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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 3, 2020 Tickets on sale for First Citizen banquet Opinion Fasten your seatbelts Fasten you seatbelts, 2020 could prove to be a bumpy time on all fronts. No one should expect a wave of civility to wash over the country anytime in the next 12 months. Not one vote has been taken in the presidential nominating races and the Democratic candidates are already at each oth- er. The more they attack each other’s positions the more likely that will turn off many voters and come Novem- ber a majority may decide to stick with what they have. At the end of 2019 there were not one, but two, attacks on religion: the shooter at the church in White Set- tlement, Texas, that killed two, and the machete attack at a rabbi’s New York home in the middle of a Ha- nukkah celebration. In a country divided by ideology, culture and religious beliefs, is there any reason to believe such attacks won’t be in the news again in 2020? Closer to home, many people are upset over laws that took effect on January 1. The plastic shopping bag ban has many up in arms, wondering how such a law came to be. The short answer is: elections have consequences. Many households have benefi ted from the economic boom the country is ex- periencing; the stock and bond mar- kets are in record territory and many experts predict a better year ahead. Unfortunately a large portion of the nation’s populace is not sharing in the good times. Too many people are homeless or have been affected by the opioid crisis. The world may seem to be spin- zaitz writes ning out of control but if it doesn’t affect us personally it is hard to get too worked up over how Brexit will change Europe or how the continu- ing confl icts in the Middle East will play out in 2020. But there is reason, also, to be op- timistic about this year. Unemploy- ment is very low; wages, fi nally, are beginning to rise. In eight months we can watch young athletes achieve greatness at the Tokyo Olympics. Students will graduate and enter the work force. New families will be started. Locally, longtime family businesses continue to thrive, pre- paring to pass the reins to the next generation. The new year can prove to be very bumpy but with the fortitude Amer- icans always show, we can have the government, the laws and the culture we want. All it takes is patience and tolerance, that’s not too much to ask. Is it? —LAZ Our family’s 12 days of Christmas By CHRISTIANA KENNEDY In response to Andrew Jackson’s December 20 column, A wish list for Keizer, we folks here in the Kenne- dy household have come up with our wish list for Keizer as well. VA benefi ts offi ce: A place where retired and honorably discharged military veterans can pro- cess paperwork and have advocates working for them, without having to drive to Portland. This facility does not have to be a large facility. Sweet Tomatoes restaurant: Soup, salad and fresh baked goods. Bath and Body Works store (in Keizer Station, perhaps!) Movie theatre Momiji’s: We are just outside of the delivery zone and I am not try- ing to offend anyone, but the sushi in Keizer is not up to par. Sam’s Club: Yes Costco’s deals and products are great, however, lo- cation, location, location. Did you know Virginia and Oregon are the only states that do not have a Sam’s Club? I advocate for a ware- house store that has a better location, same great deals, but a frac- tion of the crowds. Roller skating rink: Not everyone wants to go to The Hoop.That one is brought to you by our 14 year-old daughter. Outdoor public swimming pool Wings restaurant: That does not promote boobs and skimpy clothes on the women servers. Fam- ily friendly! Wendy’s fast food restaurant Updated bowling alley: 1964 called and wants all their stuff back! guest column Seriously—when the ceiling tiles are being replaced by turkey roasting pans to catch the dripping water, it’s time to upgrade. Last but certainly not least... An aquarium! Am I reaching for the stars on this one? Yes. But real- ly? Why do we have to drive to the coast to see all the beautiful wonders of the ocean when the ocean can be brought to us? Families and people of all ages would be able to have a fun activity to participate in during all the seasons, and without having to make a drive outside of Keizer. There’s plenty of untouched land in the area to make this dream a reality. We hope you like our ideas. It is refreshing to know our family is not alone in wanting more convenient and fun facilities within our Keizer community. (Christiana Kennedy is a Keizer mom, hard worker, and volunteer.) Service to Education and a Presi- dent’s Award goes to a person se- lected by the outgoing president of the Chamber board of direc- tors. The Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road N.E., will host the event. In 2019, Vicki Jackson was honored as the Keizer First Citi- zen, Kyle Juran was named Mer- chant of the Year, Brian Aicher was picked for the Service to Educa- tion Award and Larry Schmidgall received the President’s Award. One of the Keizer Chamber of Commerce’s biggest parties of the year is Saturday, Jan. 18. Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming First Citizen & Awards Banquet sponsored by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce. Ticket cost is $55 for individuals or $400 for table sponsorship. The night begins at 6 p.m. To purchase tickets, go to www.keizerchamber.com. In addition to naming the city’s new First Citizen, awards are pre- sented for Merchant of the Year, cuffed in Keizer Timothy Lane Blankenship Arrested Dec. 17 for: Hit-and-run Previous convictions: More than a decade old Donald Bradley Biehn Arrested Dec. 18 for: Assault Pending charges: Criminal mistreatment, assault Darryl Dean Gibson Arrested Dec. 25 for: Interfering with a police offi cer Other pending charges: Menacing, unlawful use of a weapon, interfering with a police offi cer Marcel Jose Ojeda Arrested Dec. 18 for: Disorderly conduct Pending charges: Mail theft, interfering with a police offi cer A resolution fulfilled By ERIC A. HOWALD Every year I promise myself that I will look back on what was ac- complished with a somewhat less critical eye than I generally ap- proach everything else. It’s a year’s end resolu- tion that I fail at regu- larly. Two experiences in the past few months have made the self-imposed task more diffi cult to ignore. The fi rst came came in Septem- ber. After several months of talking with local residents of manufac- tured home parks about their vary- ing hardships, I was poring over a trove of documented problems at a Keizer park with a pair of women. One of them began questioning the point of trying to hold the property owner to account given a history of apathy. “This is different,” the other res- ident told her. “Now there’s some- one listening to us.” A few days after reporting on the problems, the owner sent out doz- ens of contractors to fi x the prob- lems. Despite the positive outcome, it’s that small exchange between two people unaccustomed to being heard that keeps replaying over and over in my head. A month later, I was taking a break between interviews and sit- ting under a tree providing shelter from a light rain when a large passenger van pulled into the long driveway and headed in my direction. As the driver ap- proached, I realized I recognized him. My eyes got wide and a smile broke even wider across my face. Wiz pulled up right next to me and hopped out of the driver’s seat. Wiz and I met in October 2016 when he and some of his friends were rousted from a growing home- less encampment under the awning of the Roths building. At the time, it was nothing more than an emp- ty shell. I asked if anyone wanted to be a voice for the people who were being displaced and Wiz offered to share his story. In the three years since, Wiz and I became friends. He drops by the offi ce regularly to check in or when he needs to share some of the bur- den of what he’s seen living in the streets. I’ve tried to be his Jiminy Cricket, a constant voice urging him to make contact with those that could help him put a roof over his head. We hug whenever he departs and I worry when the absences moments of lucidity grow longer than usual. Wiz told me getting the van was a possibility, but I’ve seen enough sky-high goals – Wiz’s, others’, my own – dissipate into the ether to deter continued blind faith. I only realized in retrospect how hard he’d been working toward that moment. Earlier this year, he quit drinking on his own. He told me about it 70 days in. He worked with the courts to get his license back. I have no doubt that Wiz pulled into the parking lot thinking he’d found another lost soul, sitting alone and wishing for invisibility, that he could use his new wheels to help. The sight of him driving up in the van was redemptive. Once Wiz was out of the van, we hugged and shouted at each other over the blaring stereo system and hugged again and shouted some more. Somewhere in the midst of the euphoria, Wiz said, “If you hadn’t seen me that day, listened …” He trailed off because my body language shifted. My natural reac- tion to this type of gratitude is – al- ways – defl ect, defl ect, defl ect. To Wiz, it hadn’t mattered so much that I’d written about him in the paper, it was the too-often un- derrated acts of seeing and listening that he saw as having a throughline to the moments we shared outside his van three years later. This is what seeing and listening accomplished in the past year: they helped make the world of dozens of people in a manufactured home park a little bit safer and – along with some incredible kindness on the part of others – helped another man kick the bottle and put a roof, of a sort, over his head. All it took was a willingness to see and a humble ear. Kira Bovee Victoria Kuzmenko Arrested Dec. 20 for: Assault Previous convictions: None Arrested Dec. 26 for: Criminal mischief Other pending charges: Assault, theft Brent Nasset Arrested Dec. 20 for: Disorderly conduct Previous convictions: DUII, theft William James Gentry Arrested Dec. 28 for: Parole violation Manuel Campos Arrested Dec. 21 for: Assault, DUII, reckless endangering Previous convictions: Menacing, assault, strangulation Pending charges: Assault, criminal mischief Dylan Alexander Jeffus Arrested Dec. 22 for: Reckless endangering Pending charges: Theft, resisting arrest, burglary Steven Wayne DeVault Arrested Dec. 28 for: Theft Previous convictions: Burglary, theft, assault (Eric A. Howald is the managing editor of the Keizertimes.) obituaries letter 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 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $35 in Marion County, $43 outside Marion County, $55 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 Mitigate climate change To the Editor: Science says: The two most effec- tive things we human individuals can do to mitigate climate change are, (1) drive less and, (2) stop eating red meat. Something to think about while you’re sucking exhaust fumes in the In-N-Out que waiting to order a double dead cow. Just sayin’. Martin Doerfl er Keizer Submit an obituary through our website at keizertimes.com or send an email to: editor@keizertimes.com Jill Marie Poole July 8, 1946 – December 25, 2019 Jill Marie Poole, age 73, of Keizer, Ore. passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019. She was born on July 8, 1946, in Salem, Ore., to Durward and Bethel Steinke. Jill graduated from North Salem High School in 1964. She retired after working 30 years for the State of J. Poole Oregon. Jill married Ronald E Poole on Aug. 15, 1997. She is survived by her husband Ronald Poole; children: Troy Wilson and Torri Ford (Wilson); four grandchildren: Ashley Earls, Alisa Earls, Lillian Wilson and Jordan Wilson; one great- grandchild: Madysin Earls. A Memorial Service will be held on Jan. 3 at 11 a.m. at Keizer Funeral Chapel in Keizer. Celebration of Life will follow at Town & Country Bowl.
