SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 36 SECTION A AUGUST 7, 2015 $1.00 New proposal for hazelnut orchard By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Maybe those hazelnut trees won’t be lonely and decaying after all. In a somewhat surprising twist, a farmer stepped up last month with an offer to farm the 22 acres of fi l- bert orchards on city-owned property at Keizer Rapids Park. In June, Tony Weathers was granted a release from his contract with the city to do the harvesting. Weathers cited possible liti- gation for using pesticides as the rea- son for wanting out of the contract. At the time, it was believed no oth- er farmers would be willing to step in due to the same litigation concerns. However, Kevin Schurter with Schurter Enterprises LLC submitted a proposal on July 14 to Bill Lawyer, Public Works director to Keizer, to harvest the orchards. Of note, Schurter is proposing to not use pesticides or other chemi- cals. He has only requested the ability the use glyphosphate (RoundUp) on the ground underneath trees to keep weeds controlled. The issue was discussed during a Keizer City Council executive ses- sion Monday evening. Later during the regular meeting, councilors unani- mously approved a motion to give city manager Chris Eppley the authority to enter into a one-season contract with Schurter, with the idea that formal Request for Proposals will be done for next year. In his proposal, Schurter mentioned using “mechanical means” for upkeep of the trees and the ground under the trees. McNary Estates garage sale PAGE A2 KEIZERTIMES fi le/Craig Murphy Please see ORCHARD, Page A6 There have been concerns expressed about how long the fi lbert trees in the Keizer Rapids Park orchard will last, but one farmer is willing to try farming them. Turn on, tune in and listen for the mic drop Keizerites help give KMUZ distinct voice and donors. She began volunteering, but was soon asked by one of the KMUZ board members to go through the deejay training. After declining several times, she gave in and went. “All these people were coming in and talking about who they were and exactly what type of program they were going to be doing. It was interesting, but I didn't want to be a deejay,” she said. She was on her way out of the building when lightning struck again. “I was going down the hall and the voice returned. Everything, the name More Accordion, the type of show and the concept all just came to me,” Hathaway said. The fi rst episode of More By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Tara Hathaway caught lightning in a bottle. Twice. The fi rst time was fi ve years ago when the Keizerite and KMUZ (100.7 and 88.5 FM) community radio deejay picked up an accordion for the fi rst time. “That came from an overwhelming feeling of needing music in my life,” Hathaway said. “Out of nowhere it was a little guiding voice saying, 'Tara play the accordion.'” Once she had the instrument in hand she had to fi gure out how to play it. Helped along by an innate ability to play by ear, she hit YouTube and began playing along. About a year later, she saw a Craigslist ad asking for volunteers to talk with potential KMUZ listeners Accordion, which features music for and including the accordion aired Dec. 30, 2011, and is still going. It airs every Wednesday at 2 p.m. The show features accordion music from around the world as well as a healthy sampling of cover songs. A cover of AC/DC's Highway to Hell performed on accordion elicited one of Hathaway's favorite listener responses. “Apparently, some guys working at an auto shop were listening and one of them stopped work to look up the station's number after it played just to leave a message telling me how hard they were rocking out when that song came on,” Hathaway said. Hathaway is one of a handful of Keizerites producing shows for KMUZ that run the gamut from quirky to traditional and help fi ll the airwaves with uniquely mid-Willamette Valley voices. Keizerite Beth Nevue co- hosts the Celtic Music Hour alongside Ann McBride and was another deejay who had no expectation of ending up on air. She belongs to a group called Ceili of the Valley, which celebrates Irish culture and heritage. Early on in KMUZ's development the president of the group signed up for an hour exploring Irish music and culture. “Then I was asked to sit in on a meeting and the next thing I knew they were training deejays,” Nevue said. Celtic Music Hour airs Fridays at 7 p.m. At fi rst the idea of operating the mixing board, which controls sound levels and a rack of CD's among other components, was foreign. “Now, if a problem happens, we know how to deal with it fairly well. They taught us how to engineer our own program,” Nevue said. She and McBride start planning each show by selecting a theme and then diving into their respective music collections looking for the music that will play during the hour. “One time we were able do an entire program on one family. They started out revitalizing traditional music then there were all these offshoot groups. You can only play so many songs from one CD, but we were able to trace this family through all the different groups,” Nevue said. Next, they get together to discuss their fi ndings and Please see KMUZ, Page A10 Smoking ban asked for Dishing out a big mess at RIVERfair By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes They may have had differ- ent motives and rationales, but two citizens speaking to Keiz- er City Councilors on Mon- day shared a similar request. Rhonda Rich and Darrell Richardson both spoke dur- ing the public comment por- tion at the start of the meet- ing, asking for a smoking ban at parks in Keizer. For Rich, the president of the West Keizer Neighbor- hood Association, her concern was due to safety, especially at Keizer Rapids Park in her neighborhood. “I have concerns about tall weeds and limbs around the orchards and cigarettes be- ing discarded into the grass,” Rich said. “There needs to be clearer signs about the dan- gers and a temporary ban on smoking in the park. We need to protect our neighborhood and city.” Bill Lawyer, Public Works director for Keizer, agreed ex- tra signage would be a good idea in the midst of such a dry summer. Parks Board updates PAGE A9 MHS soccer camp PAGE A12 “I have no problem about putting up signs about ex- treme fi re danger and no smoking in the park,” Lawyer said. “I can put signs up to- morrow. We will cover every access point.” Richardson brought up the idea of a smoking ban in Keizer parks back in April. The suggestion was passed on to members of the Keizer Parks and Recreation Adviso- ry Board meeting, who didn’t move forward on such a ban. Please see BAN, Page A9 KEIZERTIMES fi le/Dee Moore Fun times at NNO... Anne-Marie Storms (center) reacts to having pie dumped on her by Andrew Copeland (right) during last year's RIVERfair pie-eating contest. Jerry Wade (left) won the contest. KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy Reni Wilson and Megan Wolfert, both 5, show off their crazy faces during a National Night Out event on Newberg Drive North Tuesday. For more NNO photos, see page A5. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes In case you’re wondering: don’t put blackberry pie in your hair. That PSA comes courtesy of Anne-Marie Storms, the public outreach specialist at Keizer Fire District. In case your next question is “And she would know that how?” there’s a good story be- hind it. It happened at the pie-eat- ing contest during last year’s RIVERfair. The annual event, put on by the Making Keizer Better Foundation, returns to Keizer Rapids Park this Satur- day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The pie-eating contest starts at 2 p.m. at the amphitheater. (For a complete preview of the day, see page A2). Storms has had a year to get ready for this year’s contest, which means she’s had one year more of preparation time compared to last year, when she and Lt. Andrew Copeland from the Keizer Police De- partment stole the show with their impromptu pie-fl inging grudge match. S-K beats Sox off Everett PAGE A13 Please see PIE, Page A10 By your side looking into the unknown… “ Your entire staff is exceptionally nice and effi cient. I was made to feel comfortable and heard.” — Jen (x-ray) 1165 Union St. NE #100 – Salem | 503 - 588- 2674 | www.salemimaging.com