Monmouth Independence Community Advantage Magazine February 2023

Complete Automotive Repair

By Patti Jo Brooks, Contributing Writer

The Car Doctor, “Polk County’s Source for Complete Automotive Repair,” is owned by Rick Young, who started in the auto business at age 19 washing cars at the Ford dealership in Medford. He attended college on Ford’s behalf and graduated in 2001 with an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science and Automotive Technology. He then began working at the Ford Service Department in Dallas for several years before starting his own car repair business from his gravel driveway in April 2007. As the business grew, The Car Doctor relocated twice to larger facilities to better serve the needs of the community. Coming full circle, Rick has moved The Car Doctor back to the old Ford dealership site in Dallas where he got his start.

Approaching a company milestone of 16 years in business, Rick enjoys the rhythmic beat of The Car Doctor’s culture. “We’re just a big family that spends 5 days a week together,” he relates. On Thursdays the “family” is treated to a free lunch from a different local restaurant, a way of “giving back to the community,” Rick says. He also supports the community through donations, fundraisers, and sponsorships to local

organizations, churches, and schools. For Dallas High School Seniors Night, The Car Doctor gives away 2 certificates for automotive service to ensure these students “a safe and reliable journey off to college.” Rick is a board member of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for foster children, and his wife is a CASA Advocate. Rick, whose heart is truly in the right place, has also donated cars to women-in-need through CASA and the Titus House organizations.

Offering a wide range of services and a 2-Year / 24,000 Mile Warranty (honored nationwide by thousands of NAPA auto care centers), it’s no wonder that so many Polk County residents only trust the friendly staff at The Car Doctor to handle their vehicle maintenance. One service that customers appreciate the most is a digital health report that the techs refer to as “Show and Tell.” A specialized shop, each staff member is “dialed in” to a specific area of expertise. “Instead of having everybody do everything, we’ve broken it down to three different specialty areas,” Rick explains. A Drivability/ Electronics Specialist; Line-Techs affectionately dubbed “the fixers,” the ones out in the bays fixing the cars; and a Maintenance Specialist who’s responsible for all fluids, oil changes, transmission services, etc. All techs are highly trained, certified, and regularly complete continued education, staying up to date on the ever-changing technology in vehicles. Completing the team are Service Advisors/Customer Relations Specialists, and the Parts Manager who provides the “best quality parts at the most reasonable price.” All automotive services include the digital vehicle inspections and health reports, and free loaner cars and shuttle services are also available for customers as needed. Lastly, there’s Gnomey, The Car Doctor’s Public Relations guy. A hit with the kids, you’ll find Gnomey poised out front between the plants. “I see you’re hanging with my Gnomey,” Rick says, greeting the children and acknowledging his future clientele.

The Car Doctor is located at 201 NE Polk Station Rd., Dallas. Give them a ring at (503) 623-8570, or visit their website, cardoctordallas.com.

Photos by Laurel Bice

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

1 cup milk

2 pints strawberries, sliced

¼ cup white sugar

1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch layer pans.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk, mixing until just moistened. Spread batter evenly into the prepared layer pans.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, combine strawberries and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Let mixture stand for 10 minutes.

5. Remove shortcake layers from the pans. Place one layer on a serving plate; cover with 1/2 of the of strawberry mixture and 1/2 of the whipped topping. Place remaining shortcake layer on top, then remaining strawberry mixture and remaining whipped topping. Drizzle chocolate syrup over top.

The

Origins of the Tater Tot

A Tasty Oregon Invention

By Robert Matsumura, Contributing Writer

The Tater Tot. It’s hard to resist these crunchy golden-brown potato morsels piled high in a basket, or nestled on a plate accompanying our favorite burger or sandwich. For many of us, “Tater Tot” and “comfort food” go hand-in-hand. It’s ingrained in our culture—at least from a food perspective!

But did you know that these world famous potato nuggets were invented in Oregon, and that they were the creative byproduct of potato scraps originally used as cattle feed? The story of the Tater Tot traces back to two young Mormon entrepreneurs named Nephi and Golden Griggs who came of age during the Great Depression. Originally from Idaho, the Griggs brothers were potato farmers like most of their neighbors. Throughout the Great Depression and World War II, the Griggs survived by growing and selling potatoes, but during the postwar years as Americans increasingly turned to convenience foods—frozen foods in particular—the Nephi brothers were certain that their road to riches lay in servicing this growing demand.

Convinced that the future of produce resided in the frozen food section, the two brothers mortgaged their farms to purchase a flash-freezing plant in Northeastern Oregon for $500,000 (approximately $4.5 million today). As the factory was located on the border between Oregon and Idaho, they chose to name their new company Ore-Ida.

Corn and potatoes were Ore-Ida’s mainstay and the company soon became the largest distributor of sweet corn in the country, but the real profit lay in french fries. French fries, though immensely profitable, posed certain production problems. Nephi (the leader of the two brothers) described their challenge as follows: “We had a problem separating the fries from the slivers and small pieces of

potatoes that occurred when slicing the irregular shaped potatoes.” Instead of wasting the scrap pieces, the brothers had been feeding it to their cattle and other livestock.

Despite the fact that their potato scraps were being utilized as feed for farm animals, Nephi Griggs—always focused on efficiency and profit maximization—was bothered by their inability to derive any revenue from the constant flow of potato byproducts. In a letter to an OreIda colleague, Nephi vented his frustration at not putting to better use “product that has been purchased from the grower, stored for months, gone through the peeling process, gone through the specking lines and trimmed off defects, only to be eliminated into the cattle feed.”

An unexpected visit by a representative from an equipment manufacturing company, however, proved to be serendipitous. Although the company representative was there to demonstrate a prune sorter, Nephi and his plant superintendent envisioned utilizing the equipment in a different manner. Instead of sorting prunes, could the machinery be refashioned to sort irregular potato pieces from french fries? To their delight, it could.

It wasn’t long before the Griggs and their people at Ore-Ida devised a creative use for the supply of potato scraps. By smashing the bits together using new machinery, then blanching, forming the crushed potatoes into nuggets, and cooking them in oil, a completely new product was

created. These potato nuggets could subsequently be frozen, bagged, and distributed. Although the original idea was for the nuggets to be fried, it was soon discovered that baking them produced equally good results. According to Nephi, a man on their research committee who “traveled the markets playing a ukulele and demonstrating our product,” came up with the name. Unfortunately, the man’s name has been lost to history, though his talent for creative alliteration lives on. The name “Tater Tot” is iconic across the world for fun, palate-pleasing, potato goodness.

Nephi remarked in his notes (which are now housed at the J. Willard Marriott

“new product has about a three year

the “Tater Tot” name, purchased additional machinery, and began mass producing their tasty invention.

Despite the success of the Tater Tot, the process to create them was a bit of a sticky mess—literally. New equipment had to be fashioned to deal with the starchy potato product. Steel drums the diameter of a human torso rotated continuously filling tot-sized molds with potato. These molded potatoes would then be ejected onto a conveyor belt and sent down a line for seasoning and subsequent freezing.

Ore-Ida’s commitment to the Tater Tot, in spite of production difficulties, proved a gamble worth taking. The Griggs brothers’ promotion of their new product at the 1954 National Potato Convention was a huge hit, garnering interest in Tater Tots throughout the industry. The media was also quick to embrace Tater Tots as a convenient

new food for snacks and meals that was tasty and easy to prepare. So successful was the Tater Tot that Nephi referred to it as their “hero profit item,” and cited it as responsible for making Ore-Ida a household name. By the end of the 1950s, Ore-Ida had captured 25 percent of the domestic frozen potato market. A second plant was opened in 1960, and by 1961 Ore-Ida had gone public.

In 1964, despite generating an annual profit of $31 million, problems within the family necessitated the sale of Ore-Ida. The Griggs sold the company to H.J. Heinz in 1965 for $30 million. The Heinz purchase of Ore-Ida was the company’s first foray into the frozen food market. By the time Heinz merged with Kraft in 2015, the Tater Tot was so common of a product that few people realized the name was still trademarked to Ore-Ida. An advertising campaign was even created to differentiate OreIda tots from the competition. The campaign warned, “Don’t be fooled by Imi-taters,” because Ore-Ida Tater Tots were the “original and only.”

Today, as one of America’s cherished food items, Tater Tots have been incorporated in multitudes of home recipes and even elevated to culinary feature items at certain restaurants. There is no end of possibilities when it comes to something as versatile as the Tater Tot! So, next time you find yourself reaching for a crispy golden Tater Tot, think of the Griggs brothers and the Oregonian ingenuity that transformed cattle feed into a delectable treat enjoyed by millions.

Nephi Grigg was the inventor of the Tater Tot

ProLift Garage Doors of Salem

Leave the Work to Us, Call the Pros

By Patti Jo Brooks, Contributing Writer

Whether your garage door needs repair or replacing, “Leave the Work to Us, Call the Pros!” ProLift Garage Doors of Salem will send a qualified garage door technician to service your garage door and get it up and running smoothly again. A broken spring, weather stripping for the winter, or replacing a damaged garage door altogether can be easily handled by ProLift Garage Doors of Salem. No job is too large or too small. Let ProLift Garage Doors be your first call!

“I really strive to keep our customers happy,” says Gabe Peace, independent owner and operator of ProLift Garage Doors of Salem. His focus is quality work using quality parts. Gabe is currently a dealer for Amarr Garage Doors and hopes to add other manufacturers to that list in the future. He continues by saying, “The two guys I have working for me right now, I’ve had a lot of customers tell me how polite, how great, how informative they were.” Gabe’s goal is to maintain that level of customer care and to “make sure we always do things that way.”

One of only two ProLift Garage Doors franchises in Oregon, Gabe’s Salem location covers a large territory including Newberg, McMinnville, Molalla, Woodburn, Monmouth, Albany, and more. Gabe runs the day-to-day business himself and will occasionally do some of the work, but as the owner he’ll go out to a job whenever he can. His two hired technicians, “the younger guys,” do the heavy work. Gabe also owns two service trucks now, adding the second one last October. With a background in construction, lumber mills, and always mechanically inclined, Gabe saw ProLift Garage Doors as a solid fit for a small business venture. “I like garages,” Gabe thought, when the opportunity presented itself. Together with his wife Renée, they co-own the franchise and opened for business one year ago on October 25th, 2021. “I don’t have to be huge,” Gabe confides. “I just wish to be well-known, reliable, trustworthy, and be a small local business that’s successful.” Gabe’s excited for ProLift Garage Doors of Salem to get the exposure it deserves.

A member of HBA, you might have seen Gabe at last year’s Home Show at the Salem Fairgrounds. He’s also a member of the Salem Chamber of Commerce, and hosted a sponsorship at South Salem High School. He honors Military, Teachers, and First Responders by offering a 10% discount on Service and up to $150 off on New Garage Doors at any time throughout the year. Gabe looks forward to more involvement in the community. “I

love sports. I played sports growing up,” he comments. “I’d like to sponsor a Little League team. It would be fun!”

Find Gabe on Facebook at facebook.com/proliftdoorsofsalem and on LinkedIn. Visit proliftdoors.com/salem/ for more information or call the Contact Center at (541) 293-8240 and ask for local Salem owner, Gabe Peace. Email him at gpeace@ proliftdoors.com.

facebook.com/ProLiftDoorsofSalem/

Wedding Singer

One of my alltime favorite Adam Sandler movies, this is absolutely drenched in ’80s pop culture–movies, cars, fashion, and music. The story follows a talented, funny, and likable wedding singer (Sandler) living in his brother’s basement and who’s terribly in love with the wrong girl. His heart gets broken (of course) and he plunges into a deep pit of despair but refuses to quit working–singing for couples in love–to much expected comedy. Eventually he meets his dream girl (a very cute Drew Barrymore) who’s in love with the wrong guy. Hilarity, flirting, and crossed signals abound, it also stars Alexis Arquette, Christine Taylor, Allen Covert, and more, plus a cameo by Billy Idol. It’s bright and cute and wacky. Rated a strong PG-13 for language and mature content, save this for the older kiddos.

Trolls

Eternal Sunshine Of The MindSpotless

With pure blissful technicolor and heartthumping pop music by Justin Timberlake, the Trolls movie skywrites in bombastic sparkly letters the message of love, joy, happiness, and positivity. A classic Us vs. Them, the meanie ogre Bergens threaten to capture the Trolls once for all–to eat the Trolls one-by-one and finally feel happy. Surely, there’s a better way to find happiness! And through conflict, trial-and-error, and lesson-learning, the Trolls teach the Bergens how to be happy WITHOUT eating others. On a smaller scale, there’s a classic love story: the untrusting hermit, Branch (Justin Timberlake), meets the happy-go-lucky girl-next-door, Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick). Their relationship very much parallels the Bergens vs. Trolls in their quest to conquer grumpiness and trust. And shocker, they fall in love. There’s singing, dancing, love, good feelings, and colors you’ve never seen before! Rated PG for mild rude humor and the threat of being eaten (I did tell you). Stream these movies where available, or rent from your local movie store, library, or rental kiosk.

This mindblowingly original sci-fi drama romance came barreling out of the early 2000s with an Academy Award for Best Writing and a slew of other awards. One of Jim Carrey’s earlier dramatic roles, his and Kate Winslet’s characters have a bad breakup and opt to have their relationship erased from memory by an experimental doctor, played by Tom Wilkinson. Also starring Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood. It’s surreal, quirky, indie, funny, sad, and far too relatable. As chaotic as it is, it’s utterly human with a heartwarming ending. Rated R for language, drug and mature content

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