SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 22
SECTION A
MAY 1, 2015
$1.00
Vet wants park saved for memorials
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
A long-standing project
was fi nally completed in the
form of a kiosk in the Pfc.
Ryan J. Hill Memorial Park in
Keizer Station.
A veteran wants to see the
kiosk removed.
Rev. Matthew Price, a
chaplain and American Le-
gion member, previously suc-
ceeded in getting fl ag poles at
the park. That dedication cer-
emony took place last year on
Memorial Day and came after
the park was named for Ryan
Hill, the only Keizer to die in
combat. Hill was killed in Iraq
in 2007.
The fl ag poles are a few
yards from a kiosk honoring
Marie Dorion, an early settler
in the Keizer area. Recently,
the other side of the kiosk was
updated to honor Japanese
history in the Willamette Val-
ley.
Price has been calling for
the kiosk to be removed. He
fi rst spoke about the topic at
the April 6 Keizer City Coun-
cil meeting. Since the kiosk in
question was a Keizer Points
of Interest Committee (KPIC)
project, Price was invited to
attend the April 21 KPIC
meeting.
“I want to express concern
about the kiosk at Pfc. Ryan
J. Hill Park,” Price said. “I un-
derstand it predates the nam-
ing of the park, but it has also
been amended since then. The
dedication to a fallen soldier
eliminates anything else in
there that might be a point of
interest. The sole purpose of
that property now is to honor
the life and sacrifi ce of Pfc.
Effective
today, May 1st,
the price of
a single copy of
the Keizertimes
has increased
to $1.
An annual
subscription to
the Keizertimes
will remain $25.
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
A kiosk honoring Marie Dorion and Japanese farmers sits behind trees at Pfc. Ryan J. Hill
Memorial Park in Keizer Station. Veteran Matthew Price wants the kiosks moved to another park.
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I 're just pret end n '
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y MHS teacher sets powerlift world record n'
Ryan J. Hill. I would suggest a
plaque of the names of all Or-
egon soldiers who have fallen
since 9/11.”
Price
emphasized
he
doesn’t have an issue with the
subjects of the kiosk, just the
location.
“Marie Dorion can be
honored anywhere, but not in
a war memorial,” he said. “It’s
just not done.”
Price noted he led efforts
to get fl ag poles at the park
and “had the privilege and
duty” of escorting Hill’s body
from the funeral home in Al-
bany to the church in Keizer
for the services and later to the
cemetery.
KPIC member Sherrie
Gottfried expressed her ap-
preciation to Price and the
American Legion for what has
already been done at the park.
“We need to discuss this
further as a group,” Gottfried
said. “I don’t necessarily agree.
I have to sit down and get all
the information in front of
me. I don’t think we can make
a decision tonight.”
Gottfried noted the Japa-
nese history project was fi rst
taken on in 2008 and was just
completed. The Marie Dorion
project was also worked on for
several years.
Please see PARK, Page A14
Students dedicate
new tree at KRP
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Vince Suetos makes a world record-breaking squat lift at the Elite Performance Spring Classic in
April. He shattered the previous record by 99 kilos.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Vince Suetos was six inches from setting a
new powerlifting squat record when he was
fairly certain he’d gotten some unwanted help.
“It was probably was the hardest lift I’ve ever
done in my life. I went down and I started back
up and I thought I got stuck. There were 300
people going crazy but I couldn’t hear it,” Sue-
tos said. “I had about six inches to go. I made
it up, but I thought the spotter behind me was
helping me get the weights back on the rack.
I turned around and thanked the spotter for
helping me and he said he didn’t touch the bar.
I got three white lights telling me I’d had a
clean lift.”
The 66-year-old McNary High School
English and health teacher had just lifted 501
kilos, beating the previous world record in the
American Powerlifting Association by 99 ki-
los. By the end of the tournament, the Elite
Performance Spring Classic, he’d lifted a total
of 1,178 kilos between the squat, deadlift and
bench press.
Suetos is no stranger to breaking records, in
his heyday he had several of them in the books.
He started lifting in 1970 and was the national
champion by 1973.
“I had no expectations in that national meet.
I was in the top three going into the deadlift
and the Brigham Young University guy was the
favorite. He just didn’t want to go the extra 15
or 20 pounds that I did and went for second
place instead,” Suetos said.
Please see BENDIN', Page A13
Smoking ban butted out
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Should there be a smoking
ban for all Keizer parks?
That was an idea brought
forward during the most recent
meeting of the Keizer Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board.
However, the Parks Board’s
recommendation back to the
Keizer City Council was to
take no action. Currently, there
are no bans on smoking in any
of Keizer’s 19 parks.
Darrell Richardson, who
lives next to Sunset Park,
brought up the idea during the
April 6 council meeting. He
was encouraged to bring the
topic to the Parks Board meet-
ing the following week, which
he did.
“I would like to see you
propose an ordinance to ban all
smoking in parks,” Richardson
said. “I believe they do in Port-
land and Salem, and Marion
County as well.”
Parks Board member Dylan
Juran noted the topic had been
brought up before and asked
why a ban hadn’t been enacted
at the time.
“The primary reason is a
lot of personal liberty issues,”
Richard Walsh said. “It’s not
illegal to smoke cigarettes.
(Smokers) feel persecuted.
The only safe place to smoke
is in public areas, outside or in
parks. I don’t smoke and I hate
smoking. But it’s a little over-
board to say you can’t smoke in
a 128-acre park. It’s just a little
bandwagonish. These guys are
addicted and do need a place
somewhere. Legislating moral-
ity is not something I’m in fa-
MAKE YOUR
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vor of.”
Walsh opined the bigger
issue is littering and said the
board had to “tailor laws to do
the least amount of harm” to
minorities, in this case smokers.
Richardson said that was
simply Walsh’s opinion.
“How about we send it out
to a vote?” Richardson asked.
“How will you keep them from
doing marijuana? If there’s no
smoking at all, that covers ev-
erything.”
Board member William Cri-
teser pointed to the strain a ban
would place on law enforce-
ment.
“One won’t be able to en-
force it,” Criteser said. “It’s not
a good use of police time to
call them and have them come
down.”
Please see SMOKING, Page A12
GET YOUR
MAMMO
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Students from the Optimum Learning Environment charter
school at Forest Ridge Elementary gather around a new white
oak tree at Keizer Rapids Park April 24 as fi rst grade teacher
Meredith White leads the dedication ceremony.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
There are few ways better to
celebrate Arbor Day than with
a new tree.
Such was the case April 24
at Keizer Rapids Park as more
than 100 students from the Op-
timum Learning Environment
(OLE), a charter school within
Keizer’s Forest Ridge Elemen-
tary, took a bus ride to the park
to dedicate a tree that had been
planted the day before.
“Last year we planted seven
trees on our school grounds,”
said Kevin Pack, president of
OLE.
Mahonia Nursery donated
the large native Oregon white
oak worth nearly $1,500, while
the city provided the space. R
and R Tree Service picked up
the tree and transported it to
the site. Representatives from
all three entities joined stu-
dents and teachers for the Ar-
bor Day activities.
The students were among
those contributing to the proj-
ect, as they raised more than
$400 for long-term care of the
tree.
Students teamed up to
work on posters, which they
showed off at the dedication
event. Students also presented
ABCs of oak trees, with 26
different facts about the trees.
For example, one student found
out the white oak is the nation-
al tree.
First grade teacher Meredith
White helped lead the dedica-
tion event and brought the mi-
crophone for students to share
their information.
“The students have spent
about two weeks on this now,
reading articles about trees,”
White said. “We planted trees
at school last year, so this is a
little different. We have gotten
a lot of parent support for this
project.”
Laurie Aguirre, a second
grade teacher as well as envi-
ronmental coordinator at OLE,
also helped lead the event last
week.
“We are planning to con-
tinue it,” Aguirre said of doing
such an event annually. “This is
our way to donate to the com-
munity. We saw some great
evidence of learning by the stu-
dents. They really learned the
value of trees.”
Please see TREE, Page A12
Stories
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Meet the
SB, transit
candidates
PAGE A2
Gustav’s,
Haggen
now open
PAGE A3
Former
Keizer intern
now in NYC
PAGE A5
McNary
baseball
leads GVC
PAGE A10