SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 32
SECTION A
JULY 10, 2015
$1.00
Civil War reenactor dies
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Tammy Stillwell, second from right on the white horse and shown on July 3, was thrown from her
horse Maxx the following day and died from her injuries.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The Northwest Civil War
Council held its milestone
25th anniversary Civil War re-
enactment this past weekend
at Willamette Mission State
Park just north of Keizer.
Unfortunately, a sad mile-
stone was also marked.
Fire and brimstone
sign ignites furor
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A reader board message at
Town & Country Lanes has
garnered the business a lot of
attention, but most of it is prov-
ing costly.
On Thursday, July 2, T&C
owner Don Lebold posted a
message on the bowling alley’s
sign along River Road North
reading: “Judges making deci-
sions contrary to the word of
God will they themselves be
judged.” The sign alludes to
a recent U.S. Supreme Court
Ruling legalizing gay marriage.
Since the sign was put up it
went viral online and was on
Scott Ingalls, event organiz-
er, confi rmed Tammy Stillwell,
a reenactor from Washington
who was riding her horse
Maxx for the afternoon battle
on July 4, became the fi rst to
die during an event put on by
the group.
“We’ve never even had a
serious injury,” Ingalls said.
Ingalls and others said Still-
well was preparing to head to
the battle fi eld when Maxx
turned into the woods. Still-
well hit a branch and fell to
the ground. She was taken
to Salem Hospital, where she
passed away from internal in-
juries the next day.
Some of Stillwell’s fellow
reenactors posted details and
condolences on Facebook.
“Her horse turned between
two trees and she caught a
branch that took her off the
back of her beloved Maxx,”
Alex Johnson wrote on Mon-
day. “The initial report from
the hospital was two broken
ribs and a laceration on the
liver. (On Sunday) they took
her into surgery to get con-
trol of some internal bleeding.
That great heart stopped and
they were unable to resuscitate
her. Our thoughts and prayers
to her family.”
The incident happened as
the 3 p.m. battle was about
to get going. The Civil War
weekends feature two battles
a day each of the three days
around the 4th of July.
Nearly 1,000 reenactors
from around the Northwest
participate and camp in pe-
riod-correct conditions from
150 years ago.
Stillwell’s husband Bret was
a fellow reenactor.
Fellow reenactor Stephen
Bell posted about the incident
Monday evening.
“Nothing can express the
sorrow we feel for the un-
timely loss of our comrade
and good friend Tammy Still-
well,” Bell wrote. “She went
down hard in a fall from her
horse and passed away a day
later. Captain Bret Stillwell,
her husband and commander
of the 79th New York, has
thanked everyone for their
support. But kind thoughts
and prayers are still needed for
the family to go forward.”
Civil War
reenacted
PAGES A6-7
KEIZERTIMES/Andrew Jackson
A reader board sign at Town
& Country Lanes decrying a
recent SCOTUS decision went
viral earlier this week.
the dailykos blog, the website
for the Hillary Clinton cam-
paign and trended on Facebook.
Please see SIGN, Page A9
Keizer
senior
jumps high
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
New homes continue to be built in the Windsor Island Estates
subdivision in Keizer.
Please see HOMES, Page A12
levy in November.
Transit Board of Directors
recently approved plans to put
a ballot measure that would
levy a .21 percent tax on a
business’ annual payroll on the
Nov. 3 ballot. It’s estimated the
tax would bring in about $5
million a year.
Please see TAX, Page A8
PAGE A10
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Wally Graham and Bud Christopherson joined forces to publish Graham's fi rst book, Wally's
Friends, last month.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When Wally Graham was
10 years old, a relative intro-
duced him to a neighbor as
“weak-in-the-head.” That en-
counter and others left him
with a diminished sense of self
for much of his life.
“The worst thing you can
do to a child is make them feel
inferior,” said Graham, now in
his late 80s.
Many years later, by the
time he had kids and grand-
kids of his own, Graham
wanted to do something that
would instill self-confi dence
in his growing family. He al-
ready made weekly visits to
check in on his granddaugh-
ters Julie and Jennifer, but one
Sunday he decided to make it
something extra special.
“I sat down and wrote a
poem and drew an illustration
to go along with it,” Graham
said.
The poem was called Mis-
3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 463- 4853
2015 OREGON
FORD DEALER
OF THE YEAR
ter Toad and told the story of
the titular toad regaling a bear
with his feelings of inferior-
ity compared to other animal
friends.
“I wanted the girls to learn
something from the poem,
and I thought that kids would
listen to animals more than
they would people,” Graham
said.
The poem was a hit, but
Graham returned to visit the
girls the next week empty-
handed.
“Boy, they were all over me
for it,” he said.
It was quite a while before
he visited again without a new
poem and illustration in-hand.
Despite having never taken an
art class or considering him-
self much of a writer, Graham
amassed dozens of them and
kept each one.
“Each one is kind of its
own thing, but the idea was
getting them to think about
the lesson, then we started
Volcanoes
dust devils
PAGE A10
thinking about it together and
it brought us closer together,”
Graham said.
Twenty years later, Graham
met Bud Christopherson at
Willamette Lutheran Retire-
ment Community. Graham
showed Christopherson his
collection of children’s poems
and associated illustrations.
“I was so impressed with
his poems and pictures that,
for three years, it’s been my
mission to get them pub-
lished,” Christopherson said.
“Wally didn’t put up much of
a fi ght, but I’m a pretty good
talker.”
Christopherson
ap-
proached numerous publish-
ing houses with the project,
and generally got rave reviews
for Graham’s work, but no
commitment to publish. The
long and winding road led
them to Outskirts Press in
Parker, Colo.
Please see BOOK, Page A8
YOUR 1 STOP SHOP
BRAKES, TIRES, BATTERIES
FOR
ily residential units? They’re
being built, too.
Permits for new homes
have been submitted to the
city in higher numbers so far
in 2015 than in recent mem-
ory.
“Last Friday we had 18 res-
idential permits applied for in
one day,” city manager Chris
Eppley mentioned in a weekly
update to staff and city coun-
cilors June 26.
Nate Brown, director of
Community Development for
Keizer, confi rmed there were
18 permits applied for in one
week, mostly in one day.
Transit putting
tax on fall ballot
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
More transit service is
coming in September.
Salem-Keizer Transit offi -
cials hope additional services
will be coming in the years
ahead.
In order for that to happen,
however, voters will need to
approve a business payroll tax
PAGE A2
Friendship puts
book on shelves
Housing
taking off
in Keizer
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
At a budget meeting in
April, concerns were ex-
pressed about projected hous-
ing starts.
As it turns out, there was no
need for such concerns.
Several new projects are ei-
ther done or in the works for
multi-family housing units,
including an expansion of the
Hawks Pointe Apartments and
a couple of senior center facil-
ities. That’s in addition to the
upcoming apartments and se-
nior center facility coming to
an expanded McLeod Lane in
Area C of Keizer Station.
And what about single fam-
Task force
talks signs
We service all makes & models.
No appointments needed.
3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 304-7555