SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 27
SECTION A
APRIL 6, 2018
$1.00
Dearborn bridge
to be replaced
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Rep. Bill Post talks with about 30 constituents who attended a
joint town hall with Sen. Kim Thatcher Tuesday, April 3.
Guns, school safety
take center stage
in joint town hall
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
The bridge spanning Claggett Creek on Dearborn Avenue Northeast will be replaced this summer.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
In recent weeks, a trio of large trees were
removed from the south side of Claggett Creek
Park drawing the attention of city residents on
social media and calls to the local newspaper.
The trees have been removed to make way
for the next big construction project on the
docket of Keizer Public Works: a reconstruc-
tion of the bridge that passes over Claggett
Creek on Dearborn Avenue Northeast.
The project isn’t scheduled to begin until
May 1, but the trees had to go earlier for an
unusual reason, said Bill Lawyer, Keizer Public
Works Director.
“The trees needed to come down because
of compliance with the federal Migratory Bird
Treaty Act,” Lawyer told members of the Keiz-
er City Council at a meeting in March.
Essentially, if protected migrating birds had
the opportunity to build nests in the trees
while making their way north for the spring
and summer seasons, it could have delayed the
project or increased costs incurred through re-
locating them.
The replacement of the Dearborn bridge
will create a hiccup in traversing the core of
Keizer for the summer months and possibly
into the early fall.
“The contractor schedule begins May 1 and
runs to the middle of September, but it might
be closer to the beginning of October,” Lawyer
said.
Motorists will be advised to avoid the area
beginning June 1 when in-water work will be-
gin. Lawyer said the contractor, Salem’s K&E
Escavating, is being encouraged to keep access
to the south parking lot of Claggett Creek Park
for as long as possible.
The Dearborn bridge, Keizer’s last wooden
bridge, was constructed in 1964 with an ex-
pected lifespan of about 75 years. Increases in
population and the resulting traffi c have short-
ened its expected life.
“The main issue is that the existing bridge
Easter fun
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Healaman Sanders grabs for an Easter egg at a hunt hosted
by Avamere Court Friday, March 30. More Easter pics on
Page A7.
Road closure raises
hackles of biz owner
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Discontent at a recent
meeting of the Keizer Cham-
ber of Commerce’s Iris Festival
Committee spilled over into
the chambers of the Keizer
City Council Monday, April 2.
The owner of a marijua-
na shop on Cherry Avenue
Northeast is requesting some
sort of accommodation when
the road in front of his business
is closed to make way for the
Iris Festival campus in front of
Keizer Lions Club less than a
block away.
Keven Cutter, owner of
The Grass Hut II, located at
4085 Cherry Avenue N.E.,
said his business was negatively
impacted when Cherry Av-
enue was closed in front of his
shop for four days for the Iris
Festival.
“Over the course of four
days we lost about $4,000,”
Cutter told the city coun-
cil during public testimony.
“That’s about $126 in lost tax-
es for your city.”
At the time of the 2017
Iris Festival, The Grass Hut II
had only been open for two
months. Cutter said he stands
to lose even more business
this year. When some of his
customers began parking at
Bi-Mart, Bi-Mart’s managers
complained to him.
Cutter also took issue with
being notifi ed of the closure
less than a day before it went
into effect in 2017. Cutter said
he talked with members of the
Iris Festival Committee at a
March meeting and received
“a big, fat ‘No’” when he re-
quested that the road closure
be moved north of driveway
to the Patient Grower Net-
work (PGN) Lodge across the
street from his business.
Please see BIZ, Page A12
Please see BRIDGE, Page A8
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
It didn’t take long for state
Rep. Bill Post (R-Keizer) to
get called out for a recent on-
line dust-up during a town
hall meeting with state Sen.
Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer)
Tuesday, April 3.
In fact, it only took two
questions before an attendee
asked what kind of example
Post was setting regarding bul-
lying.The question stemmed
from Post's posting of a link
on his Facebook page to the
the Secretary of State's website
as part of a larger issue on how
the initiative petition process
works. Names, addresses and
phone numbers of the chief
petitioners seeking a ballot
measure that would reduce
the availablility of assault-style
weapons and the size of maga-
zine capacities in Oregon.
However, Post’s decision
to spread the information
through social media prompt-
ed the petitioners to be in-
undated with phone calls by
others who had seen the in-
formation.
In retaliation for Post’s ac-
tion, a Texas writer revealed
Post’s phone number and so-
cial security number on Twit-
ter, a tactic known as doxxing.
“There was no doxxing, I
got doxxed,” Post said at the
town hall in response to the
question about the example
he set. The doxxer also alluded
to knowing information about
Post’s wife and son, but fol-
lowers of the Texas writer on
social media used the tactic to
dig up additional phone num-
bers and began calling Post's
family as well as his chief of
staff and campaign treasurer.
By choosing to assign their
names to the petition, Post
reasoned, the chief petition-
ers had made themselves fair
game. “The minute you sign
that petition you are a public
fi gure,” Post continued in his
defense.
Home and
Garden
SPECIAL
SECTION
Former
first citizen
passes
PAGE A2
Please see HALL, Page A9
Crosby holds keys
to decoding Keizer
By DEE MOORE
For the Keizertimes
Like many police offi -
cers every situation that Ben
Crosby, the code enforcement
offi cer for the City of Keizer,
investigates has the potential to
go south and get him hurt or
killed.
What some people do not
realize is that when a code en-
forcement offi cer goes out to
investigate a complaint they
do so alone, without a Kevlar
vest, gun or Taser. All Crosby
has is a ready smile and a well
honed set of people skills to
keep him safe.
“Being able to know your
audience, know who you can
talk to and how,” Crosby said.
It’s a gift and one that he uses
every day.
“It’s hard to articulate that
(know-how and skill) being
able to tell someone they are
doing something wrong with-
out making them mad and in-
stead making them want to fi x
the problem, to come up with
a solution” but that is what he
does.
Knowing when and how to
talk to people comes naturally
to Crosby and this makes him
a perfect fi t for the position.
He is Keizer’s fi rst full time
code enforcement offi cer. He
has been on the job for three
years.
“I am excited to be here, to
be the fi rst full time code en-
forcement offi cer. I like that,”
he said. The opportunity to
make it his own and build the
Zombies
at WMS
KEIZERTIMES/Dee Moore
Ben Crosby handles development and police code enforce-
ment for the city of Keizer.
position from the ground up is
still very exciting to him.
That said he isn’t new to
the job. He has 16 years of se-
curity and enforcement work
under his belt. Before work-
ing for the City of Keizer he
worked for the City of Salem
where he worked for the Park-
ing Services Division before
becoming a code enforcement
offi ce. Before that he worked
in security for Walmart. Even
with all of this experience he
has had his share of danger.
“I’ve been stabbed. It was
when I worked for Walmart
Crosby said. His security team
also received a commendation
for having the most arrests in
one year.
Please see CROSBY, Page A12
Childress
eyes state
PAGE B1