MAY 8, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
SOFTBALL,
continued from Page A8
South Salem and Forest Grove
high schools and ranked 16th
in all of Oregon. Forest Grove
was just one slot ahead at No.
15. The Celtics are slated to face
both teams next week.
“We’re taking it one inning
at a time right now, we know
were a good team when we fo-
cus. When we don’t the errors
get in our way,” Ebner said.
With all the movement, Witt
said it’s nice to have reasons to
be excited.
“It’s really good. Knowing
that we could be the team to
beat is cool,” she said.
TRACK,
continued from Page A8
athletes headed to the district
meet in the top 10 of their
events. Many of them found
themselves in different events
last week as the team began
tapering off in preparation for
the big event. It likely contrib-
uted to losses for both the boys
Postal workers collect food Saturday
On Saturday, May 9, carriers with the United States Postal
Service will help stamp out hunger by collecting bags of non-
perishable food from their customers.
The USPS is asking its postal customers to fi ll a bag with
food items and place the bag by their mailbox on Saturday, May
9, for their carrier to deliver to a local food bank or pantry.
Most desired food items are canned meats, fi sh, soup, juice,
vegetables, pasta, cereal, peanut butter and rice. They ask that no
food in glass containers be donated.
Sign up for rock music camp
RiverCity Rock Star Academy’s Rock Star Summer Camp is
for ages 9 to 17 and open to all skill levels.
There will be two sessions – June 22 to 26 and July 27 to
31, both 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All other eligible discounts also apply.
Regular enrollment will continue through July 24.
Sign up at: www.rcrockstaracademy.com/rockstarsummer-
camps
and girls in a meet with North
Salem High School Wednesday,
April 29. The boys lost 93-51
and the girls lost 96-52.
Event changes for the ath-
letes did allow a number of
Celts to rise up and meet new
challenges.
For the girls, event winners
were: Hali Thurston in the 200
meter in 28.24; Annabel Gup-
till in the 800 meter in 2:31.29;
and Amanda Vergara in the pole
vault clearing 8-06.
For the boys, event winners
were: Marcus Bracamonte in
the 200 meter in 23.74; Angel
Goemaere in the 400 meter in
55.61; Wilder in both the 110
and 300 hurdles with times of
15.19 and 42.17, respectively;
Austin Brown, Van Voorhis,
Moore and Torres in the 4x100
in 42.76; and Austin Verboort
in the pole vault clearing 9-06.
“Teamwise, everyone is out
here doing the best they can
do. Now it’s just toughing it
out, working on technical stuff
and hoping that what we’ve
done to this point is enough,”
Wilder said.
Hoop camp
begins June 15
The McNary High School
boys basketball program is
hosting summer camps for
boys in June.
The camps are planned
for Monday, June 15, through
Thursday, June 18. Incoming
third through fi fth graders
will meet from 9 a.m. to noon
and incoming sixth through
eighth graders will meet from
1 to 4 p.m.
Camps will focus on de-
veloping fundamentals like
footwork, shooting technique,
passing and catching, dribbling
and rebounding. Cost is $55
and includes a t-shirt. Send
registration forms and pay-
ment (checks payable to Mc-
Nary Boy’s Basketball Club)
to: McNary High School, c/o
Boys Basketball, 595 Che-
mawa Road N., Keizer, OR
97303.
For more information con-
tact Ryan Kirch at 541-908-
1609 or rkirch@hotmail.com
We’ll transform your kitchen
or bath into what you’ve
always dreamed of
503.393.2875
remodelkeizer.com
CCB#155626
PARKS,
continued from Page A1
least doubling the return on
investment. The program was
originally cut from the 2015-
16 budget but was later re-
stored, albeit at only $10,000.
Walsh noted his opinions
were his own and didn’t repre-
sent the Parks Board. He also
referenced visioning projects
from the past such as Keizer
Compass.
“The vision included more
than just police,” Walsh said.
“It included good, cool stuff
in this town. You’ll hear about
must haves and want haves. It’s
important to keep it in per-
spective. Yes, police offi cers are
more important than parks. I
get that. But a city is not just
about offi cers and administra-
tors. You have to go beyond
the basics.
“Keizer fails as a city if peo-
ple grow up here and regret
it,” he added. “It’s about hav-
ing a great town. Where you
can have the greatest impact
is in the parks, especially the
matching grant program. We
morphed the money for Keiz-
er Rapids Park into millions.
When you put money into
police or an administrative
position, I challenge you to
fi nd the same multiplier effect.
I challenge you to fi nd greater
IRIS,
continued from Page A1
was occupied by a new bank.
The event then moved to the
parking lot of what’s now
the Keizer Quality Suites,
where future president Barack
Obama enjoyed a hot dog
while on a campaign swing.
The Iris Festival then re-
turned to Keizer Station, but
kept moving as more and
more space got fi lled in by
new development. The last
move came when REI moved
into the former Circuit City
building.
“When REI came in, we
needed to move for sure,”
Dieker said. “Last year, we had
to be out of there.”
Dieker remembers having a
conversation with Mary Bauer
Opra about the festival need-
ing a home when the event
was moved downtown from
Volcanoes Stadium.
NOTE,
continued from Page A1
Next fall, Janssen is head-
ed to University of Oregon
where he currently plans to
major in music, but said he’s
open to change.
“There is a great low brass
studio as well as a great music
oomph than the matching
grant program.”
Walsh noted the matching
grant program currently has
more applications than it can
fund, with projects like a patio
at the amphitheater at KRP
on hold due to a lack of funds.
“What a waste of oppor-
tunities,” he said. “You cut it
from $14,000 (this year) to
$10,000 and we’re lucky to
get the $10,000. We fail as a
city if we don’t make it a great
place to live. If there’s no place
for families to go outside and
play or have a picnic, they’re
going to regret being here. If
you fi nd any extra budget, I
challenge you to think if it’s
more important anywhere
else than multiplying it in the
parks department.”
In contrast to Walsh,
Rhonda Rich asked for less
funding for the West Keizer
Neighborhood
Association
(from $900 this year to $500
next year) while Daisy Hick-
man and JoAnne Beilke talked
about the need for additional
funding for the Keizer Com-
munity Library to compensate
for rent increases.
City Manager Chris Ep-
pley, per usual at the fi rst bud-
get meeting of the year, gave
his overview and budget mes-
sage. The total proposed 2015-
16 budget is $38,028,800, an
increase of 3 percent from this
fi scal year.
Eppley said highlights of
the budget include adding a
traffi c offi cer for the Keizer
Police Department, augment-
ing Keizer Community Cen-
ter rental revenues with tran-
sient occupancy tax revenues
and putting in the $10,000 for
the matching grant program
for parks.
“This year is going to be
counterintuitive for most
people,” Eppley said. “Most
people are feeling better about
the economy. The city was
two years behind the rest of
the world heading into the re-
cession and two years behind
heading out. (Factors) are im-
proving, but still cause us to be
cautious.
“Last year was a big year for
us as we added a lot of servic-
es,” he added. “This year what
you’re going to see in terms of
budget is us taking a big breath
to allow us to absorb those ex-
penses and to allow revenues
to catch back up with us. In
the future years we look stable
but this year we need to be
careful and cautious, to make
sure trends continue.”
Eppley noted the budget is
largely status quo in most de-
partments.
“There’s nothing worse
than adding services that you
have to turn around and take
away,” he said. “You always try
to be conservative about how
you go forward.”
“It’s in a really nice spot
now,” Dieker said of the cur-
rent location. “Cherry Avenue
is not the prettiest place. It
needs some renovating. This
will help with getting the fo-
cus of a Urban Renewal dis-
trict. Places like JC’s Pizzeria
have talked about getting side-
walks fi xed. Urban Renewal
funds could be put into that.”
Even if the surroundings
aren’t top-notch, Dieker fi nds
the positives and feels the Iris
Festival is settling back in
downtown.
“We’re still very excited
about having it in the core
of Keizer,” she said. “This is
where the fi rst festival began.
That and with our local at-
tachment with the breweries
and local bands, I think we are
getting excited about the fact
this is truly a Keizer celebra-
tion. This is kind of neat. I like
the idea that people can walk
to it. So far, so good. We’re
anxious to do it this year, after
what we saw last year.”
Egli pointed to a key posi-
tive of having the festival in
the same base location for a
second year.
“It was a lot of work to
keep moving,” he said. “Every
time we move this, it’s extra
logistics that takes away from
the overall festival. That time
and energy can now be spent
on other things.”
Egli heard more comments
about the location last year
than this year, but he points
out that is the case for good
reason.
“We had far more com-
ments from citizens last year
because it was a new location,”
he said. “We’ve had far more
comments from the businesses
this year. They love having it
here. And for good reason. It
really is the heart of Keizer.
The parade starts one mile to
the north of us and ends one
mile to the south of us. Plus
we’ve got Mr. Keizer’s (Dave
Walery) Christmas tree right
there.”
program there and it seems
like the best choice for me at
the moment,” he said.
They may specialize in
classical music, but McNary
soloists were rocking it all last
weekend.
In addition to Janssen’s
state title, Hyrum Kohler
took second in viola; Tay-
lor McCoin took second in
bass viola; Noe Aguilar Lo-
pez took second in tuba; Josh
Kuhl took third in saxophone
and Anthony Tarter took fi fth
in tuba.
On top of all that, Mc-
Nary’s string ensemble took
a state title. The musicians in
the group are Kohler, Greg
Eggleston, Ryan Lopez, Drew
Faatz, Marissa Lane Massee,
Rachelle Austin and Cassan-
dra Jones.
puzzle answers