JANUARY 16, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE 3 Holiday card contest Big Toy group aiming is being worked on to avoid the big swell By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes It was just a couple of nights before Christmas and details over the annual Christ- mas cards were being fussed over. Not in the normal sense, however. For one, this was the Keizer Arts Commission meeting at city hall on Dec. 23. For another, the card in question is one for the 2015 holiday season. KAC member Beth Me- lendy has been working on a 2015 holiday card contest. As part of that, artists are being sought to submit artwork ex- pressing the holiday season in Keizer. The selected art will be used as the city’s 2015 holiday greeting card. The winning entrant will earn a $25 gift card to Mi- chael’s Arts and Crafts. When Melendy originally brought up the idea last fall, the scramble was on to quick- ly get the contest together for the fast approaching holiday season. However, it was de- cided to wait until this com- ing year. Since then, one of the main points of discussion has been when the deadline should be. Former Mayor Lore Chris- topher, who chairs the KAC, had pushed for deadlines to be moved up so commission members would have time to make a decision. “I only changed some dates,” Melendy said when presenting the updated pro- posal. “The fi rst proposal was (a deadline of) Friday, Oct. 16. Lore wanted it earlier. Now it will be Friday, Sept. 18.” Melendy has compiled a two-sided contest form. One side explains the guidelines, rules and conditions; the other side is the entry form. Submissions must be re- ceived at Keizer Civic Cen- ter by 4 p.m. on Sept. 18, ac- companied by a signed entry form. The original artwork must be at least four inches by six inches but no bigger than eight inches by 10 inches. En- tries must be one dimensional for scanning and recreating purposes and can be a paint- ing, drawing or photograph. Up to two entries may be submitted per person, with the artist’s signature appear- ing somewhere on the art- work. The art must be suitable for use as a holiday card and should depict a local scene or an event with a holiday theme. One of the rules deals with religion. “Items that are specifi cally tied to one religion may be excluded,” one of the rules states. “Examples include San- ta Claus, angels, menorahs and other religious-based images.” Entries will be judged at the Sept. 22 KAC meeting, with the winning artist being notifi ed by Sept. 25. While the dates were easily agreed upon, the main ques- tion that came up was restric- tions related to KAC mem- bers. “Will we say our family members are not allowed to submit?” Melendy asked. Jill Hagen said they should be able to. “They can submit, but then you can’t be on the selection committee,” Hagen said. Rick Day had a suggestion. “Maybe you’d just recuse yourself on that one selec- tion,” Day said. Nate Brown, director of Community Development, brought up the issue of fair- ness. “I want to make sure we have the appearance of fair- ness,” Brown said. 2015 Mid-Willamette Valley Jan. 30 & Jan. 31 Fri 4pm – 9pm • Sat 10am – 5pm By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes The general area is known for the Big Toy. However, the exact place- ment of the play structure scheduled to be built by com- munity volunteers in June at Keizer Rapids Park was still up for discussion last week. Mark Caillier, general co- ordinator for the Big Toy, gave an update during the Jan. 6 Community Build Task Force meeting. “I want to talk about the Big Toy location,” Caillier said. “I thought we would have something to look at, but you have to picture it in your mind.” As approved by the Keizer City Council in December, the Big Toy will be going in south of two softball fi elds, in part of the current orchard area. “The apex of the circle is 600 feet of softball fi elds,” Caillier said. “We’ve got to have space in between the fi elds. The Big Toy is at that apex. What we found is if you look at the dog park parking (to the west) and extend that east, where we want to put our parking, you work your way east and by doing that we take a swat out of the orchard. You cut the orchard in half. We need to make sure there’s enough space so farm ma- chinery can get through the orchards.” Caillier said with the park- ing moved over, that would create about a 100-yard walk to the Big Toy. “We want to make it clos- er,” he said. “We looked at moving the Big Toy west from the apex, which also makes the softball fi elds bigger. That puts the Big Toy somewhat into the orchard. We would remove 183 trees. That puts us on fl atter ground and puts us in a space to allow for a bigger softball complex.” Richard Walsh, co-chair of the task force’s fundraising committee, wondered if mov- ing the Big Toy in the other direction would be better. “I guess I’m thinking long- term with the park,” Walsh said. “That means this back- drop will be blocking all the space behind it. We’re creat- ing this big no-man’s land. You would have to go around the play structure to get into the parking lot. I wonder if it wouldn’t be as easy to bring it to the east instead of the west.” Caillier said there’s an ob- stacle in that direction. “If you move the Big Toy toy east you run into a swell, which is right through the fi eld where a burn pile is,” Caillier said. “It goes from the southwest to the northeast. As you move over (to the east), you move more into the swell. If you go straight east, you go right into it. It has a bigger grade than we thought, about obituaries Submit an obituary through our website at keizertimes.com or send an email to: editor@keizertimes.com William Ray Hanson March 15, 1921 – January 11, 2015 William Ray Hanson (Bill), 93, beloved husband, father and grandfather, passed away peacefully January 11, 2015 with his family by his side. He was born in Great Falls, Mont. to Ada and Emil Hanson on March 15, 1921. Bill met his high school sweetheart, Lois Carlson, in 1939 and they married in 1943. Bill and Lois felt the luckiest of all people to have had 71 happy years together. Their daughter, Kathryn, was born in 1948 and son Ken- neth in 1951. Following graduation from the University of Montana with a degree in Industrial Engineer- ing, Bill spent two years in the service in World War Hanson II and was awarded the Purple Heart. In 1946 Lois and Bill moved to Seattle, where he began a career that always involved “numbers” in many applications, such as fi - nancial reports, budgets and the stock market. After some time at Boeing, Bill moved to Virginia Mason Hospital in a business services We’ll transform your kitchen or bath into what you’ve always dreamed of Salem Convention Center 200 Commercial St. SE Salem Hosting: Domestic Violence Support Groups First 100 Attendees Receive Special Gift HEALTH BEAUTY FITNESS FASHION LIFESTYLE $5 Single Admission Per Day Exhibitors Fashion Shows Appetizer Sampling Refreshments Complimentary Parking (Strollers Not Advised ) GOLD SPONSORS SILVER SPONSORS Vintage Boutique Find Us on Facebook “Mid-Willamette Valley Women’s Show” or go to www.OregonBrickProductions.com a seven-foot drop.” Marlene Quinn, chair of the task force, noted Caillier and others made the recom- mendation after going to the site and mapping things out. “The swell is pretty bad out there,” Quinn said. “I’m not sure we have the time and money to extend the parking lot out there.” Walsh encouraged every- one to think about long-term use of the land. “I want the designer to get to work on the fi nal touches,” he said. “We need to get go- ing with it. As far as the exact placement, you can go out and walk it. If it’s feasible without raising the cost, I want us to think long-term and at least explore moving to that east side. If it’s not possible, I’m fi ne. I don’t want to give up the project.” Caillier said that idea had been explored. “We looked at it and we don’t believe it’s possible,” he told Walsh. “I would be glad to go out and show it. Clint (Holland) is waiting for us to make a decision so we can get moving.” A motion was made to approve the siting, at which point Quinn mentioned how long until the fi ve-day com- munity build is scheduled to start on June 11. “We have 154 days until the start of the build,” Quinn said. “We can get going now.” 503.393.2875 remodelkeizer.com CCB#155626 capacity. This led to a year in Berkeley, Calif. to earn a Mas- ter’s degree in Public Health, with a major in Hospital Ad- ministration. The move back to Seattle involved a three- month internship in Salem. Those three months be- came a lifetime. Bill began at the State Hospital as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, then Salem General Hospital Administrator, lead- ing to a position as a legisla- tive fi scal analyst for the state of Oregon. Bill belonged to several or- ganizations, including Salem Convention and Visitors As- sociation, Oregon Employees Federal Credit Union Board of Directors, Salem General Hospital Board of Directors, Fraternal Orders of Elks and Eagles, Disabled American Veterans and the American Heart Association Board of Directors. He was elected to membership in the American College of Hospital Adminis- trators. A private family remem- brance service will be held at Mt. Crest Abbey Mausoleum. The family sends a special thank you to Gentiva Hospice for their care and caring. As- sisting the family was Virgil T. Golden Funeral Service.