Keizertimes., July 05, 2019, Image 1

SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 40
SECTION A
JULY 5, 2019
$1.00
END OF
WATCH
Walling signs
with OSU
KPD deputy chief turns in badge
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Jeff Kuhns was a patrol sergeant in
the mid-1990s when he got a preview
into how the profession would change
in the last half of his
career.
Beginning in the
winter and continuing
right through to sum-
mer, offi cers had been
responding to the
same address where
a teenage girl was
repeatedly running
away from home. On
that fateful summer
night, Offi cer Mindy
Tucker had apparently
had enough. She re-
sponded to the newest
report from the home
and spent the next four hours facilitat-
ing a heart-to-heart between the par-
ents and their daughter.
“Other offi cers were fi elding a
bunch of other incoming calls and they
were kind of upset. But she unplugged
and said she was tired of coming to the
house and they were going to fi gure it
out,” Kuhns said. “She solved the prob-
lem by identifying the root cause and,
to my knowledge, we
never responded there
again. That was when
the light turned on
for me. She got it, we
had to try to fi gure
out what was the root
problem because we
can’t arrest our way
out of it again and
again.”
Kuhns
retired
at the end of May
as deputy chief of
the Keizer Police
Department. He spent
the entirety of his
professional police career, 29 years and
eight months, at KPD and only one
other employee outlasted him in terms
of time served there.
Other opportunities arose during
PAGE A11
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Jeff Kuhns was the second-longest serving employee of the Keizer Police De-
partment.
his time, but Kuhns’ roots in Keizer run
deep. Not long after landing his fi rst
full-time gig with Keizer, he and wife,
Trish, built a home here. Their two kids
both graduated from McNary. That was
by design, he said.
“Dick Withnell was one of my
baseball coaches and his big thing was
leaving the community in a better
place than when you found it. I wanted
to get involved in my community,”
Kuhns said.
If anything, Withnell’s message
reinforced things Kuhns was learning
from neighbors at a young age.
As a kid growing up in northeast
Salem, neighbors helped pave the
road that led to a career in policing.
One neighbor was a deputy with the
Marion County Sheriff ’s Offi ce and
sometimes ended up taking care of a
trailer that acted as a mobile museum
of local law enforcement.
“When he had it at home, he would
open it up for the neighborhood kids,”
Kuhns said.
Please see WATCH, Page A8
POLICE: Arson alleged in car
fi re connected to teens’ deaths
On Thursday, June 27, Keizer
Police was notifi ed around 1:25
a.m. about a red 2008 Ford Explor-
er that was on fi re in a driveway in
the 4700 block of 18th Ave.
Personnel from the Keizer Fire
District arrived on the scene and
extinguished the fl ames. Keizer Po-
lice detectives began investigating
the case as arson because evidence
indicated the fi re was intentionally
set.
Detectives believe the fi re is
Flowers top a fence off Salem-
Keizer Parkway at a makeshift
memorial for three girls who died
in a traffi c accident in June.
KEIZERTIMES/Andrew Jackson
Get
trauma-
informed
at half-day
workshop
By LAUREN MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
“Trauma-informed” might
seem like the latest cultural
buzz word, but Danielle Vander
Linden knows it can help in
everything from work to home
life.
“Whether they apply it to
their professional life or their
personal life, there’s something
for everyone in this,” Linden
said.
Linden will be leading the
training Becoming Trauma In-
formed on July 8 at 9 a.m.
The fi ve-and-a-half hour
training helps individuals devel-
op skills to better navigate their
work and personal lives.
United Way of the Mid-Wil-
lamette Valley, 455 Bliler Ave-
nue Northeast, is hosting. The
training costs $150 per person.
Seats are limited, visit tinyurl.
com/salemtrauma to register.
Linden has a master’s degree
in special education, and was
Please see TRAUMA, Page A6
likely related to a disturbance call
that both Salem and Keizer police
responded to earlier in the evening
on Wednesday, June 26, which the
victim of the car fi re and several
other people were involved in a
verbal dispute.
The disturbance occurred at
the location of a memorial at the
Salem Parkway and Cherry Ave
NE. The memorial was erected by
family members to commemorate
a traffi c crash that resulted in the
fatalities of three young women on
June 2.
The car fi re victim was at the
memorial picking up items and in
doing so, attracted the attention of
family members and others asso-
ciated with the crash victims who
then arrived at the memorial. The
person told the family he was there
to “clean up” and throw the items
away, which they strongly objected
to.
Offi cers called to the scene de-
termined the man had no lawful
responsibility to dispose of the me-
morial items and also determined
the memorial was not constructed
in a way that endangered the pub-
lic, nor did it create an obstacle for
passers-by.
Juan Carlos Palacios Rodriguez
has been indicted on three counts
of fi rst-degree manslaughter, as
well as other charges, in connec-
tion with the deaths of Trinity Watt,
Madison Capobianco and Makayla
Fitness
stations near
completion
PAGE A2
Please see ARSON, Page A6
Summer nights in the park
No Adults:
Why so many
Spider-Men
PAGE A3
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Above: Concert attendees wave to the camera before the
band takes the stage.
Left: Members of Abbey Road perform.
The free summer concert series kicked off at Keizer
Rotary Amphitheater in Keizer Rapids Park Friday, June 28.
Abbey Road, a Beatles tribute band, got things started. The
series continues this Saturday, July 6, with a performance by
Joe Stoddard.
Williams sets
high bar in
WOU lacrosse
PAGE A14