekly story time for
preschool children, a summer
reading program for early read-
ers through teens, and provide
books for the Banks Communi-
ty Auction.
For more information, call
Margaret Holland at 503-324-
7148, or email mholland9@ver
izon.net, or call the Banks Pub-
lic Library, 503-324-1382.
139 95
FS 55 Bike Handle Trimmer &
FS 55 R Trimmer
Occasional User
A primer bulb and starting throttle
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STIHL PolyCut™ heads and
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Established since 1983
Challenging academics, Christian values and small class sizes.
• Preschool (3 & 4 yrs.) – 8th Grade • Before & After School Care
• Languages, Music, Art & Computers • 3 or 5 Full Day Kindergarten
• Many Educational Field Trips
• Transportation Vernonia/Banks
22785 NW Fisher Rd. Buxton 97109
503-324-4500
www.bankschristianacademy.org
FS 90 Bike Handle Trimmer &
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FS 110 Bike Handle Trimmer &
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Mon - Fri 8am to 6pm
Saturday 8am to 5pm
Sunday 10am to 4pm
PRECISION OUTDOOR
POWER EQUIPMENT
Banks Hardware
503-324-5221 • 150 N. Main Street, Banks