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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2019)
SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 49 SECTION A SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 $1.00 Zielinski will still serve up to life in prison ‘Sorry won’t change what I’ve done’ By DEE MOORE For the Keizertimes In the end, Peter Zielinski gained no ground in his attempt at a second trial for the murder of his wife. He was again sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25. Zielinski arrived in Judge Susan Tripp’s courtroom on Thursday, Sept. 5, in a suit and chains. It was the same courtroom where he had for the previous two weeks been tried for killing his wife, Lisa Zielinski, on Jan. 12, 2011. The jury had determined that he was guilty of murder in less than three hours. Zielinski was in the courtroom again to receive his sentence. The gallery was packed with family members and police offi cers who had worked the case. The sentencing began with the defense objecting for the record that the prosecution had sought to negate the Celts earn draw with South Medford PAGE A12 A new home at Simonka PAGE A3 KEIZERTIMES/Dee Moore Peter Zielinski sits with his attorney during his retrial for the murder of his wife. Please see PRISON, Page A5 Keizerite takes the cake (contest) By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Jenn Hearn is offi cially out of excuses. She’s denied friends’ and co-workers’ requests for full cakes for years, she only worked in cupcakes, she would tell them. But, in August, Hearn decided to whip up a full cake from some of the recipes she’s used for bite-sized confections. Then she decided to make another to enter in the 60th Annual Gerry Frank Chocolate Layer Cake Contest at the Oregon State Fair. Then she won. “I was completely blown away, I had never entered a contest in my life,” Hearn said. Gerry Frank Frank, the longtime owner of Salem’s Gerry Frank’s Konditorei with the winner of his annual until a recent sale, had nothing but cake contest praise for the fi rst-timer, but he Keizerite Jenn admitted surprise that she hadn’t Hearn. attempted to enter such contests prior to this summer. Hearn got her start baking cupcakes for co-work- ers at WVP Health Authority. In addition to provid- ing friends with treats, Hearn said the group also uses it as a way to keep tabs on her health. “They know if I show up with cupcakes three Please see CAKE, Page A4 Little League task force goes back to square one By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes After several months hia- tus – to attend to the summer sports season – the members of the Keizer Little League Long Range Planning Task Force reconvened Sept. 4. Unfortu- nately, much of the progress that had been made appeared to have fallen to the wayside. The task force was con- vened by the city to craft a sus- tainable plan for the future of Keizer Little League Park after running into turbulence by contracting out management to the youth leagues them- selves. When the task force last met, in the spring, the plan was to begin beta-testing some of the ideas that might move to- ward establishing a new over- sight board dedicated to the needs of the park. One of the items the task force hoped to see some movement on was the two leagues, Keizer Little League and McNary Youth Baseball (MYB), collaborat- ing on staffi ng the concession stand on the site. “We reached out and tried to make an effort, but it just didn't work out,” said Bo Lane, vice president of MYB. Please see LEAGUE, Page A5 A new sound for local musician PAGE A4 T E E N S A N D ME NT A L H E A LT H The kids are not alright By CASEY CHAFFIN For the Keizertimes Youths nationwide are struggling with their mental health at rates higher than previous generations. Oregon has the highest rate of youth depressive episodes in the country, and rates of depression - alongside anxiety and self- harm - are trending upward. Many of those kids can’t get the help they need before it’s too late—the youth suicide rate has been trending upward nationally for some time, and Oregon’s rate regularly surpasses the national average. Local statistics reinforce this picture. Both hospitals in the Salem Health network—Salem Hospital and West Valley Hospital in Dallas—saw increasing rates of people ages 9 to 24 coming to the emergency room for anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts in the past three years. What’s contributing to these trends? Kids say they are more stressed than ever. Between academic pressure that pushes kids to prioritize grades above all else, the fear of growing up in a country dogged by everything from mass shootings to climate change and the power of social media to act as an amplifi er to these pressures and fears–kids are bombarded from all sides. ACA Lauren DE MICS McMann, a 2018 Sprague graduate, knows how school can push kids to their limits. She felt the pressure to take as many advanced placement classes as possible, maintain a high grade point average, volunteer, and do all the things kids are supposed to do to improve their college and career prospects. 3555 River Road N, Keizer (503) 463- 4853 www.skylineforddirect.com PAGE A12 Please see TEENS, Page A6 FORD THANKS EDUCATORS! Ford Motor Company can’t thank you enough for your tireless eff orts in educating our youth. As a gesture of our appreciation, we’re off ering you and your family a special Educator Appreciation Retail Customer Cash Off er. 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