SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 18
SECTION A
FEBRUARY 3, 2017
$1.00
Bills , bills , bills
With the Oregon utate Legislature starting the 2017 session this week, Keizertimes checked in
with uen. Kim Thatcher and Rep. Bill Post about the bills they’ve submitted for consideration in the
months leading up to the offi cial opening. We sent both legislators questions regarding specifi c bills
and put together a round-up of other issues they are tackling with proposed legislation.
Thatcher's
bills put
focus on
initiative
law, E-Verify
Post takes
on abortion,
minimum
wage
increases
State Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-13) is
sponsoring or co-sponsoring 19 bills
that were submitted for consideration
before the opening of 2017 session.
Thatcher’s policy advisor Justin
Brecht answered our questions in her
stead.
SJR 22 proposes an amendment to the
Oregon Constitution prohibiting the Legis-
lature from amending or repealing initiative
law for two years after enactment. A two-
thirds vote in both houses could override the
prohibition.
Keizertimes: Is there a specifi c
problem you hope to address with this
bill? And, given that initiatives pass
regularly without funding, are there
Rep. Bill Post (R-25) will tackle
abortion Oregon Health Authority re-
imbursements with HB 2125.
The bill would mandate that the
OHA establish a grant program for
organizations that encourage to carry
pregnancies to term. Buried within it,
the bill would also prevent OHA from
reimbursing patients who seek abor-
tions for reasons other than mother
mortality, rape or incest.
Keizertimes: Are there established
agencies that you could see applying for
a grant from this program?
Rep. Bill Post: Any federally quali-
fi ed health center. Oregon has many
including in Keizer and Newberg. Also
uen. Kim Thatcher
any concerns about this amendment
causing budget problems?
Brecht: Well, this bill is modeled
after Washington state’s. This bill sim-
ply puts a check on the legislature
tampering with the will of the people.
If this causes any budget concerns, this
bill does not eliminate the legislatures
authority to deal with that issue. It
simply requires a supermajority vote
by the legislature within the fi rst two
Please see THATCHER, Page A6
Rep. Bill Post
agencies that provide services to women
and children in Salem-Keizer that could
be anyone from Catholic Commu-
nity Services to Mid-Willamette Valley
Community Action
KT: The bigger impact of this bill
would be to impose restrictions on
when OHA could reimburse patients
for the cost of an abortion. Are you con-
cerned about limiting womens’ rights
make decisions in their best interest?
KFD honors
excellence
PAGE A2
Where to
turn for
help with
utility bills
PAGE A3
Please see POuT, Page A13
Parks fee comparison
Portland
Beaverton
$1.53
$6.05**
Tigard
$8.50 *
***
Gresham
K eizer fee options: $ 0 to $ 8
$7.50 *
West Linn
$13.01 *
McMinnville
$19.17 **
Springfi eld
$38.00 **
Bend
$28.00 **
The city of Keizer is
asking residents to weigh in
on their support of a fee to
create a dedicated fund for
Keizer parks. Options for an
additional Keizer fee range
from $2 to $8 per month, but it
is entirely possible that no fee
will be enacted.
Keizertimes looked in to
what residents of other cities
pay for parks services and
found several cities that have
enacted fees while others
created special taxing districts.
For a basis of comparison,
we have calculated what each
city charges on a per month,
per household basis regardless
of whether the money is
collected through a fee added
to other bills or a property tax.
When calculating property
tax fees, we used a home value
of $230,000, which is a little
less than the recent average
cost of a home in Keizer
provided by zillow.com. To
take the Keizer parks survey,
visit www.keizer.org.
* City collects a fee. ** Funds collected by a special taxing district.
*** Cost of a 2014 park replacement bond measure. Bonds do not
cover the costs of continuing maintenance, only capital projects.
Medford
$2.87 *
Reporting by Eric A. Howald, Graphic by Andrew Jackson
ut. Ed volunteers pitch in
to help homeless families
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Stacey Armstrong, her husband and
two teenage daughters were evicted
from their apartment on Dec. 6.
“We were supposed to go to court,
but we never got the paperwork tell-
ing us when we were supposed to be
there. I dropped off a money order for
the rent after hours, but the (apartment
manager) said they never got it. It was
devastating,” said Armstrong.
She and her husband immediately
put their name on waiting lists at local
shelters, and spent the next two weeks
living in motels. When that became
too expensive, they moved to a cabin
in Champoeg State Park.
“We bought a little cooking stove
and tried to treat it like a camping trip,”
Armstrong said. “We’ve been lucky to
have very understanding bosses who
have helped us with scheduling.”
Stacey works full-time in a fast
food restaurant and her husband works
full-time in retail in Beaverton. Their
daughters attend a Salem high school.
Last week, the Armstrongs were
spending evenings and nights in Keiz-
er’s St. Edward Catholic Church, a
parish that participates in the Interfaith
THRU
TH
FEB 20
NOW
“This has been amazing because
it’s allowed us to stay together as a
family and they will help us cover
rent once we get to the new apart-
ment,” Armstrong said. “The new
apartment is with a second-chance
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Caden Berry, the Claggett Creek
Middle School seventh grader, who was
strangled to death in his apartment last
month, allegedly by his mother, was re-
membered as “happy, loyal, smiling and
a true friend” at a memorial Saturday,
Jan. 28.
About 100 mourners turned out at
Keizer’s Dayspring Fellowship to re-
member the boy and family teachers
and friends shared their encounters
with him.
“If you’ve ever been to a school in
the summer, you realize how empty it
is, you start to understand how valu-
able a person like Caden is to making a
building, like Claggett, come alive,” said
George Krause, a Claggett teacher.
Grit and work ethic defi ned Caden
as a student, Krause continued, but it
was his smile and laughter that contrib-
uted to the community of the school.
“The world now has a bit less of that.
As hard as it seems right now, I believe
it’s up to us to step into that gap,” Krause
said. “We need to be Caden’s smile and
Please see IHN, Page A12
Please see FUNERAL, Page A13
KEIZERTIMEu/Eric A. Howald
Volunteers Letha Caron and Annie Chan serve up meals as part of the Inter-
faith Hospitality Network at ut. Edward Church.
Hospitality Network (IHN). IHN
is a non-profi t collective of 19 lo-
cal churches transitioning homeless
families into homes of their own.
Fortunately, the Armstrongs were
preparing to sign a lease on a new
apartment in Salem on Jan. 26.
s
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n
e
d
i
pres Y
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Caden Berry
memorial
draws family,
friends
E
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899 /each
$
Civics
lessons at
Whiteaker
PAGE A5
106-pounder
saves
McNary dual
PAGE A14
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