SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 13
SECTION A
DECEMBER 29, 2017
$1.00
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
will be
re m e m -
bered for many things,
but in Keizer it will most
likely be remembered as
the year city residents
had to start paying more
for the services the city
provides.
No stories dominated
headlines more than the
addition of fees to the
city's utility bill to pay
for police staffi ng and
parks services.
The pursuit of the fees
began in earnest in 2016,
but it took
most of 2017
for the city
council
to
vote on the
issue. Keiz-
er residents
now pay $4
per
month
into each of
the funds on
a newly re-
named “city
services” bill.
Member s
of the Keizer
Parks
Ad-
visory Board spent al-
most two years building
the case for the fee that
will pay for repairs and
maintenance through-
out the Keizer parks
system. The police ad-
ministration spent only
slightly less time making
their case for hiring fi ve
new offi cers.
There were plenty
of speed bumps along
the way. Some residents
didn't like the idea of fees
being enacted without
a vote by all residents,
especially as it pertained
to parks, but the police
fee was buoyed by broad
support from those who
turned out at public
hearings on the issue.
In the end, the Keiz-
er City Council voted
unanimously to approve
the police fee, but the
parks fee passed with a
5-2 vote.
As the year draws to
a close, the new fees are
already being put to use.
The parks department is
in the process of hiring
two new employees in
hope of having the crew
ready to hit the ground
running when the busy
season hits in spring
2018.
In addition, plans
are in the works for
remodeling Meadows
Park in North Keizer
with turf improvements,
a new play structure
for kids of all ages, and
improved pathways. On
the police side of things,
Keizer is recruiting two
new patrol offi cers.
Here are some of the
other stories that we
thought were the most
important of the year, in
no particular order:
2017
2 0 1 7
YEAR
IN
REVIEW
File
Woman
strangles
son to
death
In January, Keizer police
were summoned to a south
Keizer apartment complex
where Amy Robertson was
living with her son Caden
Berry, 12.
Robertson was outside the
apartment waving her hands
and scream-
ing as po-
lice arrived.
Neighbors
found Caden
dead under
a blanket in
their apart-
C. Berry
ment. Rob-
ertson was
charged with
strangling
Caden
to
death in the
following
days.
In May,
R o b e r t s o n A. Robertson
w
a
s
ordered to
the Oregon State Hospital
after being found mentally
unfi t for trial. The hospital
superintendent will submit
reports to the court every six
months updating it on her
status. At a memorial service
for Caden held at Dayspring
Fellowship,
Caden
was
remembered as happy, loyal,
smiling and as a true friend.
Teacher George Krause said
Caden was the type of student
that breathed life into the halls
at Claggett Creek Middle
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.”
A memorial was created for 12-year-old Caden Berry, who was strangled by his mother.
Keizer gets eclipsed
For two minutes on August
21, city residents and visitors
from near and far were held
rapt with their eyes on the
sky as the moon passed fully
between the earth and sun.
Billed as a once-in-a-
lifetime event, a total solar
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
eclipse passed directly over
Keizer reducing the visible
portion of the sun to a
corona and dropping the
temperature several degrees.
People fl ocked to get into
Leek said he was happy
with how the whole process
worked.
“What you see on TV
will be exactly the way it
happened,” Leek said.
File
Zane Leek, of Keizer, sold more than $90,000 in automobile
antiques to American Pickers.
Man arrested, re-arrested in matter of weeks
In
February,
Keizer
police brought a weeks-long
investigation to close with the
arrest of Casey Miser, 36.
Miser was found in
possession
of
marijuana,
methamphetamine, cocaine,
heroin, and 10,000 oxycodone
pills in addition to several
fi rearms and two sets of body
armor.
He was taken to Marion
County Correctional Facility
and held on $1.5 million bail,
but jail overcrowding put him
back on the street less than
two weeks after that arrest.
Within eight hours of his
release, Miser was arrested
again on numerous drug
charges when Salem police
executed a search warrant on
a home he owned in Salem.
Miser's court case is still
PAGE A11
the path of totality from all
over the globe and Keizer
pulled out most of the stops
to welcome them. The
Keizer Parks Foundation
arranged for camping in the
Keizer Rapids Park that was
a bargain by most standards
and raised about $30,000 it
plans to use for a matching
grant program to bolster the
city's parks. The Volcanoes
packed the stadium and held
baseball's fi rst ever eclipse-
delayed game.
Visitors traveled to Keizer
from the United Kingdom,
Sudetenland, Netherlands,
Brazil, Tijuana, Japan, and
Australia to name just a few.
Keizer man gets epically picked
The cast and crew of
American Pickers visited a Keizer
man and made their largest
purchases to date.
The episode featuring
Keizerite Zane Leek aired in
April 2017.
Leek invited Mike Wolfe
and Frank Fritz to look
over his family's collection
of
automobile
antiques
including a 1922 Ace
motorcycle he ended up
selling to Wolfe for $45,000.
Leek thought his dad paid
about $35 for the bike when
he spotted it under a porch in
Portland.
In the end, Wolfe and
Fritz handed over more
than $90,000 for three
motorcycles, an engine and
several miscellaneous items.
The pickers spent two days
poring over the Leek family's
collection in Keizer and
Macleay.
Top sports
stories of
the year
making it's way through the
judicial system. His next court
appearance is scheduled for
January 2018. Miser remains
in the Marion County
Correctional Facility where
he is being held without bail.
Please see 2017, Pages 6–7
Ego back
on board
AVID fi lm
to feature
McNary
PAGE A4