PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 10, 2020
Opinion
Oh, the humanity
Is our current homeless crisis a po-
litical problem? A spiritual issue? No, it
is a humanity issue.
There are many different reasons
someone becomes homeless. There
is homeless and there is
shelterless. Homeless may
mean that someone does
not live in their own
abode. Instead, they rely
on the kindess of family,
friends or group shelters
for a roof over their head.
Those who are shel-
terless are the people we
see camping on sidewalks, in parks or
tucked in out of the way places. They
carry their possessions with them as
they make a bed in a tent, a box or a
vehicle. Why don’t they stay in a shel-
ter? Oftentimes the shelters are full.
Many times a person who is home-
less chooses not to stay in a space with
rules to follow, or can’t stay with their
signifi cant others, or animals are not
allowed.
Hopelessness can lead to drug
use and addiction. When the future is
gloomy and uncertain it is easy to see
how some people give up any hope of
living a regular existence.
Drug use is rampant among the
homeless population. Poor mental
health affects others. The most dire cas-
es need to be addressed and it must be
made easier to hospitalize those who
suffer from severe issues such as schizo-
phrenia—levels that are unsafe for the
sufferer and the public at large.
It is inhumane for so-
ciety to stand by and let
people suffering from poor
mental health to languish
in the streets. But law en-
forcement’s hands are tied.
The law and the courts say
you cannot arrest someone
for their behavior. Maybe
that needs to be adjusted, at
least during this time of crisis across the
country.
Self-esteem must be maintained,
especially for those who are homeless
despite their best efforts to fi nd a place
to live. There should be less leeway for
those who are not doing everything
they can to fi nd a home for themselves.
The billions of dollars spent across
the United States on services and
housing for the homeless have not
moved the needle one whit on the
issue. The homeless problem will con-
tinue as long as wages lag behind ex-
penses, as long as the cost of housing
continues to rise, as long as health care
is out of reach for those without the
benefi t of employer-based health in-
surance. These are all causes for many
our
opinion
who are homeless.
Local attorney and former city of-
fi cial Richard Walsh’s testimony before
the city council this week pleaded for
the city to consider purchasing and dis-
tributing Conestoga Micro-Shelters as
an answer for the homeless. Priced at
up to $2,500 a piece, they would al-
low a person to keep their belongings
locked and safe. Micro-shelters are a
good idea but it comes face-to-face
with the reality of how to pay for them
and where to place them.
Providing services and housing is
important but those being helped need
to take responsibility, too. The public
is horrifi ed by the trash and fi lth that
grows around homeless camps. Any
housing created to help the home-
less must have a zero-tolerance policy
when it comes to drug use, harassment
and especially uncleanliness.
Those being provided housing need
to understand it is for the short-term.
Tax payer supported solutions should
not be looked upon as the fi nal answer.
It is a way point on the way to a more
permanent home.
It is humane to help those in our
society who are suffering. This should
never be one-way, however. Those be-
ing helped should be expected to take
an active part in the solution. —LAZ
Public spaces camping ban
Via social media, readers respond-
ed to the Keizertimes article about the
proposed public spaces camping ban
based in part on the City of Salem’s
ban. The Keizer City Council unan-
imously approved the ordinance at
the January 6 session.
Here some selected re-
sponses:
Allowing camping in
public places is not help-
ing the transitional hous-
ing population. We are
turning a blind eye to their
needs and endangering the
public and children who
use these public places.
We need to partner with Salem to
develop transitional housing zon-
ing in the city to allow Conestoga
Hut Micro-Shelters adjacent to any
service agencies out of a commer-
cial/business zone. The Conestoga
Huts will allow locking so that their
worldly belongings are secured while
they are seeking social services help.
Keeping camping in public areas is
not helping anyone and endanger-
ing the public. Let’s stop ignoring the
problem and actually help.
— Lore Christopher
Where are they supposed to go?
They literally are being banned ev-
ery where. They exist and they aren’t
just gonna disappear no matter how
many times we ban them from places.
We have to deal with this head on
and put our effort into
fi nding a permanent
solution instead of a 10
minute solution.
— Rikky Galvin
Set an example. Don’t
be like Salem. Every-
one needs help at some
point. If you can’t help
at least dont hurt.
what’s
your
view?
— Shauna Weis
What it will come down to is
where the money will come from for
the shelters and who wants it near
their backyard.
— Scott Bailon
Law of the land is you can’t ban
camping in public places unless you
provide alternatives. Are we going to
provide an alternative?
— John Robinson
I don’t think we need to follow
Salem on this issue. We already have
the curfew and I think a camping
prohibition would only turn our al-
ready burdened police offi cers into
an eviction squad (as you can see
some are already doing).
Salem’s going about it the wrong
way. First they kicked the homeless
out of the park. Then they kicked
them out from camping next to the
only place that would help them.
Now businesses are using the police
department like a clean up crew be-
cause the problem is unsightly. Only
adding to the response times of ac-
tual emergencies with no resolution
in sight.
It’s just creating more problems
for the people, the police and the city.
That should be an example of what
not to do.
Keizer better step up and enforce
the laws that already exists or they’re
going to get all the crackhead, dope
fi end criminal addicts from every-
where including Salem when every-
body else puts a end to this stupidity.
— Devin Newstrand
cuffed
in Keizer
Jenny Hill
Kyle E. Lavoie
Arrested Jan. 5 for:
Sexual abuse
Previous convictions:
None
Though Sunnis and Kurds ab-
stained, the Iraqi parliament has vot-
ed to expel all our troops. The State
Department has urged U.S. civilians
to fl ee Iraq. 82nd Airborne units have
moved into the region to protect
the U.S. embassy. U.S.
troops fi ghting ISIS
alongside Iraqi troops
have separated them-
selves and stood down.
In Iraq, the war on ter-
rorism is on hold.
Across the Middle
East, U.S. diplomats,
soldiers and civilians are on alert. The
acting prime minister of Iraq, in an
echo of Tehran and radical Shiites, is
demanding that all 5,200 U.S. soldiers
in Iraq depart.
Two months ago, crowds were in
the streets of Iraq protesting Iran’s
dominance of their politics. Crowds
were in the streets of Iran cursing that
regime for squandering the nation’s
resources on imperial adventures in
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen. Things
were going America’s way.
Now it is the Americans who are
the targets of protests.
Over three days, crowds num-
bering in the hundreds of thousands
and even millions have packed Iraqi
and Iranian streets and squares to pay
tribute to Soleimani and to curse the
Americans who killed him.
As emotions are running high and
America’s friends in the region are
mute, the twin goals of Iran and its
militia allies appear clear:
Tehran wants to avoid a war with
other
opinions
Keizertimes
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EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Lyndon Zaitz
publisher@keizertimes.com
2019-2020 President
Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association
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the United States, but to direct the
passions of the moment toward forc-
ing an expulsion of the Americans
from the Middle East, beginning with
their ouster from Iraq.
Thus, Tehran has signaled that its
retaliation, its revenge for the death
of Soleimani, a military man, will be
proportionate. Tehran is telegraphing
an attack on the U.S. military. Hassan
Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah in
Lebanon, has called on his followers
not to attack innocent Americans in
the region but to zero in on U.S. mil-
itary targets.
Perhaps, rather than sending troops
into Iraq and Kuwait to defend U.S.
troops already there, we should accede
to the local nationalist demands, start
bringing our troops home, and let Ira-
nians, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Yemenis
and Afghans settle their quarrels.
Despite the rage in Iran over the
killing of Soleimani, the political im-
peratives that existed before last Fri-
day’s drone strike remain.
Iran does not want war with the
United States. And Trump wants no
war with Iran.
Assuming that because Trump did
not want war, he would recoil from a
fi ght, Soleimani believed he could kill
Americans with impunity, as long as
his fi ngerprints were not on the mur-
der weapon.
Killing Soleimani was just. But
what is just is not always wise.
Yet, his killing restores Trump’s
credibility as a Jacksonian who avoids
wars but who, wounded, will stab the
enemy who cut him.
Trump has a red line. It is not
shooting at American drones but
shooting at American soldiers, the
drawing of American blood.
The message the rulers of Iran
should have received?
If they retaliate for Soleimani by
killing American soldiers, diplomats
or civilians, using either Iranian
troops or proxy militias, Trump will
retaliate against Iran itself.
Otherwise, “Come
Home,
America,” George McGovern’s
slogan from the 1972 presidential
campaign, has rarely seemed more
relevant.
(Creators Syndicate)
Previous
convictions:
Drug possession,
endangering the
welfare of a minor
Ricky Alan McColly
Arrested Jan. 5 for:
Public indecency and
parole violation
Previous convictions:
Public indecency, assault
Patrick James
Gilbert
Thomas Lee Lowell
Arrested Jan. 4 for:
Parole violation
Previous convictions:
Drug possession,
burglary
Arrested Dec. 30
for:
Failure to register
as a sex offender
Previous
convictions:
Rape, burglary
McKenna Avery
Waldner
Arrested Jan. 4 for:
Parole violation
Previous convictions:
Theft
Luis Everardo
Lara
Arrested Dec. 30
for:
Possession of
methamphetamine
Victoria Ashley
Moine
Arrested Jan. 2 for:
Possession of
methamphetamine
Previous
convictions:
Delivery of
methamphetamine,
felon in possession
of a fi rearm
Previous convictions:
None
David Irwin Martin,
Jr.
Arrested Jan. 1 for:
Possession of
methamphetamine
Previous convictions:
Assault
Jesus Sanchez
Arrested Dec. 30
for:
Criminal mischief,
trespassing,
burglary
If Baghdad wants U.S. out, let’s go
By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
Fifteen years after the U.S. invaded
Iraq to turn Saddam Hussein’s dic-
tatorship into a beacon of democra-
cy, Iraq’s Parliament, amid shouts of
“Death to America!” voted to expel
all U.S. troops from the
country.
Though nonbinding,
the expulsion vote came
after mobs trashed the U.S.
embassy in an assault that
recalled Tehran 1979.
What provoked Iraq’s
Parliament into demand-
ing the ouster of all U.S. troops?
First, the fi ve December U.S.
strikes on Iraq’s Popular Mobiliza-
tion Forces in retaliation for a dozen
Kataib Hezbollah rocket attacks on
U.S. bases, which killed a contractor
and wounded four U.S. soldiers.
Then came President Donald
Trump’s decision to launch a drone-
strike and kill Iranian General Qassem
Soleimani at Baghdad International
Airport. Killed in the same strike was
the Shiite Iraqi leader of Kataib Hez-
bollah.
During his return fl ight to Wash-
ington Sunday, Trump warned Iraq:
Follow through on your demand that
all U.S. troops get out, and we will in-
sist that Baghdad repay the money we
just spent on a major air base.
Moreover, said Trump, if Iraqis ex-
pel U.S. troops, then we will impose
upon them “sanctions like they’ve
never seen before, ever. It’ll make Ira-
nian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
Where do we stand now in Iraq?
Arrested Dec. 31
for:
Hit-and-run
Brianna Marie
Alvarez
Arrested Dec. 31 for:
Trespassing
Previous convictions:
Theft
Previous
convictions:
Delivery and
possession of
methamphetamine,
assault
police scanner
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31
7:20 a.m. - Arrested for criminal
mischief and criminal trespassing in
the 1000 block of Clearview Ave-
nue NE.
8:09 a.m. - Failure to perform du-
ties of driver when property was
damaged in the 200 block of Lake-
point Place N.
3:29 p.m. - Criminal trespassing,
harassment and violation of release
agreement in the 1000 block of
Clearview Avenue NE.
4:28 p.m. - Theft in the 4000 block
of Cherry Avenue NE.
5:50 p.m. - Theft in the 3000 block
of River Road N.
10 p.m. - Failure to report as a sex
offender in the 800 block of Bever
Drive NE.
2:53 a.m. - Driving while sus-
pended at the intersection of River
Road N. and Wheatland Road N.
9:07 a.m. - Criminal mischief, theft
from motor vehicle and unlawful
entry to vehicle in the 6000 block
of Keizer Station Boulevard
11:34 a.m. - Vandalism in the 6000
block of Keizer Station Boulevard
12:58 p.m. - Criminal trespassing in
the 100 block of Delta Court N.
1:40 p.m. - Unlawful entry to vehi-
cle in the 7000 block of 8th Court
NE.
3:32 p.m. - Arrested for failure
to perform duties of driver when
property was damaged
6:55 p.m. - Theft in the 4000 in the
River Road N.
Cherriots adds free
wifi to all bus routes
Cherriots recently added free wifi service to all its buses capable of
providing connection for simple online tasks.
The network on each bus is called “Cherriots Public Bus WiFi.”
The network speed is not meant for streaming video and music and
it’s limited to the areas where mobile phones receive a good signal. Re-
gional riders should prepare for the signal to drop in certain rural areas
of the Santiam Canyon, for example.
Cherriots encourages riders to wait to connect until after leaving
transit centers so they do not pick up signals from a different bus.
USB ports for charging small electronics were also installed Cherriots
Route 1X buses.
Cherriots Local buses have seen an average year-over-year increase
in weekday ridership of 6.4 percent each month since September, and
the fi gures do not include ridership on the recently-reinstated Saturday
service.