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