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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2020)
MARCH 6, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 Opinion Agenda order is a suggestion Late last year, when it seemed all of Oregon was waiting with bated breath to fi nd out when a certain burger chain would open in Keizer, the city council did an unusual thing - it moved a minor signage approval item for the restaurant to the top of the agenda. The reason? Two television stations were in town to record the proceedings and they wanted to make the late evening deadlines. No one at the paper considers our city councilors to be particularly vain individu- als, and the television cameras are a rare pres- ence at council meetings. However, consider the same meeting room three weeks ago. About two dozen residents turned out to hear and participate in the council debate regarding the future of Keizer Little League Park. Those residents had to sit through: a discussion of closed captioning on Keizer’s public access television channel, a presentation by Marion County Public Health representatives, a committee report, ap- proval of a bidding exemption; a waiver of fees for use of the Keizer Community Center; and approval of ad- ditional dates for the Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre per- formance season. An hour and 10 minutes later, discussion of the park matters fi nally commenced. By then, the crowd hoping to hear the council debate the proposals had thinned to about a dozen dedicated souls. At least one person who had signed up to talk on the matter had already given up and left. cuffed in Keizer The scene that played out during discussions of the park, in which Keizer residents turn out hoping to take part in city conversations and bail when the council retains a rigid adherence to numerical order on the agenda, occurs much more frequently than Portland TV crews deigning to grace us with their presence. It needs to stop. The same city councilors who made the crowd wait for the biggest item of the night are the same ones who decry a lack of in- volvement in city issues. They ask all the time what might be done to better capture the pulse of the city. Then, when residents are there to participate, they are subjected to a seemingly endless wait. Regular attendance at city council meet- ings is meager at best, but councilors typical- ly know well ahead of time which topics might attract a crowd. There is no reason they can’t re-arrange the schedule. All it takes is agreement of the sitting coun- cilors to do so. There is likely not any ill will at play, but the contin- ual sidelining of the resident participation is not a good look. It’s the kind of thing that feeds into stereotypical views of government and causes people to throw up their hands in frustration. Councilors are willing to rearrange the agenda when TV time is at stake, the people who actually live in the city deserve no less when they want to be heard. -KT our opinion The lost art of thankfulness the R0 of the disease to as high as 2 or 3 and causing an exponential increase in cases. If the R0 is less than one, the epidemic will gradually decline and stop on its own, with or without a vaccine. A vaccine, however, would be tre- mendously helpful. At least 10 coro- navirus vaccine development projects are underway, according to American health offi cials. But the one furthest along at the National Institutes of Health is still about six weeks away from starting the process of a phase 1 trial in human volunteers that will take three to four months to com- plete and to show (hopefully) that the vaccine is safe and produces specifi c antibodies. A phase 2 trial will follow and take at least six to eight months to determine if the vaccine is effi ca- cious in people at risk for infection. Then production would need to be scaled up by a willing pharmaceutical company to deal with a global crisis. All this in total will take at least a year -- assuming there are no unpredicted scientifi c obstacles in the way. The United States is now faced with two related but distinct prob- lems: dealing with the virus and deal- ing with the public panic the virus may spark. The current administration is well prepared to handle the virus, and spectacularly ill-prepared to han- dle the panic. Upper-level health offi cials in the administration deserve our confi - dence. The Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention has the world’s best public health professionals. The experts and researchers at the NIH are brilliant and tireless. The Food and Drug Administration will do what is required of it without cutting corners. she enters into this world, their most notable natural characteristic is to be total- ly self-centered, absorbed in themselves and demanding to be served. In fact, within those fi rst few moments of life, they have the uncanny ability to teach you how to become their 24/7 servant, because nothing and no one is more important than they are and their needs are many times more important than anyone else’s, arid if you don’t re- spond immediately to them, you will letters To the editor: I call thankfulness an art because it certainly is not a natural characteristic of a human being. No one is born into this world thankful - no one, not even that precious little bundle of joy you carry home from the hospital. As a matter of fact, the op- posite is true. From the moment he/ Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 Phone: 503.390.1051 • www.keizertimes.com MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $35 in Marion County, $43 outside Marion County, $55 outside Oregon ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matt Rawlings news@keizertimes.com COMMUNITY REPORTER PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Lauren Murphy reporter@keizertimes.com Publication No: USPS 679-430 ADVERTISING POSTMASTER Stephanie Wittman advertising@keizertimes.com Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Andrew Jackson graphics@keizertimes.com LEGAL NOTICES legals@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com 2019-2020 President Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Leah Stevens billing@keizertimes.com RECEPTION Lori Beyeler INTERN Brooklyn Flint facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes Arrested Feb. 24 for: Hit-and-run Arrested Feb. 27 for: Assault, strangulation, menacing Previous convictions: More than a decade old Previous convictions: DUII Bradley John Mack Arrested Feb. 24 for: Coercion Pending charges: Criminal mischief, DUII (twice) Rogelio Esquivel Arrested Feb. 28 for: Assault Previous convictions: More than a decade old James Anthony Spier Arrested Feb. 24 for: Assault Pending charges: More than a decade old Public health offi cials can beat COVID-19 - if the WH lets them By MICHAEL GERSON WASHINGTON -- America is entering a disturbing new stage in the coronavirus outbreak. There has been community-spread in at least one and likely two locations in Washington state. And it appears the virus was be- ing transmitted for several weeks be- fore current cases were recognized. So we can expect dozens or hundreds of cases in those locations, unless contact tracing is especially effi cient. The disease is loose and easily transmitted. The crucial issue now is the real mortality rate, which remains uncer- tain. The stated mortality is 2%. U.S. experts are hoping the rate turns out to be considerably lower. But the math remains troubling in any case. If only 5% of the U.S. population is eventually infected (which is on the low side of some estimates) and the mortality rate is 1%, there still would be more than 100,000 deaths. At this stage, the main tool that public health experts have is social distancing -- the attempt to keep as many people as possible in affected ar- eas out of sneezing distance from one another. This means measures such as closing schools, canceling events in theaters and stadiums, and encourag- ing employees to telework. States and localities ultimately make these deci- sions rather than the federal govern- ment. But according to some health experts I consulted, Washington state should be taking such measures right now. The goal of these policies is to keep the reproductive ratio as low as possible. When people are in proxim- ity, a single infected person can spread the disease to several others, boosting Derek Allen Wells David Paul Box Justin Scott Kraupa Angela Marie Gwyn Arrested Feb. 25 for: Theft And Health and Human Services Sec- retary Alex Azar is a mature adult who knows how to manage under stress. Below the level of the White House, the U.S. government is well suited to the diffi cult task before it. But our country may be poorly prepared for the panic that is coming. “We are living at a nadir of trust in experts and public authorities,” Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise In- stitute told me, “and we are awash in channels for conspiracy and misinfor- mation.” President Trump -- given his own conspiratorial approach to facts -- is perfectly unsuited to lead in a moment such as this. He has shown a strong tendency to trust outside information over inside information, and to interpret any difference be- tween the two as evidence the insid- ers are lying to him. He might believe whatever he hears on Fox News and deny what he hears from public health professionals. And all this would hap- pen in public view, creating dangerous confusion. There is every reason to be con- cerned about how Trump will behave if and when the schools start closing, travel is restricted, big events such as the Olympics have to be canceled and the economy falls into recession. It is a test he is uniquely prepared to fail. His immediate tendency in such a crisis is to assume there is a plot against him and to search for scapegoats. And his fl ailing failure would only worsen the country’s general distrust of authority. America is better prepared for the virus than for the panic, and the big- gest obstacle to containing any panic may prove to be the president himself. (Washington Post Writers Group) Previous convictions: Failure to report as a sex offender Arrested Feb. 28 for: Attempting to elude police Pending charges: Reckless driving, burglary, drug possession Christha Horne Arrested Feb. 25 for: Unauthorized use of a vehicle Previous convictions: None Jeanah Lin Miller Arrested Feb. 28 for: Burglary Pending charges: Burglary, criminal mischief Manuel Campos Jr. Arrested Feb. 26 for: Criminal mischief Pending charges: Assault, DUII, reckless endangering Justin John Caughell Aaron Edward Tangeman Arrested Feb. 26 for: Assault Arrested Feb. 28 for: Identity theft Previous convictions: Theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle Previous convictions: Aggravated identity theft, identity theft (11 counts) Angelica Raquel Castillo-Romero Arrested Feb. 27 for: Theft hear about it loud and clear! This goes on for quite some time. The sad fact is that some peo- ple never grow out of it and will al- ways be demanding their own way, some even becoming an abusive parent or spouse years later because of this natural inclination toward selfi shness. Each child has to be taught to say “please” and “thank you” over and over again until they remember and hopefully learn as a matter of good manners. At a young age, of course, this is not a heart issue, but simply a necessary obedient act to receive praise and acceptance from others and hopefully develop the charac- teristic of politeness. However, as we mature, hopeful- ly we begin to see more and more that we have so much to be thank- ful for. Life and breath for a start, families, friends, creation itself. The. list goes on and on if you just take a moment to think about it. If you just open your mind, heart and eyes and begin to give thanks for it all, an amazing thing happens. The more you practice thankfulness, the more you become aware of all we have to become thankful for. The other option is to continue in ungratefulness and be a misera- ble, self-absorbed person. Just look around and see the hateful, resent- ful, divisive, unhappy people walk- ing around. You can see it on their faces and they can see it on yours. Why don’t you give thankfulness a try? What do you have to lose? Judy Chappell Libertytown, Md. Other pending charges: Theft (fi rst, second and third degrees) Michael Zank Arrested March 2 for: Unlawful use of a vehicle Previous convictions: Drug possession, fl eeing police, unlawful use of a vehicle traffi c court NO LICENSE Jose Obregon Andres, $642; Amber D Mayhew, $100; Michael Benton Perry, $265; Damien Raymond, $317; Colten Sean Webber, $265. NO INSURANCE Mary Elizabeth Hart Johnson, $600; Jen- nifer Nichole Herriges, $600; Alan Curtis Jones, $600; Michael Benton Perry, $265; Chris Robert Weaver, $235. NO PROOF OF INSURANCE Carlos Alberto Marquez Cervantes, $600; Colten Sean Webber, $100; Laura Par- sons, $265. DRIVING WHILE SUSPENDED Ines Ambrosio Luis, $235; Mary Eliz- abeth Hart Johnson, $1,258; Jennifer Nichole Herriges, $1,258; Alan Curtis Jones, $1,258; Carlos Alberto Marquez Cervantes, $1,258; Megan Rachelle Roback, $1,258; Kristina Jean Burnett Vosgien, $1,258; Brittany Ruth Patton, 1,258; Candace Dawn Doner, $235; Am- ber Jane Parker, $235. USE OF MOBILE DEVICE Misty Sweigart, $642; Teresa Renee Hays, $235; Tracy Lynn Louthan, $235; Anita Michelle Lowe, $235; Catherine Eliza- beth Andreas, $235; Kurtis Warren Barker, $235; Jonathan Jossue Castro Luna, $235; Candace Dawn Doner, $235; Isvi Are- li Fuentes Barragan, $235; Jessica Marie Lang, $235; Micah Ayami Wallace, $235; Robin Denise Wilson, $235; Melissa Gail Zager, $235. OTHER Jose Obregon Andres, $150, failure to signal; Danielle Renee Debusk, $642, misuse of special left turn; Mary Eliza- beth Hart Johnson, $150, failure to use safety belt; Kristina Jean Burnett Vosgien, $150, failure to use safety belt; Aaron John Lee Hull, $642, dangerous left turn; Aaron John Lee Hull, $600, improper left change; Loren Marcus Slama, $192, fail- ure to renew vehicle registration; Miguel Solorio Diaz, $342, no fenders; Athena Marie Torres, $192, failure to register vehicle; Steven William Barnett, $115, failure to register vehicle; Victoria Marie Meeker, $115, failure to use safety belts; Michael Benton Perry, $167, failure to use safety belt; Jennifer Suzanne Ander- son, $115, failure to use safety belt; Junior W Stallings, $115, failure to use safety belt.
