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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2019)
SEE PG A2 SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 27 SECTION A APRIL 5, 2019 $1.00 HEADS OF THE CLASS Two McNary grads chart new paths in college Submitted McNary grads Crystal Llanos and Samuel Hernandez recently reunited at a leadership conference at Harvard University. BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes It seemed that both Samuel Hernandez and Crystal Llanos had the cards stacked against them while growing up in Keizer, but that didn’t stop them from achieving their goals. Despite coming from low-income households, Hernandez and Llanos were two of several valedictorians at McNary High School in 2018 and are now wrapping Hearing on shooting range begins Tuesday By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes A lawsuit spawned from a stray bullet that penetrated a Keizer home heads to court for the fi rst time next week. Judge J. Channing Bennett, a Marion County circuit court judge, will begin hearing arguments regarding a preliminary injunction at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 9. If the testimony cannot be completed, the hearing will continue on Wednesday, April 10. At 10:06 a.m., on June 2, 2018, Keizer police responded to a home in the 1300 block of Raphael Street North. Offi cer Jeremie Fletcher recovered a bullet, believed to have been fi red from a Polk County recreational shooting range, after it penetrated the home exterior wall and stopped only after hitting a granite backsplash. The home belongs to Keizerites Tom and Sheryl Bauer and the recreational shooting range is on the property of Lance Davis, owner of Northwest Rock, Inc. The Bauers are suing Davis for $2.7 million, but also seeking a permanent halt – through a court-issued injunction – to shooting on his property. The city of Keizer has joined the request to stop the shooting as an intervenor. As an intervenor in the injunction portion of the lawsuit, the city will not be entitled to monetary awards lawsuit, but it is an act of solidarity with the plaintiffs. Four men, including members of Davis’ family, were cited for fi ring the shot that ended up in the Bauers’ home, but the charges were later dropped by the Polk County District Attorney’s Offi ce. The Bauers, their neighbors and the other residents of west Keizer have spoken out repeatedly asking for some sort of action either by the Keizer City Council or the Polk County Board of Commissioners. Keizer offi cials have been hamstrung by issues of jurisdiction while pleas to Polk County Commissioners appear to fall on deaf ears. Please see RANGE, Page A5 up their freshman years and a pair of prestigious California universities. Llanos is attending Stanford University where she is majoring in biology engineering and minoring in Latino studies. Hernandez, on the other hand, got a full- ride scholarship to Pomona College, one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, and is majoring in public policy analysis with a concentration in economics. As of 2018, Stanford had a 4.3 percent, acceptance rate — which is lower than Ivy League Schools such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton — so when Llanos got the call that she had been accepted, she didn’t even believe that it was real at fi rst. “When I opened it and saw the word ‘congrats’ I was in shock,” Llanos said. “I literally didn’t believe it. I asked my sister to read it to me because I was in complete shock.” “It wasn’t until I got accepted that I realized that I Please see COLLEGE, Page A5 PAGE A14 As of 2018, Stanford had a 4.3 percent, acceptance rate — which is lower than Ivy League Schools like Harvard, Yale and Princeton Keizer activist, tribal leader honored by Sen. Merkley residents who are designated as extremely low income, very low income, low income and for those in the middle income brackets. However, it’s the lack of high end housing that has had the effect of driving up housing prices for middle income homes. High- end buyers end up purchasing below their ability to secure Keizer addresses. This article is not meant to be a comprehensive look at all the options, but to highlight the ones with the biggest potential impacts. ADJUSTING RESIDENTIAL LOT SIZES Keizer already allows lots as Mentor honored PAGE A3 Delores “Dee” Pigsley The name and accomplish- ments of Keizer woman and longtime leader of the Siletz Tribe are now inscribed forev- er in the records of the Unit- ed States Congress thanks to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley. Merkley submitted a writ- ten statement about Delores “Dee” Pigsley into the records as part of recognizing extraor- dinary women during Wom- en’s History Month in March. Pigsley bore witness to the termination of her tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, in 1954. Two decades later, she was driving force behind having the tribe’s sovereign rights restored – it was only the second time in Please see ACTIVIST, Page A5 Policy options run the gamut for dealing with growth By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes In its most recent meeting, the task force looking at housing needs in Keizer ran out of time to discuss the last part of its agenda: policies that might alleviate rent burdens and ensure that housing of all types are available in city limits. While the task force has yet to offer comment, a draft of potential actions the city might take is available on the city’s website, www.keizer.org. The report outlines some of the avenues the city could pursue through development code and policy changes to increase the amount of affordable housing available in Keizer. Keizer lacks capacity for Lady Celts 3-1 in tourney No Adults Allowed: Tales of Oregon Cryptids PAGE A4 A motocross legend PAGE A14 KEIZERTIMES/File small as 4,000 square feet, but some cities have adopted sizes as small a 3,000 square feet. Frequently these small lot sizes are intermixed with larger lot sizes. Another option would be putting a cap on all new residential lots. Keizer does not have a cap currently, but a cap could reduce sprawl and allow the city to chart the course of residential areas as new spaces come online or older ones are redeveloped. ENCOURAGING HIGHER DENSITY The city currently requires construction of four dwellings units per acre in low density residential areas. However, the city could double that amount to absorb some of the expected growth. Increases to medium and high density could also be increased. RECOUPING SPACE BY DISCOURAGING CAR TRAVEL Throughout the country, the design of cities has catered Please see GROWTH, Page X
