PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 24, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Fire board candidate
outlines goals
To the Editor:
When I retired from full-time em-
ployment I was determined to get
involved again with the Keizer com-
munity. This led to my appointment
to the Keizer Fire District Budget
Committee and joining the Keizer
Fire District Citizens’ Advisory Com-
mittee. Attending Budget Commit-
tee meetings and board of director
meetings, as well as reading through
monthly board meeting agenda pack-
ets, fostered a desire for a deeper in-
volvement with the Keizer Fire Dis-
trict, so I decided to run for the Board
of Directors, position number 3.
During a career of successful fi nan-
cial management and leading strategic
planning processes for a multi-million
dollar organization, I learned the
value of establishing goals and proce-
dures to facilitate the work effort. If
I’m elected to the Keizer Fire District
Board of Directors, these will be my
guiding principles:
1. Maintain Keizer’s ISO (Insur-
ance Service Offi ce) rating of 2. A
change to a higher rating would in-
crease fi re insurance rates.
2. Maintain a strong volunteer pro-
gram. This helps keep our tax rates
low.
3. Maintain the current 95 per-
cent emergency response times of six
minutes or less, and retain staffi ng and
equipment at adequate levels.
4. Continue the district’s involve-
ment in events such as the Iris Fes-
tival and city planning such as pre-
construction plan reviews and traffi c
route changes.
5. Involve all stakeholders in
the strategic process to maintain or
improve disaster planning (fl oods,
storms, earthquakes) and fi re preven-
tion services.
I would appreciate your vote in the
coming May elections.
Chet Patterson
Keizer
Support for Chet
Patterson
To the Editor:
I support Chet Patterson for Po-
sition 3 of the Keizer Fire District
Board of Directors. He and his fam-
ily have been part of the community
since 1978, and Chet has been part
of Keizer “from the ground up.” He
co-authored the feasibility study that
led to the successful incorporation of
Keizer in 1982 and was twice elected
to the City Council, serving as the
city’s fi rst budget offi cer during his
fi rst term.
Chet and his wife, Chris, have
contributed much to Keizer over the
years. Their daughter and her family
live in Keizer; their son is a Seattle
fi refi ghter. So Chet understands fi rst-
hand the safety and equipment needs
of fi re department personnel.
Chet is a man of great integrity and
his extensive career in fi nancial plan-
ning and budgets will enhance the
fi scal responsibility of the board. He
recently retired as the CFO of Men-
nonite Village (a retirement commu-
nity) in Albany and was vice president
of administration and fi nance at West-
ern Baptist College (now Corban
University) in Salem before that.
His background in fi nance and
fi rsthand acquaintance with the needs
of fi refi ghters, along with his years of
civic involvement, make him the ideal
candidate to fi ll this position.
Susan Miholer
Keizer
To the Editor:
I will vote for Chet Patterson, fi re
district position 3 because he has
earned it. Not content with merely
helping to found Keizer he has worked
to make this a better town ever since.
He is driven to learn all sides of the
issues and has the unique professional
qualifi cations to choose the best path.
His dedication to maintaining the
livability and safety of Keizer can-
letters
not be doubted.
I am not smart
enough to un-
derstand all these
civic questions,
but Chet is.
Don Vowell
Keizer
Support for
Jim Taylor
To the Editor:
I have served with Jim Taylor on
the Keizer City Council and on many
committees and task forces. Over the
years I have learned that Mr. Taylor
always puts Keizer residents fi rst, steps
up to help when asked, and keeps an
open mind to fi nd creative ways to
get the best bang for the buck.
Mr. Taylor has a wealth of knowl-
edge and experience from his lifetime
spent in Keizer as a coach, mentor, city
councilor, fi sherman, Rotarian, dedi-
cated volunteer, small business owner
and much more. His well rounded
experiences allow him to understand
the needs, wants, and fi nancial limita-
tions of Keizer residents throughout
our community. For these reasons I
am very confi dent that he will make
an excellent board member. Please
join me in voting for Jim Taylor for
the Keizer Fire District Board of Di-
rectors.
Richard Walsh
Keizer
State should go slow
on speed increase
To the Editor:
As the Oregon legislature races
toward increasing speed limits (pun
intended), they need to back off for
a moment and think about the unin-
tended consequences that will follow.
How about this: Let’s talk about
funding the Oregon State Police with
the goal of hiring a few hundred
troopers to regain the strength the
Department had during the 1980s.
That will take a couple of years to
hire and train them for the increased
workload they will face covering the
accidents that are sure to come. And
then let’s talk about enforcement. The
truth is 75 will become 85, because
that is what many drivers will take.
Those traveling between 75 and 84
will probably skate because the troop-
ers will keep busy with the 85 and
above. After all, the goal should be
about safety, not raising revenue.
Here’s another thought: ODOT is
in the process of installing protective
cables to reduce the risk of cross over
accidents on divided highways. Why
don’t we put in place those safety ca-
bles before we increase those speeds?
And fi nally, a word about the dif-
ference between 65 and 75 miles per
hour when you’re in a crash. If you
were to close your eyes and run, not
sprint, straight ahead into your living
room wall, you’d hit the wall at about
10 mph. Then you would know the
difference 10 mph makes.
So let’s put in place measures that
will minimize the outcomes that
are sure to follow, then increase the
speeds. It’s better than ready, fi re, aim.
Wayne A. Moreland
Keizer
Ktimes editorial,
story disrespectful
To the Editor:
We have had the great honor to
volunteer in Keizer for many years
and are so very grateful to live in a
city that supports and appreciates the
people who give so much of their
precious time and talents. This is why
we were so disappointed in Craig
Murphy’s very negative and inap-
propriate comments about Joe Egli
and others in the editorial (Candidates
deserve more, April 17) and in the Iris
Festival article (Brewfest for Keizerfest?,
April 17). You certainly have every
right to state your opinion in that col-
umn but we would like to state ours
Keizertimes
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editor@keizertimes.com
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LEGAL NOTICES
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facebook.com/keizertimes
Not known for his intellect, George
W. Bush was remarkable for his abil-
ity to make prophetic statements
on at least one occasion. On May 1,
2003, after landing by small jet aboard
the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lin-
coln and standing under a banner that
read “Mission Accomplished,” then-
President Bush heralded “the arrival
of a new era.”
He also announced that “major
combat operations in Iraq have end-
ed;” yet, we know now, that, nearly 12
years later, in 2015, a new president,
having served almost fi ve years, com-
bat operations in the Middle East in
2003 had barely begun. We’re nowa-
days into a bombing regimen in Iraq
and Syria that’s appears far from fi n-
ished. So, President Bush was right
that, by way of the U.S. invasion of
Iraq, a new era had gotten underway.
Bush’s neoconservative regime
supporters thought the moment on
the deck of the U.S. carrier launched a
new order in the Middle East, the start
of another 50 years of American dom-
ination that got underway in 1953
when the CIA overthrew democrati-
cally elected Iranian prime minister
Mohammad Mosaddegh and replaced
him with the hopelessly corrupt Shah
so U.S. oil interests could get their
hands on the wells there and con-
trol their fl ow. Then, too, those folks
were looking to end Syria’s Bashar al-
Assad and crush Iran’s fundamentalists.
It may be that the last laughs on
us as we are shocked and awed with
what’s come of our involvement in
the Middle East. Instead, rather than
what was anticipated by the true be-
lievers under the auspices of Bush
and Cheney, we
have a nearly
totally
frag-
mented Middle
East with on-
going, out-of-
control
con-
fl icts, thousands
of deaths by sectarian struggle, and the
prospect of domination by ISIS that
seeks a caliphate dictatorship. Only
two nations, Saudi Arabia, whose
kingdom is into a state of high anxi-
ety and whose bombing missions in
Yemen are mostly disturbing desert
dust, and Iran, the real winner in all
that’s happened and whose rise to as-
cendancy no longer has a rival in the
Middle East.
It’s certain that if the agreement
between the U.S. and Iran comes to
fruition it is sure to enhance Iran’s sta-
tus as a powerhouse. It weakens Israel,
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. For
the last dozen years, the U.S. has dem-
onstrated ill-coordinated efforts in-
terspersed by the short-term fl aying
around of ill-conceived and down-
right stupid moves: We helped Iran by
what we did in Iraq and there could
be nothing more bone-headed and
sure to bring defeat after defeat than
to take sides in the 1400-years war
between Islam’s Sunni and Shia fac-
tions. Keep in mind that the U.S. is
seen as a modern-day Christian cru-
sader while U.S. troops are viewed as
infi dels.
We should have, could have,
learned from Vietnam. Now we’ve
returned for what may be called Iraq
War 2, or is it Iraq War 3? For example
our humanitarian effort last year to
as well because we couldn’t disagree
with you more.
Your editorial comment about Joe
taking 20 minutes out of the Cham-
ber meeting was petty and personal as
well as just not true. Dan Clem did
a great job of keeping everyone on
schedule. We enjoyed the meeting
and the forum by which the candi-
dates were presented. We are Keizer
and we love that we do things dif-
ferently here. You also seemed to
think you should throw Chuck Lee
and the Chamber itself under the
bus for not presenting things the way
you thought it should go. Our busi-
ness has been a proud member of the
Keizer Chamber of Commerce since
its inception and it has, and always will
be, a conduit for communication to
our city. We hope they continue pre-
senting these kinds of meetings where
candidates can be real people sitting
with us common folks and speaking
from the heart instead of the podium.
We hope our passionate volunteers
and hard-working politicians will
continue to serve our city and know
how appreciated they are. Thank you
for all you do! We certainly support
differences of opinions and construc-
tive reporting but it is a sad day when
our own newspaper choses to dis-
respect its wonderful volunteers, its
Chamber of Commerce and politi-
cians.
Mary Bauer Opra, Tom Bauer,
Dave Bauer
Keizer
working, lunch
table talk, and
introductions is
scheduled from
11:30 a.m. to 1
p.m. at the Keiz-
er Quality Suites
located at 5188
Wittenberg Lane NE, Keizer.
Due potentially to having 22 can-
didates attend this brief luncheon,
candidates offered in writing their
response to our question sent in ad-
vance to them: “How will your po-
sition help Keizer businesses?” The
Keizer Chamber published and dis-
tributed their replies on a “Candidate
Flyer” at the luncheon.
The Chamber is diligent in recog-
nizing candidates and businesses own-
ers at these networking luncheons.
Those candidates who attended were
grateful to have the time to be rec-
ognized, to be heard and were happy
to meet business owners. And the
attending public, seemed to be in-
formed and appreciative as well.
And we, your Keizer Chamber of
Commerce, are grateful for all of the
candidates’ willingness to step up and
help to keep Keizer safe, economically
POSTMASTER
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Andrew Jackson
graphics@keizertimes.com
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Mission is not accomplished
twitter.com/keizertimes
Chamber forum
fl owed as planned
To the Editor:
Re: Candidates deserved more, edi-
torial, April 17:
I would ask Mr. Craig Murphy to
read the information provided on our
Chamber website. Our calendar ex-
cerpt states: The hour and half of net-
gene h.
mcintyre
letters
save the Yazidi people from destruc-
tion at the hands of ISIS has turned
into a full-scale bombing of Syria and
Iraq. And former generals like the
disgraced David Petraeus is back giv-
ing advice and hawks like Dick
Cheney are ecstatically happy. Mean-
while, Americans and America are less
trusted than ever and more and more
Arabs hate us and seek our demise.
All that’s happening is timely for
Iran. Iran is recognized as an ethni-
cally stable nation that’s religiously,
culturally and linguistically homoge-
neous with its minorities and has them
under control. Iran remains governed
by its clerics but has evolving demo-
cratic transitions at the secular level.
It’s been able to do okay economically
by selling its oil to Asian nations. Iran
does not fear an Islamic revolution as
it had one that succeeded three dozen
years ago.
Iran’s leaders know their country
could never go fully nuclear with-
out ensuring catastrophic destruc-
tion through Israeli nuclear strikes.
So, trading progress on developing
nuclear weapons for the removal of
sanctions is a darn good deal for them.
The U.S. has done a great favor
for Iran. While we’ve practiced oc-
cupying lands in the Middle East
at staggering costs in American lives
and treasury, Iran’s climb to top dog
status in their part of the world has
been to collect client states, support
proxy fi ghters and align governments
and their military potential as allies.
They are Shia over Sunni. George
was right, it is a new era.
(Gene McIntyre’s column appears
weekly in the Keizertimes.)
strong, and moving forward.
Audrey Butler
President, Keizer Chamber
of Commerce
Candidate forum
To the Editor:
When invited to the Keizer Cham-
ber’s “Meet the May Primary Election
Candidates” presentation my invita-
tion notifi ed me that there would be
“an hour and a half of networking,
lunch table talk, and introductions.” I
appreciate that Mr. Craig Murphy of
the Keizertimes believed that candi-
dates deserved more time to speak, but
the original schedule only planned for
introductions. The main information
about the candidates and how they
would support Keizer businesses was
to be in written form, which I gladly
provided.
The reduced time for the intro-
ductions was caused by an unintended
lengthy presentation, to be sure, but
the overall purpose of the luncheon
was achieved. And the food was su-
perb!
Colleen Busch
Keizer