SECRETARY OF STATE VISITS
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Stopping By
Mac’s state Shakespeare champion uses comic, musical talents to explore iambic pentameter A2
‘Setting the table’ for Innovation Campus
Public weighs in on cityguided plans for commercial development along Hwy. 18
By SCOTT UNGER Of the News-Register
McMinnville residents gave feedback on plans for a 200-acre employment and retail development on Highway 18 last weekend during a community forum hosted by the city.
Plans for an Innovation Campus and retail center on most of the land between McMinnville Municipal Airport and Willamette Valley Medical Center were developed initially by the Mac Town 2032 Economic Development Strategic Plan and were adopted in 2022 as part of the city of McMinnville’s Three Mile Lane plan.
The campus aims to “serve the community’s future needs of commercial development and high density, upwardly mobile employment opportunities,” according to city officials.
ThecityhiredarchitecturalfirmWalker
See CAMPUS, A9
Chemeketa makes case for bond request
CCC officials stress that the levy is not new, but would replace an existing one
By SCOTT UNGER Of the News-Register
Chemeketa Community College leadership has made the rounds in an effort to promote its proposed $140 million bond issue on the May 20 ballot, addressing McMinnville City Council and theYamhill Board of Commissioners in recent weeks.
County board opts against Chemeketa bond support Page A3
The bond would replace an existing bond set to retire in 2026. The new bond would cost taxpayers the same amount as the old one, 27 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation. The owner of a $300,000 house would continue to pay $81 per year if the new bond passes.
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A GROWING PASSION
Students grow vegetables, and skills, in Duniway garden
By STARLA POINTER Of the News-Register
The best thing about Duniway Middle School’s new gardening class is getting to plant vegetables, watch them grow and getting to eat them, eighth-grader Jayden Vargas said.
He likes the classroom sessions, in which they learn about topics such as permaculture or the history of agriculture. But Jayden, a nature lover, said he really looks forward to being outdoors in the fresh air to work in the garden behind the school.
“I wanted to move my body,” he said, happily digging up grass to expose more dirt for planting and paths.
He’s one of about three dozen students in the year-long class, which meets every other day at Duniway.
Anna Barsotti, Brent Cartier and Jacob Sanders are teaching the course for the first time; earlier, they led an afterschool club on gardening. Guest speakers, such as a representative of Edible Landscapes of Yamhill County, visit from time to time, and students take field trips to sites such as theYamhill County Heritage Center.
Lowe’s, Wilco and other businesses and individuals have assisted in making the
A new Pace at Mac hospital
New CEO impressed with culture, offerings at
Willamette Valley Medical Center
By STARLA POINTER Of the News-Register
Willamette Valley Medical Center’s new CEO, Dewane Pace, has been in the medical field in Florida and Colorado. Now he’s completed his migration across the country, and is happy to be living in Oregon.
Pace, who said he hopes to be at WVMC at least 10 years, joined the McMinnville hospital in February. He said he’s taking the time he needs to get to know the facility, its people and the structure provided by its parent company, LifePoint Health.
“There’s a lot to learn,” said Pace, who joined the LifePoint system after working in hospitals in Colorado, and before that, his native Florida.
“This is meaningful work,” he said. “What other industry can say we improve the quality and quantity of other people’s lives?”
Pace was a lifeguard at Disney World when he was growing up. He graduated from high school in Titusville, where his father worked at the Kennedy Space Center during the “space race” of the 1960s and early ‘70s.
He was interested in space, but chose a
See CEO, A8
garden possible, the teachers said. In September, New Energy Works will add a covered structure to the site. Parents like Edwin and Marissa Martinis have helped, as well.
The garden itself is still under con-
MCMINNVILLE SOROPTIMIST Parking Lot Sale; Saturday, April 12th, 9am-3pm. At First Federal (118 NE 3rd St.) Sale located between 3rd & 2nd Streets, along Adams Street. Items for sale include collectibles, tools, dishes, garden objects, linens, kitchen, purses, jewelry, clothing & more! Come for the “deals” and leave with “treasures”.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS No diets, no weighins, no fees. Meets Sundays, 2:00pm, McMinnville Cooperative Ministries (544 NE 2nd St.) For more info, or details about Tuesday Virtual meetings, call: 971-267-0058.
HILLSIDE ADVENTURES IN LEARNING Tues, April 8th 2:00 pm. “The History of Del Mar Villa” a luxury Italian Chateau-inspired villa on 46 acres in Dundee. Fred Fusitua and April Buckner, Inkeepers. Admission $5.00.
Rachel Thompson/News-Register
From left, Kathryn Kaelin, Miriam Villa Sendejas and Evelin Martinez-Medina harvest cilantro from a raised bed in the Duniway garden. Students also have been growing — and tasting — kale and a variety of lettuces, and now have bulbs in the ground and marigolds and zinnias ready to plant.
See GARDEN, A7
Above: Duniway Middle School students, from left, Owen Smith, Aaron Hernandez, Houstan Sutton and Alex DeLeon, smooth the soil in their covered greenhouse, where they soon will be growing flowers and vegetables. They are among the first students to take the new, year-long gardening course, which teaches about the history and importance of agriculture, in addition to skills for planting, growing, harvesting and using vegetables.
Top Right: Teacher Brent Cartier, right, along with teacher Anna Barsotti, center, show off the artificial “logs” students are using to grow oyster mushrooms. Barsotti is flanked by students Alina Warner and Kourtney Dinger. The logs are made from plastic containers with lids. The mushroom plants grow inside, and the fruiting bodies — edible mushrooms — emerge through holes in the sides.
Right: Jackson Lovas, left, Jayden Vargas, right,and,inthebackground,NoahCasteel, Landyn Amodio, Riley Dudas and Landon Mansfield, remove grass to create more space for planting and walking paths in the Duniway Middle School garden. Jayden, an eighth-grader, said he likes the class because he enjoys getting outside and working. “The best thing is we planted vegetables and once they’re done, we get to try them,” he said.
Rachel Thompson/News-Register
“Being out here in the garden is their favorite thing. More than anything, they want to be holding shovels.” — Brent Cartier, teacher
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struction, but students already have been growing many plants through the fall and winter.
“It’s been great for them to see the seasons, and to see things through,” Cartier said.
As the school year continues, they will observe more plants ripen, and the younger students can take the class again in the fall. “They’ll get to be here when the magic happens,” he said.
Already, students have harvested kale, cilantro and other herbs from raised beds, along with oyster mushrooms, which they grow inside in plastic containers that stand in for logs.
Soon they will be planting more vegetables, along with the marigold and zinnia starts they’ve been growing. They’ve planted bulbs, as well, and are awaiting their emergence.
Gardening takes patience, said Annaliha Fuerte, an eighth-grader.
Annaliha was new to Duniway this year, as was the gardening class. “It’s a nice opportunity,” she said.
She said she has especially enjoyed learning about gardening from a historical perspective. “I’m not the best gardener yet, but it’s in my family,” she said, “My grandmother grows roses.”
A recent class period began indoors, wherestudentsreadanarticleaboutwomen in farming, then answered questions. Such activities teach vocabulary, literacy skills and other important lessons, as well as topics such as biodiversity and bioswales. Teamwork, decision-making and garden design also are part of the learning.
In February, Cartier said, farming-related lessons about Black History Month resonated with students.
But while they are interested in the curriculum, “being out here in the garden is their favorite thing,” he said. “More than anything, they want to be holding shovels.”
Halfway through the class period, students put on their coats and headed outside on a lovely almost-spring day. A few raindrops fell, but the students, excited to be outside in the garden, hardly noticed.
“So much is happening in the garden” as the weather begins to warm slightly, Barsotti said. “The sun’s out; it feels like it’s really spring.”
Some picked up shovels and began removing sod to make room for more plants and more paths. Others tamped down soil in a greenhouse made with hoops covered in plastic. Several harvested kale and cilantro for an upcoming tasting.
The seventh- and eighth-graders also could choose to make sketches of the garden, documenting its progress; or to disassemble a raised bed so it could be moved. They could pack and label seeds, water the young flower plants, or work on a garden planning calendar.
Or they could look for wildlife in the garden. “I saw a raccoon print out there earlier,” Barsotti said. “Who can find it?”
Evelin Martinez, a seventh-grader, and Katy Kaelin, an eighth-grader, headed for the cilantro bed with several other girls.
The friends signed up for the class because they wanted to learn more about growing things.
Evelin said she has friends with gardens, and wants to help them.
Katy’s family has a huge garden, so she has some experience already, she said. In addition to growing produce, some of which they give away, they raise 11 hens for eggs. The chickens, like their dogs, are pets. Both she and Evelin said they definitely will be using their gardening skills in the future, both in and after class.