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
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