SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 26
SECTION A
JUNE 10, 2016
$1.00
Top of the class
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary Class of 2016
valedictor ians—Kather ine
Gray, Morgan Hoag, Isaiah
Holt, Abigail Johnson, Kelli
Miller, Nelson Mueller and
Lacie Posterick—haven't just
made all A's all four years of
high school. They've also made
music, played sports, written
and acted in plays, constructed
tools out of wood and been
leaders in their churches.
“I have a planner that stays
pretty full,” said Johnson,
who along with her many
commitments to music—
wind ensemble, symphony,
pit orchestra, marching band,
drum major and section leader
in the basketball band, all-city,
all state and all-northwest
bands, Oregon Ambassadors
of Music, is also president of
the science club, captain of
science bowl and a member of
the National Honor Society.
She also goes to The
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in Keizer
every morning before school
for seminary training.
“I try to get a good amount
of sleep, at least fi ve hours
a night,” Johnson said with
a grin. “Band really is what
keeps me structured. I think if
I didn't have that, then I would
probably have procrastinated
more on my school work.”
Johnson also credits her
teachers at MHS, particularly
Band Director Jennifer Bell.
Please see CLASS, Page A11
MHS Valedictorians reach new heights
Traffic
tickets strain
city court
PAGE A2
MHS
welcomes
new maestro
PAGE A5
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary High School's Class of 2016 valedictorians, clockwise from bottom left: Abigail Johnson, Morgan Hoag, Katherine Gray,
Nelson Mueller, Isaiah Holt, Lacey Posterick and Kelli Miller.
Think Keizer ‘We can’t arrest our way
out
of
homelessness’
crime is
on the rise?
Look
deeper
made for big headlines,
By ERIC A. HOWALD
they are also skewing per-
Of the Keizertimes
Two homicides, one ceptions of how dangerous
parking lot shooting with Keizer actually is, particu-
injuries and a fourth inci- larly if responses and alarm
bells being sound-
dent in which a
ed on social media
gun was fi red at a
are any indication.
home, all of it oc-
“It’s a diffi cult
curred in Keizer
issue to address,”
in a span of four
said Jeff Kuhns,
months.
KPD deputy chief.
It has some
“We try to be
thinking the city
transparent about
might not be as
Teague
what’s happening
safe as it once was,
but the reality is that crime and we’ve started seeing
in Keizer is on the decline those same claims the more
we use Facebook and Twit-
overall.
“Making a comparison ter.”
There is a danger in
between 2015 and 2014,
we were actually down in looking only at numbers,
persons crimes and up only said Steele and Keizer Po-
two percent in property lice Chief John Teague.
“When you look at only
crimes,” said Cara Steele,
Keizer Police Department the numbers, the percep-
(KPD) crime analyst. “For tions tend to go to the ex-
property crimes, that’s a tremes,” Teague said.
The data sample is so
very minimal amount. It’s
not an increase I would ever small that recent violent
crimes are considered
be concerned about.”
Steele’s job involves anomalies rather than the
tracking police call vol- norm, Steele added.
For the most part, said
umes, types of calls for assis-
tance and looking at trends Teague, KPD offi cers spend
locally, regionally and even their time looking into
non-criminal activities.
statewide.
In all of 2015, KPD of-
“I watch the swings, but
I’m not seeing an increase,” fi cers and detectives investi-
gated 964 Part 1 crimes – a
Steele said.
While recent events have Please see CRIME, Page A7
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
As the members of the
Mid-Willamette
Homeless
Initiative (MWHI) have been
making the rounds in the re-
gion collecting feedback from
residents on how to tackle
homelessness in Marion and
Polk counties, they are en-
countering a familiar refrain.
“We attended a neighbor-
hood meeting this past week
and one of the questions that
came up was about quality
of life and livability concerns
around homeless populations,”
said Marion County Sheriff
www.skylineforddirect.com
3555 River Road N, Keizer • (503) 463- 4853
(CORT), about some of the
ways both groups are trying
to innovate when tackling
crimes often associated with
homelessness. It was the cen-
terpiece of the WMHI meet-
ing at Keizer Civic Center
Monday, June 6.
“We are looking for better
ways to tackle these issues,”
said Deputy District Attor-
ney Paige Clarkson, who is
also the team leader for drug
offenses sent to the Marion
County DA’s offi ce.
When offi cers make con-
tact with a homeless person
Please see ARREST, Page A7
23 years for man who
led 11-year-old to Mexico
Please see MEXICO, Page A6
Keizer teen
dominating
sports world
PAGE A8
Celt alum to
deliver
graduation
keynote
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A former Keizer resident
pleaded on his knees for for-
giveness in front of a Marion
County Circuit Court judge
before being sentenced to
nearly 23 years in prison on
three counts of rape.
The charges stemmed from
a 2007 incident involving
Raul Xalamihua-Espindola’s
taking of a then 11-year-old
Keizer girl and then fl ee-
ing across the country before
heading to Mexico.
Judge David Leith imposed
the sentence Monday, June
6. Xalamihua-Espindola, 29,
pleaded guilty to the charges
in May.
During sentencing, Xa-
lamihua-Espindola’s
claims
that relationships between
older men and young girls in
FORD
Keizer
Jason Myers,
a member of
the WMHI
task
force.
“The person
in the com-
munity said
just
arrest
Myers
them. What
we’ve found from our expe-
riences is we can’t arrest our
way out of homelessness.”
The statement served as
preface to a presentation,
provided by members of the
Marion County District At-
torney’s Offi ce and Crisis
Outreach Response Team
PAGE A11
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Raul Xalamihua-Espindola on his knees in front of Judge David
Leith as he pleads for forgiveness.
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