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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2019)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2019 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Amazon shipping center to open in August Brown said. The exact headcount is to be determined, but company officials are still tracking toward the 1,000worker number, she said. Construction also has been completed, Brown said. The Seattle ecommerce giant in 2018 announced it would adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage. That could pressure other Salem business to increase wages. Oregon’s minimum wage is $10.75 an hour in Marion and Polk counties, though it will increase to $11.25 on July 1 and to $13.50 in 2022, under state legislation en acted in 2016. Taxpayers are helping foot the bill for Amazon’s Sa Jonathan Bach Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Amazon’s packing and shipping center in southeast Salem should open in August, with about 1,000 jobs that are expected to pay at least $15 an hour. Hiring for the 1millionsquarefoot building at 4775 Depot Court SE kicks off in June, Amazon spokeswoman Shevaun Brown said Tuesday. Jobs will range from line workers to management positions. The company in January also was advertising manage ment jobs. Amazon is building the crew “from the ground up,” See AMAZON, Page 2A The Amazon packing and shipping center in southeast Salem opens in August, a company spokeswoman said. MICHAELA ROMÁN / STATESMAN JOURNAL ‘No such thing as a routine traffic stop’ Salem officer’s shooting reveals everyday dangers Capi Lynn Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK The Detroit Dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Willamette Valley and began operating in 1953. DAVID DAVIS AND KELLY JORDAN / STATESMAN JOURNAL Water rights up for grabs Cities, farmers, fish compete for water stored by Willamette dams Bill Poehler and Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Billions of gallons of water have been hidden be hind the Willamette River Basin’s 13 dams since they were constructed starting in the 1930s. For 30 years, powerful interests including cities, farmers and industry have been slugging it out for ac cess to that water, which has yet to be designated for a use. Fisheries and environmental groups also want a say in how the water is distributed from the dams, op erated by the Army Corps of Engineers. We’re talking about stored water — not what flows freely down the Willamette and its tributaries. Who has a right to it, and when, mostly has never been de cided. That’s about to change. It’s more than a drop in a bucket: 1.64 million acre feet of water per year is the equivalent of 534 billion gallons, enough to fill 809,381 Olympic sized swim ming pools. That water could have huge impact on the 2.9 mil lion people living in the Willamette Valley, from Cot tage Grove north to Portland, and the $2.2 billion in agricultural goods the region produces each year. Future demands are in play: expansion for munici pal water providers, continued operation and devel opment of farming and the health of the legendary, yet environmentally fragile, salmon and steelhead that spawn in the basin’s tributaries. See WATER, Page 2B Sublimity park gets spark from grant funds Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK SUBLIMITY – There were big problems with small bathrooms. Early Settlers Park is the only park owned by Sub limity and in constant use for teeball and baseball games, family picnics, a summer free lunch program for children, a venue for day cares, movies in the park, First Tuesday gatherings, tennis matches and the site Christmas Tree that caps off the city’s holiday parade. The twoacre park – occupied on one corner by city hall – is the focal point of the community, but there has been a known weak spot: the bathrooms. Not only were they not handicapped accessible, they were precariously attached to another building and often in need of repair. “We did have some issues … with vandalism,” Sub limity public works director Alan Frost said. “And they tried to start fires in this restroom, which is attached to the city hall with all the court documents and his torical records.” A $126,000 grant from the Oregon Park and Recre ation Department’s Land and Water Conservation Fund covered half of the $252,000 cost to build new bathrooms in a corner of the park. Along with hundreds of feet of new concrete paths throughout the park as part of the project, it ensures everyone can use Early Settlers Park and breathe new Mike Stradley conducted thousands of traffic stops in his 30year career as a Portlandarea police officer. No one ever tried to shoot him from inside a vehicle. It’s happened to friends, though. And it happened to a Salem Police officer on May 14. “Every single day that’s a possibility,” said Stra dley, skills manager at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. “The possibil ity always exists that the person you’re stopping will try to kill you to get away. That’s an extreme possibil ity. It happens very infrequently.” In the past three months, a K9 officer in North Carolina and sheriff ’s deputies in Texas and Wash ington have been shot and killed during traffic stops. The shooting here was far less tragic. The officer survived. The suspect was arrested and faces mul tiple charges, including attempted aggravated mur der. But it was a startling reminder of how vulnerable law enforcement officers are, even making what most would call a routine traffic stop in a northeast Salem neighborhood. “Cops don’t use that term,” Stradley said. “There’s no such thing as a routine traffic stop — until it’s over.” Most stops on graveyard shifts Traffic stops encourage driver safety and get real criminals off the street. Local patrol officers may average one or two per shift if they work days or swing and as many as five on graveyard, according to Lt. Treven Upkes, a Salem Police Department spokesman. He said the Patrol Division is staffed with a mini mum of 33 officers per day. Although officers are at risk every time, what hap pened to Salem Police officer Michelle Pratt was rare. Upkes estimated it had been at least 15 years since a Salem officer was shot at during a traffic stop. See LYNN, Page 3A See PARK, Page 2A Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Vol. 138, No. 24 Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal News updates: ❚ Breaking news ❚ Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: ❚ Photo galleries QEAJAB-07403y ©2019 50 cents Printed on recycled paper Law enforcement recruits go through traffic-stop scenario training as an instructor videos the exercise at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in Salem. ANNA REED/STATESMAN JOURNAL saturday morning NEVER TASTED So GOOD! BREAKFAST Made Fresh on the Grill Every Saturday Morning 7:00AM to 10:30am Saturdays Only $ 99 5 EA. TWO FRESH EGGS, TWO STRIPS OF BACON OR TWO SAUSAGE LINKS OR ONE SLICE OF COUNTRY HAM, YOUR CHOICE OF HASHBROWNS OR HOME-FRIED POTATOES AND TOAST. MAKE YOUR SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST AND GROCERY SHOPPING ONE CONVENIENT STOP! HAVE YOUR BREAKFAST READY WHEN YOU ARE. ORDER AHEAD ONLINE AT WWW.ROTHS.COM/ORDERS