SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 34
SECTION A
JULY 24, 2015
$1.00
Progress made in Area C project
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Trees are being taken down and the land cleared for an extension of McLeod Lane off of
Chemawa Road, as seen July 17.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Trees are being taken down
to make way for the road and
permits are being submitted.
Yes, plans for apartments
and senior housing in Keizer
Station Area C are moving
forward.
Plans submitted by Bo-
naventure Senior Living for
a 154-unit retirement com-
munity and Mountain West
Investment Corporation for
180 apartments were approved
by the Keizer City Coun-
cil earlier this year. The new
structures will be built on an
expanded section of McLeod
Lane, which currently ends at
Chemawa Road.
In the last couple of weeks,
trees have been taken down
and the land is being cleared
in the fi eld just east of Che-
mawa.
“Construction is starting,”
said Brian Moore, director of
Real Estate Development for
Mountain West. “All of the
public improvements includ-
ing streets will be some of the
fi rst work done, with utility
and grading work done at the
sites.”
The work has included
submitting permits. This
month alone, 18 permits have
been applied for by Mountain
West apartments – 17 build-
ings, in addition to a mainte-
nance building. The 17 build-
ings range in valuation from
$371,852 to $1,396,910. The
Please see AREA C, Page A12
Hearing held for Keizer youth remembered,
new subdivision
10 years later
Sand
volleyball
courts
PAGE A2
Town
& Country
manager
leaves
PAGE A9
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
A proposal calls for converting this 5.73 acre piece of land into
a 32-home subdivision called Bowden Meadows.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Some concerns were ex-
pressed July 16 regarding a
proposed new housing devel-
opment in west Keizer.
And no, concerns weren’t
just expressed by the neigh-
bors.
Three neighbors did ex-
press various concerns before
Hearings Offi cer Cynthia
Domas, who conducted a
public hearing on a proposal
to turn 5.73 acres of land on
Burbank Street into a 32-lot
subdivision known as Bowden
Meadows. The lots would
range in size from 5,000
square feet to 10,856 square
feet with the average lot being
6,033 square feet.
The project applicant is
Mark Farrow on behalf of
Trademark Enterprises LLC
for property owned by Rob-
ert Bowden and Doug Harner
Submitted
on behalf of JDC Homes LLC. Justin Wood proudly holds his promotion certifi cate from Whiteaker Middle School in June
Sam Litke, senior planner 2005. A month later, the 14-year-old was gone. He was remembered last weekend.
for Keizer, noted the subdivi-
By CRAIG MURPHY
still remember him every doing shopping that day,”
sion was planned several years
Of the Keizertimes
year.”
Brandy said. “It was just a nor-
ago.
It warms Brandy Thomas’
On July 16, 2005 Justin was mal day. The phone call was
Please see HEARING, Page A6 heart to know her son is still fl oating on tubes in the Jordan unreal. I remember every sin-
remembered.
Valley with family members gle detail from that day, what I
About 50 friends and fam- including an uncle, his grand- had bought and everything. I
ily members came to the Best father and some cousins.
never wore the shoes I bought
Western Mill Creek Inn in Sa-
“My brother’s son got into that day.”
lem on July 18 to commemo- trouble,” Brandy Thomas re-
Friends got Brandy and her
rate the 10-year passing of Jus- called. “Justin went to help husband on a private plane
tin Wood.
and got into trouble himself. the next morning. They were
Justin was 14 at the time, They fell into a hole. My there when Justin’s body was
preparing for his freshman brother grabbed for his son, found. A memorial marks the
year at McNary High School but they couldn’t fi nd Justin.” site.
after previously having gone
The incident happened on
In addition to support from
to Clear Lake Elementary and a Saturday afternoon. Justin’s her large family – Brandy has
Whiteaker Middle School.
body was found about a half- 11 brothers and sisters – the
“It feels good that people mile away the next morning.
Latter Day of Saints Church
still
think
of
him.
He’s
still
Brandy
got
the
call
that
and Boys Scouts ward imme-
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Niya Sosa-Martinez (right) touching lives,” said Thomas, Saturday afternoon from her diately stepped up to help.
“We got a lot of support,”
speaks at her sentencing who noted Justin had been ex-husband (Justin’s dad), who
Wednesday. She was given 11 on track to become an Eagle was with the group in Eastern Brandy said. “They were there
years in prison.
Scout. “There is a scout ser- Oregon.
Please see JUSTIN, Page A12
“My husband and I were
mentioned in court she had vice award in his name. They
been on drugs at the time of
the fi re. Sosa-Martinez con-
fi rmed that in the court papers.
“I allowed my minor chil-
dren to remain in my home
where I conducted illegal ac-
tivity by using marijuana,” she
wrote in conjunction with
court-appointed
attorney
Ron Gray. “Further, in using
marijuana a fi re started which
caused the death of my 4-year-
old son due to my neglect and
reckless conduct.”
It was also mentioned last fall
Sosa-Martinez pleaded guilty
in 2012 to child neglect. She
had been found in possession of
marijuana twice since then.
When Keizer Fire District
personnel responded to the
fi re call at the Sosa-Martinez
residence last October, her son’s
body was found inside. A wit-
ness told the Keizertimes Sosa-
Martinez did not go back in an
Submitted
Five adults, four children and pets were displaced by this fi re at a mobile home on the
attempt to save her son and in-
2000 block of Kennedy Circle NE in Keizer on July 15. According to the Keizer Fire District,
stead “started texting like noth-
the cause is still undetermined. Damage was estimated at about $7,000 plus contents, in
ing was happening. We couldn’t
addition to $1,000 in damage to a neighboring home.
fi gure out what the hell she was
doing.”
Mom sentenced for
death of son in fi re
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The mom who pleaded
guilty in the death of her
4-year-old son last fall was sen-
tenced on Wednesday.
Marion County Circuit
Court Judge Courtland Geyer
sentenced Niya Breann Sosa-
Martinez to 11 years in prison.
Sosa-Martinez, 24, pleaded
guilty to three charges last
month, including manslaughter
in the fi rst degree.
The case stems from a fi re
last Oct. 24 that destroyed the
apartment on Susan Court
Sosa-Martinez shared with her
two young children. Sosa-Mar-
tinez was able to get out but
4-year-old Andre Joaquin Sosa
died in the fi re. His older sis-
ter, 6 at the time, was at school
when the fi re broke out.
A trial had been scheduled
to start in late August, but the
guilty pleas meant that wouldn’t
be happening and instead made
the sentencing the last step.
In court papers from last
month, Sosa-Martinez plead-
ed guilty to the manslaughter
charge as well as two counts
of endangering the welfare of
a minor, one count for each
child. The papers called for
a sentence of 120 months in
prison. Information from last
fall indicated Sosa-Martinez’s
husband, Alex Sosa, was already
in prison at the time of the in-
cident.
When Sosa-Martinez was
fi rst indicted last fall, it was
Errors
hamper
Volcanoes
PAGE A10
Mobile home destroyed in blaze
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