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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2015)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 37 SECTION A AUGUST 14, 2015 $1.00 CTEC getting ready to start KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy John Honey, principal of the new Career Technical Education Center, gave a tour to Keizer City Councilors and others on Monday. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes John Honey and Chuck Lee are used to the start of a school year. After all, the two men have about 70 years of experience in the education fi eld. Hon- ey was principal at McNary High School until his current gig, while Lee recently won his third term on the Salem- Keizer School Board. But this is a little different. The two veteran educators have been putting together the school district’s new Ca- reer Technical Education Center in the former Neilsen Manufacturing building at 3501 Portland Road NE in Salem. Honey is principal of CTEC, while Lee is president of the Mountain West Career Technical Institute. Mountain West entered into a partner- ship with the school district to develop and operate CTEC. When CTEC opens next month there will be 180 stu- dents – 42 of whom are MHS students – and two programs: manufacturing and construc- tion. Lee and Honey are scram- bling to get the building ready. A prime example was seen Monday as Keizer City Councilors and several citi- zens came for a tour: the dead brown grass was being spray painted green. “When we’re at capacity we’ll have 10 programs, 1200 kids and 65 staff members,” Honey said, noting that is ex- pected to happen in fi ve years, with two programs added each year. “This will never be a school; it will be a program. Students will never get diplo- mas from here.” Instead, juniors and seniors in the program will still be enrolled in their regular high schools. A CTEC bus will pro- vide transportation. Students will spend two days a week taking classes at the CTEC location, but will still be able to participate in regular school activities as well. “We want those McNary High School kids to do foot- ball, cheerleading, French or anything else at school,” Honey said. “On the other days they’ll come here and get what no kids in the Salem- Keizer area have ever gotten.” MHS turf fi eld update PAGE A8 KPD duo retires PAGE A5 Please see CTEC, Page A6 Post talks about A look at hazelnut growing fi rst year in Capitol Dan Clem (top) from the Keizer Chamber of Commerce jokes around with Rep. Bill Post during a luncheon on Tuesday. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Even though he was a freshman serving in the state legislature, Rep. Bill Post of Keizer had some idea what to expect during the session. After all, the Republican visited area lawmakers like Sen. Kim Thatcher (who for- merly held the House District 25 seat Post defeated Chuck Lee for in 2014) a number of times and hosted a radio show from the Capitol in Salem many times. “There was nothing that really surprised me, but then again I had a little more in- sight than the average citizen,” Post said following a Keizer Chamber of Commerce lun- cheon at the Keizer Quality Suites on Tuesday. “But I was shocked by the absolute vol- ume. More than 4,000 bills were introduced and about 900 new laws were passed. I don’t know if I was surprised or shocked, but I couldn’t be- lieve the volume.” Post said he got some good advice from veteran lawmak- ers. “Some of the old mem- bers said wait until the end,” he said. That was certainly the case this year as about 100 laws were passed at the end of the session after Sine Die was de- clared by the Democrats, who controlled the house and the senate. “It’s a tool to get done what they want at the end,” Post said. “Republicans have done it, too, when they were in control. The bills kept com- ing so fast.” During his speech to the three dozen present for the luncheon, Post expanded on the hectic ending. “You have several days for a bill to be introduced and talked about,” Post said. “With Sine Die, you have one hour. Some of them weren’t given in writing. We didn’t know what we were voting on. One was a budget bill with 147 bud- gets in it. I wanted to vote on each one separately. I couldn’t because I had to vote on the overall bill, so I voted no. The majority party uses (Sine Die) as a tool. If there was a Re- publican majority and this happened, I’ll still stand up and say this is wrong.” Post predicted the short 2016 session won’t be pretty. “When we voted in 2010 for annual sessions, the law said it was to revisit and bal- ance the state budget only,” he said. “It said nothing about in- troducing new bills. Then the Please see POST, Page A7 “The council authorized Chris to proceed without fur- ther council action and the lease will likely be signed very soon,” city attorney Shannon Johnson said Aug. 6. “Orchard work could begin very soon.” The health of the trees has been a concern for years, with most projections being less than 10 years before all of the trees will have to be taken down. “The non-use of chemicals will speed up the death of the trees, but it is hard to say ex- actly how long they will last,” Schurter wrote in his proposal. “Hazelnut trees of that variety and age suffer from Eastern Filbert Blight, and spraying and pruning is the only effec- tive way to combat it. Pruning will hold it at bay, but they will eventually succumb.” Klein said trees with heavy blight infection will indeed continue to deteriorate. “There’s little that can be done if that’s the case without severe pruning and repeated sprays in coming years,” he said. Klein noted the issue is common. “There are no plans to ini- tiate research on untreated orchards as there have been hundreds of others seen in the last 20-plus years suffering the same fate. Everyone in the industry is aware of what will occur over time,” he said. It’s been mentioned several times recently a lower hazel- nut crop than usual, particu- larly due to issues in Turkey, Hops beat Volcanoes PAGE A8 Please see HARVEST, Page A6 There's something on your face... Big Toy funding hits goal PAGE A2 KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy Keizer Police Department cadet Giancarlo Marcelo (left) poses with KPD Lt. Andrew Copeland (right) after winning the grudge match pie-eating contest at RIVERfair Aug. 8. For more photos from the day, please see pg. A10 and our photo gallery on Facebook. 3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 463- 4853 2015 OREGON FORD DEALER OF THE YEAR KEIZERTIMES fi le/Craig Murphy The hazelnut orchard at Keizer Rapids Park will be harvested again soon, but this time chemicals won't be used. YOUR 1 STOP SHOP BRAKES, TIRES, BATTERIES FOR KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Can hazelnuts in the or- chard at Keizer Rapids Park be grown without chemicals? According to the executive director of the Oregon Hazel- nut Growers Association, the answer is yes. “There are growers farm- ing hazelnuts organically,” Michael Klein told the Keiz- ertimes. “It is not an easy en- deavor but it can be done. It requires a lot of extra work, expense and may use chemi- cal sprays approved for organic certifi cation.” As mentioned last week in the Keizertimes, Kevin Schurt- er with Schurter Enterprises LLC submitted a proposal in July to farm the 22 acres of fi l- bert orchards on city-owned property at KRP. Tony Weath- ers had done the harvesting previously, but cited possible litigation for using pesticides in the vicinity of the Big Toy – built within the orchards in June – as the reason for want- ing out of his contract. Weathers was paying the city $9,000 a year in rent. Sch- urter has proposed paying no rent but giving 15 percent of his proceeds to the city in- stead. The Keizer City Coun- cil last week voted to allow City Manager Chris Eppley to strike a deal. We service all makes & models. No appointments needed. 3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 304-7555