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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2015)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 41 SECTION A SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 $1.00 MHS to just do it with Nike By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes There are two words visitors to Mc- Nary High School are likely to hear a lot this year: world class. “Our goal is to turn McNary into a world class high school. That’s our mantra for the year,” said Erin Arndt, a Celtic social studies teacher. The directive is coming from the top of the heap, principal Erik Jes- persen. However, it is part-and-parcel of living up to the expectations placed on the school to be innovative in all regards. Those marching orders are the result of landing a $20,000 Nike School Innovation Grant. On Monday, Aug. 31, more than 75 percent of McNary staff members, on their last day of summer vacation, turned out to tour the Nike campus in Beaverton and hear from some of Submitted its leaders. While in attendance, the inspiration McNary High School teachers Larry Keeker and Jim Litchfi eld in front of a wall came hard and heavy, said Arndt and fi lled with Nike historical artifacts during a tour of the campus. Carts create angst for city councilors majority of shoppers do not take the shopping carts off the owner’s premises, but some shoppers do.” Johnson said carts taken off the premises usually are aban- doned and thus create a nui- sance. “State statutes set up a pro- cess for notice and eventual seizure of the shopping carts, but requires the local govern- ment to adopt an ordinance if they want to use this pro- cess. But without a code en- forcement offi cer, we didn’t have the people to enforce it,” Johnson said. Now that the city has such a person in Ben Crosby, John- son went forward with work on the ordinance. As proposed, the ordinance allowed for toll- free numbers to be placed on carts and on signs at store premises that people can call to report an abandoned cart. If Please see CARTS, Page A7 Man injured in mystery incident Submitted This distinctive 1950 Chevy pick-up was in an incident Saturday night, but investigators are still trying to determine what happened and led to a Keizer man being seriously injured. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Police are trying to deter- mine what happened in an in- cident that left a Keizer man seriously injured. Patrol units with the Keizer Police Department responded to a report of an unconscious male lying in the roadway on the 900 block of Ventura Ave- nue North at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5. The male was later identifi ed as 32-year-old Thomas O. Modine, who re- sides on that street. “The complainant reported the subject was unconscious and had obviously been in- jured,” said Jeff Kuhns, deputy police chief with the KPD. Modine was taken to Salem Hospital with life-threatening injuries and remained hospi- talized as of Tuesday. Investigators stayed at the scene well into the night and early morning. “Investigators learned Mr. Modine had sustained his in- juries as a result of an incident involving a motor vehicle,” Kuhns said. The road was closed as KPD offi cers and members of the Oregon State Police CRASH team worked to re- construct the scene. The in- volved vehicle was a 1950 Chevrolet pick-up with a dis- tinctive color scheme. “The preliminary investi- gation leads the investigators to believe Mr. Modine was a passenger in the vehicle when the incident occurred,” Kuhns said. “Exactly what and how the incident occurred is what investigators are focusing on.” Kuhns said the driver of the truck has been interviewed, but no arrests or charges have been announced yet. Big Toy funding detailed PAGE A2 Please see NIKE, Page A12 DEJA BLUE City hall gallery more popular PAGE A3 KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy Dennis Spencer stands by the 1965 Chevy Impala he restored about 15 years ago. It's identical to the one he had when he got married 46 years ago. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Dennis Spencer liked his fi rst 1965 Chevrolet Impala so much, he got another one. He didn’t just get another 1965 Impala of the non-SS variety. He worked on the sec- ond one until it was identical to the fi rst. Same beautiful blue color. Same 283 cubic inch Chevy V8. “Everything is identical,” Spencer said. “Same color, same interior, same motor, same rims.” Spencer, now 66, bought his fi rst one for $2,600 as a 17-year-old high schooler in 1967 in Southern California. A 1959 Impala was his fi rst car, but that car’s big motor got Spencer into trouble. “The 1965 was the fi rst with the slope coming down,” Spencer said, referring to the sloped rear window. “The older ones had no styling. This has the triple round taillights and round gauges.” While most think of the Super Sport model, Spencer sought out a non-SS for a simple reason. “I wanted the bench seat so my girlfriend could sit next to me,” Spencer said. “With the SS you had bucket seats, so your girlfriend would be on the other side of the car.” Shortly after high school, Spencer met his wife Janie. He was 18 at the time while she was 15 and still in high school. They were married two years later and celebrated their 46th anniversary on Aug. 30. The couple had their Im- pala for 10 years and raised their two children. But when the car needed some work, it was sold. “We didn’t want to put more money into the car, so we sold it,” Spencer lamented. “The lady who bought it had it restored. Then I was sorry we sold it, because it looked like this six months later. That planted the idea that I wanted another one.” The idea was put on hold for a while. The Spencers moved to Keizer 30 years ago and a few years later Spen- cer spotted a 1965 Impala in someone’s yard. Spencer, a truck driver who became disabled, needed to work on a car. After all, doc- tor’s orders. “My doctor wanted me to do rehab,” Spencer said. “This was a rehab project for me. This one was sitting in a backyard in Keizer for at least fi ve to 10 years. It had moss and raccoons. It was real bad. I think it cost me $300, because the motor and transmission were shot.” Celts win football opener Please see IMPALA, Page A12 Back to school time again Rylie Smith packed and repacked her new desk at Forest Ridge Elementary School several times during an open house Tuesday, Sept. 8. For more photos from around the school, please see Page A5. PAGE A8 Volcanoes in playoffs PAGE A8 KEIZERTIMES/ Eric A. Howald Please see CLUES, Page A2 3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 463- 4853 2015 OREGON FORD DEALER OF THE YEAR YOUR 1 STOP SHOP BRAKES, TIRES, BATTERIES FOR By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Sure, shopping carts can create frustration. Whether it be an errant cart hitting your vehicle in a parking lot or getting a cart with that obnoxiously wobbly right front wheel, there can be understandable angst regard- ing shopping carts. But shopping carts causing a public riff at a city council meeting? That was just what hap- pened Tuesday night as Keizer City Councilors looked at an ordinance related to aban- doned shopping carts. City Attorney Shannon Johnson noted the issue of abandoned carts was inves- tigated at the prompting of councilor Marlene Parsons. “Though not numerous, the city has received com- plaints about abandoned shopping carts in neighbor- hoods,” Johnson said. “The other teachers at the school. “When I was in high school, we didn’t have smart phones and our teachers practiced the stand-and-de- liver method,” Arndt said. “Just like the knowledge of the body has changed over time and Nike has adapted, teach- ers have to change to adapt to the new way students take in knowledge.” For science teacher Mandy Elder, the lesson came through in the story of Steve Prefontaine, which was imparted during the visit. “His coaches wrapped themselves around him and helped him succeed after he came from relatively nothing. His coaches saw in him the potential and they met his needs to help him achieve at a really high level,” Elder said. Elder is new to the school and Or- egon, so it was equally heartening to see so many of her new colleagues in- vested in the new attitude. We service all makes & models. No appointments needed. 3555 RIVER RD N, KEIZER • (503) 304-7555