SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 13
Ismay is the
MHS basketball
Garbage Man
McNary’s
Knight of Arts
SEE PG. A10
SEE PG. A8
SECTION A
MARCH 13, 2015
Lee runs for third SKSB term
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Chuck Lee likes to joke his
goal is to fl ip-fl op the name
of the Salem-Keizer School
District.
He’s looking for another
chance to do so.
Lee confi rmed to the
Keizertimes on Tuesday he’s
running for a third term on
the Salem-Keizer School
Board. Lee left the Keizer City
Council in 2007 to take over
the Keizer representative seat
vacated by Mike Basinger on
the school board and won his
re-election bid in 2011.
Last fall, Lee came up short
against Bill Post in the battle
to take over the State House
District 25 seat vacated by
Kim Thatcher.
The election for the school
board race takes place on May
19. Candidates have until
March 19 to fi le; as of press
time Wednesday, no one else
had fi led to run against Lee for
his Zone 6 seat.
“I enjoy it,” Lee said of why
he’s running again. “If elected,
it will be 19 years in Keizer
politics for me. I resigned from
the city council with one year
left on my term to run for
the school board. I decided
to go ahead and switch over.
I feel like I’m making a good
contribution. I want to be
involved.”
Lee is the former president
of Blanchet Catholic School
but is currently president of
the Mountain West Career
Technical Institute. Lee is
working with former McNary
High School principal John
Honey to launch the Career
Technical Education Center
Lee
this fall. CTEC is a private-
public partnership being done
in conjunction with the school
district.
Lee doesn’t feel getting
the new center running will
Pinot for the Parks
coming on Friday
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Have some wine and food,
help a playground project.
The third annual Pinot
for the Parks fundraiser takes
place Friday, March 13.
The event, put on by the
Keizer Parks Foundation, runs
from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Keizer
Civic Center, 930 Chemawa
Road N. Tax-deductible tick-
ets are $25, with proceeds be-
ing dedicated to the Big Toy
project at Keizer Rapids Park.
In the past two years
$10,000 has been raised at the
event, leading to a $10,000
check from the KPF to the
playground project. Jeanne
Bond-Esser with the Keizer
Parks Foundation said last
year’s event raised $6,500.
“It is a great event,” said
Parks Foundation member
and Keizer City Councilor
Marlene Quinn, who also
chairs the Community Build
Task Force overseeing the
project. “There’s nothing like
this in Keizer. It’s a very af-
fordable wine tasting and it’s
a social event. We’re the only
one that does this kind of
thing in Keizer. It is fun. It’s
great knowing it all goes to
parks, plus it is fun too.”
Four local wineries (Arcane
detract from his school board
duties.
“I’ve got my side and John
has his,” Lee said. “It’s really
no different than being at
Blanchet and serving on the
council at the same time. You
have extra things going on all
the time while at a high school.
I’m pretty much working with
the community during the day
to build support for (CTEC).
I’m in control of my calendar.”
There are a couple of key
school board issues Lee is
keeping a close eye on for the
future.
“It’s important for us to
successfully implement full-
day kindergarten (this fall),”
he said. “It will be a challenge.
We are also looking at a lot
of crowding at schools in
the east side of Salem, which
continues to concern me. A
lot of it is built around budgets
and budget priorities. We will
be looking at hopefully more
money from the legislature.
We’re also looking at what
we can do to lower class
sizes. When you make those
decisions, you have to keep in
mind the budget.”
Lee continues to point to
the November 2008 passage
of the school district’s $242
million bond as his proudest
moment as a school board
member.
“My job was to rally the
community,” he said. “That
has been the most signifi cant
thing these last eight years.
We were able to take care
of maintenance and repairs
plus build four new schools.
Without that, this school
district would be in diffi cult
shape.”
50 CENTS
in side
Comcast to
support the
Big Toy
(Page A2)
Benny loves
babies in town
(Page A5)
MHS boys, girls
lose in playoffs
(Page A8)
One shot to light up stage
KEIZERTIMES fi le/Lyndon A. Zaitz
Participants take part in last year's Pinot for the Parks fundraiser
at Keizer Civic Center. This year's event takes place Friday,
March 13 starting at 6 p.m.
Cellars at Wheatland Winery,
Illahe Vineyards, Mia Sonatina
Cellars and Willamette Valley
Vineyards) will be on hand
to offer tastings and wine by
the glass, bottle or case. In ad-
dition, The Growl Movement
will offer tastings and glasses
of microbrew beer.
Four food vendors will
be on hand with $5 food
plates. Extreme Chocolates
will have pulled pork sand-
wiches, Incredible Edibles will
have wood-fi red pizza, Big
Town Hero will have seafood
sandwiches and Willamette
Cheese Company will have
craft cheese.
There will also be a silent
auction for gift baskets, din-
ners and jewelry.
Tickets are available at Big
Town Hero or by contacting
Bond-Esser at (503) 362-6414
or KeizerParksFoundation@
gmail.com.
The event was moved to
Keizer Civic Center last year
due to the large crowd at the
inaugural event in 2013.
For more information
about the Keizer Parks Foun-
dation, visit the KPF website
at www.KeizerParksFounda-
tion.org/
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary High School's drama department is
holding its second One Act Festival March 13-14.
Top: The cast of The Courtroom. Above: Annie
Purkey and Erik Halvorson in Small World. Right:
Kailey Fritts and Natalie Wade in Crash Course.
Below: Cameron Garrison and McKinley Friesen in
Philosophical Inquiry at the Edge of a Cliff. Two of
the scripts were written by McNary students and
all of them are student-directed.
Keizer PD uses old
Roth’s for training
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Since the Roth’s grocery
store closed in Keizer nearly
three years ago, it hasn’t been
unusual to see offi cers with
the Keizer Police Department
meet up in the parking lot.
Inside the former grocery
store, though? That hasn’t
happened much.
But that’s just what hap-
pened over a two-day period
last week as all KPD offi cers
went through some training
scenarios in the vacant build-
ing.
Offi cers went through var-
ious scenarios and got imme-
diate feedback, as well as the
opportunity to explain what
they saw.
“We’re putting offi cers
through some drills,” Sgt. Bob
Trump said as offi cer Dave
Babcock started the training.
“This is an on-duty cop. We
pulled him off the road from
his patrol. He’ll go back out
Students direct, write MHS One Acts
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Sgt. Bob Trump (left) with the Keizer Police Department
debriefs with offi cer Dave Babcock (right) after a training
scenario March 4 at the former Roth's grocery store in Keizer.
The KPD used the vacant building for two days of training.
when he’s done here.”
The fi rst scenario involved
hand-to-hand fi ghting, with
Darsy Olafson doing the
training and evaluation.
“It’s practicing defensive
tactics,” said Olafson, who has
been doing the training since
2004. “I can evaluate how well
they’re picking it up.”
Please see KPD, Page A9
The McNary High School
drama department is hosting
a One Act Festival Friday and
Saturday, March 13 and 14.
Tickets are $3 and available
at the door. Curtain time is 7
p.m. each night.
The line-up includes two
plays that were written by Mc-
Nary students. Each one act is
also directed by a student.
Junior
Morgan
Hoag
scripted Crash Course, a story
about moving on after a fatal
crash that killed one of her
friends. Senior John Bryant
directs.
The Courtroom is scripted
by sophomore Alohi Tomble-
son and directed by Morgan
Raymond. In her tale, the
main character ends up on
trial by the Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse.
Senior Julia Fegles directs
Small World, in which several
characters go on blind dates
and fi nd themselves intricately
interconnected.
Bailey Norbo directs Philo-
sophical Inquiry at the Edge of a
Cliff, which fairly well sums
up the intent of the play.
The One Act Festival gives
the upperclassmen in the de-
partment a shot in the di-
rector's chair and generally
features freshmen and sopho-
mores taking the spotlight.