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Dallas High School CTE awarded national grant

Record number of Dragons sign letters of intent See B1

See A2

Wednesday June 12, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 23

www.polkio.com

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PHOTO BY LANCE MASTERSON

Angie and Marilu welcome customers to their new bakery, Mina Angie’s Sweets, 1644 Monmouth St., in Independence.

Enjoy the sweet tastes of Mexico By LANCE MASTERSON For The Itemizer-Observer

PHOTO BY DAVID HAYES

Nic Dahl stands at the entrance to the former Rickreall Dairy where he plans to open a modern, regional recycling center, ReHub.

‘Garbage man’ eyes transforming dairy farm into new recycling center By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Nic Dahl is a third generation Oregonian. And as a third-generation garbage man, he’s got big plans for Polk County. “I love the industry. For 60 years, my family’s name has been in the business,” Dahl said from the entrance to Rickreall Dairy Farm.

It’s the perfect location for his next project - ReHub, a reuse and recycling center. At just the age of 43, Dahl has the extensive resume heading businesses within the industry. He said he was thrust into senior management when his father passed suddenly when he was just 18. “Makes you grow up pretty quick,” Dahl said.

A resident of Corvallis, Dahl is the current owner, co-owner or president of no less than six recycling and sanitation businesses. When he first entered the industry, recycling centers were in their first generation. They’ve since evolved and improved to the current modern, fifth generation facilities. And he wants to bring a modern facility to Polk County.

“Polk County for 50 years has had a stated need for a proper waste facility,” Dahl said. “We looked at the overall market, the closing of Riverbend Landfill, Coffin Butte approaching its end of life. Polk County stuck out as a need for a waste facility. We want to come fulfill that need. See FARM, page A6

City, walking group team to restore Japanese Garden for a project to fulfill their civic requirements. “We had to look for something, Two groups’ priorities interto decide as group, a project that sected at Forestry Creek within the Japanese Garden in Dallas City Park. we wanted to do,” said Andrea McAllister, a library assistant at the Jennifer Ward, Parks and Dallas Public Library and organizer Recreation Manager, inherited an for Heart & Sole. “Someone heard incomplete project to restore the about the Japanese garden project, Japanese Garden when she began brought it to the group, and we were working for the city in 2021. The first phase was to replace the bridge excited right away.” Last month, the city nearly comover the tributary of Rickreall Creek pleted phase one of the garden’s that flowed through the garden, restoration – the installation of a new designed by Art Higashi in the pedestrian bridge, replacing the orig1960s. inal bridge that had been removed in “It had been in the preliminary 2022 due to its deterioration making planning stage and the city was it a safety hazard. Ward said all that weighing bridge design options at remains is some paint touch up and that time,” Ward said. caulking. Meanwhile, a Dallas walking group, Heart & Sole, was looking By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

See GARDEN, page A6

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See SWEET, page A8

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

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Dallas Public Works employees install a new pedestrian bridge over a tributary flowing through the Japanese Garden last month.

Maria Soto is out of her kitchen and into a brick and mortar bakery, Mina Angie’s Sweets. “I started with making cakes, decorating cakes and all that stuff. But it changed when my mom passed” in 2019, Soto said. “I began my little business as a baker because of her. She told me to do that. With her hope, I decided to start at home.” The Sotos pounced when chance presented itself. “We had the opportunity to open this place. So we did,” she said. Soto opened Mina Angie’s Sweets in Independence three months ago. She has since provided her customers with the varied tastes of Mexico. Mina Angie’s is patterned after similar bakeries in Salem. Soto first tested the market for her products with pop-up appearances at various events, sometimes in association with MECHA, the Latino Student Union at Western Oregon. More than 30 items are listed on her menu, ranging from spicy to sweet, from tamales to mini tres leches. Plans are to add even more items to the menu. “We have a menu that is new to us, that is new to this shop. We are open to ideas. We are open to our community requesting different stuff,” Soto said. “Before it was just cakes and pastries. We want to offer more.” Tosti Locos, Papas Locas and Tosti Mariscos are among her customers’ favorites so far. But growing the menu isn’t Soto’s only goal. She wants to expand her customer base as well.

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