SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 12
SECTION A
DECEMBER 22, 2017
$1.00
Field fee increase sparks renewed
tension in Keizer’s youth sports
The last year the comments
By ERIC A. HOWALD
have been overwhelmingly
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer City Council positive. We are rebuilding
balked at a request to hike fi elds and making capital im-
fees $10 per fi eld usage at the provement. As we put more
Keizer Little League complex money into the fi elds we want
during its meeting Monday, to make sure that we main-
tain the fi eld,”
Dec. 18.
Arnsmeier
The
re-
said. “It’s not
quest came “ We're doing
a cheap com-
from Keizer
our best to
plex to run
Little League
and we are
(KLL), which
rebuild a once-
proud to do
manages the
glorious park.”
so, but it takes
fi elds under
money to do
a
contract
— Brad Arnsmeier,
so.”
with the city,
Keizer Little League President
While the
and
drew
council ended
sharp rebuke
from McNary Youth Baseball up requesting more informa-
(MYB), the former Keizer tion before making a decision,
Youth Sports Association. KLL the ask seemed to renew old
President Brad Arnsmeier said animosities between KLL and
the fee increase was needed to MYB before the meeting was
help maintain the complex, over.
To help make its case, KLL
especially in light of recent
investment in rejuvenating the supplied the council with a list
of expenses and improvements
facility.
“We’re doing our best to
Please see FIELD, Page A12
rebuild a once-glorious park.
Merry
Christmas!
File
Keizer Little League players round the bases during an opening day ceremony. KLL, which man-
aged Keizer Little League Park, is seeking to increase fi eld reservation prices by $10 across the
board. The proposal is meeting with resistance.
2 arrests in
River Road
robberies
Girls b-ball
7- 0
PAGE A13
B. Thompson
Season of Love
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
The Whiteaker Middle School choir program held its Season of Love performances earlier this month in front of near-
capacity crowds at Salem Alliance Church. In addition to student choirs, numerous other local musical groups got into the
act. For more photos, please see pages A8 and A9.
J. Libokmeto
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A single-car crash led to
the arrest of two suspects –
one each – in the robberies
of Shari’s Cafe and Pies and
Good Times Grill on River
Road North in Keizer.
Good Times Grill was
robbed by two armed men
on Dec. 11. A Shari’s manager
was pushed to the ground, and
a cash drawer was stolen, on
Dec. 7.
On Monday, Dec. 11, Sgt.
Jeff Goodman responded to
the scene of a single-vehicle
Please see ROBBERY, Page A12
KCFB ‘hires’ new
operations manager
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When Jim Johnson be-
came the treasurer for John
Knox Presbyterian Church
in the late 1990s, he didn’t
realize that managing the
books for
the
food
bank
the
church op-
erated was
part of the
duties. But,
it was okay
J. Johnson
by him.
“I couldn’t work at the
food bank because I was
still employed full-time, but
I wanted to be involved,”
Johnson said.
And, he stayed involved,
too. Johnson
managed
the food bank’s accounts
through a name change
to the Keizer Community
Food Bank and right up un-
til the day the operation be-
came its own non-profi t in
2012. Johnson retired from
the workforce in early 2017
and, since March, he’s been
a regular fi xture at the food
bank as a volunteer. His time
in that role caught the eye of
Rev. Curt McCormack, the
food bank president.
“He never stands around
waiting for someone to tell
him what to do. That’s the
kind of guy you want as a
manager because you never
ask a volunteer or employ-
ee to do something you
wouldn’t do yourself,” Mc-
Cormack said.
This fall, Johnson was
named as the food bank’s
operations manager.
“My job is to manage the
churches that volunteer and
Please see FOOD, Page A10
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The
McNary
Estates
Homeowners
Association
caused a minor neighborhood
stir when some residents were
asked about religious-themed
holiday signage in their yards.
It didn’t take long for some
residents to start responding to
requests to remove the signs
on a social media site, next-
door.com, and the disagree-
ments grew from there. The
board has since backed away
from the decision to act on
sign code enforcement for this
holiday season.
HOA
President
Ray
Straughan said the fi ve-mem-
ber board was attempting to
respond to objections to some
of the signs placed on proper-
ties within the north Keizer
subdivision, particularly when
there were not other “Christ-
mas-y” decorations accompa-
nying it. Straughan said an em-
ployee of the HOA was tasked
by the fi ve-member board
with asking residents whether
they knew about Convenant,
Conditions, and Restrictions
that require McNary Estates
homeowners to apply for per-
mission to display signs in their
yard, but that wires got crossed
in the execution.
Some residents were con-
HOA backs away
from sign kerfuffl e
Choirs at
the Capitol
PAGE A4
Hunter
returns to
MHS court
PAGE A13
Submitted
Signs like the one pictured became the center of disagree-
ments between residents and the Homeowners Association in
McNary Estates.
tacted last week regard-
ing signs with messages like
“Keep Christ in Christmas”
and “Christmas Jesus’ Birth –
When God Came to Earth”
and asked to remove them
while other decorations were
not singled out as violations.
One resident said that, to her
knowledge, no one in the
neighborhood had ever been
approached to remove signs
supporting athletic teams,
name plates or other common
lawn decor.
Straughan, in a statement
supplied to the Keizertimes,
said the intention was for all
violations of the signs rules
were going to be addressed.
Please see HOA, Page A12