SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 20
SECTION A
APRIL 29, 2016
$1.00
NOW ARRIVING: Holiday Inn
Express at Keizer Station
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Perhaps you've heard this
one before: a hotel is coming
to Keizer Station.
Yes, such talk is running
rampant again.
This time, however, there
are some differences.
Jack Yarbrough confi rmed
this week he recently sold
his vacant hotel lot at Keizer
Station – between Panera Bread
and Outback Steakhouse – to
an experienced hotel operator,
Cheo Tzeo.
Tzeo and his family
worked with Yarbrough and
realtor Pam Rushing from
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Mountain West Real Estate to
“ I would like to
start it in June.
It will be nine
or 10 months for
construction.”
— Cheo Tzeo, Developer
purchase the property.
Though county records as
of Monday still showed the
most recent transaction being
Yarbrough's purchase of the
property for $1,361,605 in
March 2014, Rushing said a
sale to Tzeo went through last
week for $1.25 million.
“I sold the property,”
Yarbrough said. “They're
pretty experienced operators.
They are decent people. He's
experienced. I think he'll be
able to build a nice hotel. I got
paid off last week.”
Rushing said Tzeo, a
Vietnamese refuge who came
to the United States in the
1970s, fi rst contacted her in
January about the property.
“I'm excited for Keizer
Station,” Rushing told the
Keizertimes. “He is going to
put in a Holiday Inn Express.
He's getting it all approved.
He has everything lined up.
Young
grappler
has star
potential
He's an existing franchisee.
He's going to put one in here.
It's pretty exciting. He's been
working with the city. He's
really super nice.”
Tzeo said he has sold the
Holiday Inn Express he used
to operate in Canyonville and
is focused on his upcoming
Keizer project.
“I plan to build a hotel, a
Holiday Inn Express,” he told
the Keizertimes on Monday. “It
is an excellent location. I've
been looking for a location
along I-5. This is the location
I'm interested in.”
The hotel pad in Keizer
Station, shown to be on a map
as 42,000 square feet, has been
Republican
Congress
debate
PAGE A2
Please see HOTEL, Page A7
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
At age 11, wrestler Destiny
Rodriguez is racking up
awards and trophies that
would make a senior high
school wrestler green with
envy.
In recent months, Destiny
has won state championships
in the collegiate, freestyle and
Greco wrestling – also known
as the Oregon Wrestling
Association Triple Crown.
She also traveled to the Reno
World Championships earlier
this month where she won
her weight class in the girls
division and took second in
the boys division.
“Reno is different because
there are a lot more elite
wrestlers. It's not too different
wrestling boys or girls because
you have to wrestle hard with
everybody,” Destiny said.
She has been wrestling
since she was fi ve years old
and was inspired by relatives.
“My
dad
(Isrrael
Rodriguez) wrestled and I
knew I wanted to do it after
seeing my cousin wrestle,”
Destiny said.
While she started with
McNary's Mat Club, she's
since moved on to club
wrestling with All-Phase and
success hasn't eluded her. This
year marks the second time
Romeo and
Juliet at
McNary
PAGE A5
Iris Festival
update
PAGE A3
Please see STAR, Page A7
Stories
We Like
Saluting the people that make
us proud of our community
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
capitolauto.com
Keizer Elementary School fi fth grader and wrestler Destiny Rodriguez with some of the recent trophies and medals she's won.
Wood ready Portraits for Keizer’s next
public
mural
selling
well
for a busy
budget time
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Tim Wood hasn’t found
this fi rst budget season to be
too bad.
Wood was named Keizer’s
Finance Director in March
following the retirement of
Susan Gahlsdorf in January.
While this is Wood’s fi rst
year in charge of the budget
process, he was Gahlsdorf ’s
right hand man the previous
six years. In other words, he
was ready for the process.
“Susan did a good job
getting ev-
erything
lined
up,”
Wood said
on
Tues-
day, the day
before the
preliminary
T. Wood
2016-17
fi scal year budget was re-
leased. “There are not a lot
of changes with the process
this year. Oregon budget law
dictates a lot of the process.
Please see BUDGET, Page A11
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Portraits for Keizer’s next
public mural have proven to
be popular.
As for getting people to
paint those portraits? That’s a
different story.
Jill Hagen, mural project
manager, gave an update dur-
ing the April 26 Keizer Pub-
lic Arts Commission (KPAC)
meeting.
Before the meeting, Hagen
laid out a one-fourth scale pa-
per replica of the mural, which
depicts various scenes from
the Keizer Iris Festival Parade.
The replica showed where the
various images will be lined
up when the mural gets put
on the north wall of Town &
KEIZERTIMES/Craig Murphy
Jill Hagen points out some features of the upcoming mural to
fellow Keizer Public Arts Commission members April 26.
Country Lanes this summer.
KPAC members liked what
they saw.
“This is spectacular,” Lore
Christopher said.
Hagen began accepting
requests to purchase portraits
to be put on the mural at the
start of April, at $200 each.
Please see KPAC, Page A11
Mixed week
for baseball
PAGE A8