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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2018)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 22 SECTION A MARCH 2, 2018 $1.00 Amid school safety furor, Wyden visits McNary HS By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes School safety and protect- ing Dreamers were two of the topics that dominated the conversation as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) visited Mc- Nary High School for a town hall on Friday, Feb. 23. McNary junior Lauren Murphy, a reporter for the student newspaper, the Piper, asked Wyden about both is- sues. The senator said school shootings have become nor- malized. “We can’t accept this,” Wyden said to applause from the crowd, which consisted of about 40 members of the community and more than a hundred students. “This should never be considered normal. We are better than this.” Wyden said he supported an “airtight, loophole-free background check system for every single gun sold in America,” as well as a ban on bump stocks, a repeal of the law that protects gun makers KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley ABOVE: Sen. Ron Wyden takes questions from students and members of the public. LEFT: McNary High School students Lauren Murphy (top) and Beau Reitz (bottom) grill the senator. after a shooting and that he would lift restrictions on do- ing research. Wyden also took the time to respond to President Don- ald Trump’s tweet about arm- ing teachers. “I’m for teachers teaching,” said Wyden, who noted he supported more funding for law enforcement at schools. “They are so important to the well being of our families.” McNary senior Beau Re- itz asked Wyden what schools could do for safety besides gun control. Wyden let McNary princi- pal Erik Jespersen address this issue. “We’ve got an amazing safety and security team,” Jes- persen said. “The No. 1 thing you can do (as students) is have open ears and eyes.” Jespersen pointed to warn- ing signs and red fl ags in school shootings found on so- cial media. “You know your classmates and who is having a hard time,” he said. “You can let us know. Pay attention and look for signs.” On Dreamers and immi- gration, Wyden said “those who have grown up in Ore- gon have done so much good in our state” and that Presi- dent Trump chose “to hold back dreamers rather than to help our economy.” “We need them (Dream- ers) to create jobs in a growing economy,” Wyden added. Wyden also said he “de- tested” the idea of spending Boys win GVC title Hop Jack's opening soon PAGE A2 Please see WYDEN, Page A3 Mandatory Reporting Gryo Stop opens to raves Bill stumbling over age of consent By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes An Oregon Senate bill submitted to the 79th Oregon Legisla- tive Assembly that would modify Oregon’s mandatory reporting rules was garnering lots of input, but no vote has yet been called. “The current interpretation of the law in some parts of our state, instructing teachers and staff to report consensual sexual activity, reduces the likelihood that youth will access a trusted adult when they need them, while simultaneously straining an already burdened system,” wrote Michele Roland-Schwartz, ex- ecutive director of the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force. The bill, SB 1540, amends the state’s rules to defi ne reportable offenses as sexual contact or intercourse as those in which lacked consent – or the victim had the inability to provide consent – for teens and young adults between the ages of 14 and 21, if one of the parties is more than three years older, or if there is rea- sonable cause to believe the relationship was the result of force, intimidation or coercion. Sponsored by Sen. Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis) and Rep. Bill Post (R-Keizer), the bill seeks to address the underlying law that prompted the Salem-Keizer School District to issue new manda- tory reporting guidelines in October 2017. Much of the testimony submitted to the committees on hu- man services has been supportive of the base changes, but an Please see BILL, Page A2 By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes When he was still a pre- teen, Nezam Hammad began working alongside his father in the family’s Mediterranean restaurant. He’s now teaching one of his daughters to man- age one of Keizer’s newest res- taurants, Gyro Stop. “It’s a pretty traditional menu with Jordanian and Leb- anese infl uences,” said Ham- mad. “(Nila) started working in the restaurants when she was 14, I started when I was 10.” Nila is Nila Kamis, Ham- mad and Tanya Kalugin’s daughter, who is in training to take over the shop. Ham- mad and Kalugin previously owned four Portland-area res- taurants that they fi nished sell- ing off in December to open Gyro Stop in Keizer. Gyro Stop is located in the former Birdie’s Bistro location at 3860 River Road N. “I’m just kind of getting Lady Celts denied playoff run KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Nezam Hammad packs up a to-go order at Gyro Stop at 3860 River Road N. back into it and relearning ev- erything, but I know this busi- ness and I want to be able to give (Hammad and Kalugin) a break,” Kamis said. A break is feeling more and more welcome as Gyro Stop’s reception has been over- whelming. “Everyone is really happy we came to the neighborhood Please see GYRO, Page A3 City council honors 1,000s of service hours KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Volunteer of the Quarter honorees: Matt Lawyer with son Zach, Terry Frazier and Dan Kohler of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; and Hans Schneider with his wife Vicki. By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The Keizer City Council recognized four volunteers for their roles leading a variety of volunteer projects throughout the city at it's meeting Tuesday, Feb. 20. It just so happens that one of the honorees, Matt Lawyer, was also the individual who nomi- nated the other three, Hans Schneider, Dan Kohler and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and James Decker and Whiteaker Middle School. Each quarter, the city recog- nizes one volunteer who goes above-and-beyond the call of duty, but the council spent part of its meeting making up for lost time. Schneider was tapped as Volunteer of the Quarter for the second quarter of 2017. Schneider and his wife, Vicki, were the driving fi nancial and labor forces behind improved sand volleyball courts at Keizer Rapids Park along with a shel- ter that now sits close by. The Schneiders paid to expand a single volleyball court to three regulation-size ones and invest- ed north of fi ve fi gures to install the shelter. Hans also runs the Keizer Sand Shark youth vol- leyball program each summer. Please see HOURS, Page A3 Wolverines vs. Panthers on the mat
