SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 38
SECTION A
AUGUST 28, 2015
$1.00
Mural pushed back to 2016
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Jill Hagen goes over her conceptual drawing for the upcoming public mural at Town & Country
Lanes during Tuesday's Keizer Public Arts Commission meeting at Keizer Civic Center. The city's
second public mural was originally going to be done next month, but has now been delayed
until next summer.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Keizer’s next public mural
will not be done next month.
Former Mayor Lore Chris-
topher, chair of the Keizer
Public Arts Commission, has
long been pushing for the
mural, going up on the long
north wall at Town & Coun-
try Lanes, to be done this fall.
However, realities pushed
the timeline back. A signed
contract between the city and
Don Lebold, owner of the
bowling alley, needed to be
in place before any work was
done on the building. Nate
Brown, director of Commu-
nity Development for Keizer,
said at Tuesday’s KPAC meet-
ing that contract wasn’t sent to
Lebold until this week.
“When the contract is in
place, we can move forward
with the prepping,” Brown
said. “That is the key or the
gate.”
Christopher said once the
wall is prepped with primer
and any necessary repairs are
made, a teaser will be put up
about the upcoming project.
“It’s for the mural that’s
coming next summer,” she
said.
Commissioners discussed
what the exact wording of the
teaser should be.
“We talked about some-
thing that would make people
inquisitive,” Rick Day said, re-
ferring to previous meetings.
“Considering recent events
(at Town & Country), maybe
keep it simple, like mural is
coming.”
All Ford
car show
PAGE A3
Please see MURAL, Page A6
Council waits on Farm bureau upset
marijuana action over 25 fi elds claims
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Wait and see.
That’s the position of the
Keizer City Councilors in re-
gard to possible new rules re-
garding marijuana in the city.
City Attorney Shannon
Johnson presented action
taken by state legislators this
year regarding Measure 91,
passed by Oregon voters last
year. The measure legalizes the
sale of recreational marijuana
in the state, with restrictions.
Cities and counties around the
state have been trying to fi g-
ure out for more than a year
what kind of rules to pass.
Keizer has been no excep-
tion, with the latest discus-
sion taking place at last week’s
council meeting.
By and large, councilors
over the past year have taken
the stance of waiting to see
what other jurisdictions do,
from the state level down to
other cities around the state.
Such was the case once
again last week.
Johnson brought up four
topics: the allowance of “early
sales” in Senate Bill 460 of rec-
reational marijuana in medical
marijuana facilities; regula-
tion of recreational marijuana;
taxation of both medical and
recreational marijuana and the
allowance/ban/regulation of
other marijuana facilities.
“Only one of these is with
serious time constraints,”
Johnson said. “The question
is whether council wanted to
look at a ban of early sales and
if you wanted to look at a per-
manent ban.”
Since regular recreational
marijuana shops will not be
opening until the latter part
of 2016, SB 460 allows cities
the ability to prohibit early
sales of limited amounts of
recreational marijuana – up to
.25 ounces per person, per day
for anyone 21 years of age or
older – at medical marijuana
facilities. A permanent ban
would require an ordinance to
be passed by the council and
the matter would have to be
sent to voters in November
2016.
Please see COUNCIL, Page A6
Two fi res in Keizer
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
It turns out the agricultural
community isn’t totally on
board with plans by 25 fi elds
for Oregon.
More than once, Carrie
Cool, executive director of 25
fi elds for Oregon, has indicat-
ed support from the agricul-
tural community for her plans
to build soccer fi elds in the
Keizer area for Oregon youth.
In a recent article in the Keiz-
ertimes, Cool emphasized the
support her group has from
the agricultural community.
“We were looking for ag-
ricultural stakeholders ties,
but we didn’t realize to what
extent we could really partner
with them,” Cool said at the
time. “We didn’t grasp what
the agricultural community
needed. This is big and really
cool. We haven’t met a stake-
holder yet that is negative on
it. We have a positive impact
on everyone we’ve met with.”
Not so fast, according to
the Marion County Farm Bu-
reau.
Jessica Carpenter from the
MCFB said Cool’s comments
misrepresent support from her
bureau.
“Our board has met with
25 fi elds, on more than one
occasion, and suggested that
alternate plans should be con-
sidered in an attempt to lessen
the impact on the agricultural
MHS plays
are set
PAGE A5
Submitted
Not everyone is happy with the 25 fi elds for Oregon proposal
to use farm land for 25 soccer fi elds in the Keizer area.
community,” Carpenter said.
“The idea that Marion Coun-
ty Farm Bureau has been
overwhelmingly supportive of
the plans that 25 fi elds is pro-
posing is inaccurate.”
MCFB board member
Greg Bennett has land bor-
dering the proposed area for
the fi elds.
“Carrie is a very aggressive
lady, going at it pretty hard,”
Bennett said. “She’s been
hired by a group to push this
through. The people I associ-
ate with, the farmers in the
area, they’re not against what
needs to be done but they’re
not thinking it’s a good loca-
tion. I think we all agree it’s
a great idea for kids, but they
need to place it where it won’t
have a negative impact on ag-
riculture.”
Bennett noted the land in
question could be used for ha-
zelnut trees.
This isn’t a new stance for
the MCFB to be taking. Last
July, John Zielinski, president
of the MCFB board, submit-
ted a letter of opposition to
the 25 fi elds project to Mar-
ion County Commissioners.
Zielinski referenced a 25 fi elds
fl yer indicating MCFB was
one of more than 30 stake-
holders giving “overwhelming
support” to the project.
“By association, the fl yer’s
message implies that MCFB
supports 25 fi elds’ proposed
use for the referenced prop-
erty,” Zielinski wrote. “The
fl yer is inaccurate and an un-
fortunate misrepresentation of
MCFB’s position as stated in
our letter to you of last April.”
Dedication of
new fi eld
at McNary
PAGE A8
Please see MCFB, Page A3
Ready for a Big Party...
Submitted
Heavy damage was done to a house on Marino Drive North
Aug. 21 due to a fi re.
The Keizer Fire District
responded to the report of a
house fi re on Cade Street NE
shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tues-
day, Aug. 25.
Smoke and fl ames were
coming from the home when
fi refi ghters arrived on the site.
When they entered the home
they found fi re had done ex-
tensive damage to the second
fl oor. The rest of the home
suffered from smoke and wa-
ter damage.
Firefi ghters
determined
a cigarette that was improp-
erly disposed of ignited the
wooden porch at the front
of the home. Damage to the
residence was estimated at
$10,000 and damage to the
contents of the home was es-
timated at $2,000. No injuries
were reported in the incident.
Fire offi cials remind resi-
dents to always completely
extinguish smoking material
before discarding and always
put the remains in appropriate
ash trays.
Smoking materials are the
leading cause of fi re deaths
and the third leading cause of
home fi re injuries.
Four engines, two medic
units and two duty offi cers
with 14 fi refi ghters responded
to the incident. Salem Fire En-
gine 2 and a Marion County
Fire District Medic Unit as-
sisted with the fi re.
There was more damage to
a Keizer residence four days
earlier when KFD personnel
responded to the report of a
house fi re on Marino Drive
North shortly after 3 p.m. Fri-
day, Aug. 21.
The Big Toy at Keizer
Rapids Park will have
a grand opening
Saturday, Aug. 29
from 2 to 5 p.m.
The play structure
is located at Keizer
Rapids Park.
Recent changes
have included new
grass (above) and a
weather vane made
of scrap material
(left).
Volcanoes
win in 10th
PAGE A10
KEIZERTIMES/
Craig Murphy
Please see FIRES, Page A6
SMOKED HICKORY RANCHER’S MESQUITE NORTHWEST APPLE COUNTRY CHERRY MOUNTAIN MAPLE GOURMET BLEND PACIFIC ALDER
Gourmet
BBQ
Pellets
12
7 FLAVORS by PACIFIC PELLETS
SPECIAL
$ 99
20LB BAG
EVERYDAY
WHERE THEY MEET OR BEAT ANY PRICE!
4415 River Rd N Keizer • (503) 393-5450 • copper-creek.net