SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 10
SECTION A
DECEMBER 9, 2016
$1.00
Council changes mind,
absorbs some parade fees
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
In its previous meeting, the
Keizer City Council turned
down a request by the Keizer
Chamber to waive public works
fees for the upcoming Holiday
Lights Parade.
On Monday, Dec. 5, the city
council reversed course and
voted 6-1 to absorb $1,300 for
barricades and staff time by the
Keizer Public Works Depart-
ment to put them up.
Marlene
Parsons, who
was one of two councilors to
change their vote along with
Kim Freeman as well as Mayor
Cathy Clark, brought up the is-
sue to the council.
All three cited more time to
research the issue and the fact
that the $1,300 would come
out of public works and not
the general fund, as reasons for
changing their minds.
“This doesn't impact our
general fund,” Freeman said.
“Just with some more research
I changed my mind. We've done
it in the past with the other
venue that did the parade be-
fore. We waived those fees. We
really want this event here so
if we can help them. I know
they decided to do this at the
last minute.”
After more thought, Clark
determined the parade was
a correct use of public works
funds.
“I wanted to be absolutely
certain that was going to be ap-
propriate use and needed some
“This doesn't
impact our general
fund… Just with
some more
research I changed
my mind.”
— Kim Freeman,
Keizer City Councilor
time to go back and think about
it,” she said. “I want to be very
careful how all of those funds
are expended and make sure
they are done in a way that is
Please see WAIVER, Page 7
FAR LEFT: Liz and
Nate Dunn released
a Christmas
album on
Dec. 4.
Christmas
tree
lighting
PAGE A3
LEFT: The album
cover of Merry Christmas
by Melody & Truth.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Keizer couple releases Christmas album
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Liz and Nate Dunn decided
in March that they were
going to record and release a
Christmas album, but it led to
serious discussion with their
kids, Ingrid, Gretchen and
Jonathan, during the summer
months.
“We sat down with them
and explained what we were
going to do, why we were
going to do it and why we
needed them to be on board
with it. We told them it was
something we felt called to do,
and we wanted to show them
that you can make art but it’s
going to take everything you
have and then some,” said
Nate.
There was also another
lesson they wanted the trio to
learn.
“That fame can’t be the
goal,” said Liz.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, the
Keizer couple, as the band
Melody & Truth, held a
release party for the album
Merry Christmas at their church,
Salem First Baptist. It was
the apex of what had been
Parade returns Saturday
a long journey that roped in
numerous friends and relations
along the way.
“There's a sense of relief.
The fi rst 80 percent is fun, but
you get to the last 20 percent
and you feel like you're never
going to be fi nished,” Nate
said. “It's hard to comprehend
the amount of discouragement
you feel in a project like this.”
The album contains 11
holiday-themed tracks and
all but two were written or
arranged by Nate and Liz.
“The only songs we
covered were Go Tell It On the
Mountain and Have Yourself A
Merry Little Christmas by Little
Big Town. Their arrangements
just felt right for the album,”
Liz said.
CDs, digital downloads and
even sheet music from select
songs are available through the
website melodyandtruth.com.
Nate got his fi rst guitar at
age 16, but practice took on
a different form than jamming
with friends.
“It was a way for me to
journal,” he said. “Like other
people write their prayers
as thoughts or poems, I just
Every kid
deserves
a birthday
party
started writing them as songs.”
Liz’s parents had met as part
of a band and her father was a
professional guitar player. The
circumstances resulted in her
being surrounded by music
growing up.
“I was always arranging
music. I would never hear
a song and sing it the way I
heard it, I would always be
looking for what I thought
was the right way to sing it,”
she said.
Music
brought
them
together as a couple and they
PAGE A5
K-9 pups
get vests
PAGE A7
Please see ALBUM, Page 11
Santa’s arrival
KEIZERTIMES/File photo
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer Holiday Lights
Parade, for the fi rst time being
run by the Keizer Chamber of
Commerce, comes to Keizer
at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.
“I think there was some
uncertainty as to whether we'd
be able to pull it off, but I feel
like it's already a success,” said
Danielle Bethell, executive
director of the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce. “Our
whole board of directors
became very invested in the
parade and took of different
aspects of it. The fact that it's
happening makes it a success.”
This year's parade will
feature 56 entries, about
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Santa arrived to Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Stadium by helicopter on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Please see PARADE, Page 11
GED program coming to McNary
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Of McNary High School's more
than 2,000 students, only 28 or less
than 1.4 percent are considered
dropouts.
But for principal Erik Jespersen and
assistant principal Rhonda Rhodes,
that is 28 too many.
Beginning in February, McNary
will be the fi rst high school in the
Salem-Keizer school district to offer
a General Educational Development
(GED) program on its campus.
“This is part of a
bigger overall mission
that we have at McNary,
which is to get to zero
dropouts,”
Jespersen
said. “We know our
fi rst objective is to get
E. Jespersen every single student
across the stage with a
high school diploma but sometimes life
circumstances happen that make that
challenging so if you're an 18-year-
old kid and you've got four credits, we
want to provide other opportunities
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for them. This is after a lot of different
interventions along the way. For some
kids getting the GED is a good option
and if we can get them back in our
building and reengage them and give
them a little bit of a glimmer of hope,
than we're all about that.”
Currently, there are more kids
who are credit defi cient in Salem-
Keizer schools than seats available at
the Downtown Learning Center, the
alternative school in Salem with a
GED program.
“They literally only have a certain
number of desks so what happens is a
kid who is credit defi cient goes on a
waiting list and when you put a kid
on a waiting list they stop coming to
their home school and disengage from
school all together thinking they'll just
get that call and get their GED at that
point,” Rhodes said. “Having them
disengage in school altogether doesn't
normally turn out very well.”
MHS will pilot the GED program
with 20 credit defi cient seniors.
“We've got kids who out of the 24
credits they need for graduation, have
only earned two or four but they're 18
years old,” Rhodes said. “They don't
McNary
basketball off
to hot start
PAGE A12
Please see GED, Page 11
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