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Wednesday November 13, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 46

Polk County schools go into lockdown due to gun threat By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Polk County schools temporarily went into lockdown Nov. 6 following a potential phone threat originating from Canada. According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Niagara Regional Police Service, located in Ontario, Canada, received a call at approximately 10:34 a.m. from an unknown person stating they were 10 minutes from a local school and were armed with a pipe bomb and firearm. During Niagara Regional Police Service’s initial investigation, they found the phone number used to call in the threat possibly belonged to a Polk County, Oregon, resident. This information was then provided to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Immediately after receiving the information, local schools in Falls City, Dallas, Monmouth and Independence were advised of the threat and placed into lockdown for the safety and security of students and staff. The sheriff’s office immediately responded to local schools and began investigating the threat. Law enforcement’s investigation determined the owner of the phone number possibly resided in Stayton. This information was immediately shared, and Stayton Elementary School and Stayton High School were also placed into lockdown, out of an abundance of caution. The PCSO worked in partnership with numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and determined there was no evidence of a credible threat. The actual owner of the phone number was contacted and determined not to be involved. Upon learning the results of the investigation, school lock downs were lifted. Superintendent Steve Spencer wrote to parents in the Dallas School District the lift occurred at 12:30 p.m. “The situation was that a threat was called in to a police department out of state. That threat came from a phone number that originated in Dallas, so all Dallas schools were put in a Secure/ lockout until we could confirm whether there was a threat or not,” Spencer wrote. “In collaboration with Dallas Police Department, we See THREAT, page A2

www.polkio.com

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Polk County remains red in a blue state Local races taking shape in latest tally While the contest for president broke for Donald Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris in Polk County (22,094 to 20,142), Harris While the latest tally Nov. 8 shows Polk carried the state in the latest tally (1,155,481 to County’s voter turnout hasn’t matched the pan861,020). demic levels of 2020, the results are similar with Enough ballots have been counted to give the conservative region reliably voting red and the shape to many of the local races throughout Polk rest of Oregon going blue. County. The numbers show 62% of Polk County’s Sheriff Mark Garton easily won re-election 64,426 registered voters turned in a ballot Nov. 5 receiving 25,366 to challenger Steve Warden’s (69.89%) down from the last Presidential election 11,836. It was Garton’s second contested election cycle, that saw a 74.82% turnout and 48,794 bal(he ran unopposed in 2020). Garton, 45, who will lots counted. By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

have 28 years with Polk County Sheriff’s Office overall at the end of this term, said he still enjoys doing the job. “I like working in this profession, in this community, I’m happy I get to do it again for four more years,” he said. “I look at the election as an employee evaluation every four years. If they don’t want me because I’m not doing a good job, then I don’t deserve the job.” See TALLY, page A3

Pedee Women’s Club dishes out the food and crafts for charity By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Sisters Linda Chertudi and Pam Dalton as children used to help their mothers run supplies to the community kitchen in Pedee Women’s Club for the annual soup feed. Now, the two run the operation while their own daughters augment the assembly line. Only this time Nov. 9 the women’s club switched over to a spaghetti feed. The event’s pairing activity craft fair featured nine vendors taking up all the free space in Pedee Fire Department’s garage next door. Chertudi, vice president of the Pedee Women’s Club, said the soup feed and craft show has been going on for generations, at least more than 40 years. “I remember the first year I came here, I helped bring all the pies, helping my mom out,” Chertudi recalled. “Then one of the guys said what about

BY DAVID HAYES

Pam Dalton slices servings of pie to members of the Dallas Polk Pedalers Bicycle Club during the Pedee Women’s Club Spaghetti feed Nov. 9. the baked goods table? So, I learned real fast.” She said their annual event regularly feeds at least 250

each year, attracting locals and hungry diners from around the regions, even bicycle clubs from Eugene and Salem. As

she spoke, a group of about 10 See CHARITY, page 3

Former Melting Pot owner returns to rescue failing business By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Bonnie Anders had thought she’d retired and left the candy business behind. However, while visiting family on the East Coast, she learned she’d chosen poorly in finding a new owner for The Melting Pot Candy. “The property manager got ahold of me in West Virginia to alert me the business was not working out, with unpaid bills and they were about to turn the water off,” Anders said. “Oh my goodness, what am I going to do?” She called her son, Spencer, who helped her launch Melting Pot

IN THIS ISSUE Voices Corrections Obituaries Puzzle Solutions Social Public Records Classifieds Puzzles

A4 A4 A6 B2 B2 B6 B8 B8

Candy the first time in 2018 to help decide what to do next. She returned to the corner of C and Main streets in Independence to salvage what she could. “I got back here and luckily all the equipment was still there,” Anders said. “But he cleaned me out of all my candy. Everything was off the walls; my personality was gone.” See RETURNS, page A2 PHOTO BY MACKENZIE NEWLAND

Bonnie Anders speaks with a customer during the grand re-opening of Melting Pot Candy Nov. 5.

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