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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2019)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 42 SECTION A JULY 19, 2019 $1.00 Attempts to quash newsletter fl y in the face of Oregon laws By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes A property manager at Wildwood Villa, a manufactured home park in northwest Keizer, appears to have run afoul of Oregon law when attempting to quash one resident’s efforts to organize with his neighbors. In June, Wildwood resident Leon Search distributed a newsletter from the community’s tenants committee with an article from the Keizertimes included. The newspaper article included information from an attorney who cautions against signing long- term leases in manufactured home parks. Search put the newsletters in fl yer boxes owned by Investment Property Group, an Irvine, Calif-based business. Soon after they were distributed, the manager at the park removed them. “The letter you last produced was not MANUFACTURED MANUF NUFACT CTURE brought to the attention of management before you put them out. We will therefore not return to the newsletter to fl yer boxes as you requested,” wrote Kaycee Edgerton, Wildwood property manager for IPG, in a letter to Search. “Furthermore, the creation and disbursement or your tenant committees’ (sic) newsletter must immediately stop.” Edgerton couches much of her ar- gument on the premise that the Wild- wood’s tenants committee has not been lawfully established, and cites an Ore- gon law requiring formal registration of homeowners associations (HOAs). While the committee operates under the name Wildwood Homeowners Association, it is not an HOA, it is a tenant committee and is not bound to the laws of establishing an HOA. In addition to demanding a cease- and-desist, Edgerton also warns against Search distributing newsletters door- to-door. “Should you choose to post non-ap- proved newsletters or announcements door-to-door, this can and may be considered an act of interference with management,” Edgerton wrote. That assertion fl ies in the face of Oregon law that preserves tenants’ rights to assemble. Oregon Revised Statute 90.750 reveals that owners cannot deny residents’ rights to assemble or canvass in a facility. It reads: “No provision contained in any bylaw, rental agreement, regulation or rule pertaining to a facility shall: Infringe upon the right of persons who rent spaces in a Please see NEWSLETTER, Page A6 KLL squad makes state tourney run PAGE A14 Chainsaws fi re up at story pole By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Former Keizer mayor Lore Christopher expected to have the fi rst of two story poles, located in front of the Keizer Civic Center, completed six months after the idea was presented to her. It took six years. “I stand by Jerry McGee who said a project will be executed when it is ripe. I was just unclear about the ripening timeline,” Christopher said. Christopher said the original idea for the story poles came from Public Works Director Bill Lawyer when the two trees reached their end- of-life and had to be topped. Lawyer thought turning the remaining stumps into works of art would make a unique addition to the civic center campus. In the intervening six years, Christopher remained one of the true believers in the project fending off suggestions to cut down the stumps entirely as mayor and then as a member of the Keizer Public Arts Commission. “It feels wonderful to show the public we were serious all along,” Christopher said. Please see POLE, Page A8 Richardson celebrated PAGE A3 KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald ABOVE: Tyler Strauslin fi nishes off a an eagle near the top of the Keizer’s fi rst story pole in front of the Keizer Civic Center. INSET: A photograph of the same eagle just three hours prior. KPD Foot Pursuit supports Olympians BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes Ever since Dorothy Diehl took over as the Community Service Offi cer at the Keizer Police Department, she wanted to get the department involved in a Special Olympics event that took place in Keizer. Two-and-a-half years later, that goal has become a reality. On Saturday, July 27, the KPD will be hosting their fi rst ever 5K foot pursuit, a community run/walk event in pursuit of funding and awareness for the Special Olympics of Marion County. The event will take place at Keizer Rapids Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Diehl started planning — Dorothy Diehl this event last summer after KPD Community having a conversation with Service Offi cer Lt. Andrew Copeland. “We wanted to fi nd something that we could do here in Keizer and have our community participate with us and see their police offi cers supporting the Special Olympics in Keizer,” Diehl said. “We have a really strong community here that has a lot of support for the police department and we imagine, a lot of support for the Special Olympics too, if we can get people to learn more about it.” By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes A planned City Charter Review Committee will be expanded to nine people and any city resident will be eligible to serve, not just registered voters. The Keizer City Council voted 6-1 to expand the committee and the requirements to serve on it at a meeting Monday, July 15. Councilors considered two options: directly appointing a single member to the com- mittee or adding two new po- sitions for the Keizer Volun- teer Coordinating Committee (VCC) to fi ll. The council didn’t deliberate on the issue before casting their votes, but Please see PURSUIT, Page A6 Please see CHARTER, Page A6 “It’s been extremely rewarding for me and pretty eye- opening.” Submitted Photo Dorothy Diehl (right) pictured with Special Olympics athlete Jenny Hill at the Law Enforcement Torch Run in 2017. Charter review group will grow by 2 Man arrested in car arson PAGE A4 Hops take two out of three from Volcanoes PAGE A14