PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 10, 2020
TESTIMONY: ‘Few places
have said you are outlawed’
DRIVE A LITTLE – SAVE A BUNCH!
3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE • SALEM
MORE INFO AT NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM
Lights,
Comedy,
Laughs!
Saturday,
JAN 18,
at 11:00 am
MOVIE: PLAYING
WITH FIRE [ PG ]
Sensory
Sensitive
Show ONLY $4
Special showing for kids and adults with
Autism or other sensory sensitivities.
LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY!
SATURDAY, JAN 18
TODD ANDERSON
& BO JOHNSON
7 pm & 9 pm (21 & Over)
Admission only $10.
Reserved Seating for this show.
DON’T MISS
THE BIG GAME
ON THE BIG SCREEN!
Sunday, Feb 2
exact time TBA
TICKETS ARE FREE!
Today in History
A drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas,
produces an enormous gusher of crude oil, coating the
landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the advent
of the American oil industry. The geyser was discovered
at a depth of over 1,000 feet, fl owed at an initial rate of
approximately 100,000 barrels a day and took nine days to
cap. Following the discovery, petroleum, which until that
time had been used in the U.S. primarily as a lubricant
and in kerosene for lamps, would become the main fuel
source for new inventions such as cars and airplanes;
coal-powered forms of transportation including ships and
trains would also convert to the liquid fuel.
— January 10, 1901
Food 4 Thought
“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential
to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It
overcomes almost everything, even nature.”
— John D. Rockefeller, business magnate,
founder of Standard Oil
The Weeks Ahead
Friday, January 10 – Saturday, January 11
McNary High School presents Hello, Dolly! Performances
are at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee on
Saturday. Tickets can be bought online or in person.
Through Saturday, January 18
S.K.I.T. Theater presents Newsies! at Salem First Free
Methodist Church, 4455 Silverton Rd N.E. Tickets are $6
for children (3-12) $8 for students/seniors.
Friday, January 10 – Sunday, January 12
2020 Mid-Valley Home Show, Jackman-Long Building at
Oregon State Fairgrounds. Hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday,
10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday. Free
admission and free parking.
Saturday, January 11
Keizer Homegrown Theatre will hold auditions for its
entire 2020 season, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. In theater on the second
fl oor of the Keizer Cultural Center, 980 Chemawa Rd. N.E.
Prepare a two-minute monologue; many female roles
available in the coming season. keizerhomegrowntheatre.
org.
Saturday Night dance and potluck featuring music by
Jeff erson Park at the Keizer/Salem Area Senior, 930
Plymouth Drive, N.E. from 7 - 10 p.m.
Willamette Valley Genealogical Society will meet at 12
p.m. at the VFW Building (630 Hood St NE, Salem). Dave
Brewery will speak about “Bringing Family Trees to Life.”
Monday, January 6
Keizer City Council meeting, 7 p.m., Keizer Civic Center,
930 Chemawa Road N.E.
Monday, January 13
Keizer City Council work session, 5:45 p.m., Keizer Civic
Center, 930 Chemawa Road N.E.
Tuesday, January 14
Oregon Spirit Chorus is auditioning singers from 6 - 9 p.m.
at the Salem Elks Lodge, 2336 Turner Rd. S.E. Salem. RSVP
kathy.schell@oregonspirit.org. For more information visit
www.oregonspirit.org.
Free admission all day at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700
State Street. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday, January 15
Bingo at the Keizer/Salem Area Seniors, 930 Plymouth
Drive N.E., from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Admission is $5.50
Wednesday, January 15 – Friday, January 17
2020 Northwest Agricultural Show, Jackman-Long
Building at Oregon State Fairgrounds. More than 120
exhibitors. Admission is $5, $3 for seniors and veterans,
free for children 12 and under. Free admission on Friday.
Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.,
Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday. northwestagshow.com.
Thursday, January 16
Stories in the Stacks at Keizer Community Library,Keizer
Cultural Center, 10-11 a.m. For pre-school children
accompanied by an adult. Stories, crafts and music.
keizerlibrary.org.
Lego Club at Keizer Community Library, Keizer Cultural
Center, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Kids accompanied by an adult
are invited for an hour of unstructured Lego play. Legos
provided. Free. keizerlibrary.org.
Oregon Housing Economic Summit at the Salem
Convention Center from 1 p.m. - 7 p.m. www.
oregonhousingeconomicsummit.com
Digital Photography with Bill Leach at the Keizer
Community Library, 980 Chemawa Rd N.E. RSVP is
required, call (503)-390-2370.
Pablo Cruise music at the Elsinore Theatre at 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Tickets can be bought online or in person for $5 extra.
Thursday, January 16 – Saturday, January 18
McNary High School presents Hello, Dolly! Performances
are at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee on
Saturday. Tickets can be bought online or in person.
Friday, January 17
Meet the author: Christel Jonge Vos at the Keizer
Community Library from 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. www.
keizerlibrary.org for more information.
Add your event by e-mailing reporter@keizertimes.com
(Continued from Page A1)
feel and hear about homeless
people. You owe it to us, as
elected offi cials, to consider the
moral consequences of doing
nothing, and the moral benefi t
of working hard to fi nd viable
solutions to this heartbreaking
condition in our community,”
McCullough-Jones said. “If
you do choose to support this
ordinance, what are you going
to do for better services in this
community?”
In Salem, the city council
allocated $200,000 to establish
a temporary camping site on
city-owned property the same
night it passed a similar camping
ban. Keizer contributes $5,000
a year to the Mid-Willamette
Valley Homeless Initiative
and Mayor Cathy Clark is a
member of its development
council.
Jonathan
Thompson,
president of the Keizer
Chamber
of
Commerce,
reviewed some of the efforts
chamber
members
make
to be involved in needs of
COST,
continued from Page A1
Once contact was made,
CRU
offi cers
informed
campers that the area would
be visited regularly and any
applicable laws would be
enforced. In many cases, the
roughly 40 entrenched camps
were vacated. It also became
known that there was a low
tolerance for homeless camp-
ing in Keizer.
“It’s a little bit different
now. We have people that
sleep and then move, but they
don’t set up camps,” Copeland
said.
By last month, CRU of-
fi cers were only spending
about eight hours a week on
the task, but actions by the
city of Salem to ban sidewalk
camping were having an im-
pact.
“In just a two week peri-
od, there was a noticeable in-
crease in the number of sub-
jects sleeping in doorways and
on sidewalks without tents,”
Olafson wrote.
Lt. Andrew Copeland said
impact of the camping ban
was nearly instantaneous, but
not in the way some might
expect.
“We haven’t seen an uptick
looking
back
5 YEARS AGO
First medical marijuana
facility opens in Keizer
the homeless and then said
the chamber supported the
ordinance.
“Some members have
invested thousands in cleaning
up property and damages,
others have had to clean up
used needles and spent fentanyl
patches,” Thompson said.
“We see this ordinance as a
necessary tool for Keizer police
and support its passage.”
Richard Walsh, a Keizer
attorney and former city
councilor, said he would rather
the city focus on alternative
measures rather than banning
tent camping.
“This is a crisis and its of
humanitarian
proportions.
It’s been dealt with in various
ways, but few places have said
you are outlawed,” Walsh said.
Walsh directed the council
to the possibility of establishing
conestoga huts, micro-shelters
that give those experiencing
homelessness a hard-shelled
insulated tent in which to stow
possessions and sleep.
The cost of a single
conestoga hut is approximately
$2,500 and running a
20-shelter site is estimated to
be around $50,000 per year.
“I will buy [a hut] to start
this off. It’s better to have some
individual dignity and a path
to re-assimilate into society,”
Walsh said.
Mark
Coutis,
vice
president of the West Salem
Neighborhood
Association,
suggested the former Fairview
Training Center and Hillcrest
Youth Correctional Facility
properties in south Salem as a
space that could repurposed to
assist homeless people facing a
variety of challenges.
Kevin Dial, a retired veteran
who works with several local
veteran-focused,
non-profi t
entities, said “It’s going to take
someone with the initiative to
focus on it (homelessness) as
the hill they will die on.”
Jimmy Jones of the Mid-
Willamette Valley Community
Action Agency, which oversees
several homeless outreach and
rehousing programs, said the
in camping or campsites, but
we’ve seen several people who
are known primarily as Salem
residents walking around the
city,” Copeland said. “For ex-
ample, we encountered one
guy from Salem yesterday
who has been contacted more
than 30 times by Salem police
offi cers and arrested numer-
ous times.”
Copeland said Keizer offi -
cers got the man to agree to
self-commit to the Psychi-
atric Crisis Center in Salem,
“but it will probably only be
a week or two before we see
him again.”
Keizer’s city council passed
a similar ban unanimously at
its meeting Monday, Jan. 6.
When Keizertimes talk-
ed with Copeland last week
about some of the hidden
costs of homelessness, one of
the projects on his desk was
drafting a fl owchart to inform
other Keizer police offi cers
about the appropriate and
applicable laws in each of a
number of scenarios.
“The main thing is we try
to treat all of our transient
population very nicely and
we have great compliance in
getting them to move along
when we ask them to,” Cope-
land said. “The big push right
now is trying to get everyone
who wants to be housed in
some sort of housing and we
are working with community
partners to make that hap-
pen.”
Additional time dedicated
to law enforcement is just one
of the ways that homelessness
creates strains on public sys-
tems. Keizer’s limited budget
and lack of larger city ame-
nities, such as a hospital, keep
some of the associated costs at
arm’s length, but homelessness
also impacts the city’s park
system, said Robert Johnson,
Keizer parks supervisor.
“We don’t typically fi nd
permanent camps, but we end
up cleaning up a lot of the
stuff that’s left behind. Our
garbage cans are constantly
being fi lled with what looks
like remnants of people who
are probably living in their
cars,” Johnson said.
For health and safety rea-
sons, parks employees take
extra precautions when deal-
ing with garbage precisely be-
cause they don’t always know
what’s might be sticking out
of it, which detracts from the
time available to perform oth-
er duties.
In December, parks em-
ployees discovered what ap-
peared to be a temporary
camp set up on and under the
play structure of Willamette
Manor park. In addition to
hauling away the typical de-
tritus, like sleeping bags and
trash, two bicycles were left
behind, along with numerous
blankets and a tarp among
other items.
“It appeared to only be two
people, but two people can
carry a lot of stuff,” Johnson
said. “I think we are trying to
get used to this being the new
norm even though it pains me
to say it that way.”
Parks employees work
closely with Keizer police
offi cers and the city’s code
enforcement offi cer to put
homeless people in contact
with support services.
BAN,
continued from Page A1
make the sidewalk passable. If
they are claiming they possess
as section of the sidewalk, this
prevents that. If it becomes a
problem we cannot solve, we
will send them to the judge,”
Teague replied.
Unlike an earlier draft
of the ordinance included
in packets leading up to
the meeting, the ordinance
adopted Monday grants police
and code enforcement offi cers
the ability to cite offenders and
impose a fi ne of up to $500.
The earlier draft only said
camping sites on public rights-
of-way could be removed.
Councilor Marlene Parsons
was visibly distraught when
asked about her stance on the
ordinance and appeared to be
holding back tears.
“I appreciate everyone
coming tonight. Know that
we are proactive and we will
try to do our best to help
people get out from under the
circumstances they are in,” she
said.
Councilor Roland Herrera
said he was committed to
following up on alternatives
to camping or designated
camping sites.
“I know there is a balance
in fi nding solutions, but I
think it starts with having
rules,” Herrera said.
rights-of-way,”
responded
Keizer Police Chief John
Teague.
Councilor Dan Kohler
asked if the ordinance would
be a useful tool for police
offi cers.
“If someone is sleeping on
the sidewalk, we’ll ask them to
maze
Ben Robison recently opened
Keizer’s fi rst medical marijuana
facility. The way he sees it, there
won’t be much competition in
the future in Keizer.
10 YEARS AGO
Lady Celts making it
look easy on the court
If the Lady Celts varsity
basketball team is looking past
lesser foes, it’s not showing up in
the box scores. One game after
hanging 71 points on Sprague
the girls put up 70 points against
North Salem.
15 YEARS AGO
Keizer PD captain off
to FBI Academy
The many facets of police work
captured Jeff Kuhns’ interest as a
young boy and catapulated him
onto a career path that is full
of twists and turns. The latest
turn will be a three-month
stint at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) National
Academy in Quantico, Va. With
two other Oregon offi cers, a
lieutenant from Tigard and a
lieutenant from Eugene.
Maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer
sudoku
20 YEARS AGO
New K9 joins force
Keizer Police Offi cer Eric
Jefferson started working with
a new partner last week – a
partner Jefferson himself trained
and donated to the department.
K-9 Gnikko von Der Sal,
affectionately known as “Niko,”
joined the force after Jefferson
donated the 3-year-old German
shepherd and his equipment
to the department, said Chief
Marc Adams.
effect of the camping ban in
Salem has not driven more
residents to seek services.
“When we had the
concentration around the
ARCHES offi ce, the utilization
of services was high. The [anti-
camping] ordinance pushed
some of the population farther
and farther away. The iron law
is that whenever government
tries to enact a punitive law, it
hinders the services trying to
reach them,” Jones said.
Former Keizer mayor Lore
Christopher echoed Walsh’s call
for pursuing alternatives and
added that banning camping in
commercial zones might be a
more effective route to achieve
what the city hoped to achieve.
Former city councilor and
a candidate for the Republican
nomination in the 2020 race
for U.S. Congress Amy Ryan
Courser said the ban was a
matter of keeping the city safe.
“There are over 700 non-
profi ts in Salem-Keizer. The
people I’ve encountered have
not been willing to utilize those
services. There are choices
being made. It’s important to
remember that we have a moral
obligation to the residents for
a safe and clean city,” Courser
said.
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