SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 49
SECTION A
NOVEMBER 6, 2015
$1.00
Transit tax fails; KFD levy OK'd
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Opponents and proponents
alike agree Tuesday’s rejection
of the proposed payroll tax to
pay for increased local transit
service wasn’t a vote against
transit.
Rather, it was a vote against
that particular funding mech-
anism.
Area voters rejected the
Salem-Keizer Transit District’s
Measure 24-388 on Tuesday,
which called for a 0.21 per-
cent payroll tax to bring in
approximately $5 million in
new funding.
Updated results released
late Tuesday night by the
Marion County Clerk’s Of-
fi ce showed the measure fail-
ing, with 19,790 voters (58.18
percent) against and 14,227
voters (41.82 percent) for. The
results showed 60 of 65 pre-
cincts counted, with a voter
turnout of 35.67 percent.
The Keizer Fire District’s
$6.2 million equipment bond,
Measure 24-389, was more
successful. The measure was
approved by 4,365 voters
(64.17 percent) while 2,437
voters (35.83 percent) were
against it. The results showed
11 of 12 precincts counted,
with a 39.23 percent voter
turnout.
The payroll tax would have
paid for the return of week-
end transit service, extended
weeknight service and free
bus passes for local middle
school and high school stu-
dents. Those services were
victims of budget cuts in 2009.
There was plenty of op-
position to the proposed
transit tax. Both the Keizer
and Salem Area Chambers of
Commerce vigorously fought
against the measure, claiming
it was not a fair burden on lo-
cal businesses. The opposition
included videos and sign-wav-
ing campaigns.
But there was common
consensus after the results
came out about the message.
Halloween
power outage
PAGE A3
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Bob Schafer drops off his ballot at the ballot drop box in front
of Keizer Civic Center Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Allan Pollock, general man-
ager for Cherriots, noted there
was agreement from both
sides of the campaign expand-
ed transit service is needed.
Please see VOTE, Page A10
MHS grad wins ‘They won’t change on their own’
Met Opera contest
Submitted
Daniel Ross (right) with co-winner Felicia Moore after the
Oregon District competition of the Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Patience is a virtue for
most, but absolutely essential
for an opera singer. Just ask
McNary High School grad
Daniel Ross.
“I’m getting old enough
that it is about time to start
trying the bigger competi-
tions. It seemed like the right
time so I went for it,” said
Ross, one of two Oregon Dis-
trict winners in the annual
Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions.
The contest is the most
prestigious opera competition
in the country and the fi nal
winner receives a job with the
New York Metropolitan Op-
era for its upcoming season.
He’ll compete in the regional
qualifi er, slated Jan. 10, in Se-
attle. The fi nals will be held
next March.
Ross, a 27-year-old tenor,
has been pursuing a career in
opera since his high school
days.
“I had some natural talent
and teachers who were able to
direct me toward opera,” Ross
said. “I just happen to have a
particular talent and a rare
voice type. Very few people are
capable of making the sounds
that I make and, even on stage
with a symphony, my voice is
trumpet-like and will still rise
above the instruments.”
After graduating from Mc-
Nary, Ross earned a bachelor’s
degree in music and went on
to graduate studies at the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. While
there, he was a featured singer
in the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra’s performance of
George Fridric Handel’s Mes-
siah.
He moved back to Oregon
in 2013 and performs regular-
ly at Salem First Presbyterian
Church, but larger roles have
been elusive.
“With the economic crash,
it’s taken its toll on the arts and
its far well from over. At least
14 opera companies I know of
have gone bankrupt this year,
and that’s slowed from previ-
ous years,” Ross said. “Suffi ce
it to say it’s diffi cult to fi nd
work as a professional musi-
cian. The competition was a
way to put myself out there
and network with new peo-
ple.”
Please see OPERA, Page A11
Holland looking for
help for concert
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Despite a setback Monday
evening, Clint Holland is still
moving forward with plans for
a Dec. 13 Christmas concert at
Keizer Civic Center.
His request to the Keizer
City Council for a waiver in
use fees for city hall was de-
nied by a 6-1 vote on Monday,
so his request now is for busi-
nesses to help him offset the
costs.
“I’m still going to try and
do it,” Holland said follow-
ing Monday’s vote. “I’m try-
ing to make it an annual event
and want it to stay in Keizer.”
Holland had brought up the
idea during the Oct. 19 coun-
cil meeting. While there was
support expressed for the
idea, there were concerns at
the time about the city being
asked to waive some fees.
Those concerns were ex-
pressed again this week, start-
ing when city manager Chris
Eppley introduced the topic.
Holland submitted a report
with estimated income and
expenses, with expenses esti-
mated at $12,970 and income
estimated at $9,350 including
300 tickets at $30 each. The
expenses included city fees of
$2,575; Eppley said the city
fees would be $3,325 includ-
ing a $1,500 refundable de-
posit.
Please see HOLLAND, Page A11
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Sometimes it starts with the
prescription painkiller.
Sometimes it is youth
wanting to experiment.
Sometimes it is curiosity
about the old bottle sitting in
the medical cabinet.
Sgt. Bob Trump and Of-
fi cer James Young with the
Keizer Police Department’s
Community Response Unit
(CRU) know there are vari-
ous ways people can get ad-
dicted to heroin.
They also know it often
doesn’t end well.
According to stats provided
by Cara Steele at the KPD, the
most common drug-related
charge in Keizer, by a wide
margin, continues to be un-
lawful possession of meth-
amphetamine. Last year, there
were 69 charges in that cat-
egory. A distant second was
possession of less than one
ounce of marijuana, with 35
charges. Unlawful possession
of heroin was in third, with 15
charges last year.
Numbers for meth have
risen this year, as have the
numbers for heroin.
But Trump and Young both
emphasize the stats don’t show
the true number of heroin of-
fenses or the true impact of
damage caused by the highly
addictive drug in this area.
Chasing Dark is a continuing
Keizertimes series looking at
such an impact.
“It’s hard to see the increase
with stats,” Young said. “You
can see a person clearly on
meth or heroin, but there are
no stats to back it up.”
For example, consider how
many people get addicted to
opiates like heroin after com-
ing off prescribed painkillers.
“We see it quite a bit,”
Trump said. “Probably way
more than it shows up in a
specifi c statistic. Heroin is
readily available.”
Young said that is a com-
mon start to the addiction,
c hasing Dark
Big Toy
grant help
PAGE A5
Chasing Dark is an ongoing series looking at heroin
abuse in Keizer. Be sure to see another story on page A2
and also pick up next week’s paper for the next installment.
though not the only one.
“A lot of times it is an in-
jury,” he said. “When people
can’t get more (painkillers)
from the doctor but they are
hooked on the opiate, they
turn to street level heroin. A
lot of times it will be after an
injury or just experimenting.
Sometimes it is a familial con-
nection. Sometimes you’ll see
the drug use going on in your
house growing up, so you
wind up using it yourself.”
Trump said the addiction
to opiates at fi rst seems harm-
less.
“It often comes from the
doctor, so it’s seen as being
safe,” Trump said. “Then (the
prescription) dries up, but by
now you are addicted.”
Young said even leaving old
bottles in plain sight can inad-
vertently start the addiction.
“Even something like a
parent or a brother blowing a
knee out, they got a prescrip-
tion for a narcotic,” Young
said. “That bottle sits in the
medical cabinet or cupboard.
In the cabinet you have vari-
ous drug bottles. The 14-year-
old in the home hears friends
talking about a drug and real-
izes those are the things in the
cabinet, so all the pill bottles
start disappearing.”
The Keizer Police De-
partment has a drug turn-in
receptacle in the police de-
partment’s lobby that Young
suggested people utilize for
old prescriptions.
Young said the heroin seen
locally is mostly black tar her-
oin being imported in from
Mexico. He holds up a stan-
dard size water bottle to de-
scribe quantities.
“It can be transported un-
detected,” he said. “Heroin in
a package the size of a water
bottle can be worth tens of
thousands in value. Once it
gets into the community, the
heroin is broken up and dis-
persed.”
For years, it’s been said ar-
eas like Keizer are susceptible
to drugs due to easy Interstate
5 access. Yes and no, according
to Young.
“It is a nationwide thing,”
Young said. “We’re on the I-5
corridor, one of the main drug
traffi cking areas for the whole
Please see HEROIN, Page A3
KHT 2016
auditions
PAGE A6
Celts to face
champs in FB
PAGE A14
Slime him!
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
The top earners in the Kennedy Elementary School Jog-A-Thon slime their principal,
Jesse Leonard, after soaring past their fundraising goal of $8,500. The students raised
more than $10,000 that will be used for fi eld trips and classroom technology.