S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 136, N O . 48
W EDNESDAY , N OVEMBER 15, 2017
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
A slice of soccer
heaven with caveats
Thorns Academy players must show commitment
Gas tax
measure
appears to
pass vote
Silverton voters also choose
to keep local pool afloat
JONATHAN BACH AND NATALIE PATE
SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
USA TODAY NETWORK
Silverton’s Paige Alexander, from left, with West Salem’s Abbey Knoll, Karly Feis-White and Lexi Tejada at a Thorns Academy
soccer practice on Oct. 24 at Providence Park in Portland. PHOTOS BY MOLLY J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL
GARY HOROWITZ
SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
USA TODAY NETWORK
PORTLAND – Paige Alexander looked around the
pristine soccer field at Providence Park and smiled.
The stands were empty during the recent practice,
but it was easy to imagine the roar of 22,000 fans who
fill Providence Park at home games for the Portland
Thorns of Major League Soccer.
For high-school age players accustomed to playing
on remote fields with a few metal bleachers, it's like
being in soccer heaven.
"We're blessed to have this beautiful environment
and these amazing fields to play on," said Alexander, a
sophomore at Silverton High School and a member of
the Portland Thorns FC Academy U17 team. "I'm just
so happy and grateful and thankful that I get the oppor-
tunity to play on such an amazing, quality field. It's
great."
But this slice of soccer heaven comes with a price.
Thorns Academy players can't play on their high
school soccer teams, and they are discouraged from
participating in any other high school sports.
It's that sacrifice vs. reward decision that both the
players and their parents struggle to make.
Blanchet’s Emily Collier runs with the ball during a Thorns
Academy soccer practice. Collier is on the Thorns U19 team.
Silverton residents passed a 2-cent-per-gallon gas
tax, meaning they can expect to pay a little more to
fuel up.
Under the measure passed Nov. 7, gas stations will
pay the tax to the city every month. Gas stations can
send increased costs to customers by ratcheting up
prices.
Silverton Mayor Kyle Palmer praised the gas tax
as a way for out-of-towners to help pay for the city's
roads.
The city says the gas tax should bring in about
$173,000 a year. Taxes will go toward roads in the city,
though a stipulation lets the money to go toward state
or federal projects as "matching funds."
Meanwhile, a measure passed for a five-year oper-
ating levy to keep a Silverton swimming pool in opera-
tion. The tax will be $275,000 a year for five years, or
an estimated $1,375,000 altogether.
If voters had rejected the measure, the pool was
poised to shut down after June of next year because of
a lack of funding.
Reach reporter Jonathan Bach by email at
jbach@statesmanjournal.com or by phone at 503-399-
6714. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMBach and
Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonathanbachjour-
nalist.
Contact Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJour-
nal.com, 503-399-6745, or follow her on Twitter
@Nataliempate
or
on
Facebook
at
www.Facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist.
Mt. Angel’s
new police
chief brings
experience
CHRISTENA BROOKS
SPECIAL TO SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
USA TODAY NETWORK
Thorns Academy or high school soccer?
In past years girls were permitted to play on their
high school teams and with the Thorns Academy be-
cause the soccer seasons did not overlap. That is no
longer the case.
The U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which in-
cludes regionally-based teams throughout the country
- 197 girls and 231 boys academy teams - has a 10-month
season beginning in September.
Elite high school players like Alexander, Thorns
Academy U17 teammates Karly Feis-White, Abbey
Knoll and Lexi Tejeda who are sophomores at West Sa-
lem, and Blanchet senior Emily Collier, a member of
West Salem's Abbey Knoll works on her kick during practice.
Knoll plays goalkeeper for the Thorns Academy U17 team.
See SOCCER, Page 2A
"I really loved playing with the (Silverton) girls and it was really difficult for me.
But I feel like this is the right choice and it’s gonna get me farther for where I
wanna go."
PAIGE ALEXANDER, SILVERTON HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE AND A MEMBER OF THE PORTLAND THORNS
FC ACADEMY U17 TEAM, ON JOINING THORNS ACADEMY AND NOT PLAYING ON HER HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM
Next month, Mt. Angel is scheduled to swear in a
new full-time police chief.
Mark Daniel, 52, a Sherwood Police Department
captain, was Mt. Angel’s top pick
among seven candidates for a job that’s
been part-time for the last seven years.
He’ll take over for Chief Mike Healy,
who retired last month.
“Mark stood out to us because of his
fit and personality,” said City Manager
Amber Mathiesen. “From his degrees
Mark Daniel
to his completion of an FBI academy, to
his experience as a public information officer … all
these things create a package that’s a good fit.”
Daniel has been a police officer for 35 years with
four different agencies. He knew he wanted to go into
law enforcement from the time he was a boy growing
up in Junction City and then Portland.
At 15, he joined the Clackamas County Sheriff’s De-
partment as a cadet explorer scout. After high school,
he earned an associate’s degree from Clackamas
Community College and, by 21, was hired as a reserve
officer. A year later, he became a full-time officer for
Salem Police Department.
“There wasn’t a time in my life when I can remem-
ber not wanting to do this,” Daniel said. “I still do this
See CHIEF, Page 2A
School bus co. tests tracking app
CHRISTENA BROOKS
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
trict. In essence, there’s sometimes a lag between the
time a bus location is uploaded to the “cloud” and when
parents receive the information on their phones.
“I want to be purposeful in providing this tool so we
don’t add a layer of frustration and stress to either par-
ents or the transportation company,” Stevens said. “I
am hoping to pilot this with a route prior to Thanksgiv-
ing week so we can have a week or so to use it, see how it
is working, make adjustments over the break when stu-
dents are not riding, and then proceed from there.”
SILVERTON – Parents may be able to track their stu-
dents’ bus locations, if the local school busing company
can work out the bugs in a smartphone app it has been
testing this fall.
Bus Tracker is an app that parents can download and
use to see where their kids’ buses are at all times.
In testing this fall, Durham School Services has
found there are “latency issues,” said Dandy Stevens,
assistant superintendent for the Silver Falls School Dis-
See APP, Page 2A
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
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