SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 6
SECTION A
NOVEMBER 10, 2017
$1.00
The light at the end
Keizer man clean and sober two years
after speaking about heroin addiction
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Curtis DeVoursney has felt
more human lately.
That might seem like a
small accomplishment but,
when we met for the fi rst time
two years ago, Curtis was deep
in the throes of heroin addic-
tion. He had watched numer-
ous friends and associates die
of overdoses in the preced-
ing months. At 24 years old,
he was still standing and that
made him feel invulnerable
and godlike.
The day after we talked, he
was reporting to jail for vio-
lating his last parole and even
then the drug use didn't stop.
“It's diffi cult to remember
because the amount of drugs
I was on. I went to jail and
continued using. I was smok-
ing meth and smoking weed.
Everything I wasn't supposed
to do,” Curtis said.
He was let out shortly be-
fore New Year's Day 2016. He
was staying with his father, but
that came to an abrupt end.
On New Year's Eve he left his
father's house with the clothes
on his back, a pair of shoes on
his feet and another pair in his
hand in search of drugs. He
walked fi ve miles into Salem
in 30-degree weather in a last
ditch effort and then began
walking back to Keizer.
“It's bad when you can't
get drug dealers to answer
the phone. I couldn't get any
drugs because I had robbed
every drug dealer I knew. I had
Wyden talks
taxes, Trump,
more at Keizer
town hall
Two years ago, an interview
with Curtis DeVoursney and his
family kicked off Keizertimes '
award-winning series on the
heroin epidemic called Chasing
Dark. Our original story on
DeVoursney, Lies Heroin Tells Him,
can be found on our website,
www.keizertimes.com.
Sen. Ron Wyden
detoxed on Mary's couch
while waiting to check in at
Pacifi c Ridge: Residential
Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Center.
“It wasn't hard to get in.
They knew me and this time
I knew what I wanted. I just
knew anything was better
than what I was doing. I didn't
know how to live life. I knew
how to do narcotics and lie,
cheat and steal. And, obvious-
ly, get arrested,” Curtis said.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
stopped by Keizer to host
a town hall meeting on
Saturday, Nov. 3. Talks were
wide ranging, but Wyden
repeatedly illustrated the ways
in which disagreement in
Washington, D.C., is not as
bad as it might seem to the
nightly cable news viewer.
“TV media doesn't give
any attention to anything that
isn't a fi ght,” Wyden said.
He talked briefl y about
several bipartisan efforts he
is actively involved in. He
is engaged with Sen. Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.) on two fronts.
The fi rst is the Corporate
Transparency Act that would
prevent individuals from using
anonymous shell corporations
to engage in illicit activities
like money laundering, sex
traffi cking, fraud and terrorist
fi nancing. Wyden, Rubio and
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
have also authored the Student
Please see LIGHT, Page A8
Please see WYDEN, Page A6
Curtis and Mary DeVoursney
burnt every bridge possible.
The only options were going
back to jail or to be homeless
and walk the streets,” Curtis
said.
He was walking on Cher-
ry Avenue near his mother,
Mary's, home when he sent
her a text message because
she wasn't picking up the
phone. Curtis didn't blame
her.
Curtis told Mary he had
no where to go. Mary asked
if he was willing to go to
treatment. Curtis said he
would. The next time he
called, Mary picked up the
phone and told him to get to
her house.
“I wasn't going to put my-
self out, I'd been there and
done that. Once he was here,
Mom kicked in and I was
trying to feed him and get
him to take a shower. Then
I told him he needed to call
the treatment center. I didn't
call anyone,” Mary said.
Curtis made the call and
No shortage of drama on tap
McNary
drama
remakes
classic
‘Heaven can wait’ but
only through Nov 19
absurdity of the situation far
more specifi cally than it was
recognized in the original,”
director Linda Baker said.
“The absurdity of it all is really
the thing.”
The play runs November
10-11, 17 and 18 at 7 p.m.
and November 12 and 19 at
3 p.m. in the Salvation Army
Ray and Joan Kroc Corps
Community Center chapel.
Tickets are $15 and
available at the door or online
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Keizer
Homegrown
Theatre hopes to highlight
the absurdity of Heaven Can
Wait, the story of a boxer who
arrives in the afterlife 60 years
early and in order to return to
earth must take up the body of
a nefarious millionaire.
“We are taking a 1930s
play that was unabashedly
sentimental and giving it a
twist where we recognize the
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
ABOVE: McNary seniors Steven Cummings and Grace Con-
dello star as the Scarecrow and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz,
which opened Thursday. BELOW: Keizer Homegrown's Heav-
en Can Wait, with Jeff Minden and Craig Will, debuts Friday.
PAGE A12
Rotary
digs deep
PAGE A2
Black, White
and Great
Panthers top
Wolverines
on gridiron
PAGE A12
Please see CLASSIC, Page A11
at www.brownpapertickets.
com/event/3131857.
Jeff Minden, a 1999
McNary graduate, plays the
prizefi ghter, Joe Pendleton.
Minden was in the play in
high school as the overeager
messenger who mistakenly
picks up Pendleton and takes
him to the afterlife to start the
story.
“It's kind of fun doing it
again so many years later and
Please see HEAVEN, Page A8
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By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
In preparing for Wizard of
Oz, McNary drama director
Tom Cavanaugh told his
students not to re-watch the
classic fi lm and make the
iconic characters their own.
That's been harder for
some than others.
“I watched it (the movie)
as a kid and I would always
hide behind the couch when
the witch came out and now
I’m playing it (Wicked Witch
of the West),” McNary senior
Camryn Ronnow said.
But Ronnow has enjoyed
the challenge.
“I wanted to play the Witch
because it’s a really iconic role
and I just really wanted to see
Celts head to
second round
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