Opinion
$30/month too much for Keizer kids?
By LAUREN MURPHY
Keizer is a picturesque little town:
there is a creek that runs through
the golf course, the high school is
getting renovated, and at fi rst glance,
it seems that our worst problem is
the 15 minutes of traffi c on River
Road during rush hour.
But not everything is
as it seems in our mov-
ie-ready town. There
are some ugly problems
lurking beneath the sur-
face. One of these prob-
lems is youth homeless-
ness.
Over the past sever-
al months, the Keizertimes has run
stories on the lives of young people
experiencing homelessness. We have
found there are a variety of different
reasons as to how and why young
adults ended up where they’re at: in-
cluding cultural infl uences, inability
of parents to provide for their kids
and persecution for sexual orienta-
tion.
Through it all, regardless of
whether or not they have a roof
over their head, students experienc-
ing homelessness are expected to go
to school and be good students– but
it’s hard to stay on top of homework
when there’s no home to do it in.
We tell ourselves is it’s not that
big of an issue; not here in our city.
The truth of the matter is that of all
the students who are experiencing
homelessness in the Salem-Keizer
School District, 21 percent of them
come from Keizer schools.
To put that in perspective, Keizer
schools only make up 15 percent of
the district with 10 of the 65 schools.
Students experiencing homeless-
ness typically miss more school than
their peers.
This is particularly
true for female students
without access to femi-
nine hygiene products.
They will miss three
to fi ve days of school a
month because of their
menstrual cycle.
If a student misses
two days a month, every month,
by the time the school year is over
they’ve missed an entire month of
school.
Additionally, when a student is
registered as homeless in the district,
they can either go to their commu-
nity school or their school of origin,
meaning McNary students have to
stay enrolled in McNary and seek
shelter in the downtown Salem area.
Having a house in the Keizer area
will help minimize the problems
students face with transportation
and getting to school on time.
Here in the city of Keizer, we
pride ourselves on volunteerism and
community– now we need to put
our money where our mouth is.
Taylor’s House is the fi rst shelter
dedicated to youth, ages 11-18, in
over a decade in the Salem area. The
other
voices
cost of that project: $320,000 to buy
and renovate and $400,000 a year to
operate it.
If 1,000 businesses decided to get
involved and gave $26.67 a month it
would only take a year to raise the
money to purchase and renovate a
house like Taylor’s House.
After the house was purchased
and renovated it would take and ad-
ditional $33.34 a month, per busi-
ness to keep the program running if
the community funded the house.
These funds would pay for utilities,
supplies and approximately nine staff
members.
There are still many questions:
Who will run the shelter? Will it be
handed over to a community agen-
cy or will it be funded and ran by
the community? Will it be run by
Keizer residents for Keizer kids, or
by anyone with the time and money
to support it?
These questions and many more
I haven’t even begun to think of will
be answered in time; assuming as a
city we decide to start talking about
it.
But fi rst we need one person to
step forward and say they’ll do it,
one person to say they’ll support
our youth, one person to start the
conversation.
(Lauren Muprhy is a communi-
ty reporter at the Keizertimes. She
can be reached at; reporter@keiz-
ertimes.com.)
Casual is getting too casual
At one time employee uniforms
could be found at just about any
business in America. When a cus-
tomer walked into a store they were
faced with the staff well-groomed
and in identifying uniform.
The casualization of America
has gone too far. Peo-
ple can dress anyway
they choose at home,
but businesses owners
and managers should
expect the employees
who represent their
companies to the pub-
lic put their best foot
forward.
Some large businesses seem to
have let their employees decide for
themselves what to wear. That’s
not a problem for an employee
who works behind the scenes, but
what message does it send to cus-
tomers when a business’ frontline
staff appearance is less than profes-
sional?
At minimum employers should
require that frontline employees are
well-groomed and their clothes are
clean and pressed?
Except in certain situations dress
codes and standards these days are
lax at best and non-existent at
worse. Why does it matter? It mat-
ters because an employee’s appear-
ance is part of the overall marketing
and branding statement.
Plus, it embues the em-
ployee with confi dence
and professionalism.
Grooming takes on
added importance when
it is someone handling
food at a restaurant or a
fresh food departments
at grocery stores. Per-
ception is reality for some people
and if a foodworker’s grooming is
suspect, a customer can lose con-
fi dence quickly in the quality of
their food.
Generally, employers have the
legal right to establish dress and
grooming codes for employees.
Some companies require formal
business attire, some companies al-
low employees to dress down on
“casual Fridays,” and others adopt
zaitz
writes
a more relaxed dress code through-
out the week. Some employers, par-
ticularly in the retail sector, require
employees to wear uniforms bear-
ing the company logo or to dress
in particular types and colors of
clothing associated with the store.
For example, many restaurants re-
quire wait staff to wear black slacks
and a white, button-down shirt.
All of these options—and many
more—are perfectly legal, as long
as they do not discriminate.
There are many businesses
whose employees proudly wear
uniforms to perform their duties.
A local tire store’s staff all wear a
standard uniform—white shirts—
that identifi es them immediately
as an employee and someone who
takes themselves seriously and pro-
fessionally.
Does a uniform ensure a transac-
tion with a customer is fl awless? Of
course not, but it sends the right
message. Leave the uniform if you
must, but give me good grooming.
(Lyndon Zaitz is publisher and
editor of the Keizertimes.)
Response to governor’s vaping ban
Via social media, we asked our
readers their thoughts on Gov. Kate
Brown directing state agencies to
enact a temporary ban on the sale
of fl avored vaping products.
These are a selected variety of
responses:
• Where does it stop? A abuse of
power. People die from alchohol,
tobacco all the time. She just cre-
ated a underground mar-
ket. I do know she boosted
people wanting to sign the
recall petitions.
—Carrie Fletcher French
• My thoughts are ev-
eryone has a “thing,”
something that motivates
them to move into some
form of action. Whether you are
with her or against her, she’s the
governor and we are not. The best
thing we can do is try to fi nd the
silver lining in all situations so we
don’t completely lose it over com-
plicated divisive issues. There are
not black and white answers. Re-
member, humanity exists behind
laws and bans and humans are not
perfect. So be kind. Period.
—Valacity Miller
• If only she cared about those
that have been killed by illegals......
or fi xing DHS, or school test scores,
or everyone outside of Portland.
—Drake Groeneveld
• It shouldn’t be up to her.
—Jill Spackman
• Look to see who is buying her
off; all candidates must show the
people and businesses who are giv-
ing her money.
—Shirley Hudnall
• What Governor Brown did is
absolutely overreaching and should
be reversed. Cigarettes kill 435,000
people per year, yet we have never
suspended the sale of
cigarettes. There is no
logical cause for this
ban.
—David Paul Mc-
Quaw
• When’s too far?
Drugs and drunk
driving kill more peo-
ple in a day than vaping has.....
heart attacks caused by cholesterol
and fried foods but people can still
eat McDonald’s.
—Lisa Herring
• She is really overreaching
here. A few people bought specif-
ic, cheaply made cartridges and she
decides she needs to ban everything?
How many hundreds of thousands
of people die or are hospitalized ev-
ery year because of cigarettes; we’ve
never once banned them. There are
so many bigger problems that our
state is facing and this is what she
decides to waste her time on! She is
absolutely the worst thing to have
what’s
your
view?
Keizertimes
Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303
phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Lyndon Zaitz
publisher@keizertimes.com
2019-2020 President
Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association
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happened to this state ever!
—Deanna Gregory
• If you ban the legal ones, peo-
ple will just use the bad ones off
the internet (you know, the ones
that are actually hurting people).
—Gillan Hoss
• I think it’s overreach. Adults
can make informed decisions. They
want to destroy their lungs, that is
on them.
—Megan Hurley
• There’s a reason there are two
recall petitions circulating to re-
move her from offi ce.
—Chris Propeck
• Why not ban cigarettes then?
—Dan Melzer
• If CDC (Centers for Disease
Control) recommends a ban then
okay. Until then, wait and see
would have been the more pru-
dent, cautious thing to do.
—Shilo Robinson
• But tobacco products will still
be sold? It’s stripping away more of
our freedom.
—Angela Kay Ashley
• I’m 33 years old; I used vape
to quit smoking cigarettes! Haven’t
kids always got a hold of cigarettes
or alcohol or whatever they want-
ed? Really? Come on! I’m not
gonna lie, bought up as much as
I could before the ban takes place.
Along with my mother who is
obviously older then me. Govern-
ment overreach much?
—Lacey Gust Aerni
• Nanny State. Drugs, alco-
hol, cigarettes and now vaping.
Stupid people are smart enough
to know that each one of these
“habits” will kill them. So what’s
the problem? You’re worried
that these reprobates will kill
themselves yet abortion is en-
couraged. Double standard fake
concerns.
—Rick Chambers
OCTOBER 11, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
BUST,
continued from Page A1
organizations” such as the Keizer
Elks and Keizer Lions.
Olson said he was willing to
defer to the council as to what limits
should be accepted in any expansion.
“There is an opportunity to
confi gure this any way you want. You
can say you don't want it around any
alcohol,” Olson said.
Still, no councilors anted a motion
to expand the ordinance.
“I’m not seeing anyone who
wants to make a gaming change at
this time,” said Mayor Cathy Clark.
Contact the reporter at editor@
keizertimes.com.
KHT,
continued from Page A1
a lot of fun to do something
different and try to evoke a
different reaction out of our
audience.” Minden said.
The Hitchhiker stars Dakota
Saunders playing the role of
Ronald Adams, a 36-year old man
that embarks on a cross country
road trip. Along the way, he sees
a hitchhiker on multiple different
occasions. If it's the same man,
Adams wonders how he always
able to stay one step ahead of
him without the use of a car. He
believes that he is losing his mind,
but comes to fi nd out something
far more sinister may be at play.
“I was absolutely in love with
the script. It was something that
really spoke to me as an actor,” said
Saunders, who is in his fi rst ever
role as a lead actor. “It's a lot of fun,
but it's also a lot of responsibility.
Keeping the pace and setting the
tone for the show is very key.”
Sorry, Wrong Number features
Julia Sargent portraying Mrs.
Stevenson, a neurotic, invalid
woman who's only companion
while her husband is away on
business is the telephone. One
night, because of a crossed wire,
she hears a plan for a murder.
Frantically, she tries to get help
for what she just heard, and soon
realizes that the murder plot may
be intended for her.
“It has been really interesting to
delve into a character that is sick,
but also has a lot of entitlement.
So I want to portray someone
that is not only entitled, but also
vulnerable and someone that you
want to feel sorry for,” Sargent
said.
Traditional scripted readings
often times just feature characters
that stand up and read their lines
when it's their turn. However,
Minden promises that this
production will be much more
than that.
“We have been referring to
them as enhanced stage readings.
Actors still have scripts, but there
are costumes and a full set with
lighting, music and sound effects,”
Minden said. “It's a way for us as
we try to grow as a theater to put
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Julia Sargent rehearses for her part
in Sorry, Wrong Number.
together more shows in a season
more quickly and easily. We're just
trying to add more layers to it to
keep people on their toes.”
Even though he's been a part
of many shows as an actor, this
production will be Minden's fi rst
as an director.
“It's been a learning experience
for me, but its been a lot of fun.
It's all about looking at the big
picture, not just what one person is
doing, but how all the pieces come
together,” Minden said. “Everyone
has been fantastic to work with.
They all bring a lot of energy to
their characters and a lot of passion.
I feel like everyone just got the
vision right away.”
Both performances will look a
little bit different as Saunders will
often be narrating the story of his
character, while Sargent's role will
mainly focus on dialogue. But each
production still has the ability to
give the audience goosebumps
according to Minden and Saunders.
“I would tell the average theater
lover to buckle up, because it's like
nothing you have ever seen before,”
Saunders said. “Jeff has a vision that
is unlike anything that I have ever
had the opportunity to work with.
If you are a lover of theater, you
will defi nitely want to see this.”
Minden also added: “I'm really
hoping at the end of each act that
the audience will be holding their
breath to see what happens next.
We're really trying to add some
nice twists to it, so if you're a fan
of suspense or thrillers or anything
October- or Halloween-related,
come on out and have some fun
and enjoy the show.”
police scanner
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
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block of Manzanita Street NE.
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4000 block of 13th Avenue NE.
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200 block of Apple Blossom Avenue N.
11:17 p.m. - Arrest for physical harass-
ment in the 1000 block of Trent Ave-
nue N.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1
12:21 a.m. - Arrest for warrant served at
the intersection of Hyacinth Street NE.
and Portland Road NE.
1:49 a.m. - Arrest for vandalism, disor-
derly conduct and parole violation in
the 100 block of Homewood Court N.
10:34 a.m. - Theft in the 3000 block of
River Road N.
11:58 a.m. - Criminal trespassing and
violation of release agreement in the
7000 block of Wheatland Road N.
2:35 p.m. - Suspicious activity and theft
from building in the 5000 block of
Robindale Drive N.
5:49 p.m. - Internet scam in the 600
block of Manbrin Drive NE.
9:40 p.m. - Arrest for vandalism, assault
of a police offi cer and resisting arrest in
the 3000 block of River Road N.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2
5:20 a.m. - Criminal trespassing in the
100 block of Chemawa Road N.
9:42 a.m. - Arrest for public indecency
in the 4000 block of River Road N.
11:32 a.m. - Vandalism in the 900 block
of Plymouth Drive NE.
3:24 p.m. - Shoplifting in the 4000
block of River Road N.
3:40 p.m. - Traffi c accident in the 1000
block of Lockhaven Drive NE.
3:44 p.m. - Arrest for shoplifting and
bench warrant in the 6000 block of
Ulali Drive NE.
10:20 p.m. - Arrest for warrant served
at the intersection of River Road N.
and Sam Orcutt Way NE.
1:30 a.m. - Vandalism in the 4000 block
of Brandon Court NE.
6:47 a.m. - Traffi c accident at the inter-
section of River Road N. and Country
Glen Avenue NE.
11:58 a.m. - Arrest for warrant served
and unlawful possession of metham-
phetamine in the 5000 block of Wit-
tenberg Lane NE.
12:01 p.m. - Traffi c accident at the in-
tersection of Sunset Avenue N. and
Rivercrest Drive N.
4:26 p.m. - Criminal trespassing in the
5000 block of Wittenberg Lane NE.
6:02 p.m. - Arrest for violating re-
lease agreement in the 4000 block of
Northside Drive NE.
7:40 p.m. - Criminal trespassing in the
5000 block of River Road N.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4
9 a.m. - Arrest for resisting arrest, pro-
bation violation and restraining order
violation in the 5000 block of River
Road N.
9:30 a.m. - Bicycle theft in the 3000
block of River Road N.
10:58 p.m. - Arrest for driving under
the infl uence of intoxicants in the 1000
block of Orchard Court N.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5
12:06 a.m. - Assault in the 4000 block
of Crater Avenue N.
8:50 a.m. - Traffi c accident at the inter-
section of Shady Lane NE. and Shady
Place NE.
9:03 a.m. - Shoplifting in the 5000
block of River Road N.
12:30 p.m. - Failure to perform duties
of driver when property was damaged
in the 900 block of Cummings Lane N.
1:56 p.m. - Vandalism in the 300 block
of Hollyhock Place N.
7:34 p.m. - Arrest for restraining order
violation in the 4000 block of 13th Av-
enue NE.
8:27 p.m. - Arrest for driving under the
infl uence of intoxicants.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3
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