PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 3, 2015
MURAL: ‘Less images
would be better.’
(Continued from pg. A1)
Goats Chip (front)
and Ergo (back) do
their work Tuesday
on property at
Keizer Rapids Park.
The owner of the
goats, Vince Alvarez,
has worked out a
deal with the city
to have his animals
chew poison oak
and more on city
park property.
KEIZERTIMES/
Craig Murphy
GOATS,
continued from Page A1
currently on loan for similar
work in Monmouth, while a
couple of young ones aren’t
being used yet. That leaves
Chip and Ergo to do the work.
Johnson said the partner-
ship between the city and the
goats is perfect.
“My initial thought was,
‘How will we keep the goats
in one area and how often
will they need to be moved
around?’” he said. “Vince had
mentioned to me how his
goats eat a lot of food and he
was running out of plant ma-
terial for his goats to eat on his
property. He said it is easy for
him to simply leash them to a
stake in the ground or build a
temporary pen.
“I mentioned that we had
lots of ivy, blackberries and
poison oak that we need to
get rid of in Keizer Rapids
Park,” Johnson added. “It’s a
perfect partnership for Vince
and the city. I believe anytime
that we can work together
with neighbors and citizens of
Keizer to benefi t each other
we shall make an effort to do
so.”
Being so close to the river,
Alvarez noted goats are per-
ceptible to parasites from the
water. Thus he has LaManchas,
a breed more resistant to the
parasites.
“The fi rst thing they’ll go
for is the poison oak,” Alva-
rez said as his 7-year-old goats
calmly and quietly did their
work. “It doesn’t hurt them.”
Alvarez said he has the
freedom to dispatch the goats
wherever he chooses.
“The city said wherever I
want to put them is fi ne,” he
said. “I can move them any-
where. The main thing is the
ivy.”
Even when done with an
area, Chip and Ergo won’t be
totally done since they don’t
get the roots out.
“Basically they just mow
it down,” Alvarez said. “It will
come back.”
In other words, Chip and
Ergo have learned all about
job security.
In theory, Chip and Ergo
could do the work non-stop
as long as they have a little bit
of water.
“Even in the winter they
can do it,” Alvarez said. “They
can be out here all night. The
only thing that worries me is
people with dogs that have no
leash, since they could attack
them.”
While the poison oak isn’t
poisonous to the goats, other
things are.
“They are pretty smart,”
Alvarez said. “They can tell
the rhododendrons and aza-
leas. They know those are poi-
sonous, so they don’t touch
them.”
The goats don’t need pay
and they don’t need to be fed
– after all, eating is their job.
Chip and Ergo just do their
work, without grumbling
about the hours or the job.
“These two are busy,” Alva-
rez said. “They are on a mis-
sion.”
Johnson would like to see
the mission continue.
“So far the goats seem to
be doing well and this is sav-
ing us lots of man hours that
we normally don’t have time
to devote to such work,”
Johnson said. “I am anxious
to see how this will work for
years to come. I hope we can
continue this type of practice
in the future.”
The due date for submis-
sions is April 30, to be turned
into deputy city recorder
Debbie Lockhart at Keizer
Civic Center, located at 930
Chemawa Road NE. Submis-
sions can also be e-mailed to
lockhartd@keizer.org. KPAC
members will select the win-
ning entry at their monthly
meeting in late May.
A timeline calls for the
bowling alley’s wall to start
being prepared this month,
with painting to take place in
July and August and a pub-
lic presentation of the mural
sometime in either September
or October. Last year’s mural
at Keizer Florist was presented
on Oct. 1.
Christopher noted the
mural won’t necessarily have
to be 140 feet at the business
owned by Don Lebold.
“We can use all or a por-
tion of that space,” she said.
“Don Lebold is very excited
about this. The one thing he’d
like to see is a stream and
jumping fi sh. He’s a fi sherman
and would love to see that. We
want to see that incorporated
in some way.”
The winning artist(s) will
be fi nancially compensated,
but those details haven’t been
ironed out. The total budget
for the project is about $3,000.
“Once we adopt the con-
cept, we will know how to
distribute the funding,” Chris-
topher said. “If we had a room
of artists, we might do one
each. We won’t spend more
than $3,000 in payment to
artists. How that’s going to be
distributed, we don’t know
yet.”
Hagen said ideas from the
community will be used.
“We welcome the diversity
everyone in the community
will be bringing,” Hagen said.
“What we’re looking for is
people to submit something
of their strengths. Go by your
own strengths. We will try to
incorporate everything the
community brings to us.”
Christopher emphasized
the concept is just that.
“We have a month for ideas
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Colleen Goodwin-Chronister (left) discusses Jill Hagen’s con-
cept of a new mural for Town and Country Lanes prior to a
meeting on Tuesday. Goodwin-Chronister did the mural on the
side of Keizer Florist last year.
to come in,” said Christopher,
who noted Sherwin-Williams
will be helping with paint do-
nations. “If we don’t have a lot
of ideas or big additions, we
will promote this concept in
some way. But I hope that’s
not the case. I hope we get a
number of submissions.”
Before the meeting, Good-
win-Chronister looked at the
concept.
“I think we’ve got a lot
of ideas,” she said. “Tonight I
came to see what’s happening
next.”
Cobb worried about the
number of items in the con-
cept.
“I was thinking to keep it
simple, not too many sym-
bols,” she said during the
meeting. “It needs to cut back
a little bit on the design, oth-
erwise things will get lost.
Some things that don’t go into
this one can go into the next
mural.”
Christopher agreed drivers
going by the mural at 35 mph
wouldn’t be able to see all the
details shown in the concept.
“That’s why I’m saying we
don’t have to use that,” Chris-
topher said.
Cobb emphasized after-
wards the need for fewer de-
tails.
“I think it’s workable, but
it has to be scaled down,” she
said. “There are too many
things in it. It’s like in a din-
ner, you don’t have to fi x all
of the dishes. Sometimes less
is better. Less images would be
better.”
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