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Independence Missing drowned teen’s body found in Keizer

Ben Rice and the Portland Hustle return to home turf See B8

See A3

Wednesday July 17, 2024 | Volume 148, Issue 28

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County envisions bigger fairgrounds Expansion plans could cost $60 million By DAVID HAYES Itemizer-Observer

Soakin’ in the Sounds of Summer PHOTO BY SMY PHOTOGRAPHY

Infamous Soul performs at Dallas’s inaugural Sounds of Summer concert series July 11 in front of a appreciative crowd at the Rotary Amphitheater. For more images from the event, see page B1.

Steakhouse celebrates its home on Washington Street

“We wanted to make it a local’s favorite with house-made food. Where Glen could use his culinary skills and I could use my skills to make it a great business,” Debi said. By DAVID HAYES “It was hard at first. People don’t see Itemizer-Observer that now today. We had some hard Twenty-five years ago, a friend times but overall, the community has in real estate told Debi and Glen been responsively good to us.” Conaway about a property available Today, Debi and Glen remain on Washington Street in Dallas. owners the steakhouse and are There sat a building currently slowly stepping back from running unused that had been there since the day-to-day operations in favor of the early 1960s – the former Howie the next generation, daughter Lauren Goodfellows Tavern and more Hoefler and her husband Adam. recently Scooters Diner. It had been While they joined the business 12 shut down for a year. years ago, Debi recalls Lauren pitch“We came and looked at it. We ing in long before that. had a vision and decided to go for “Lauren started as a little girl it,” Debi recalled. “We learned rolling quarters in the office,” Debi Howie’s, as a business, closed down recalled. “We’d keep her busy going the day Glen and I met. So, we into fourth grade. She’s always been thought this was our destiny.” a part of this business.” Their vision proved to more than “My sister and I used to dance a brush with destiny, as their dream right here to Britney Spears,” Lauren became Dallas community mainstay, added, pointing to the dining room. as Washington Street Steakhouse and “We would just hang out here while Pub celebrates its 25th anniversary they were remodeling.” July 20. A 2008 graduate of Dallas High Glen had experience as a chef for School, Lauren and Adam both several years and Debi’s background moved off to attend the University had been customer service, marketof Oregon, he to study business, she ing and sales. advertising.

Voices Corrections Obituaries Puzzle Solutions Social Public Records Classifieds Puzzles

A4 A4 A6 B2 B2 B3 B6 B7

See FAIRGROUNDS PAGE A3

Photographs, artifacts combine to tell whole story By LANCE MASTERSON For The Itemizer-Observer

25th annual luau returns July 20

IN THIS ISSUE

The Polk County Fair Board and the County Commissioners are sharing a grand vision of increasing the footprint of the fairgrounds to attract more and larger organizations to utilize the facilities to generate more funds, making operations more sustainable. Fair Board Chair Tim Ray and Fair Manager Tina Anderson met with the commissioners July 2 to continue initial discussions of what it will take to reach that end goal. However, expansion comes with a hefty price tag. With no timetable or business plan drawn up yet, Polk County Administrator Greg Hansen told the commissioners the uphill battle they face. “The draft plan that’s been put together probably has price tag of $50 to $60 million,” Hansen said. To achieve that, he explained, the county would have to first establish a taxing district with a permanent tax rate. He estimated a minimum rate of 10 cents would generate roughly $8.5 million, adding the rate could be increased to 20 cents.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Three generations celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Washington Street Steakhouse and Pub, including (from left) managers Adam and Lauren Hoefler and their son Caden, owners Glen and Debi Conaway and their grandchildren Kylie and Cruise. “Lauren has taken over my role “We lived other places, but somehow we ended up back here because in the business, working with HR, we knew this community was a great payroll, marketing, vendors, pest control, scheduling, back of house place to raise our children,” Lauren said. See 25 YEARS, page A8

One perk of working at the Heritage Museum in Independence is that you never know what will be donated on any given day. Take that day 13 years ago when sisters Rosemary Carlsen and Elizabeth Callahan stopped by the museum - then at the Baptist church - to donate hundreds of glass negatives taken by their grandfather, Albert Clinton Moore. Some of the negatives were more than 100 years old. “The glass plates, nobody knew what to do with them. So, our brother was still alive then, and the three of us came over to the old Baptist church and gave it to the museum,” Carlsen said. “We told them we don’t know what to do with them. But we think these might be of some interest.” The glass negatives were delivered, as stored by Moore himself, in a light-proof satchel. Museum staff was told not to open it. “He had one of the first cameras, and all these wonderful pictures were on glass plates. And we inherited this satchel that’s full of these glass plates, and you dare not open See ARTIFACTS, page A3

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