DECEMBER 29, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Bundy mistrial highlights distrust
By DEBRA SAUNDERS
As Washington conservatives
question whether partisan FBI of-
fi cials working for Special Coun-
sel Robert Mueller have stacked
the deck against President Donald
Trump, a criminal case in Las Vegas
points to the sort of fed-
eral prosecutorial abuses
that give the right cause
for paranoia.
Last week, U.S. District
Judge Gloria Navarro
declared a mistrial in the
infamous 2014 Bunker-
ville standoff case against
rancher Cliven Bundy, his
sons Ammon and Ryan, and co-de-
fendant Ryan Payne, on the grounds
that federal prosecutors improperly
withheld evidence.
The standoff, in which both sides
were armed, was a national news
story that pitted a Western rancher
against federal offi cialdom. Bu-
reau of Land Management offi cials
had tried to seize Bundy’s cattle
following a decades-long dispute
over grazing fees. The rancher had
stopped paying federal grazing fees
in 1993 to protest a BLM directive
that he cut back on cattle grazing in
order to accommodate the threat-
ened desert tortoise.
In the course of the trial, Navar-
ro found that prosecutors failed to
share video surveillance, maps and
FBI interview reports with defense
attorneys. “A mistrial in this case is
the most suitable and only remedy
available,” Navarro explained.
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal
reported, the judge stressed that she
did not want her decision to be seen
as a signal that the defendants are
not guilty.
Navarro’s decision apparently
was a refl ection on federal offi -
cials. It follows release of a memo
by BLM investigator Larry Wooten
that described “a widespread pattern
of bad judgment, lack of discipline,
incredible bias, unprofessionalism
and misconduct, as well as
likely policy, ethical and
legal violations among
senior and supervisory
staff ” in the BLM’s Offi ce
of Law Enforcement and
Security.
Wooten wrote that
he had seen “excessive
force,” described offi cers
grinding Bundy’s son Dave’s face in
gravel and opined that federal of-
fi cials were intent on commanding
“the most intrusive, oppressive, large
scale and militaristic cattle impound
possible.”
In an apparently partisan refer-
ence that used a term Hillary Clin-
ton designated for some of Trump’s
supporters, Wooten wrote that a
federal prosecutor said, let’s get
these “shall we say Deplorables.”
(Likewise FBI agent Peter Strzok
and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who
worked on Mueller’s probe into
Russian interference in the 2016
election, shared texts in which they
called Trump a “loathsome human.”
Mueller removed Strzok after he
learned of the texts.)
Wooten also wrote that the
Bundy case “closely mirrors” the
circumstances behind the trial of
former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
In 2008, federal prosecutors in-
dicted Stevens, a Republican sena-
tor, for failing to report that an oil
contractor had paid for renovations
on his Alaska cabin. A jury convict-
other
voices
The promise
Few things hold such promise as
the dawning of a new year. When
the calendar turns to January 1, we
shake off the old year and look to
the new with a sense of optimism;
all that we want to achieve in the
next 12 months is as doable as any
of the best laid plans.
Schools, governments and busi-
ness generally have their own new
year without benefi t of the calen-
dar. The school year begins anew
each September; govern-
ments operate on a fi scal
year that start in July or
October; and businesses
can choose to begin their
year whenver they wish.
At the end of each year
media outlets compile
lists of the top stories and
events of the previous 12
months, scrapbooking the year into
neat little boxes and stories. We feel
it is more important to look forward
to what may be and what could be
coming. The past is the past, all that
man can do is learn from it.
Looking forward, Keizer resi-
dents and voters will have a busy
year in 2018. The fi rst election,
for Measaure 101, is on January 23
when voters will be asked to retain
the Oregon legislature’s temporary
tax on hospitals, insurance compa-
nies and a few other groups to make
up for a Medicaid funding shortfall
in order to keep low-income Ore-
gonians insured. Keizer and Oregon
residents are like those in every oth-
er part of the nation—no one wants
their taxes to increase or their health
insurance premiums to go up. Mea-
sure 101 could result in that.
In May voters will pass judge-
ment on the $620 million bond for
the proposed Long-Range Facili-
ties Plan for Salem-Keizer School
District. The Long-Range Facilities
Plan is aimed at meeting schools’
long term needs in areas such as ca-
pacity and building safety.
The May election is also a pri-
mary for state and county offi ces.
In November’s general election,
the city of Keizer will be voting on
its mayor and three councilors.
It may seem like a lot of elec-
tion ballots to peruse throughout
the year, but the election results will
shape the way we live here in Keiz-
er. That is true especially regarding
the growth of Keizer; there is a very
good chance that the councilors
who are serving starting in January
2019 will have a big say in whether
or not our Urban Growth Bound-
ary will be expanded.
The future belongs to those that
plan for it. It is easy to conclude that
2018 will be a big year for Keizer.
The opening of the Waremart gro-
cery store at Creekside Shopping
Center will herald a revitalization of
that faded retail development. Keiz-
er households have been counting
the days until Keizer’s second gro-
cery store opens its doors and offers
prices that budget-minded consum-
ers want.
The addition of a cin-
ema at Keizer Station
will bring entertainment
choices to the city that
residents have been clam-
oring for years, especial-
ly after Keizer Cinema
closed in the 1990s.
The new year prom-
ises to be very good for Keizer and
its residents. We have the amenities
we need: streets, sewers, parks and
schools. A former Keizer mayor used
to say when it comes to spending
money on public projects it comes
down to ‘must-have’ and ‘like-to-
have.’ If there is no money available
after paying for the ‘must haves,’
then it falls on the city’s private and
philantropic organizations to work
on the ‘like to haves.’ A good ex-
ample of that is Keizer’s public art
program, led by the Keizer Cham-
ber Foundation.
A case can be made that Keizer
has what it needs. If nothing was
added or changed, most Keizerites
would be happy with the status quo.
That’s a good situation for those
who want to retain Keizer’s quaint
atmosphere.
Just as many wildlife animals are
deep in hibernation until the thaws
of spring, we humans will also hun-
ker down in January and February,
recuperate from the hectic holidays,
recharge and get ready to attack
life with gusto again come March.
There is high school to graduate,
colleges to apply to; many will seek
new employment or buy a new
house.
As we turn the calendar to a
new year, each person will remem-
ber the good in the past, overlook
the bad while planning and hop-
ing for a year of personal prosper-
ity for themselves and achievement
for their school-age children. It’s a
promise the calendar makes to us
and a promise we have to work at to
make happen.
—LAZ
our
opinion
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ed Stevens, who lost the re-election.
Only later did the case fall apart
after a Department of Justice probe
found prosecutors had withheld ex-
culpatory evidence. Attorney Gen-
eral Eric Holder, who inherited the
case after President Barack Obama
won the White House, asked the
courts to throw out the conviction.
Wooten is no fan of Cliven Bun-
dy who, he wrote, instead of “prop-
erly using the court system or other
avenues to properly address his
grievances, he chose an illegal, un-
civilized and dangerous strategy in
which a tragedy was narrowly and
thankfully avoided.”
Tragedy was not averted in the
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
in Oregon last year when law en-
forcement shot and killed Robert
“LaVoy” Finicum during a Bundy-
inspired showdown.
“Clearly Bundy should not be
made out to be some kind of hero,”
observed Jim Burling, vice president
of the property-rights oriented Pa-
cifi c Legal Foundation. “But BLM
and DOJ are doing everything they
can to turn Bundy into some kind
of martyr and they’re giving him far
more credibility than he should be
given.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions
takes the matter seriously. Accord-
ing to spokesman Ian Prior, Sessions
“personally directed that an expert
in the Department’s discovery obli-
gations be deployed to examine the
case and advise as to next steps.”
As for the Justice Department,
said Burling, “If they want to en-
force the law, they should look at
the mirror fi rst.”
(Creators Syndicate)
Residents should help decide how to grow city
By GENE H. McINTYRE
The question asked on the front
page of the December 8 issue of
the Keizertimes hopefully will mo-
tivate every Keizer resident to
get involved in deciding how and
where our city grows. The issue
most certainly got me refl ecting
on how relatively easy it has been
to get around this town but how
that condition is changing and will
predictably become so much more
challenging if we do not plan and
act wisely.
A considerable stroke of pure
genius was the decision
to occupy—for multiple
retail and living space use
nearby—that area named
Keizer Station border-
ing Lockhaven Drive,
Ridge Drive, I-5 and the
south side of Volcanoes
Stadium. Keizer Station re-
minds me of my early
days as a school teacher in
Beaverton, having Portland’s then
newly-built Lloyd Center, where
there was always a place to park, it
was crime-free and it offered the
only one-stop shopping in Oregon
at the time. At present, shopping
malls may be on the decline else-
where while Keizer Station is one
that will be viably-important for
years to come.
River Road North is getting
more and more congested and
thereby increasingly diffi cult to
negotiate as a result of businesses
along it where—as just one exam-
ple—drivers think it’s okay to block
the street so they can get their cof-
fee. Keizer police could start issu-
ing tickets but that’s a negative for
them when it should be a business
responsibility to establish a site that
does not impede traffi c. Conditions
we have already, and growing, along
River Road North, could be cur-
tailed if a proactive city council and
mayor would not permit traffi c-im-
peding conditions.
While we’ve still got a measure of
time, we should move as much busi-
ness by incentive to Keizer Station
and increase available space there so
that new or existing businesses can
locate or re-locate there instead
of River Road. At the same time,
more high rise apartment buildings
for seniors (such as Bonaventure
at Keizer Station) and
the general population
should be built in what
could become a much
larger space for all in-
vestors interested in de-
veloping retail space and
apartment buildings.
Keizer Station is
rapidly expanding and
will continue to grow
as Keizer’s population grows and
more traffi c uses Interstate 5. It
would appear urgent then to ne-
gotiate with Volcanoes Stadium to
help its owners relocate, although it
may require eminent domain to get
it done. Then, too, there’s open land
immediately to the west of the ball
park and some, too, just north of it
before farmland that could be in-
corporated into an expanded shop-
ping center as we move through the
years of growth and development
predicted to come and, to one de-
gree or another, has already arrived.
Regarding this subject, most
certainly a case for civil engineer-
ing and road work should be a part
of development deliberations. All
paths to Keizer Station become
heavily congested before holidays
guest
column
and often during certain times
of any day. Woodburn Company
Stores became a dangerous exit
before the highway improvements
were made. This is the time to get
started for Keizer Station, not only
for its freeway location but also ac-
cess by the Salem Parkway NE as
well as Chemawa and Lockhaven
Drive.
Another casualty of letting
things grow topsy turvy is the rich
farmland near Keizer’s city limits,
that land adjoining it and the Urban
Growth Boundary (UGB). The en-
tire nation keeps using up rich farm
land to house people on city lots and
acreage when it would seem proac-
tively wise to ask how we’ll even-
tually feed everyone when land to
grow fruit, vegetables and farm ani-
mals is covered with people living
on it. It’s truly a matter that’s ig-
nored at what promises human peril.
Hope proactive over reactive be-
comes a well-established Keizer mo-
dus operandi. Otherwise, we give
our next generation big problems
we likely could have done a whole
lot about. One fi nal thought here:
talk, persuade, cajole a large grocery,
pharmacy, clothing, electronics, jew-
elry store to be built inside Keizer
Station. That would be a crown-
ing apex to a shopping location that
could be among the very best in
Oregon and the Pacifi c Northwest.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
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