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