SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 46
SECTION A
AUGUST 17, 2018
The Thrift Store
aims for high-
end bargains
Goodwill vacated its Keizer loca-
tion in April, but a new thrift shop is
gearing up to take its place.
The Thrift Store, 3840 River
Road N., is pushing for a Septem-
ber opening, said manager Mike
Kenney.
“It will be a thrift store fi rst and
foremost, but there will be different selec-
tion and a more varied mix of new items to
complement the used items customers expect,”
Kenney said.
The differences start with the store’s layout.
Kenney relegated shelving units to the outside
walls and added about 200 feet of additional
space for clothing items. He’s also doubled the
size of the book section.
“We’re trying to create a different shopping
experience. We don’t want things like shelves
jam-packed with picture frames because you
can’t shop them,” he said.
Dispelling clutter and preconceived notions
is only part of the plan.Customers might also
fi nd high-end items unexpected for a thrift
store setting.
“We will have shoes that someone might
fi nd at Payless or Walmart up to Jimmy Choos,
Poppin’
tags
By ERIC
A. HOW
A
Of the Ke LD
izertimes
it will be the
same with handbags up to
Louis Vuitton and Coach,” Kenney said. “We
want to put quality products in front of people
at a real value – about half of retail.”
Kenney said the business is a new venture
for the owners who have chains in California
and part of another in Texas. The Thift Store
isn’t technically part of those operations, but it
is the fl agship location in Oregon.
Those looking to donate items, like they
once did at Goodwill, can also donate to
The Thrift Store knowing they are helping a
worthwhile cause.
All proceeds from clothing donations will
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Please see TAGS, Page A6
Mike Kenney is manager of The Thrift Shop, which is planning a
September opening in the old Goodwill location.
McNary alum releases 1st book
By CASEY CHAFFIN
Keizertimes Intern
T.J. Reid is not going to
be the next J.K. Rowling. He
knows that. But what’s the
harm in trying anyway?
Reid self-published his fi rst
novel—A Funny Thing Hap-
pened on the Way to the Apoca-
lypse — last year. It was a proj-
ect he’s been mulling since
his days at McNary, when the
$1.00
book that turned out to be a
tongue-in-cheek “lampoon-
ing” of the post-apocalyptic
genre was still taking itself
seriously. The book describes
the adventures of Leith Ev-
ergreen on her quest to save
her mother and stave off the
apocalypse.
“It wasn’t always a com-
edy in my mind. I actually
started a draft a long time ago,
when I was a teenager – I’d
be horrifi ed to read it now,”
Reid said. “I was writing it
and even then I thought this
is really bad, I need a differ-
ent way to approach this. It’s
a story I want to tell … and
then it kind of just clicked: I
like writing funny things, why
not make it a comedy?”
A Funny Thing Happened
Please see REID, Page A7
Submitted
LEFT: T.J. Reid lands on an
idea in his author photo.
ABOVE: The cover to Reid's
fi rst self-published novel,
A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Apocalypse.
Blue Day
is here
PAGE B1
Keizer United gets
half of promised
support, for now
on the budget she offered the
By ERIC A. HOWALD
council.
Of the Keizertimes
Aside from concerns about
Earlier this year, the Keizer
Budget Advisory Committee the vagueness regarding how
appropriated $2,000 to assist the money would be used,
Keizer United, a networking Councilor Kim Freeman took
and collaboration organiza- issue with the money poten-
tially being
tion focused
used to pay
on
bring-
for lunches
ing together “ There's a lot
Keizer Unit-
other good-
of times
ed provides
will
efforts
at its monthly
in the city.
we're here,
meetings.
When asked
as councilors,
“Isn't it at
to
disburse
lunchtime,
so
the
money
and we don't
they
could
at a Keizer
City Coun-
even get lunch.” bring their
own lunch?
cil meeting
— Kim Freeman, For me, as a
Monday, Aug.
Keizer City Councilor
city to give
6, councilors
you taxpayer
got cold feet.
dollars
for
In the end,
Keizer United got half of its lunch is not okay with me.
request with more to come if One, because we don't do it
councilors like how the mon- for any other committee and
there's a lot of times we're
ey is used.
Councilors approved dis- here, as councilors, and we
bursing $1,000 in a 5-0 vote don't even get lunch,” Free-
man said. It should be noted
with two councilors absent.
Meredith Mooney, presi- that Keizer United is not a
dent of Keizer United, re- city committee, but an inde-
mained in good spirits despite pendent non-profi t.
pushback from the council Please see UNITED, Page A6
Chamber
bolsters
Blast Camp
PAGE A2
New principal
at Cummings
PAGE A8
Task force may plan KLL Park’s future
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
One Keizer youth sports
league walked away from its
contract to manage Keizer Little
League Park with several piec-
es of equipment that fell into
a gray area of ownership. The
successor has proven less-than-
forthcoming in money matters.
The combination of the two
may mean a task force is brought
in to devise a plan for the future
oversight and maintenance of
the park itself.
Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark
announced the idea at the Keiz-
er City Council meeting Aug. 6,
and the Keizer City Council is
expected to take up the matter
in its next meeting Monday, Aug.
20. The council meeting begins
at 7 p.m. The park is owned by
the city but, to date, youth sports
organizations operate and man-
age the facility under a contract
with the city.
“It is important for us to val-
ue and to do some long-range
planning on how that complex
will be managed going forward,”
said Clark at the last city council
meeting. “I have discussed with
a few people in the community
a long-range planning task force
that honors the work and heri-
tage that goes into the park.”
Clark said she envisions an
McNary
hosts sports
camps
eight-person task force that in-
cludes herself, City Councilor
Marlene Parsons, city council
candidate Dan Kohler, James
Hutches representing the Keiz-
er Chamber of Commerce and
two representatives each from
Keizer Little League (KLL) and
McNary Youth Baseball, the or-
ganization formerly known as
Keizer Youth Sports Association
(KYSA).
Clark said it would be the
role of the task force to gather
information on the history of
the park and what’s been done
to date, gain an understanding
of the business of running the
Please see KLL, Page A7
PAGE B4
KEIZERTIMES/File photo