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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2019)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 16 SECTION A JANUARY 18, 2019 $1.00 Jerry McGee mourned past,” said friend Jaqueline By ERIC A. HOWALD Lusk. “There was the time Of the Keizertimes Husband, father, friend, Diane [Monroe] took him on doctorate-level teacher, men- a sternwheeler cruise on the tor, champion of disability Columbia for his birthday. As rights, author, historian and the captain gave his histori- former Keizer city council- cal presentation on the river’s or. Jerry McGee, who passed history, Jerry jumped right in away Jan. 10 at the age of 85 to the delight of the passen- after a battle with cancer, had gers, adding his own facts and more roles in his life than amusing stories, and pointing many would consider aspiring out various historical mark- to, but he performed them all ers. The captain, being a wise and collected a vast array of man, turned it all over to Jer- ry’s expertise.” friends on the journey. McGee was born on Oct. David Johnson, a friend 3, 1933 in Battle of McGee’s since Ground, Wash., to they attended parents Riley and Washington’s Bat- Lota McGee. His tle Ground High education began School, said Mc- in a one-room Gee made sure schoolhouse in anyone he en- Battle Ground countered didn’t and carried him leave a stranger. to Clark Coun- “We’d go on ty Community cruises together Submitted College, West- and every time we had a meal, Jerry McGee from his ern Washington high school University and, we had to sit with senior yearbook. eventually, Colo- someone new so rado State College he could get to know them,” Johnson said. where he earned his doctoral “He’s always tell them we’d degree in education. After graduating from ‘been together’ for 60 years and then he’d get a smirk on Battle Ground High School, however, McGee took a job his face.” McGee’s tall and lanky fi g- as a chucktender during the ure stood out in most crowds construction of the Yale Dam and, if there was a crowd in near Amboy, Wash., and others Keizer, McGee was probably throughout the area. Chuck- in the thick of it. An educator tenders were assistants to tun- to the core, he was most like- nel-drillers. McGee fi nanced ly regaling whatever audience his education with mining that would listen with stories work and, years later, wrote of Pacifi c Northwest histo- about the many characters he ry. It was a skill he was never met in a fi ctionalized account afraid to let shine. titled Whiskey Riley. On Sept. 11, 1953, McGee “Jerry was a walking ency- clopedia of Oregon’s pioneer married his wife of 55-years, Paper expands kids’ section Beginning this week, the Keizertimes is dedicating a full page to the youth of Keizer. The paper launched its No Adults Allowed section in October and the section’s success has warranted a new look and more attention. “It’s been too long since news organizations invested in young readers beyond the funny pages. And this is our way of reminding kids in elementar y and middle school that newspaper s can still be relevant and fun,” said Eric Howald, managing editor of the Keizertimes. The full page section will include more of what has already been successful: crafts, fun facts, career and kid features, reviews of books, games and movies, and jokes. In addition, we are going to be adding new content that allows Keizer youth to make the No Adults Allowed page their own. Kid-to-Kid will be the No Adults Allowed version of the editorial page. We welcome students and youth to write in with messages to the other kids in the community and we will run them in that space. The paper is also offering students a chance to be reporters in their schools. “We want to let the kids tell us about the cool things happening in their schools in their own words. We will run their stories in the No Adults s e c t i o n ,” Howald said. “We see part of our mission as encouraging curiosity about all things and this is one way more way to push the envelope.” In addition to seeing their names in print, students who take advantage of the Check out the new look on Page A4 Please see KIDS, Page A9 Parker, student reunite at Willamette PAGE A14 File Jerry McGee, dressed as Thomas Dove Keizur, delivers a history lesson to students at Clear Lake Elementary School several years ago. were to McGee in retrospect. Shirley Rolling. “He had a ‘different’ stu- His career in teaching would lead him through dent sit in our class a couple many schools’ hallowed halls, of hours each day,” Zimmer- but McGee was especially man said. Zimmer- involved with man also cred- special educa- ited McGee, a tion students. life-long base- M c G e e ’s ball fan and second cous- collegiate-level in, Ed Zim- — Richard Walsh player, for in- merman, who Former city councilor stilling in him was one of a love of base- McGee’s fi rst ball. students when “He coached our ninth he returned to teach at Bat- tle Ground High School, said grade baseball team and a he only realized how import- North County community ant the special needs students team. He taught us the fun- “Jerry was a statesman.” damentals of ‘little ball.’ If one reads Jerry’s book The Lewis River High Scalers and the Dam Kids you will get insights into his baseball philosophy,” Zim- merman said. McGee’s teaching career eventually led him to take on advocacy roles within state government pushing for more equal treatment in classrooms and under the law more broadly. His presence in those discussions led him to a 10- year stint as executive director of the Salem’s Fairview State Hospital. He retired in the mid- Detective gets 3-for-1 PAGE A2 Please see MCGEE, Page A6 McNary students battle district foes in shoe drive By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes It can be easy for people to take things for granted in their life. The ability to afford quality shoes, for instance, is something that a lot of people wouldn’t even give a second thought to. Yet for others, clean and usable shoes are seen as a luxury. Luckily, for those who are less fortunate, there are students at McNary High School that are willing to do some- thing about it. From February 14 to February 28, McNary will be participating in the seventh annual Shoe Battle of the Schools where schools across the Salem-Keizer area will compete to see who can collect the most shoes — with the goal of giving them to local kids that are in need. After shoes are collected and counted, the top high school and middle school are presented trophies. The project is put on by One Thousand Soles, which is a teen-championed shoe drive and distribution organization for homeless youth, children in- need and young athletes liv- ing in the Salem-Keizer area. It is coordinated by the City of Salem with campaigns and collections taking place all throughout the year. One Thou- sand Soles was created in 2012 — in partnership with the City of Salem’s Fire board continues talk on devel. fees PAGE A8 Please see SHOES, Page A9 City faces steep climb to meet housing needs BY ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes A consultant from ECONorthwest set the stage for another conversa- tion of Keizer growth at the fi rst meeting of the Housing Needs and Buildable Lands Inventory Advisory Commit- tee Monday, Jan. 14. Bob Parker, a projector director at ECONorthwest, led a presentation and brief discussion about what com- mittee members can expect in coming months and what Keizer is looking at in terms of housing needs. The big takeaway from the evening was that construction of new residences has never kept up with the city’s need and it isn’t ramping up to meet future demand. “We will need 3,820 dwelling units [by 2039] and an average of 191 new units per year,” said Parker. “It’s a challenging target.” The city is projected to grow by nearly 10,000 people over the next 20 years, which pencils out to the 3,800-unit need when accounting for the average size of Keizer house- holds. However, the popula- tion projections themselves are something of a moving target, the state is expected to issue new forecasts in 2020 and the number may shrink substantially. To date, Keizer has never been issued a pop- ulation estimate separate from Salem because the two cit- ies share an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). The cur- rent fi gures are being used so the city can begin having conversations about if, how and where to grow. Without an expansion of the UGB, it means Keizer Please see NEEDS, Page A7 Celtics lose buzzer beater PAGE A11