OCTOBER 18, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Opinion
Ray Boucher 1928-2019
He fi lled a room with his per-
sonality and his laugh. Ray Bouch-
er, the patriarch of a proud Keizer
family, passed away Oct. 12.
The bigger-than-life
Boucher, who opened
a humble jewelry store
with his wife, Louise,
on River Road in 1953,
was a leader when Keiz-
er was just still trying to
fi gure out its identity.
Boucher
Jewelers
met the jewelry needs of Keizer
when the city’s main thoroughfare
was a two-lane gravel road. Ray
Boucher’s business acumen built
the store into the preferred jewler
in the area, a tradition carried on
by the second and third genera-
tions of the family.
Boucher was much more than
a man who owned a store. He,
along with other business leaders
of 1960s-era Keizer, had a vision
for what the unincorporated com-
munity of Keizer could become.
Ray was instrumental in turning
the little Commercial
Club into the Keizer
Merchants Association
(the forerunner to to-
day’s Keizer Chamber
of Commerce).
Ray Boucher was as
civic-minded as they
come. He loved Keizer
and was a real cheerleader for the
small businesses that lined River
Road. He and the other business
leaders devised events to attract
customers into all the stores.
People liked Ray Boucher. He
was unassuming but he was wise
in the ways of community leader-
ship, striving to achieve what was
best for Keizer. He used his gentle
persuasion to perfection—never a
our
opinion
shouter, never a showboat.
A lover of race horsing, Ray
owned a stable of the majestic an-
imals, fostering several winners.
That’s why the logo of Boucher
Jewelers is a horse head.
Enjoying his retirement years,
Ray visited the store often, a store
run by his sons Steve and Jeff, and
now some of his grandchildren
are involved as well. All of whom
maintain the Boucher creed: qual-
ity products and quality service,
always.
Time marches on; the leaders of
early pre-city Keizer have passed
and we will not see their kind
again. Every generation defi nes its
own identity and purpose. Civ-
ic and business leaders would do
well to emulate the example Ray
Boucher set more than 60 years
ago.
— LAZ
Should Keizer expand north?
Via social media, we asked our
readers: Regarding Keizer’s future,
are you in favor of expanding the
Urban Growth Boundary(UGB)
north of the city for residential
development?.
These are selected responses:
Expansion of the UGB is very
much needed to allow for additional
housing options. Well managed
growth in identifi ed
land not used for prime
agriculture is necessary.
— Christine Jones
Dieker
the drivers that are non-stop racing
up and down Wheatland and River
Roads. All the people coming from
the Wheatland Ferry, racing up the
hill or turning from Brooklake/
Wheatland full speed and it seems
as soon as they come to the stop
sign/Dead End of Brooklake, they
lift their phones.
— Arlet Peterson Johnson
what’s
your
view?
It would be nice to
see more single family
homes built that would
meet the needs for our
shortage in housing. It seems that
the new construction I see most is
either $400,000 and more homes,
or apartments. It would be nice to
see some affordable homes going in.
— Kimberly Free
Yes! It would be great to see some
new single family neighborhoods
in north Keizer. All of the new
neighborhoods are out South.
— Nicole Todd Graneto
I support expansion of the UGB.
The need for housing will continue.
We expand or force crowded
growth into limited space.
— Marc Adams
I’d prefer to keep my
small town small.
— Jan Blanco
Not if it claims more
agricultural land.
— Tamra Burleson
I love our small
community
even
though it’s not so small any
more. You go north you take up
agricultural land and we need it
now more than ever. Why does
every piece of vacant land need to
have a house on it? Look at Portland
and even Salem, and how they have
expanded and all the problems they
have with it.
— Lisa Herring
No! We are not keeping up with
current demands. Crowded schools,
cars speeding in residential areas!
— Robert-Lisa Reynolds-Barker
Only if it comes with a new
North Keizer High School.
— Bree Hughes
No; too many people/homes
now. The roads are not made for
so focused on growth and not
addressing a lot of our current
problems, like the homeless, and the
rising crime rate?
— Beth Parker
Doesn’t matter what anyone
thinks, it’s gonna happen anyway.
The ever-increasing population
needs housing.
— Bruno Kowert
I grew up in Keizer in the 1960s
and ‘70s. And I lived in Keizer until
2005. I just remember when it was
a nice quiet small town. Too bad we
can’t turn back the clock to those
times. It would be nice if they could
limit the population in a town, then
start another town somewhere else.
We do have the space to do that.
— Julie Nielsen
No! Not at all. Keizer shouldn’t
be so focused on growth. We should
be addressing our current problems,
like over crowded schools, our kids
are the future and there are so many
kids in there classes no one can
focus and learn anymore. Or like
the homeless, and the rising crime
rate? How about fi xing thing’s
before growing and creating over
priced homes no one can afford.
Leave the agricultural land so our
kids can grow up with fresh food
not all processed.
— Olivia Wuelfi ng
UGB,
continued from Page A1
Caillier said. “But I don’t think we
can keep Keizer the same way it is
today. Residential development, even
with the initial [development] fees,
does not cover the expenses of fi re
and police.”
If Keizer was able to get a divorce
from Salem and expand its UGB, the
cost of homes in the expanded areas
could be so high that many current
Keizer residents couldn’t afford them.
Development charges to cover new
infrastructure could be as much as 10
times the rate in current green fi eld
development, but those spaces are di-
minishing quickly.
“If we go that [infi ll] route, can
we say we’ll embrace this fi nancial-
ly further on down the road?” asked
Commissioner Frank Hostler.
As the meeting unfurled, that idea
got the most traction.
“It’s something we need to take
10-15 years to save for. With the in-
fi ll, we redesign the base and fees and
FEST,
continued from Page A1
program at McNary.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. and
will feature performances from Mad
Love, My Brothers and I, Mind the
Gap, OnenO and Lisa Vazquez. But
it’s what happens before the concert
that makes this event so unique.
Through multiple sessions and
interactive workshops, students will
spend the afternoon learning and
performing their specifi c styles to
more than 50 professional musicians
from all over the west coast.
Styles include: any style of band,
singer/songwriter,
rap/-hip-hop/
R&B/electronic, solo artist and a
cappella groups.
Thomas believes that the main
reason for the growth he saw from
many of his students in the last year
was because of those workshops kids
got to experience at the last festival.
“It was the key component in
motivating and inspiring our students.
To put them in that environment,
they get to see what a next-level
musician looks like and they get
to work with them and they came
away inspired and it made them want
to work harder in class. They still
talk about how impactful it was for
them,” Thomas said.
McNary senior Shelby Jamison
added: “The feedback we got last
year was amazing. We got to talk with
musicians one-on-one to see what
that gets us saving toward divorce,”
said Commissioner Jeffrey Watson.
While support grew, commission-
ers worried that they were kicking
the can down the road.
“We will get to the point where
we are bursting at the seams,” said
Commissioner Matt Lawyer.
To avoid painting the city into a
corner with infi ll as the only option,
Brown said the commission could
recommend going the infi ll route
and request city staff establish bench-
marks for progress toward the even-
tual expansion of the UGB. Moving
forward on that path gave commis-
sioners a way forward and a stake in
the process.
“I would be interested in bench-
marks, how they will be measured
and how attainable they will be,” said
Commissioner Jeremy Grenz.
Brown and Witham agreed to
come back with benchmark propos-
als in the coming months.
Contact the reporter at editor@keizer-
times.com. (With a tip ‘o the hat to Shane
Witham who proposed a killer headline.)
we could improve on and what we
could do in the future to make our
sound better.”
This year’s festival will put an
even bigger focus on creating more
workshops for the students, with
the goal of making the environment
more about learning.
“It’s a more educationally
enriching experience for the
participants where kids are growing
as artists, which will give them more
of an opportunity to grow and
develop and explore contemporary
music genres,” Thomas said.
One representative from each
musical style will also be chosen to
perform at the concert alongside
professional musicians, and according
to McNary student Samantha
Wagner, the concert will have the
ability to appeal to many different
types of people.
“It’s defi nitely awesome because
there is a piece of music for every
single person that goes,” Wagner
said. “Music is very interpretive and
you can feel it in so many different
ways. The same lyrics can impact
one person so much differently than
another, so going to the festival feeds
into that and it encourages young
students to put there hearts out
there.”
The cost for solo participants is
$15 and $100 for a capella acts —
which covers mentor sessions as well
as the evening concert.
Tickets for the general public are
$8 for students and $10 for adults.
No! Not at all. Why is Keizer
Saving the sage grouse
By JIM PARR
With dwindling federal support
and interest, protecting the Western
or Greater Sage Grouse from likely
extinction is going to fall to the state,
county and local governments.
The estimated remaining popu-
lation of 200,000 or so birds, which
includes several sub-spe-
cies, is scattered across the
basin and range areas of
Oregon, Nevada, Utah,
Colorado, Wyoming, east-
ern California and up into
the southern plains of Can-
ada. With so few remaining
birds, the gene pool is be-
coming critically restricted.
Thus population stabilization and
enhancement measures are urgently
needed.
Without committed federal sup-
port, how might the citizens of
Oregon play a crucial part in pro-
tecting this iconic bird from disap-
pearance? Possibly some aspects of
recently developed regional plans
can still be implemented. These plans
emphasize the need for the preserva-
tion, creation, and expansion of qual-
ity habitat. These large birds need lots
of open space and during late sum-
mer and fall, as the summer vegeta-
tion dries out, access
to water.
Unlike most mem-
bers of the Galliforme
family, grouse are not
seed or grain eaters.
Rather, they exist on
succulent plant leaves,
buds and fl owers,
and native grasses. In
spring time, the fl owering plants at-
tract insects which are important to
the diet of newly hatched and grow-
ing grouse chicks. During the winter
months, the sage grouse feeds largely
on the leaves and tips of sage brush,
thus their name. Land that provides
guest
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the required plant species for food
and cover is critical. Without their
preferred natural habitat, the birds
may move around a bit but mostly
they just gradually die out.
What are some possible manage-
ment strategies? First, make it prof-
itable for ranchers and farmers and
tribes to set aside some of their land
and waterways as protective habi-
tat. Secondly, help these land owners
establish and enhance the presence
of plant species that provide the sea-
sonal food and cover that the grouse
require.
Other more drastic programs may
be needed such as a pause in hunting
and the establishment of a captive
breeding and propagation program.
Captive sage grouse propagation
programs are already underway in
Alberta, Canada and in Gunnison,
Colorado. The Oregon Zoo success-
fully manages a captive breeding pro-
gram for the California condor. They
learned how to do it. With commit-
ment and effort, we should be able
to develop a breeding program for
the grouse as well.
Action is needed now. Do-
ing nothing will not save the sage
grouse. A combination of protec-
tive and enhancement strategies is
needed and if we don’t get busy
right away, the sage grouse could
disappear in nearly the blink of the
eye. Remember what happened to
the native prairie chicken (also a
grouse) of eastern Oregon at the
hands of the early settlers. Or what
happened to the passenger pigeon
of eastern North America which
once numbered in the millions.
Or what almost happened to the
American bison.
It’s going to take investment,
time, volunteers, and interest. Let’s
try some things now and not wait
until it is too late to learn what
can work. If Oregon can become a
sanctuary for the sage grouse, oth-
er wildlife will also benefi t and our
success stories can be shared with
other regions. Hopefully it is not
too late.
(Jim Parr lives in Keizer.)
Submitted
A capella groups from numerous schools perform at last year’s festival.
SHARP,
continued from Page A1
After the safety inspection, DePina
and a throng of city employees
working on specifi c committees got
back to work.
On the city side of things, the
inspection resulted in a variety of
small improvements, such as signs
warning against opening doors too
quickly. Others required breaking
out tools.
“We had to anchor a lot of
shelving throughout the civic center
to protect in case of an earthquake.
We had a few containers that needed
better labeling. I also assisted the
park guys with a couple of things,”
said Dan Collingham, maintenance
manager for the Keizer Civic Center.
The city had to install eyewash
stations in several pump houses and
replace others in the Keizer Police
Department (KPD).
Lt. Trevor Wenning oversees
safety at KPD and already knew the
eyewash stations were a problem.
“We had to use an additive in the
old wash stations and it reacted with
some of the other things we already
knew were in Keizer water. After 30
days or so, you could shine a light
down the nozzle and it looked like
someone had blown their nose into
it,” Wenning said.
After clearing the safety hurdles, a
health inspector judged the city on a
different set of criteria. In both the
police and city services, the largest
hurdle was getting anyone who uses
a respirator certifi ed to do so.
“Whenever you have to wear
a full respirator, you have to be
certifi ed by a doctor because there
are elements in the cartridges that
can cause allergic reactions,” said Pat
Taylor, public works water division
manager.
That was a smaller task for public
works as only a few employees
need to use respirators as part of
their duties, but it meant nearly
every Keizer police offi cer had to
complete a questionnaire that was
then reviewed by a doctor.
“It’s smell-related with the police,
it has to do with when we encounter
dead bodies,” said Wenning.
In the end, the punch-list was
so small that OSHA couldn’t deny
Keizer was a SHARP city.
“I'd say one of the bigger
challenges was translating OSHA-
speak to our operations. It required
knowing when we were required to
do something it might affect several
different types of employees,” said
Tammie Harms, Keizer legal assistant.
Harms spearheaded updating policy
and procedure manuals.
What DePina still doesn’t know is
if the extra effort will translate into
insurance cost savings in addition to
bragging rights.
“Because we’re the fi rst city to be
certifi ed, we don’t know how it will
affect insurance. But that’s going to
be interesting,” DePina said.
It could also make Keizer city jobs
more appealing to those looking for
the safest possible environment.
Even if bragging rights are
the main pay-off in the short-
term, DePina said the effort was a
demonstration of city employees
being willing to work together to
achieve a common goal.
“I don't know if this would have
been possible if we hadn't had the
assistance of all the employees and
the management and everybody
being so cooperative, willing to fi x
things and implement changes,”
DePina said.