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PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 11, 2016 Keizer, close down these parks! presented by DRIVE A LITTLE – SAVE A BUNCH! 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE • SALEM MORE INFO AT NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM UFC 197 Cormier vs. Jones 2 MARCH 17TH – 27TH Enjoy Matinees for Spring Break Check out our website soon for the schedule of matinee showings all spring break long! LIVE STAND UP COMEDY SATURDAY, APRIL 23 —–———— 21 & OVER —————— Live Fights at 5 pm – Tickets $12 9 fi ghts in all on the HUGE screen! Reserved Seats Available Now Online Lights, Comedy, Laughs! Saturday, March 12th LANCE MONTALTO & JILL MARAGOS will perform at 7pm and 9pm. Admission is only $10. Ages 21 & over only. Reserved seating for this show. Purchase tickets at box offi ce or at our website. Today in History Capping his rapid rise through the Communist Party hierarchy, Mikhail Gorbachev is selected as the new general secretary and leader of the Soviet Union, following the death of Konstantin Chernenko the day before. Gorbachev oversaw a radical transformation of Soviet society and foreign policy during the next six years. — March 11, 1985 Food 4 Thought “Why can’t the state accede to the public’s wishes? ” – Antonin Scalia (1936-2016) U.S. Supreme Court Justice The Month Ahead Through Sunday, March 13 The Hotel Casablanca, a comedic opera by Willamette University Theare program at Smith Auditoriium on the Willamette University campus. For schedule and tickets visit willamette.edu/cla/music/performance/events. Friday, March 11 MCO Productions presents The Test-A Life Redeemed at 7 p.m. at The Historic Elsinore Theatre at 170 High St. SE Salem. Suggested donation at the door. www.elsinoretheatre. com. Friday, March 11 – Saturday, March 12 Keizer Homegrown Theatre presents Time Stands Still at the Chemeketa Community College Auditorium, Building 6, 4000 Lancaster Drive NE. Curtain time is 7 p.m. both evenings. Saturday, March 12 Fifth annual Keizer Community Center Clean-up, 9 a.m. to noon at city hall. Dress for the weather. Contact Mark Caillier at markcaillier@claggettcwc.org or 503-930-7481 for more information. Straub Environmental Center presents the Mid-Valley Green Awards at 7 p.m. at The Historic Elsinore Theatre at 170 High St. SE Salem. Tickets $17. For more information go to www.elsinoretheatre.com. Willamette Valley Genealogical Society meets at 10:30 a.m. in the Heritage Room of the Salem Piublic Library (585 Liberty St SE). Tom Branigar will speak about the fi rst murder in Polk County. For more information, call (503) 363-0880. Sunday, March 13 Sacred Heart-St. Louis Parish in Gervais will hold its annual BBQ chicken dinner from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner is $11, $7 for those 12 and under; menu incudes half a barbecued chicken and all the fi xings. 485 7th Street. 503-792-4231. Monday, March 14 Keizer City Council work session, 5:45 p.m. in council chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE. Tuesday, March 15 Keizer Points of Interest Committee meeting, 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE. Thursday, March 17 Volunteer Coordinating Committee meeting, 6 p.m. in council chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE. Greater Gubser Neighborhood Association meeting, 7 p.m. at Gubser Elementary School. Friday, March 18 Oregon Symphony at Willamette University-Smith Auditorium 8 p.m. Variations on a Theme by Joseph Hayden. Tickets range $5 to $50. Tickets are available online orsymphonysalem.org Saturday, March 19 Dancing with the Salem Stars at The Historic Elsinore Theatre 7:30 p.m. at 170 High St. SE Salem. For ticket information contact 503-375-3574. www.elsinoretheatre. com Monday, March 21 Keizer City Council meeting, 7 p.m. in council chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE. Add your event by e-mailing news@keizertimes.com. Set clocks ahead on Sunday Remember to set your clocks ahead before going to bed Saturday night, as Daylight Savings Time takes place at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 13. While setting clocks, also check the batteries in all smoke and fi re alarms in your home. By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Keizer has its own version of Ralph Nader. Nader was a safety advocate who gained national fame in the 1960s with his book Un- safe at Any Speed, declaring the Chevrolet Corvair was danger- ous. Eamon Bishop did his best Nader impression at Tuesday’s Keizer Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting in de- claring that seven Keizer parks must be closed immediately due to safety hazards. Keizer has 19 parks, but Bishop only called for the clo- sure of seven because those are the only ones he has inspected so far. “Can the parks stay open?” Bishop asked rhetorically. “Look at the laws of liability. You can’t let someone play until they are fi xed, now that you know about it. There are some missing fas- teners and improper fasteners. There are strangulation hazards. There’s a drowning hazard at Bob Newton Park, with slides out of alignment. It takes only one inch of water to drown a child in the standing rain. We need to close the parks until these things are fi xed.” Bishop said his research started when he took offense to Parks Board member Rich- ard Walsh’s recent comments in the Keizertimes about neighbor- hood parks not being used as much in Keizer anymore. Bish- op went to his neighborhood park – Bob Newton Park – and started exploring. “It had conditions that looked to me to be signifi cant safety hazards,” Bishop said. “So I went online and grabbed a copy of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Public Playground Safety Handbook and took inventory of what I saw. And then I went through the CPSC handbook and confi rmed that a number of conditions existing in the park were indeed defi ned as hazards, each of those be- ing classifi ed as conditions that could contribute to physical in- jury or death.” Bishop said he found CPSC issues in each park and made a list of the issues. For example, at Bob New- ton Park, he found issues like chipped and fl aking paint that he commercially tested to have lead content, drowning hazard, corroded parts, no Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ac- cess and a public health hazard due to no sanitary restroom. He found items like lac- eration hazards and missing or loose fasteners multiple times, as well as pinching or crushing hazards. At Claggett Creek Park alone he found entrapment, laceration, extreme fall, im- palement, tripping, strangling, pinching/crushing, climbing, drowning and overhead haz- ards. He also found an issue at the Big Toy play structure at KRP, with unprotected climb- ing conditions on the fi re truck. To test the paint at various places, Bishop said he used test kits. Bishop, a retired police of- fi cer who noted he used to do construction work, opined the city should not submit a grant request for the next phase of the Big Toy and instead apply for a grant to be used for park reno- vations and repairs. “You do good work and I appreciate all the work you do,” Bishop told Parks Board members. “Even you Mr. Walsh, though I think you are narrow minded.” Dylan Juran checked to make sure he understood Bish- op correctly. “So all seven of these should be closed immediately, with caution tape and chains that say they are closed?” Juran asked. “Yes,” Bishop replied. “And we should immediate- ly hire professionals and special- ists to study all the parks, then post all the problems on our website?” Juran further asked. KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy Eamon Bishop spoke to the Keizer Parks Board Tuesday. “Yes,” Bishop again replied. “And we should cease get- ting any grants and divert efforts to repairs, instead of capital im- provements?” Juran asked. “Yes,” Bishop said. J.T. Hager had a question for Bishop. “What is your background?” Hager asked. “How did you come up with this?” “I’m a retired police offi cer and fi refi ghter,” Bishop said. Hager appreciated the infor- mation, but didn’t know what the next step should be. “I think there are some things we have to study and re- search,” Hager said. “It’s a little strong at this point to ask us to shut down a whole bunch of parks. That (repair work) would also cost money. We’ve never had close to enough to do maintenance. You’re saying we have to cough up a whole bunch of money. I’m a little concerned that you’re making a pretty strong request, but I do appreciate the concern.” Bishop acknowledged the lack of funds, but emphasized the need to get grants for re- pairs. “If you know where grants are available and can help us write grants, we would appreci- ate it,” Hager said. Bishop said he’s “written too many grants” to want to help out, but said the same program the city is applying for with the Big Toy grant would have mon- ey for repairs. Walsh, a Parks Board mem- ber as well as an attorney, said the information should be re- ferred to city attorney Shannon Johnson. “It’s a little overwhelming,” Walsh said. “I don’t know if it’s illegal having a two-inch puddle and if that needs police tape.” Walsh noted much of the parks money comes from the general fund, but the largest percentage of that fund goes to the police department. “We would have to take from police offi cers,” Walsh said. “How many police offi cers do we have to let go to pay for this?” Bishop said part of his reason for looking into things is KRP. “I’ve never been wanting to spend as much as we have at KRP,” he said. “Then we want to spend $1 million on this next Big Toy phase. We’re liable for all of the parks.” Scott Klug found that back- ground strange. “It seems to me that you might be going about stopping money going to Keizer Rapids in an odd way,” Klug said. “That money comes from a different source than you want, a differ- ent grant. You’re saying it’s the same pool of money?” “I assume it is the same pool of money,” Bishop replied. “So it’s your assuming,” Klug said. Hager suggested Bishop should help fi nd a solution. “You’re saying have perfect parks or don’t have them,” Hag- er said. “You bring the money in. I’ve got the suitcases; you bring the money in.” Clint Holland said parks sup- porters need to plead their case to the budget committee in the spring. “Eventually something is go- ing to happen and we’re really going to pay for it,” Holland said. “We really need to show how underfunded we are. It’s time we look at the main prob- lem. We need to make sure we have the money so kids are safe in any park we have.” Mayor praises citizens By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Mayor Cathy Clark is al- ways high on talking about Keizerites helping each other. It was no surprise, then, for Clark to reference such an event during a recent Greater Gubser Neighborhood Asso- ciation meeting. Clark gave her second State of the City address of the year at the Feb. 18 GGNA meet- ing – coming after a similar talk at the January West Keizer Neighborhood Association meeting and prior to her March 3 address at the Ro- tary Club of Keizer luncheon. Her GGNA discussion came after a presentation about the Miracle of Christmas Lights Display in the Gubser neigh- borhood. “Miracle of Christmas is a great example of how this wonderful project has been passed on from family to fam- ily,” Clark said. “There was a time it didn’t look like it would keep going. But this neighborhood believed in this, which is why it is happening. We have things like that all over Keizer.” Clark noted people step- ping up happens all the time around Keizer, referencing last year’s Big Toy construction project at Keizer Rapids Park. The city is submitting a grant application soon for a second phase of the project. “Keizer Rapids Park is one of 19 parks,” she said. “It’s not the city’s parks, they are your parks. We don’t have the staff to be everywhere all the time. We really rely on all of us to take ownership. We stretch the tax dollars as far as we can. We have half the number of em- ployees as other cities. We do it with judicious budgeting, multitasking of employees and a partnership with the com- munity. If we can do things collaboratively, we will fi nd ways to do that.” Please see MAYOR, Page A6 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE THIS WEEK’S MOVIE TIMES Ride Along 2 (PG-13) Fri 6:15, 8:35, Sat 12:15, 6:20, Sun 4:00, 6:30, 8:45 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (PG-13) Fri 4:00, 5:55, Sun 3:55 The Choice (PG-13) Fri 6:40, Sun 4:25 The Big Short (R) Fri 8:15, Sat 8:20, Sun 8:30 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (R) Sat 6:40, Sun 1:10 Dirty Grandpa (R) Sat 9:20, Sun 6:45 Sisters (R) Fri 9:00, Sun 8:50 sudoku Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (PG) Fri 4:00, Sat 12:30, Sun 12:30, 2:00 The Good Dinosaur (PG) Fri 4:00, Sat 12:00, Sun 2:25 looking back in the KT 5 YEARS AGO You know who it is The Keizer City Council unanimously approved a master plan that puts a 116,000 square foot discount grocer at the southeast corner of Chemawa Road NE and Lockhaven Drive NE. FOR ALL SHOWTIMES GO TO NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Enter digits from 1-9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. local weather 10 YEARS AGO Lee enters race for state House Keizer City Councilor Chuck Lee, a Keizer Democrat, is seeking election to the state House of Representatives seat now held by Keizer Republican Kim Thatcher. 15 YEARS AGO Scrawled threats lock down high school McNary High School has been “locked down” twice in the past week because of threats of harm to students. 20 YEARS AGO Old School backers get ready for moving day on Chemawa The old Keizer School, tucked behind the Schoolhouse Square mall for the past eight years, is scheduled to move to a new home on Northeast Chemawa Road this spring. KEIZERTIMES.COM Web Poll Results What is your reaction to the Festival of Lights Holiday Parade ending? 53% – I’m sad. 29% – It’s okay because the parade had run its course. 18% – I’m not worried because someone will likely take it over. Vote in a new poll every Thursday! GO TO KEIZERTIMES.COM
