SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 12
Historic fl oods
to be marked?
SEE PG. 2
KEIZERTIMES.COM
MHS girls
bowling wins
district
SEE PG. 14
JANUARY 30, 2015
50 CENTS
Plowing ahead with MHS turf
New fi eld
expected
to be done
by middle
of August
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Think of it as an 80,000
square foot carpeting job.
That’s what’s in the works
for a new artifi cial turf fi eld
at McNary High School. The
project, which got underway
in earnest last year, is expected
to begin work June 1, said Bill
McNutt, project manager.
“Our goal is to begin mov-
ing dirt then,” McNutt said.
“The grass fi eld will be taken
off and taken to a fi eld owned
by Bob Zielinski. School will
still be in session so, in the
early days, we’ll start after the
fi rst bell and wrap up before
the end of the school day.”
McNutt spearheaded the
installation of the Salem-Keiz-
er School District’s fi rst turf
fi eld at Sprague High School
in 2007. He also consulted on
the West Salem High School
turf project in 2012.
Initial preparation is ex-
pected to take about a month
and entails removing the ex-
isting fi eld and laying the
groundwork – rock, concrete
and drainage – for the new
turf. The FieldTurf product
being used is the same as all
the other high schools in Sa-
lem-Keizer as well as Autzen
and Reser Stadiums.
Actual turf installation is
expected to begin in July with
the goal of having the project
completed by McNary’s Blue
Day, the third Saturday in
August. Georgia-based Field-
Turf, which has a Wilsonville
offi ce, will handle the instal-
lation. McNutt said the Mc-
Nary Athletic Booster Club’s
goal of $500,000 in cash and
$500,000 in in-kind donations
are nearing the fi nish line.
To date, the group has
about $340,000 in pledged
donations, some of which in-
cludes on-fi eld advertising.
“We have a local health
care business, tire business, lo-
cal real estate and local fi nan-
cial representative who will
have logos on the home team's
side of the fi eld,” McNutt said.
While the side of the fi eld
nearest the grandstand is sold
out, there are six logo spots
still available on the visiting
side of the fi eld for $15,000.
That price covers the logo for
the expected life of the fi eld,
about 10 years. Organizers are
also being mindful of the type
of logos that will appear on
the fi eld. No alcohol, tobacco
or fi rearms companies would
be allowed.
in side
Area C talk
at Gubser
meeting
(Page 3)
School board
tackle success
(PG. 5)
MHS girls
tame Grizzlies
(PG. 12)
Submitted
An artist's rendering of what the new turf fi eld will look like at McNary High School. Work on the fi eld is expected to get going on
June 1, with turf installation starting in July and project completion in August.
McNutt said cash dona-
tions have arrived in amounts
as small as $10 and as much as
$100,000.
The turf itself will feature
alternating light and dark
green segments every fi ve
yards. A large McNary “M”
will be placed in the center
and the end zones will be blue
with “McNary” and “Celtics”
in white.
Hurdles still to clear
for Area C proposal
Please see TURF, Page 16
Chief Teague talks about
POP, CRU, stats and more
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
A proposal calling for 180 apartment units and a 154-unit senior living facility got the green light
from the Keizer City Council last week, but is not yet a done deal.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Approval at the Keizer City
Council level does not mean
apartments and a retirement
community in Keizer Station
Area C are a done deal.
After all, this is Area C we’re
talking about – the area where
a Walmart was reported to be
going in back in 2011 before
backlash led to the project
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Keizer Police Chief John Teague (left) speaks at a recent West Keizer Neighborhood Association
meeting as WKNA president Rhonda Rich listens in the background.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
It’s no secret things are
done differently these days at
the Keizer Police Department.
Chief John Teague feels the
changes have been for the bet-
ter – even if that isn’t always
easy to show in numbers.
Teague, who took over as
Keizer’s police chief in Sep-
tember 2013 following the
retirement of Marc Adams,
explained his approach and
the results thus far during the
January West Keizer Neigh-
borhood Association meeting.
One of the main emphasis
for Teague was talking about
a change to problem-oriented
policing (POP) and restarting
the Community Response
Unit (CRU).
“Our industry is going to
more problem-oriented polic-
ing, trying to fi gure out prob-
lems,” Teague said. “For de-
cades we chased the numbers.
Just because we make a bunch
of arrests doesn’t mean we live
in a safe place. When we made
safety our goal, we recognized
it may be we need to change
what we’re doing.”
As part of that, Teague has
given Lt. Andrew Copeland
the authority to go through
reports, identify problems and
use CRU and patrol resources
to solve the problems.
Teague said people such as
a “crazy guy” on Larry Avenue
are being talked to and babysat
in an attempt to be ahead of
issues, instead of simply re-
sponding repeatedly as hap-
pened in the past.
“It helps the neighbors to
feel better,” he said. “We’d
rather be ahead of the prob-
lems, rather than have the
neighbors deal with it. The
new way of doing business is
going out into neighborhoods
so we hear about the prob-
lems.”
Such efforts came to frui-
tion earlier this month when
CRU members made a drug
bust on a house where drugs
had been dealt for 22 years.
Please see TEAGUE, Page 12
coming to a halt.
Previous decisions were ap-
pealed to the Land Use Board
of Appeals (LUBA), which
forced changes to plans that at
one point included a 116,000
square foot commercial space.
The last commercial plans
for the property were sub-
mitted by Chuck Sides in the
fall of 2012, but ended up not
happening.
Mountain West Invest-
ments and Bonaventure Se-
nior Living teamed up last fall
on a proposal calling for 180
apartments (Mountain West)
spread out over two buildings
across from each other on an
expanded McLeod Lane and
154 units (Bonaventure) in a
facility ranging from one story
Please see AREA C, Page 9
Rising at the banquet
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Things will look a little dif-
ferent this year at Keizer’s First
Citizen Awards Banquet.
The annual banquet starts
at 6 p.m. Saturday at Keizer
Quality Suites, having moved
from its previous spot at the
Keizer Civic Center. There
will be a prime rib dinner and
no host bar. Tickets are $44
each or $400 for a table of
eight seats.
Per usual, awards will be
handed out for First Citizen,
Merchant of the Year, Presi-
dent’s Award and Service to
Education.
Nominees for the First Cit-
KEIZERTIMES fi le/Eric A. Howald
Rob Miller (right) was named Merchant of the Year at last year's
Keizer First Citizen Awards Banquet.
izen award are Ri ch Duncan,
Richard Walsh, former mayor
Lore Christopher, Don Co-
nat and Mark Caillier. Mer-
chant of the Year nominees
are Keizertimes publisher Lyn-
don Zaitz, Joe Egli, Scott and
Kalynn White, Shelly Paddock
Please see RISING, Page 12