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