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DA’s Office plants flags to honor crime victims See A3

Dragons heating up the track and field in time for districts See B1

Wednesday May 1, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 18

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Highway 99 roundabout project delayed a year By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

PHOTO BY DAVID HAYES

Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley listens to a question posed by a resident of Polk County during his stop through Dallas on his town hall tour April 26 across the region.

Merkley visits Dallas on town hall tour Oregon senator touts local programs paid with federal funds By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Dallas was one of three barnstorming stops in one day, April 26 providing follow through on Sen. Jeff Merkley’s promise to attend a town hall in each Oregon County every year.

The town hall gives Merkley opportunities to speak directly with constituents about his work for Oregon in Congress. He initially brought up his success securing funding for over 475 community-initiated projects throughout the state over the past three fiscal years. This

includes $775,000 toward construction for the relocation and expansion of the Ella Curran Food Bank and another $880,000 for the city of Independence’s Corvallis Road water main replacement project to install a new water main.

Merkley said the number of requests for projects to be funded under the program keeps going up because the word has spread that these are a possibility. As a member of the Appropriation Committee, See MERKLEY, page A6

Monmouth utility boxes about to get brighter Chamber project paints each by local artist organized by the Friends of the Monmouth-Independence Visitor’s Somewhere within the city of Center as well as a committee of Monmouth, Nicki Marazzani kicked local residents and business volunoff the latest campaign to kickstart teers,” Marazzani said. both the arts and tourism through the The first box was painted by local Visitor’s Center. artist Anthony Quinone. The first of 20 utility boxes were “Anthony is a WOU student and painted by a local artist and the pres- has been a big help throughout the ident of Monmouth-Independence process,” she added. Chamber of Commerce invites the The process actually started years community to locate it and possibly ago, when through her travels across win a prize. the U.S. and around the world, Find the painted Minet utility box, Marazzani noticed cities were painttake a photo, post it on Instagram, ing their utility boxes. and tag @miccoregon and use #mic“It’s like, this is amazing. Why cutility. Participants get one entry for aren’t we doing this?” Marazzani a picture of the box and two entries thought to herself at the time. if they’re in the photo, too. Entries “Someday there’s going to be a must be received by May 6; one winner will be chosen to win a local place.” After three years with the MICC, gift card. she’s found her place. Looking to “The box you are looking for is reinvigorate the chamber, Marazzani part of a public art project funded by local businesses, grants, and created the non-profit Friends of the By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Visitor Center so she could apply for grants. At a Monmouth Business Assocation meeting, she made her pitch. Still needing to get the approval from the city, Marazzani found an unexpected partner. “MINET was there at the table, and they said, “You can use ours.’ How many? Twenty. Okay, done,” Marazzani said. She secured $500 in grants and donations from private citizens and businesses to kickstart the program. She also got the greenlight from the City of Monmouth to do two test boxes first. “We wanted to do two test boxes first – one with spray paint and another with acrylic paint. We wanted to see how much paint it took, how long it took and how the sealant worked. We wanted a proof See BRIGHT, page A8

PHOTO BY DAVID HAYES

The first painted utility box by Western Oregon University artist Anthony Quinone is somewhere in Monmouth. Find it, and tag it to @miccoregon on Instagram for a chance to win a gift card from the Monmouth-Independence Chamber of Commerce.

The construction of a roundabout at Highway 99 and Clow Corner Road has been delayed a year after a key component of the project didn’t materialize over the winter. In an email update to its registered members, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced last week that Pacific Power and Light failed to move their poles and lines from the construction area as was planned during the winter months. ODOT started the initial phase of overall project last June, adding a left-turn lane at Orrs Corner Road and clearing of vegetation and preparing for paving on the east side of Highway 99. “We’ve adjusted our construction schedule so Pacific Power and Light can complete work and minimize disruptions to traffic, especially during harvest season,” ODOT wrote in their update. ODOT project engineers had originally planned to detour all traffic around the construction site via a detour onto Orrs Corner Road, back south to Riddell Road and merge back with Highway 99 of Hoffman Road. However, Polk County Commissioners were concerned about the detours affecting large farm harvesting equipment, especially during harvest season. ODOT rethought their plans and settled upon leaving a single, controlled one-way lane open through the construction zone. Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst, the county’s liaison with ODOT, was disappointed with the delay. “It is just very frustrating when things like this come up that are out of your control. But we will make it happen as quickly as possible,” Mordhorst said. “You just need to make adjustments and keep moving forward.” ODOT plans to keep Clow Corner Road open now throughout 2024. Their crews will continue some work on the roundabout this year, promising minimal impacts to traffic. Instead, most of the main remaining work, traffic impacts and Clow Corner Road closures will not happen until 2025, ODOT said. “Before major traffic impacts start, we will be sure to send an email alert to the community,” ODOT said. See PROJECT, page A8

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

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