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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2019)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 22 SECTION A MARCH 1, 2019 The s o t o h p we won’t By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The fi rst photo is a group of three McNary High School students in various stages of loung- ing while movies play as part of an all-day fi lm festival for youth members of the lesbian, gay, bisexu- al, transgender and queer/ questioning (LGBTQ) communi- ty. Two on the fl oor, one count- ing sheep in a sleep- ing bag – mouth open, no drool, an- other sitting by his side watching 3 Generations, a movie about a teenag- er seeking to transition from female to male and the tribulation something as mundane as a birth certifi cate can create. The third student is sitting in a chair refusing to give up on the avail- able seating inside the Keizer Homegrown Theatre space within the Keizer Cultur- al Center after three movies, an hour of short fi lms and two more full- length features to go. The second photo, a group of nine students, some from McNary, others from elsewhere, sitting on the steps to the second moments of lucidity fl oor of the cultural center. Talking about how soon to begin planning the next fi lm festival, the struggles faced at home and elsewhere, how nice it is to not have to worry about those frustrations in the here and now. Laughing about Dungeons & Dragons, inside jokes and all the other things that make humans human regardless of sexual and gender identity. The last picture is sol- itary fi gure looking out on the front lawn of the Cultural Center, watching cars pass. She $1.00 show you City to form charter review committee A fi rst step toward removing anti- LGBTQ language in city's founding document. needed a break – to rest her eyes she told others – but privately wonders how a movie can hit so close to home, how a birth certifi cate can get things so profoundly wrong and, then, loom so large over all attempts defi ne one’s self. In my ideal world, these are the photos accompanying this story. But this world, these times and sadly – despite all lip service to the contrary – this community is not ideal. Putting those photos in these pages could make the subjects victims of harassment, bullying or worse. In a 2018 Human Rights Campaign report on LGBTQ youth, only 24 percent of the roughly 12,000 respondents felt they could be themselves at home, 67 percent reported hearing LGBTQ- disparaging comments from members of their family, 48 percent of those who By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The Keizer City Council took a giant leap toward removing language from the city charter that alienates members of the community who identify as something other than heterosexual. As part of goal-setting talks, councilors set a short- term goal of establishing a charter review committee to eliminate pieces of Section 44, which includes anti-LGBTQ language in the city charter, and make other adjustments as recommended by the committee. Mayor Cathy Clark said every city councilor had been contacted at some point in the past several months since Please see PHOTOS, Page A6 Please see CHARTER, Page A6 Traffi c signal coming to transit center After operating the Keizer Transit Center (KTC) for more than fi ve years with only right-in /right-out access only, the KTC is about to get a new traffi c signal to allow for right or left turn access in and out of the property. The traffi c signal was included in the original design, but initial engineer’s estimates placed the cost above the funds Cherriots had to build the transit center. As a result, the signal was eliminated from the original project, but there was enough left over in the original grant to cover the expense. Because the signal will also benefi t Keizer for development of property to the west of transit center, Cherriots and the city negotiated an agreement for Keizer to pay a matching amount of roughly $315,000 against the grants Cherriots has with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to fund the project. In addition to the signal, a second, dedicated eastbound turn lane will be added to intersection of Lockhaven Drive Northeast. Keizer will make two separate payments to complete its obligation to the project and the fi nal cost is subject to change depending on the actual cost of work. In September 2018, an invitation to bid was released for the construction of the signal and the additional road and signal work required because of the traffi c fl ow changes. Brown Construction, Inc. from Eugene was the successful bidder with an cost of $1,578,822. The Cherriots Board of Directors approved the contract with Brown Construction, Inc. on Dec. 13. The project is slated to be completed and fully functional no later than Aug. 16, but could be fi nished sooner. Lady Celts fall to South PAGE A14 KFD adds to budget committee PAGE A3 Snow reverie Brotherhood of mentors PAGE A4 KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Prep work is being done for a new signalized intersection where the Keizer Transit Center meets Keizer Station Boulevard. New community journalist joins the Keizertimes KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Snow was coating the Twilight Reverence statue in north Keizer when residents awoke to falling snow Wednesday, Feb. 27. Hunter Bomar, a Keizer native, has joined the staff of the Keizertimes as a community reporter with emphasis on community events and local businesses. A McNary High School graduate, where he served as ASB president, Bomar attended George Fox University and earned a degree in organizational communication while serving in the Oregon Army National Guard. Bomar said, "I am really excited to move back to my home town and start learning Hunter Bomar the basics of journalism. This job is a great step in the right direction." Bomar hopes to one day get his master’s degree in mass media communication. Hunter can be reached via email at reporter@ keizertimes.com. Keizer netters take skills on tour PAGE A11