SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 45
SECTION A
AUGUST 10, 2018
$1.00
Two arrested in
biz burglary spree
Silas Andrew Scott
Richard Wayne Berlin
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Two Keizer men have been arrested in
connection with a string of business bur-
glaries in the city last month.
Since July 3, fi ve Keizer businesses
have been burglarized after hours and
Keizer police suspect that the spree ex-
tended into Salem.
On July 3, Mobil Gas Station, 6160
River Road N., and Sonic Drive-In,
3775 River Road N., both reported bur-
glaries. On July 6, Burger King, at 2655
Jorie Lane in Keizer Station, reported an-
other burglary.
On July 24, the opening manager at
Dairy Queen, 761 Lockhaven Drive
N.E., reported a burglary. A window had
suspects
forced
been shattered to
“ We have reason to
entry,
usually
gain entry.
breaking glass to
Finally, on July
believe there may be
make entry into
30, Los Dos Her-
more suspects involved
the businesses,”
manos, at 3590
River Road N.,
and we know the criminal said Deputy Chief
Jeff Kuhns, of the
was burglarized.
activity they engaged in
Keizer Police De-
A
GoFundMe
partment.
campaign in sup-
extends beyond the city
On Wednesday,
port of the Keizer
of Keizer.”
Aug. 1, a search
family's restaurant
warrant was exe-
has been launched
— Deputy Chief Jeff Kuhns, cuted at 1691 Eu-
at bit.ly/2nksLtr.
Keizer Police Department
gene Court N.E.
More than $2,500
in Keizer that
had been raised in
resulted in the arrests of Richard Wayne
seven days with a $12,000 goal.
“Each business burglary occurred after Berlin, 30, and Silas Andrew Scott, 27.
the business had closed for the day. The
Please see SPREE, Page A10
Lady Celts
shine on
diamond
PAGE B1
A new conversation about school safety?
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
A stalwart city volunteer
and a candidate for the Keizer
city council tried to jump-
start a new conversation about
school safety at the Keizer
City Council meeting Mon-
day, August 6.
Matt Lawyer, a volunteer
on several city committees,
and Dan Kohler, a candidate
running to replace Bruce An-
derson when his term expires
in January, presented the fi nd-
ings from an online survey
Lawyer conducted in recent
weeks regarding school safety.
While somewhat limited in
terms of scope and responses
(roughly 420), Lawyer said the
overwhelming majority sup-
ported increasing school safe-
ty through additional school
resource offi cers provided by
National
Night Out
PAGE A3
Please see SAFETY, Page A10
Foster system changing from outside and in
The Oregon foster care system has some serious issues. That isn't news.
But initiatives in the Oregon Legislature and within the
Oregon Department of Human Services are attempting to address
the problems that have plagued the system for decades.
By CASEY CHAFFIN
Keizertimes Intern
In the state legislature, the past
several years have ushered in several
reform efforts, often spearheaded
by youth working with the Oregon
Foster Youth Connection advocacy
group. The newest statewide reform
was passage of the Foster Sibling Bill
of Rights in 2017. At the national
level, the Family First Act, passed in
February, is now being worked into
state priorities.
Senator Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis)
has made child welfare reform a cen-
terpiece of her legislative career and
takes the importance of foster youth
voices to heart. “Hearing directly
from the youth makes so much more
sense and has a greater impact than
hearing from a professor,” she said.
“That lived experience of those kids,
that’s the real thing. It’s not anecdotal,
it’s real, those kids are speaking truth.”
In her role as a child-welfare ori-
ented legislator acting in a moment
dubbed a “crisis” for foster care by the
Oregon Secretary of State, Gelser has
co-sponsored and chaired several new
initiatives in foster care reform.
Last year, the Foster Sibling Bill of
Rights was signed into law. The leg-
islation mandates the maintenance of
sibling bonds after sibling groups en-
ter care and was proposed by and lob-
bied for by the Oregon Foster Youth
By CASEY CHAFFIN
Connection. Gelser co-sponsored the
Keizertimes Intern
bill.
The Oregon Department of Hu-
The Sibling Bill of Rights is still
man Services, under pressure from a
in the process of being implemented
state audit and from years of unpleas-
statewide, but the goal of that legis-
ant news coverage, is implementing
lation is to put greater emphasis on
major reform projects to better serve
keeping siblings who enter into care
young people in Oregon foster care.
together if at all possible, and if a
The Secretary of State’s audit re-
single placement isn’t possible, then
sulted in 24 recommendations to im-
to require that
prove Oregon’s
foster
par-
child welfare
ents provide
and foster care
avenues
for
system. Subse-
youth to visit
quently, Fari-
and communi-
boz Pakseresht,
cate with their
the director of
siblings living
DHS, released
elsewhere.
a response to
When asked
the audit, de-
The foster care system in Marion County
about
how
tailing plans to
is struggling to meet demand.
implementa-
address all 24
tion of the law
recommenda-
This is the fi nal part of a continuing series
in the Keizertimes investigating the state of
is progressing,
tions. In the
local foster care and shedding light on
Gelser
said
opening let-
ways to get involved.
there is still
ter to the re-
work to be
sponse, Pak-
done to educate those who work in
seresht writes, “We need to tackle the
DHS and foster families about the ne-
root causes of these issues, not just the
cessity of maintaining sibling connec-
symptoms. That means focusing on
tions, both for the youths' sake and for
recruiting and retaining foster parents
the sake of compliance with the law.
and caseworkers, leveraging data and
“You have it, it’s out there, but
analytics in our strategic planning, and
continuing our efforts to better part-
Please see OUTSIDE, Page A7
ner with communities and support
SUMMER
SALES EVENT
our existing foster parents.”
Many of the 24 recommendations
involve collecting better data about
those who function in the foster care
system—about the youth in care,
about foster parents, about casework-
ers, and when and why they burn out
of their jobs.
Paul Bellatty, Director of the Offi ce
of Reporting, Research, Analytics, and
Implementation, is in charge of over-
seeing many of the data-collection
efforts. The fi ve research projects cur-
rently in progress are: utilizing predic-
tive analytics to be more discerning
about when to remove a child from
their biological home; understanding
the makeup of youth in the foster care
system to provide better services to
those youth; where caseworkers’ work
can be streamlined; and recruitment
and retention of both caseworkers and
foster parents.
The fi rst project uses predictive
analytics to better understand when
a child should be taken from their
biological home after a report comes
into the child welfare system. Pairing
employee judgement calls with data
about how other cases similar to the
one on the line have panned out will
allow DHS to fi gure out which youth
should be pulled from their homes.
City to water
CCMS fields?
PAGE A10
Keizer
women
dominate
Hoopla
PAGE B1
Please see INSIDE, Page A7
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