MAY 8, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Town & Country Lanes Gov. sets COVID-19 testing
streaming twice-weekly goals needed to reopen
on-site concerts
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
In
February,
Valor
Mentoring, a non-profi t
organization in Salem, took
over operations at Town &
Country Lanes from Don and
Ann Lebold after more than
50 years of ownership.
Valor Mentoring President
Tim Davis was thrilled to
restructure Keizer’s only
bowling alley, with plans to
renovate the restaurant and
put in recording and video
production studios all while
keeping the 24 lanes open.
However, the timing was
less than ideal for Davis.
Town & Country was
forced to close temporarily in
March due to Gov. Brown’s
executive order to shut down
all non-essential businesses
due to COVID-19.
However, Davis wants
to make sure he’s making
productive use of his time
during the shutdown, whether
it be with his business, his
nonprofi t, and with helping
others in the community.
“We don’t want to hide out
in a corner. We want to know
how we can help while still
being safe and responsible,”
Davis said.
Valor
Mentoring
has
recently shifted their thought
process on the Town &
Country renovation, focusing
more on revamping the
restaurant and coffee shop
inside the bowling alley.
“We wanted to work on
those while we’re closed be-
cause when we open back up,
those two things will create
instant rev-
enue,” Davis
said.
The main
goal of the
nonprofit
that strives
to lessen the
impact
of
fatherless by
p rov i d i n g
mentorship
to
young
men through
one-on-one
relationships,
communi-
ty projects and music media.
Davis, and the rest of the Valor
Mentoring staff are using this
time to write new levels of
membership training to better
support their mentors.
“We want to use this time
to make ourselves more effec-
tive,” Davis said.
Valor Mentoring has also
helped churches, such as
Church on the Hill in Keiz-
er, with video production
to stream services, as well as
lending production equip-
ment to other churches in the
area.
In April, Town & Country
began streaming live concerts
of up-and-coming local artists
on Facebook and YouTube
from the bowling alley.
Davis fi rst got the idea
to stream concerts from his
daughter, Alyssa, who recently
graduated from Corban Col-
lege.
The concerts will be ev-
ery Sunday and Wednesday
at 7 p.m. and
can be found
on the Valor
Mentor ing
and Town
& Country
Facebook
pages.
D a v i s
was able to
book
out
the month
of May for
the concert
series, high-
lighted by a
performance
from My Brothers and I.
“It
gives
artists
an
opportunity to perform in a
safe environment while also
having a platform to do it,”
Davis said.
Additionally, Davis set
up a “Frontline Meals”
donation section on the Valor
Mentoring website, allowing
people to donate money to
provide meals to those in the
medical community.
“We want to be leaders
that are still dedicated to
the community in a time of
crisis,” Davis said.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Gov. Kate Brown is setting a
goal of testing up to 4,200 Or-
egonians per week and training
600 contact tracers as a portal
to reopening Oregon.
“As we look to reopen Or-
egon, it’s critical we understand
the prevalence of COVID-19
across the state and use sci-
ence and data to ensure we can
safely take steps forward,” said
Governor Brown. “A strategy
of testing and tracing helps us
identify who has the disease
and who may be at risk of in-
fection — knowledge that is
incredibly powerful as we look
to reopen.”
In documentation provided
for the testing and tracing plans,
there are no benchmark dates
given for ramping up testing
and no target date as to when
Oregonians might see their lo-
cal businesses open.
The day after the announce-
ment regarding testing, Brown
extended Oregon’s emergency
declaration another 60 days.
The original declaration made
in response to the pandemic
was set to expire May 7, the ex-
tension keeps it in place until
July 6.
UPTICK,
continued from Page A1
impact of the shutdown,
Keizer police offi cers have
continued to tend to traffi c
safety, enforcing traffi c laws,
usually with warnings,” said Lt.
Bob Trump, of KPD.
In addition to bolder action
on the part of drivers, Keizer
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“The novel coronavirus in-
fections continues to threaten
public health and safety,” Brown
wrote as part of the order.
The declaration allows the
governor to maintain the “Stay
Home, Save Lives” executive
order as well as the moratorium
on residential and commercial
evictions.
The testing plan relies on:
• Voluntary, widespread test-
ing in partnership with Oregon
Health and Sciences University.
• Coordination between all
hospitals to act as a statewide
system for allocating testing re-
sources according to need.
• A focus on collecting data
to serve at-risk communities.
Under the plan released on
Friday, May 1, every symptom-
atic resident of the state must
be tested with results available
within 72 hours. In addition, a
surge capacity must be estab-
lished to deal with residents
living in group situations such
as retirement community and
rehabilitation centers when an
infection is suspected.
Those who test positive and
have symptoms will be asked
to isolate themselves at home
until symptoms have subsided
without use of medicine.
Those that test positive
without symptoms will be
asked to stay in isolation for
seven days after their last pos-
itive test.
Case managers will assist
those in isolation or quarantine
with accessing food, shelter and
other support services.
Contact tracers, individuals
trained to investigate potential
contacts when an infection is
identifi ed, will be used to iden-
tify groups of the disease and
estimate the health status and
behavior of the population.
Oregonians will be urged
to download a to-be-identifi ed
phone app to assist in the effort.
Several developers are rolling
out software for phone that will
help pinpoint potential points
on contact and infection.
“As we look to reopen Or-
egon, it’s critical we use science
and data to ensure we can safe-
ly take steps forward. Public
health experts agree that there
are key steps to safely reopen-
ing. At the top of that list is a
thorough strategy to test, trace
and isolate the virus,” Brown
said. “In order to reopen and
hopefully stay open, we must
have randomized, widespread
testing across the entire state.”
police have seen an increase
in the number of attempts to
elude police offi cers even in
broad daylight.
On Wednesday, April 29,
Offi cer Martin Powell initiated
a traffi c stop to issue a seat belt
warning near the intersection
of River Road North and Sam
Orcutt Drive N.E. The driver
fl ed on foot. Police were able
to establish a perimeter and the
suspect was found hiding out
near the Willamette River by a
Salem Police Department K9
offi cer. The driver was taken
into custody about 25 minutes
after the incident began.