SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 35
SECTION A
JULY 31, 2015
$1.00
Marijuana shop siting prompts question:
What is a school?
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
There are some complex rules
when it comes to recreational
marijuana in Oregon.
One of the simple rules would
seem to be marijuana can’t be sold
within a certain distance from
schools. The state law calls for at least
1,000 feet distance, while in Keizer
the distance is 1,500 feet. In addition,
such a facility can not be within 1,000
feet of a public building and has to be
at least 1,000 feet away from another
dispensary.
At last week’s Keizer City Council
meeting, however, the seemingly
“The hair salon is a school on
Chemawa, which is not the
type of school envisioned here.”
— Shannon Johnson, Keizer City Attorney
simple school question grew more
complex: how exactly do you defi ne
a school?
City Attorney Shannon Johnson
said the question was raised because
a person is looking to open a medical
marijuana facility in Keizer within
1,500 feet of the Tangled Ends Hair
Parade mural still
on despite recent
site controversy
By ERIC A. HOWALD
that somebody would put to-
Of the Keizertimes
gether that seven individuals
Think that it might be a sitting together on a volunteer
risk to put up a city-approved advisory board and the city of
mural on the wall of a business Keizer and any of their affi li-
that recently stirred up ates would be a show of sup-
nationwide controversy with port for anyone’s personal po-
an anti-gay marriage message litical beliefs. That is a stretch
on its readerboard?
that in the 20 years of being
Former Keizer mayor Lore with the city, I’ve never seen a
C h r i s t o p h e r,
farther stretch
chair of the
than that,” said
Keizer Public
Christopher.
Arts Commis-
Neverthe-
sion
which
less, it was
met July 28, has
an issue on
some words she
the mind of
would like to
at least one
share on the is-
Keizer resi-
sue.
dent
who
“That’s
a
asked
the
business that’s
question of
been in business
City Council-
for 47 years, it’s
or Amy Ripp,
an iconic Keiz-
liaison
to
— Beth Melendy KPAC, who
er business re-
KPAC commissioner brought
gardless of what
up
was
recently
the possibility
put up on that
of perceptions
sign. The decision to put that regarding a proposed mural
mural on that location on that and recent controversy.
wall was made six months ago.
“It was the site and the city
It had nothing to do with talk- looking like it supports Don’s
ing about Don Lebold’s (own- opinions,” Ripp said before
er of Town & Country Lanes, invoking the moral outrage of
the bowling alley picked as site Christopher.
for Keizer’s next mural) politi-
The question was prompted
cal views. Before we selected by the appearance of a reader
that wall, we certainly did not board message at Town &
say we would like to know Country Lanes stating, “Judges
your political views and how making decisions contrary
they might refl ect on the city. to the word of God will
I think it is an absolute moot they themselves be judged.”
point. It had a long wall with The message was posted
great visibility that lent itself to shortly after a U.S. Supreme
a public mural. I have no reser- Court decision legalizing
vations moving forward and I gay marriage throughout the
can’t imagine that anyone … I, United States.
mean, that is so wildly remote Please see MURAL, Page A6
Academy at 136 Chemawa Road N.
“The background is what is a
public or private school?” Johnson
said. “The hair salon is a school on
Chemawa, which is not the type of
school envisioned here (in the city
ordinance). Our defi nition is broad,
while the state law includes career
schools with minors. We do have
someone within 1,500 feet of the hair
salon interested.”
Johnson’s proposed amendment
to the city’s medical marijuana
facility permit process called for no
such facility within 1,500 feet of
any public or private elementary or
secondary school, as well as any career
school attended primarily by minors.
Mayor Cathy Clark acknowledged
she raised the question when someone
asked her about the topic.
“It prompted me to think that we
have career schools and will it impact
our zoning?” Clark said. “I didn’t
realize someone else was already
looking at property.”
Johnson emphasized the discussion
was about medical marijuana facilities,
not recreational marijuana which
is now legal in Oregon but with a
number of restrictions.
Please see SCHOOL, Page A12
THE LESSON OF
“
WOW
”
National
Night Out
PAGE A2
Oregon
Steam-up
PAGE A3
“Moving the
mural would
send a bad
message that
its become
a political
decision.”
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Claggett Creek Middle School's new choir director, Sandra Krause, leads campers in rehearsals
for their fi nal performance at McNary High School in July.
CCMS lands new choir director
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Sandra Krause breathed a sigh of relief when
admissions offi cers at a naval academy rejected
her application.
“It was like being on the edge of a cliff,”
Krause said. “They turned me down, but it
meant I could pursue what was in my heart
and soul, which was teaching music.”
When Krause takes to the podium as the
new choir director at Claggett Creek Middle
School this fall, she’ll bring with her a wealth of
experience in addition to a passion for teaching.
“I’ve played in a country and western band,
a Top 40 band and I sang in a rock band and
jazz combos. Then I was in musical theater. I
dabble in piano still in lounges. I’ve taught gui-
tar, too. I’ve done everything except R&B,” said
Krause.
She started her teaching career 25 years ago
in Seattle and eventually landed in Utah where
she’ll be spending the next month packing up
her family for the move to the Salem area. She
was in town two weeks ago to help with the
annual McNary Area Choir and Drama Camp.
Despite the depth and breadth of her musi-
cal forays, Krause said she had never experi-
enced anything like interviewing for the job at
Claggett Creek.
“The fi rst day I did my demo and then came
and did the interview, it was like, ‘Welcome to
the family.’” The investment in the choir stu-
dents in this district is so immense. It’s evident
in the way they breathe and talk about music,”
she said.
Please see WOW, Page A6
New details in toddler death at sentencing
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Niya Sosa-Martinez speaks at her sentencing hearing July 22.
Sosa-Martinez pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of
her 4-year-old son.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
In the aftermath of the fi re
last Oct. 24 that killed her
4-year-old son, Niya Breann
Sosa-Martinez talked to de-
tective Chris Nelson with the
Keizer Police Department
multiple times.
The story changed each
time.
Nelson gave some chilling
details July 22 during a sen-
tencing hearing.
Marion County Circuit
Court Judge Courtland Gey-
er ultimately gave Sosa-Mar-
tinez 11 years (132 months)
for the fi re that killed Andre
Joaquin Sosa at their Susan
Court apartment. The mom,
now 24, pled guilty to man-
slaughter in June, meaning
last week’s sentencing took
the place of a trial that had
been scheduled to start in
August.
The sentencing served
as the fi rst time a num-
ber of details about last fall’s
fi re and subsequent inves-
tigation publicly surfaced.
Nelson said he fi rst inter-
viewed Sosa-Martinez the
afternoon of the fi re as he
gave her a ride to the KPD.
In the initial interview, Sosa-
Martinez said her son got a
runny nose so she directed
him to go to the bedroom to
get a Kleenex off the night-
stand which had a candle and
a marijuana bong on it
“Then she heard the loud
noise of breaking glass,” said
Nelson, who noted Sosa-
Martinez felt her son had
knocked over a candle. “She
saw her bed on fi re, told her
son to get out of the apart-
ment and she started to panic.”
After putting some water
on the bed, Sosa-Martinez
told Nelson she tried to get
the burning mattress out the
front door, but couldn’t.
“She saw her son in the
living room, but decided to
walk to the manager’s offi ce
to get help,” Nelson said. “She
said the fi re was so intense, she
could not get back inside. She
could hear her son screaming.
She could not get in because
of the heat. She acknowledged
she should have grabbed her
son (instead of going to the
manager’s offi ce).”
Nelson said Sosa-Martinez
initially said she wasn’t sleep-
ing during the day and had
not been taking drugs. In ad-
dition, according to Nelson,
Sosa-Martinez said her friend
Ivan Cruz had come by that
morning to get some clothes.
She also expressed concern
Nelson would likely discover
she was on probation for child
neglect.
Please see DETAILS, Page A8
New
Little
Library
PAGE A9
Werst to
Pioneers
PAGE A10