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.”