SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 37, NO. 51
SECTION A
NOVEMBER 20, 2015
$1.00
See next week's
issue for the
next installment
in this series.
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Jeff and Hollie Crist hold a picture of their son Brandon, who died of a heroin overdose in late September.
c hasing
Dark
Meet Brandon Crist (1993-2015)
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Brandon Crist’s parents were
going to kick him out of the
house.
The 22-year-old had once
again been caught doing drugs.
Though they loved him dearly,
Jeff and Hollie Crist couldn’t
let him live under their roof
anymore.
They never had the chance
to kick him out.
Two days after Brandon
didn’t show up at home, Hollie’s
motherly instincts proved to be
sadly correct when the offi cer
knocked on the door.
Brandon had been found
dead in his van after a heroin
overdose.
The death has been jarring
to many who knew Brandon,
some of whom thought he
had fi nally kicked the drug
habit that had plagued him for
so long. Brandon’s death was a
key factor behind the Chasing
Dark series of stories in the
Keizertimes.
The death has been most
jarring to Brandon’s parents.
“Both Jeff and I were so dev-
astated that he was all by himself
for two-and-
a-half days in
his van,” Hol-
lie said last
week. “Then
I wanted to
say goodbye
and kiss him
one last time
and was told
at the funeral
home they
suggested I
not see him.
So we never
got to say
goodbye.”
In Bran-
don’s last year, he had moved
back home to Keizer. His par-
ents thought he was clean, only
to fi nd out he wasn’t. Instead
of using suboxone, an opiate
blocker that is designed to help
block the craving for heroin,
Brandon was selling suboxone
pills to pay for heroin.
As far as Jeff was concerned,
when he came from work
M o n d a y,
Sept. 28, he
was kicking
his son out of
the home.
“I’d had
enough,” Jeff
said. “I was
done. Putting
me through
it, that’s fi ne.
But his mom
is
emo-
tional, with
all the ups
— Jeff Crist and downs
this puts her
through. It
wasn’t fair to her. Considering
all the things we’d done in the
last eight months, we spent a
lot of money, fi xing cars, buy-
ing stuff.”
When Hollie got home on
“I just thought
he would come
back and I
would kick him
out. I was done.
I didn’t want to
see him again.”
Sept. 28, she noticed Brandon
had left his Facebook page open
on a laptop in the house.
“I saw his private messages,”
Hollie said. “I called his last
phone numbers he’d called.
Anyone he contacted, I texted
them. He was selling suboxone.
I was frantic. I put a Facebook
post out to his friends about
him being missing. He didn’t
want us to see anything. He
just randomly left the computer
open that day. I felt this was a
God thing, because I was able to
reach out to his friends.”
Hollie knew something was
wrong at that point.
“When I looked out Tuesday,
his van wasn’t there,” she said.
“He would always call or
text if he didn’t come home.
I called all the hospitals, jails,
rehab centers. I knew. I started
worrying Tuesday morning
when he didn’t come home.”
Jeff wasn’t as concerned
initially.
“I just thought he would
come back and I would kick
him out,” he said. “I was done.
I didn’t want to see him again.”
Jeff then turned to Hollie.
“You said, ‘You know he’s
not coming home,’” Jeff said.
Hollie looked at her husband
and nodded.
“You said, ‘He is too,’” she
said. “That Wednesday at about
8:45 p.m. we got the knock
we’d feared for fi ve years.”
It was a Keizer Police
Department offi cer knocking
on the door.
“He said, ‘Is Hollie here?’”
Jeff recalled. “I said yes. Then
I said, ‘So you found him?’ He
wouldn’t say until he could talk
to Hollie.”
When Hollie came to the
door, the offi cer explained
Brandon’s body had been found
in his van in Salem.
As with other addicts, there
were two Brandons.
“He’s outgoing,” Hollie said
Finance
director
retiring
PAGE A2
Tour of
Covanta plant
PAGE A3
Doc talks
mental health
PAGE A5
Please see CRIST, Page A9
Beauty and the Cutie Keizerites push for WinCo
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Belle (Madi Zuro) poses for a photo with Jolene Hook at
the Princess Tea Party held before the Saturday matinee of
Disney's Beauty and the Beast at McNary High School. For
more photos, see page A10.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Ever since word came out
during the summer about the
Keizer Haggen closing, the
question has been what gro-
cery store chain could come
to town?
Speculation and interest
ramped up even more when
the Haggen – formerly an Al-
bertsons – closed in late Sep-
tember.
With Safeway the only gro-
cery store in Keizer, the most
common name being sought
is WinCo Foods, though a
company spokesperson told
the Keizertimes this week there
are no current plans.
Shortly after the Haggen
closed, Keizer resident Joshua
Miller started a “Keizer Wants
WinCo” page on Facebook, a
group with 55 members as of
Tuesday afternoon.
“With Keizer down to one
grocery store, just Safeway, I’d
like to think it’s good to have
competition,” Miller told the
Keizertimes on Tuesday. “The
lines at Safeway are really long,
and things cost more than I
want to pay.”
Miller fi gured it would be
good to start a Facebook page
and has asked those interested
in getting a WinCo here to
contact the Idaho-based com-
pany via their website.
One of the big questions
regarding a WinCo – or any
grocery chain, for that matter
– coming to Keizer has been
location. In addition to the
Haggen building – roughly
40,000 square feet – at River
Road and Lockhaven Drive,
there is also the former Roth’s
building at River and Chema-
wa Roads. That 20,000 square
foot building has been vacant
since Roth’s left in the spring
of 2012.
Another option would be
building a new store in Keizer
Station Area C, where infra-
structure is currently being
put into place for a new apart-
ment complex and a senior
living facility on an expanded
McLeod Lane. That’s the area
where a highly controversial
Walmart was proposed a few
years ago.
Miller’s main push is for a
new grocery store in Keizer,
wherever it might be.
“It doesn’t matter to me too
much,” he said. “Those (River
Road) locations are great, but
someone on the page posted
that the size of those buildings
aren’t within WinCo param-
eters. I’m hoping it’s not true.
Keizer Station would be fi ne,
too. Keizer just needs more
competition for grocery stores
and I like WinCo.”
There have also been a
number of posts on the topic
lately on Nextdoor, a social
media platform used in several
Keizer neighborhoods.
Please see WINCO, Page A13
MHS athletes
sign letters
PAGE A12