SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 7
SECTION A
NOVEMBER 18, 2016
$1.00
Allen Barker
Laura Reid
Down
to
the
wi
r
e
City council race still too close to call
KEIZERTIMES/File photos
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Who will be the next
Keizer city councilor? That’s a
great question, and the Keizer-
times got it wrong in the Nov.
11 edition of the paper.
The most recent vote tal-
lies had Laura Reid in the
lead with 6,005 votes to Allen
Barker’s 5,950, but the win-
ner of the contest for Position
1 on the Keizer City Council
may not be known until Nov.
28 when results are certifi ed.
Here’s how the paper
biffed the landing: when the
Keizertimes went to press on
Wednesday, Nov. 9, Barker
had a slim 81-vote lead with
10,697 votes cast and all pre-
cincts reporting. By Thursday
afternoon, Nov. 10, more than
1,400 votes were added to the
tally and Reid took a 53-vote
lead over Barker.
The lead changed because
more ballots were processed
after the initial totals were
posted, said Marion County
Clerk Bill Burgess. The Mar-
ion County Clerk's Offi ce
handles local elections.
The number changed again
on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
“We were working on
“We are still waiting on voters
(whose ballots had) signatures
that did not match or with
no signature on the return
envelope.”
— Bill Burgess
Marion County Clerk
about 2,000 county-wide bal-
lots that needed to be dupli-
cated to make them machine
readable,” said Burgess in an
email.
Additional Marion County
ballots were also dropped off at
sites outside Marion County,
which led them to be counted
later than the totals generated
on Nov. 9. The updated totals
on Tuesday only amounted
to a change of four votes for
Reid (3) and Barker (1).
“We are still waiting on
voters (whose ballots had) sig-
natures that did not match or
with no signature on the re-
turn envelope to cure those
conditions,” Burgess said.
Voters with questionable
ballots have until Tuesday, Nov.
22, to remedy the situation.
Burgess said certifi ed results
would be available on Mon-
day, Nov. 28.
Bazaar
at MHS
PAGE A3
Veterans
visit
schools
PAGE A5
Opioid addiction treatment growing fast at Keizer clinic
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Part of Justin Nielsen's
mission as executive director
of Renaissance Recovery is
meeting each client where
they are.
The result is what Nielsen
calls “cafeteria-style” offerings
that allow each client to pursue
their own recovery goals while
drawing on many different
paths to kicking substance
abuse habits.
“The old way of thinking
in the fi eld was that treatment
clinics wanted clients to adapt
to them and their beliefs and
processes, like being exclusively
12-step
or
something
developed
independently,”
said Nielsen. “Even though I
support 12-step, there's other
subgroups out there that
respond better to alternative
treatments that didn't used to
be available.”
At Renaissance, a client
might
choose
SMART
Recovery, a science-based
treatment
program,
or
Celebrate Recovery, which
takes its guidance directly from
biblical teachings, or some
combination of the two.
Regardless, Nielsen tries
to stay on the cutting edge
Justin Nielsen, executive
director of Keizer's Renais-
sance Recovery, talks with
case manager Katie King at
the clinic's offi ce.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Explosion
linked to
cannon
PAGE A7
of what's available to those
struggling with addiction,
which is what led him to
rolling out a new opioid
addiction treatment program
that include buprenorphine,
more commonly know by
the brand name Suboxone.
The program is only two
months old, but it's grown
to include nearly two dozen
Please see CLINIC, Page A9
Crystal Apple A sign of the times?
structure barricaded,
winner goes Play
hunt is on for repair funds
the extra mile
Submitted
Michelle Mills at the Crystal Apple Award
ceremony earlier this month.
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Counselor Michelle Mills works with nearly
550 students at Gubser Elementary, making sure
they all get what they need socially and emotionally.
But she also stays in contact with children once
they leave the school.
When one student was diagnosed with
attention-defi cit hyperactivity disorder, Mills came
up with solutions to help him stay focused and
on task both in the classroom but also at home.
And when that student was accepted to a different
school that could better meet his needs, Mills
cleared her schedule to be there on his fi rst day to
help with the transition.
“Andre has been at a different school for almost
three years and she still checks in to see how he's
doing, the boy's mother, Allison Davis, wrote in a
letter nominating Mills for a Crystal Apple. “I can
honestly say Miss Mills is the best thing to happen
to Andre and me. She was his friend when he felt
like he had none. Miss Mills was there for his best
Please see APPLE, Page A7
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
A play structure at Wallace
House Park was blocked off
after vandals struck.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A $3,500 expense in a city's
operating budget of more than
$24 million might seem like a
drop in the bucket. But you're
not Robert Johnson.
Johnson is Keizer's parks
and facilities department
manager, and a recent act of
vandalism has him pondering
ramifi cations that go far
beyond fi xing a broken slide
and bridge on the west Keizer
play structure.
“It looks piddly on paper,
$3,500 shouldn't keep the
problem from being fi xed, but
it is a huge hit to us. We have to
ask ourselves if we can afford
it,” Johnson said.
Johnson and the city's only
other full-time park employee,
Don Shelton, had to block off
Please see PLAY, Page A9
Coburn gets
400th win
PAGE A10