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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2016)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 33 SECTION A JULY 29, 2016 $1.00 Behind the badge Q&A with KPD’s Union President By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes With law enforcement offi cers and their actions the topic of conversations across the country, the staff at the Keizertimes thought a conversation with the president of the Keizer Police Department Union was long overdue. Offi cer Darsy Olafson has served as president of the KPD offi cer union for the past eight years and we are presenting our conversation with him in a question and answer format over the next two weeks. This fi rst part will explore how national incidents are affecting Keizer offi cers, next week's installment will look at local enforcement issues. Keizertimes questions and remarks are in bold type. How are recent events, both the offi cer-involved shootings and police ambushes, affecting members of the KPD? I've talked with the guys about that to see what they are seeing. I do a lot of plainclothes work and they are out there in uniform. With the stuff going on nationally, it could be more alarming to them. As of yet, they said, they're a little more vigilant, but it's been more business-as-usual. They go out there to do the work because those comments and feelings are going to be there either way. Are they seeing increases in that talk locally? In some regards, yes, but a lot of it is on social media. It's really easy for someone sitting in a recliner to judge what's going on, but for an offi cer, sometimes they have as little as fi ve seconds to assess a situation and determine their response. They get a few more comments, but they tend to come from the people who were anti-police anyway. (The detractors) just a little more bolstered right now given everything that's going on. Two apply for council vacancy PAGE A2 Please see BADGE, Page A9 Housing shortage impedes progress on homelessness in the KEIZERTIMES/Andrew Jackson By ERIC A. HOWALD properties, affordable system Of the Keizertimes development charges and tax Six months to three years. incentives,” said Valerie White, That’s how long a wait owner of Encompass Manage- some area residents can expect ment & Consulting, who add- to wait for affordable hous- ed that she is curating waiting ing to become lists for every available, ac- type of housing cording to a “ We have pages she manages. panel of prop- “We have 50 and pages of erty managers people wait- wait lists and who attended ing on single- a meeting it’s almost daily family housing of the Mid- in Keizer. For that people Willamette them it doesn’t Homelessness walk out of the matter how Initiative July much it costs, offi ce crying.” 20. they want to “We have live in a certain — Cathie Miles, school district pages and pag- Shelter Management es of wait lists or a certain and it’s almost house or near daily that people walk out of a job.” the offi ce crying,” said Cath- According to a 2014 anal- ie Miles of Shelter Man- ysis of census data, Oregon agement, Inc. ranks 46th in terms of provid- A conversation with ing low-income housing to members of the Initia- the state’s impoverished. There tive task force covered were only 42 apartments or topics ranging from other housing types for ev- the availability of ery 100 families in very low affordable housing income households, defi ned to the common as households with incomes problems en- less than half of the median countered with income for the area in which l o w - i n c o m e they live. The problem dispro- renters and the portionately affects minority overall state of communities. the housing While increasing the hous- market. ing stock is one starting point, The cen- property managers also strug- tral message gle with maintaining residents from the prop- once they are accepted into a erty managers was low-income housing, said Ni- that more housing cole Utz, of Salem Housing is needed and develop- Authority. ers need more incentives to “The number one thing build it. we run into is garnishments “Developers need to be of paychecks. We base rents off offered incentives to develop Shelter numbers contradict homeless count PAGE A3 “Society sometimes undersells kids.” PAGE A5 Please see HOME, Page A7 Target employees given lifesaving award By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes Sharon Winter went to the Target at Keizer Station on Saturday, March 12 looking for Easter decorations but believes she was led to the store for a completely different reason. On surveillance video, Winter can be seen at the front of the store falling out of a motorized cart. “I remember feeling a little dizzy and things had a shade of blue to it, which was interesting,” Winter said. “I thought I had low blood sugar and I remember putting my hand to my head.” Store manager Brad Dickerson was working that day and got a call for an emergency. “It sounded very urgent so I started running,” he said. Senior Team Leader Austin Snelling joined Dickerson at the front of the store. Winter wasn't breathing and had no pulse so Snelling applied CPR while Dickerson prepared the AED [Automated External Defi brillator]. “Time started to kind of slow down and once I was in that moment training kicked in,” said Snelling in a video posted to Facebook by Salem Health. Dickerson used the AED to shock Winter, which didn't immediately revive her. He started doing chest compressions and at about 20, she Please see AWARD, Page A9 Titans third in country PAGE A10 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley Target employees Austin Snelling, left, and Brad Dickerson were honored by KFD for saving the life of Sharon Winter.
