SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 18
SECTION A
APRIL 3, 2015
50 CENTS
Teen pleads guilty in murder
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The son accused in the
murder of his mom and the
attempted murder of his dad
has pled guilty.
Brett Angus Pearson, 18,
pleaded guilty on March 26 to
one count of aggravated mur-
der, one count of attempted
murder with a fi rearm and
one count of conspiracy to
commit aggravated murder.
The charges stemmed from
the March 5, 2014 murder of
44-year-old Michelle Pearson
and the attempted murder of
her 57-year-old husband, Wil-
fred “Bill” Pearson. The guilty
plea was entered in the court-
room of Marion County Cir-
cuit Court judge Dale Penn.
David Wilson, Marion
County deputy district at-
torney, said the trial against
Brett Pearson had been set for
Sept. 15 to Oct. 2. The guilty
plea means that trial won’t be
happening, with sentencing
scheduled for Aug. 28.
“A lot of times it’s easier on
a family to not go through a
trial,” Wilson said last Thurs-
day. “There are some details
that don’t come out in a
change of plea.”
Wilson said the sentencing
range would be between 30
years and life.
At this point, last Thurs-
day’s plea has no impact on
the other teenager charged
in the crime. Brett Pearson’s
friend Robert Daniel Miller
II, 18, is scheduled to go to
trial in November. Wilson said
last Thursday it is too early to
know if Miller will change his
plea as well.
John Storkel, Brett Pear-
Love is coming...
son’s lawyer,
did not return
multiple mes-
sages seeking
comment.
Both Pear-
son and Miller
Brett Pearson were arraigned
on two counts
each of con-
spiracy to commit aggravated
murder and attempted ag-
gravated murder with a fi re-
arm in March 2014. Accord-
ing to an indictment, Pearson
agreed to pay Miller “money
and things of value to unlaw-
fully and intentionally” cause
the death of his mom. In the
same act, according to the in-
dictment, Pearson agreed with
Miller to cause the death of
his parents between Feb. 1 and
March 5, 2014.
Keizer Police Department
Organization Day
big day for Big Toy
Please see BIG TOY, Page A12
MAKE YOUR
MOMMA
PROUD
Home
Home
& Garden
SPECIAL
SECTION
Traffi c
safety
discussed
PAGE A2
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Brigitte Cobb (left) and Colleen Goodwin-Chronister discuss
the proposed mural for Town and Country Lanes during a
meeting March 31. The two were the only artists attending a
meeting about the mural that had been called mandatory.
The concept drawing by
Jill Hagen calls for an impres-
sionistic background to be
painted by local high school
students, artwork such as
handprint leaves and fi nger
print blossoms to be done by
young children and reliefs de-
signed and painted by profes-
sional artists.
Artists can submit a design
for any section, or for the en-
tire mural.
“We have a general con-
cept,” Christopher said at
Tuesday’s meeting. “We don’t
know that this is the vision.
This is a vision.”
Please see MURAL, Page A8
They work hard
for the ivy
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Love Love Teriyaki II is expected to open on either the
second or third weekend of April in the former Adobo
Republic building in Keizer Station, next to GameStop.
and on track so we can kick off
the build on the right foot. At
the end of the day is a wrap up
meeting. The consultant will
give an update on where they’re
at, an evaluation of their prog-
ress and will be there to answer
questions. The construction
captains who are new to the
process will have questions of
their own.”
A representative from Leath-
ers was last in Keizer for Design
Day back in November 2013,
when designer Jane Lewis Hol-
man and assistant Steven Meyer
looked at possible sites for the
play structure, coordinated
meetings with elementary stu-
dents in Keizer, incorporated all
of the ideas into a design and
fi nally presented their design to
the community in an overfl ow-
ing council chambers that same
night.
Project general coordinator
Mark Caillier, who was not on
board at that time, noted Hol-
man and Meyer were shown
three sites around KRP when
they visited. Of the three, Hol-
man liked the original “big
tree” site by the amphitheater
best. That was the site until the
with Portland TV station Fox
12 a couple of days after the
shooting, Brett Pearson admit-
ted to being on methamphet-
amine at the time.
“Regardless of being under
the infl uence, it’s still a deci-
sion I made,” he said while
tearing up during the inter-
view. “It’s still something I did.
It’s still something that was
very wrong and should never
have happened.”
Shortly after the incident,
the Pearson family thanked
the community for its support
in a prepared statement.
“We are overwhelmed by
the outpouring of kindness
and love for our family and
would especially like to thank
our faith communities for
their continuing support and
prayers,” the statement read in
part.
Mural meeting doesn’t
exactly pack the room
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Originally, any artist who
wanted to have their design
considered for Keizer’s sec-
ond public mural had to at-
tend Tuesday’s meeting on the
subject.
That rule is being changed.
The reason is simple: only
two artists showed up at the
mural meeting.
One of those two artists
was Colleen Goodwin-Chro-
nister, who did the fi rst mu-
ral, titled Valley Treasures, on
the side of Keizer Florist last
summer. The other artist was
Brigitte Cobb.
The mural will be done this
summer or early fall on the
north wall at Town and Coun-
try Lanes, located at 3500 Riv-
er Road N. Lore Christopher,
chair of the Keizer Public Arts
Commission, measured the
wall as being 140 feet wide
and nine feet high.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
For the Big Toy playground
project, it’s time to get orga-
nized.
Construction consultant Bill
Hugill from New York-based
project consultant Leathers and
Associates will be in Keizer next
Tuesday, April 7. Hugill will
spend the day meeting with
leaders of the project, including
chairs of the various commit-
tees, two months before com-
munity volunteers are expected
to come out in force to build
the play structure at Keizer
Rapids Park. Construction will
take place over a fi ve-day span,
from June 10 to 14.
“Bill is one of our lead con-
struction consultants,” said Kyle
Cundy, the project manager at
Leathers. Doug Hanuaer was
going to be coming, but a med-
ical situation led to a change.
“It’s organization day, which
is very much what it sounds
like,” Cundy said. “We will
have our construction consul-
tant meet with each committee,
check their status and deter-
mine what they need to do be-
tween today and the build date.
They will create a site layout
plan. They’ll get things prepared
personnel responded to the
Pearson house on Ventura
Loop around 11:30 p.m. last
March 5, after an alarm at
the house was activated. The
deceased body of Michelle
Pearson was found inside the
house, while Bill Pearson was
transported to Salem Hospital
with “serious gunshot inju-
ries.” He was released from the
hospital 17 days later.
Brett Pearson was arrested
around 1 a.m. that night in
Keizer, with Robert Miller
arrested a short time later at a
Salem hotel.
Brett Pearson had dropped
out of McNary High School
and was a student at Down-
town Learning Center in Sa-
lem, while Miller still attended
the Keizer high school at the
time of the incident.
In a jailhouse interview
A look at
Easter
weekend
activities
PAGE A5
Opening
date set
PAGE A6
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Vince Alvarez watches his goats Chip (front) and Ergo do their thing on his property by Keizer
Rapids Park on Tuesday. The city is utilizing the goats to chew up poison ivy at the park.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Some work for the money.
Some work in exchange for
food or beer.
And then you have Chip
and Ergo, who are helping
to clean up the poison ivy
around Keizer Rapids Park.
Chip and Ergo work for
ivy.
After all, they are goats.
Vince Alvarez has lived
right next to KRP since
before it was a park. An animal
lover since childhood, Alvarez
has goats, sheep, geese, emu,
chickens and horses.
About six months ago city
employee Shane Witham, who
lives on the park property,
suggested to Parks Supervisor
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Robert Johnson that the goats
be employed to clear ivy
around the park.
“Shane said the city was
paying to clear the ivy, so he
asked if I’d be interested,” said
Alvarez, who readily agreed
to help out – after all, he’d
made the suggestion himself
previously. “Then Robert
called and said, ‘I’m at Wilco,
do you want me to buy you
panels?’”
Johnson got Alvarez six
panels to build a pen to go
around the goats.
“You put the pens around
them,” Alvarez said. “Once
they’re done in one area, you
move the pen to another area
and move the goats.”
Alvarez said each of the
panels is about $20 and can be
reused, so the total cost to the
city is $120. Neither Alvarez
nor his goats get any payment.
In all, Alvarez said he
currently has six goats. Two are
Please see GOATS, Page A8
Stories
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PAGE A10
Saluting the people that make
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