SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 22
SECTION A
MARCH 3, 2017
$1.00
Keizer’s long road to HEALing
A seemingly
simple decision
takes nearly
four months to
gain approval
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
You
might
think
joining a network of cities
promoting healthy living
would be an easy decision
for a city council to make.
Welcome to Keizer.
A proposal for the city
to join the Healthy Eating
Active Living (HEAL)
Cities Campaign spanned a
total of four months and just
as many meetings before
fi nally gaining approval of
the Keizer City Council
– after another lengthy
discussion – at its meeting
Tuesday, Feb. 21.
The
HEAL
Cities
Campaign is a joint effort
of the Oregon Public
Health Institute and the
League of Oregon Cities
with fi nancial backing from
Kaiser Permanente. The
foundation of the campaign
is to promote social, mental
and physical health with
a combination of public
policy choices and creation
of healthy options that
are “accessible, affordable,
attractive and convenient.”
How that is achieved can
run the gamut from putting
exercise stations in parks
to deciding where to place
public transit stations and
everything in between.
Member cities will also
eventually be able to apply
for grants to complete
HEAL-related projects with
a 50-percent match.
The idea was put forth at
a meeting of the Keizer Parks
and Recreation Advisory
Committee in November.
Deputy City Recorder
Debbie Lockhart found
out about the program at
a conference, and knowing
the budget issues facing
Keizer parks, suggested
talking about enrollment in
HEAL as a new potential
source of revenue for grants
to improve Keizer’s parks.
Parks board members
took the matter under
consideration and forwarded
a
recommendation
to
join in the program to the
city council. The council
Upgrades,
not new
school,
says task
force
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Since December, a task
force assembled by the Sa-
lem-Keizer School District
has been meeting to come up
with recommendations for
how to deal with school over-
crowding.
On Monday, Feb. 27, the
Long Range Facilities Plan-
ning Task Force held its fi nal
meeting and assigned a dollar
fi gure to the work that needs
to be done to increase capac-
ity at the district’s overfl owing
schools: about $550 million.
It will now be up to the
Salem-Keizer School Board
members to decide whether
to pursue the full amount – or
some portion of it – with a
general obligation bond mea-
sure that will be put to voters.
The overcrowding issues
are most concerning at two
district high schools, McKay
took up the issue at its
fi rst meeting in February,
where the simple step
of proclaiming Keizer a
HEAL City hit a wall.
After fi elding questions
about whether becoming a
HEAL member city would
cost anything (Answer: no),
councilors picked apart
some of the fi ner details of
the effort.
Councilor Bruce Ander-
son raised concerns about
whether Keizer would be
required to enact policies
that might be tailored to-
ward other communities
– including topics like
dedicated pathways for
bicycles and pedestrians,
transit-oriented zoning
controls and land use
and transportation.
Celts one
win from
PDX
PAGE A8
Please see HEAL, Page A6
Cabaret
dazzles
KRP
camping
rates set
PAGE A2
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Rian Canini and Sydney Gates perform A Whole New World from Aladdin during the Whiteaker Middle School Cabaret at
Salem Alliance Church Thursday, Feb. 23. For more photos, see Page A5.
Please see UPGRADE, Page A7
Drug kingpin
Girl seeks diabetes dog
out on release
back in jail
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A Keizer man arrested on
multiple drug-related charges
less than two weeks ago was
released from jail due to over-
crowding and ended up back
in cuffs with new charges less
than eight hours later.
Salem
police
arrested
36-year-old Casey Miser on
Feb. 16 after serving search
warrants on his Keizer home
and a Portland Road business
where he worked.
The searches resulted in the
seizure of 40 pounds of mari-
juana, 17 pounds of meth-
amphetamine, fi ve pounds of
cocaine, a quarter-pound of
heroin, 10,000 oxycodone
pills, $40,000 in cash, fi ve fi re-
arms and two sets of body ar-
mor. Miser was charged with
delivery of methamphetamine,
delivery of cocaine and deliv-
ery of heroin.
He
was
being held at
the Marion
County Cor-
rectional Fa-
cility on $1.5
million bail
after his ar-
C. Miser
rest, but over-
crowding led to a forced re-
lease just before midnight on
Monday, Feb. 27.
About 7 a.m. on Tuesday,
Feb. 28, Salem Police served
another search warrant at a
residence owned by Miser in
the 4700 block of Dorrance
Loop Northeast in Salem.
Police found Miser and
two accomplices at the house
along with fi ve pounds of
methamphetamine and an il-
legal marijuana grow.
Miser was taken back to
Marion County Correctional
Facility where his new charges
Please see KINGPIN, Page A3
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Keizerite Lauren Sims, 8, is raising awareness about type 1
diabetes and money for a diabetic alert dog.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Eight-year-old
Lauren
Sims wants a dog. But not
just any dog, one that could
very well save her life.
Two years ago, Lauren
was diagnosed with type 1
diabetes. Now she’s working
as an ambassador to Service
Dogs by Warren Retriev-
ers (SDWR) to amass the
$25,000 needed to cover the
costs of the pairing her up
with a diabetic alert dog.
“They will have a trainer
come up from California
and spend four days with us
to help us get to know each
other and work together. It
costs a lot,” said Lauren.
When Lauren was 6 years
old, just after starting kin-
dergarten, she began acting
different than she had up
to that point in her life, said
Tania Sims, her mother.
“For a couple of days,
Lauren woke up four or fi ve
times a night and go to the
bathroom, then she would
immediately want some-
thing to drink. That wasn’t
something she typically did.
On top of that I would be
taking her to school and
we’d be talking like we
usually did and she would
suddenly get hungry and
demand something to eat,”
Tania said.
After just a few days,
Tania turned to the internet
and began looking up the
symptoms Lauren was expe-
riencing. Every clickpath led
to type 1 diabetes.
Tania took Lauren to
the doctor and a blood test
showed Lauren’s glucose
levels at 500. For the average
person, the number should
be around 100. She was
checked into Doernbecher
3 arrested
on drug
charges
PAGE A3
Bowlers
second in
state
PAGE A9
Please see DOG, Page A7
come see our
4101 River Rd N (former Knecht’s)
503.390.0161
amazing kitchen
appliances
MARCH 17 –19
AT THE STATE
FAIRGROUNDS