Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2018)
JULY 26, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7 SPARKS: ‘The kids have been amazing’ (Continued from Page A1) “This community has been extremely responsive,” Thomas said. “A huge thank you to the community, to everyone that contributed, participated, commented, all that getting the word out has just been amazing.” Selling fi reworks in the band's largest fundraiser of the year. Setting a goal of $15,000, the money is needed to help pay for instruments, uniforms, travel and food. Along with the GoFundMe, McNary is also taking donations and accepting bottles and cans on site at 5775 McLeod Lane NE. “They've been dropping them off here since the fi re and we've already done two to three runs to the bottle drop,” Thomas said. “We'd collected so many. I think the response has been larger this year because of the need for help. The kids have been amazing, showing up and working.” Keizer Fire District responded to the fi re Friday at 11:09 p.m. after a 911 caller said he saw a glow and smoke coming out of the tent. While the fi re was quickly extinguished, the cleanup began early Saturday morning. “Plastic was melted everywhere and it seared itself into the pavement,” Thomas said. It was just black everywhere. We had a whole crew out here scraping and completely took everything out of the tent. Hand washed it all down. The soot was everywhere. We scraped the ground, pressure washing, trying to get open again.” The fi rework stand was back in operation by 2:30 p.m. “Words cannot express how grateful we are to have such wonderful community support for McNary's Band programs,” Thomas wrote on the GoFundMe page. The cause of the fi re is under investigation. obituaries Submit an obituary through our website at keizertimes.com or send an email to: editor@keizertimes.com Former city manager passes Wally Mull 1946 - June 26, 2018 Wally Mull, husband, fa- die, Regan, Bodie, and Afton. ther, brother, grandfather, and Holding fond memories of his friend, passed away unexpect- home in Keizer, Wally kept his edly on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Oregon Duck football tickets Wally was born in Salem, and traveled with his grand- son Caden to a few Oregon, in 1946 games each fall. He and graduated from would also spend North Salem High one week each Au- School in 1964. After gust in the company graduating from high of his brother Danny, school, Wally at- sister Pam, and their tended Oregon Col- families, playing lege of Education, golf and catching while playing golf up with family and for the school. In Wally Mull friends. 1965, Wally enlisted Wally was pre- in the United States Air Force and served during ceded in death by his loving the Vietnam War, stationed in parents, Orville and Jeanne Biloxi, Mississippi and Goose Mull, and his sister, Pam Mull- Bay, Labrador. With the rank- Dunz. He is survived by his ing of sergent, Wally was dis- wife Carol, brother Danny charged from the Air Force in Mull, daughters, Keely Car- 1969 and returned home to lin and Karlye Mattie, and his Keizer where he began work- grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will ing with the Keizer Water be held on Friday, August 3, District in May 1969. Wally married Carol 2018, at 5 p.m. at Keizer City O’Connor in December of Hall. In lieu of fl owers, please 1969 and they settled in Keiz- donate to the Alzheimer’s As- er raising their two daugh- sociation at www.alz.org. ters, Keely and Karlye. While working for the Keizer Water District, Wally also served as a volunteer fi refi ghter at the Keizer Fire Department, was a member of the Keizer Elks Club, and helped coach Babe Ruth baseball. An avid sports lover, Wally would go on to help coach both his daughters and their friends in the Keizer Little League, and AAU Bas- ketball. Wally was an instrumental infl uence in the growth of the Keizer Water District, seek- ing to develop the city’s own source of water for the citi- zens of Keizer. He served as the Keizer Water District Wa- ter Superintendent beginning in 1983 and in 1985 when the City of Keizer took over the Keizer Water District, Wally became the Public Works Superintendent. Upon the retirement of Jim Nighten- gale, Wally became the Public Works Director, also serving as Co-City Manager from 1997- 1998, and then City Manager from 1998 until his retirement from the city in July 2000. During his 31 years of service to the Keizer Community, Wally will be remembered for his leadership and civic spirit. After retiring in 2000, Wally and Carol joined their daughters in Las Vegas, Ne- vada. Not one to rest, Wally began working at the MGM as a valet attendant. He loved staying busy and enjoyed meeting new people as well as running into old friends. Once again, Wally served as a mentor to the young men and women he worked with, who respected his advice and positive outlook. In addition to working at MGM, Wally enjoyed spending time with his daughters, as well as his grandchildren, Jordyn and Ca- den Carlin, and his extended grandchildren via the Sum- mers family, McKenna, Ad- INTERNET, continued from Page A1 interested in the possibility of bringing greater internet access to this area. He said cities throughout the world are now at another infl ection point when it comes to internet access. “If it’s essential, then by defi nition it should be a utility,” Christensen said. Cities that have opted to take on internet connectivity as a public utility most frequently do so because private internet service providers (ISPs), such as Comcast and CenturyLink, have chosen to slow-walk rollout of high-speed networks in rural areas. They choose to install fi ber optic networks across their jurisdictions because it supplies the fastest, reliable connection available. Thus far, there is no known limit on the speed a fi ber connection can provide. Limits are set by the companies that control the network itself and doled out to customers based on what they are able or willing to pay. A more ideal arrangement, according to Christensen, is putting cities in control of the network and allowing ISPs to market the services on it. Doing so in Ammon led to a dramatic drop in the fees residents paid for connectivity. Because of increased competition made possible when control of the network was out of ISPs' hands, the cost for what ISPs in Ammon provide dropped from a rate of $44.95 per month to $9.95 per month in less than a year. But, faster, cheaper internet service is actually one of the side benefi ts, Christensen contends. “It's a smart city problem,” Christensen said. “Customers get robust service at utility pricing, but the cities get things like smart lighting and smart parking on a smart grid. Comcast can do that, but they are going to charge you.” SMARTER, POTENTIALLY SAFER While the fi ber network rollout is still happening in Ammon, community leaders are already exploring its potential future applications. Because the network is connecting schools and fi rst responders in addition to residents, the city tested the system for a potential active shooter event in a local school. Gunshot-sensing microphones were attached to security cameras already installed in a school. When a test shot was fi red in a hallway, an alert was sent to the video management system. The alert, complete with video footage pinpointing where in the school the shooter was positioned, was forwarded to the 9-1-1 dispatching system and could then be sent to tablets of fi rst responders arriving on the scene. In the test, the alert and video stills made its way to dispatchers in fi ve seconds and to a police offi cer's handheld device in less than 30 seconds. “First responders can then follow wherever the shooter goes and knows exactly what they are dealing with,” Christensen said. “It's the business model that makes it possible. That type of connection would come at a huge price when someone else owns the infrastructure.” The current mentality is for each entity to build its own network, but the seemingly endless capacity of fi ber allows all the networks to run through the same infrastructure. He likened it to roads. If roads currently worked the same way as computer networks, FedEx and UPS would each have their own freeways. “Building separate networks for each thing doesn't work fi scally. If we put a robust network in place and then work those systems off the infrastructure it's better for everyone.” Conversion to a publicly- controlled network infrastructure as a public utility is also a bulwark against changing federal regulations. Internet connectivity entered a new era of uncertainty with the repeal of net neutrality rules under the new Republican leadership of the Federal Communications Commission. The repeal gives ISPs the opportunity to throttle speeds on the networks they own. Sticking with the FedEx/ UPS example, the law now allows the shipping companies to dictate the speeds at which their competitors are allowed to travel – and charge a premium to customers wanting services from those competitors. PAYING FOR IT The biggest hurdle to any massive infrastructure project is cost, but Ammon found a novel way to get its fi ber network off the ground. Instead of putting out a major effort for a municipal bond, Ammon formed an opt- in local improvement district (LID). It allowed any resident wanting to see the fi ber network come to life to begin funding its creation at a cost of about $45 a month attached to their property taxes. To get started, the city needed about 35 percent of residents to opt- in. “Ammon had 67 percent opt-in out of the gate and it climbed to 74 percent,” “If it’s essential, then by defi nition it should be a utility” — Jeff Christensen President, EntryPoint Christensen said. The closest comparable fi scal tool in Oregon would be a public utility cooperative, like Salem Electric. Oregon laws make it diffi cult to fi nance projects through anything other than traditional bonding, which require a vote of all the residents in a jurisdiction, but a spokesperson for the bonding company that dealt with the Ammon LID said they are already in talks with bond counsel located in Oregon to explore alternatives. Eventually, Ammon's fi ber infrastructure will have the potential to connect to every home in the city, but latecomers still need to pay their fair share of improvement district crossword assessments before getting hooked up. It amounts to about $3,000 per household. “We built in a few of the areas with the highest demand fi rst, but then the city made a conscious decision to begin connecting the neighborhoods where the Digital Divide was most prevalent after that,” Christensen said. The Digital Divide refers to the gap in learning between those who have internet connectivity and those that don't. For those that still struggle to cover the monthly costs, a lifeline service fi lls the gap by allowing 45 minutes of continuous connection to the network before kicking the user off. After 15 minutes of downtime, the user can then log back in for another 45 minutes. While the city has to fund maintenance and repair of the network it now owns, it is also fi nding solutions to keep extra costs a minimum. “If three neighbors are all out at the same time, then they will service on the weekend. If it's only one home, they will go out the next business day,” Christensen said. While there will likely still be bugs to work out in the system is completely lit up, Christensen said the biggest hurdle to more cities owning fi ber networks lies mostly in mindsets – that of corporations looking for profi ts and city leaders fearful of intruding in the private sector. “A company's motivation is profi t and all decisions fl ow out of that. They don't care about the collateral benefi ts to schools, medicine, education and public safety,” Christensen said. “The internet is too fundamental to look at just through the lens of profi t.”
