SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 26
SECTION A
MARCH 31, 2017
$1.00
Residents call for diversity resolution
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When Cyndi Swaney moved to Keizer from
California, she ended up renting a room in a
home with a group of other adults. When she
arrived to move in, the property manager
rushed out to meet her in concern.
“The manager asked if I knew that
one of the other roommates was a
black man and if I was okay with
that,” Swaney told the Keizer
City Council at its meeting
Monday, March 20. “I
remember thinking it was
an awkward question and
I wondered why his race
would matter.”
As she refl ected on
the experience later,
she wondered if her
black housemate was
okay with everyone
else being white.
“My guess is he
wasn’t asked,” Swaney
said.
Swaney
and
another
Keizer
resident, John Scott,
spoke to the Keizer
City Council about
their
experiences
Monday, March 20, and
asked the council to take
up a resolution declaring
Keizer to be a safe and
inclusive city.
More recently, Swaney
had participated in a recent
conversation on a neighborhood
social media site regarding a
swastika that had been drawn in the
snow of a neighborhood lawn. Swaney
felt the conversation that evolved was
mostly dismissive of the act and wasn’t tackled
with seriousness the incident merited.
“I don’t want Jewish people or people of color
feeling fear or unwelcome in my city for any reason,”
she said.
As an educator, Swaney applauded recent efforts by the Salem
Keizer Education Association, Salem-Keizer School Board and City of
Salem to take a stand on issues of diversity and equity and wanted to see Keizer
do the same.
Scott, a Keizer resident and black man, said he would like to see a resolution
that tackled the nuance of diversity issues as well as the broad strokes of exclusion.
“We can be
practical, but
we can also
be bold.”
Track & field
returns
PAGE A12
— John Scott
Keizer resident
Iris poster
contest
opens
PAGE A3
“For instance, I have an afro and people think that gives them the right to touch
it. To pet me like an animal,” Scott said. “If I saw someone with an incredible neck
and I asked to touch it that would be weird. Right? But that’s what people with
hair like mine, or dread(lock)s, go through.”
Please see DIVERSITY, Page A7
Parks survey results expected Monday
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The results of the Keizer
parks survey are expected to
be released at the Keizer City
Council meeting Monday,
April 3.
The survey took months
to plan and Keizer residents
had three-and-a-half months
to respond to the query that
asked about priorities for the
city’s parks and support for a
fee to create a dedicated parks
fund.
The Keizer City Council
meets at 7 p.m. at the Keizer
Civic Center.
Members of the Keizer
Parks and Recreation Advi-
sory Committee discussed the
results briefl y at their March
meeting and provided a
glimpse of what the results are.
Parks board member Matt
Lawyer, who has spearheaded
the efforts to craft the survey
and outreach, said only about
18 percent of respondents
wanted no fee.
“That means 82 percent of
the city (residents) support a
fee at some level,” Lawyer said.
The meeting was held a
day before the survey closed.
About 1,000 surveys had been
returned.
Lawyer added that the $2,
$4 and $8 fee options received
the most votes at that point in
time. He added that the ma-
jority of responses had come
from those age 55 and older.
“I think that’s a good in-
dicator that people in this
city recognize the need and
are willing to move forward,”
Lawyer said.
Please see PARKS, Page A8
The things she carried
KFD volunteer shoulders gear,
memories up 1,000s of stairs
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Betsy DiNitto stitches together components for a RARE Bear that will be given to a child with a rare
disease. Bernina Stretch & Sew Fabrics is hosting several bear workshops in the coming months.
RARE Bears spotted
at Keizer sewing shop
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Judy Craig is looking for local seamstresses
willing to turn out a sloth of cloth bears while
learning some new skills along the way.
Last week, Craig, owner of Bernina Stretch
& Sew Fabrics on River Road, launched the
store’s RARE Bear campaign. Over the next
few months, she’s inviting patrons and new-
comers to visit the shop for a fi ve-hour sewing
lesson that results in a stuffed bear that will be
given to a child with a rare disease.
“Each bear gets it’s own tag that’s sewn in
with a serial number that is assigned to the
maker. When that bear is given out, they’ll send
a picture of the child with the bear to the per-
son who made it,” Craig said.
Please see BEARS, Page A8
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Ryan Parkison, Ted Shultz
and Shanie Hill.
Those were three of the
faces on Keizer volunteer fi re-
fi ghter Amber Butler’s mind
and helmet as she climbed
1,356 steps covering 69 fl oors
to the top of Seattle’s tallest
building, all while wearing 60
pounds of full gear.
Joined by Keizer fi refi ght-
er/paramedic Jeff Gallinger
and Lt. Rachel Brozovich,
Butler completed the Scott
Firefi ghter Stair Climb, a fun-
draiser for the Leukemia and
Lumphoma Society, for the
seventh time on March 12.
“I have a personal attach-
ment,” Butler said of Parkison,
who lost his battle with blood
cancer in 2001, Shultz, who
passed away in December and
Hill, who is currently fi ght-
ing. “If I can raise money and
awareness, I have my health,
I’ll climb that beast. I’ll do it
in their memory.”
Firefi ghters are invited to
Stage star
takes show
on the road
PAGE A5
Submitted
Keizer Fire District volunteer
Amber Butler at the annual
Stairclimb in Seattle.
submit photos, which are then
printed throughout the stair-
well to remind competitors
why they are climbing as their
legs get tired and it becomes
harder to breath.
“It gives us encourage-
ment to climb more,”Butler
said. “Every year I have some-
body’s face to look for and
then I see all of these other
Please see CARRIED, Page A8
Gone to
Arizona
PAGE A12