PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 8, 2020
Opinion
A Mother’s Day gift for the ages
By LYNDON ZAITZ
The COVID-19 pandemic will
pose a challenge as we honor mom
on this year’s Mother’s Day on Sun-
day, May 10.
In the past, families treat-
ed mom to a lovely brunch
or dinner at a restaurant.
This year there will be no
large family gatherings
around a big table at a sit-
down restaurant. Many
people will whistfully re-
member treating mom to
a Mother’s Day buffet with
mounds of fruit, pastries and prime
rib.
Inviting lots of people into our
homes to celebrate mother will not
happen this year. The coronavirus
has turned life topsy turvy, but when
it messes with our moms, it has gone
too far, but there is nothing to be
done. We love our mothers, but we
all must continue to follow the pan-
demic protocols that keep us safe.
Thankfully there are enough re-
tailers open to choose a gift. Online
shopping offers an alternative to
purchasing just the right Mother’s
Day present. Many nurseries are
open, allowing loving children to
buy fl ower baskets for mom.
The best gift for
mom in 2020 is safe-
ty and health. Imagine
the response when
mother opens a gift
box of a set of color-
ful masks? This year
presents an opportuni-
ty for us to to make
the ultimate, usable
homemade gift. If one doesn’t have
a sewing machine, nor one ounce of
sewing ability, we all know someone
with a sewing machine and how to
use it.
Too many people without masks
are out in public and in stores. Med-
ical experts tell us (and the facts bear
them out) that wearing masks in
public along with social distancing
are key to minimizing our chances
of contracting the disease.
A gift of a mask for mom on
zaitz
writes
Mother’s Day only makes sense
when mom wears it when she is
out in public. A mask cannot be
like a cloth shopping bag. Shopping
bags are easy to forget at home or
in the car. We have to assure that
our mother’s understand that using
masks, unlike shopping bags, can be
a matter of life and death.
The day will be warm and sun-
ny on Sunday, May 10. Though the
Keizer Fire District’s annual Moth-
er’s Day breakfast has been cancelled
this year, each family will celebrate
mom in their own way. A pancake
breakfast made at home can be just
as meaningful. While the public
gathering of more than 10 people
is not aloned, families members
can gather in their vehicle and take
a lovely day trip through the Wil-
lamette Valley, blooming in all its
springtime glory.
During COVID-19 we must be
creative when celebrating Mother’s
Day. Gifts of fl owers and a mask or
two will be appreciated. And needed.
(Lyndon Zaitz is publisher and
editor of the Keizertimes.)
Asking for a tax increase amid a pandemic
By KYLE G. McMANN
Marion County Fire District #1
has spent the past year communi-
cating about its need for funding to
hire additional person-
nel and replace emer-
gency apparatus and
equipment. Our board
of directors approved a
resolution in Novem-
ber 2019 to be on the
May 19 Primary Elec-
tion ballot asking vot-
ers to renew and increase our local
operating levy.
Then COVID-19 hit in the mid-
dle of our communicating about
this critical funding source.
Here are the facts: Measure 24-
441 renews our local operating levy
that accounts for almost 30 percent
of our property tax revenue. It also
includes a 28-cent increase. If ap-
proved by voters, the levy would
change from 71 to 99 cents per
$1,000 of assessed property value.
This increase would cost $4.67 per
month (or $56 per year) for the
owner of a $200,000 home, which
is an average for our service terri-
tory.
The fact is that these needs ex-
isted before the pandemic hit. Now,
our staffi ng shortages are more ap-
parent than ever. For example, we
have fewer volunteers responding
to calls as they stay home to re-
duce their exposure to
the virus, and the po-
tential of bringing it
home to their families.
This means our over-
time and temporary
personnel costs are run-
ning $35,000 higher a
month.
Then there is the issue of sky-
rocketing costs for personal protec-
tive equipment (PPEs) for emer-
gency personnel. A mask that cost
$1 in December is now $6. Costs are
higher for disinfectant, hand sanitiz-
ers and decontamination products
because the demand is so great. We
don’t have many options here; we
must pay whatever is needed to
keep you and our fi rst responders
safe. In some cases we are reusing
PPE that is not contaminated.
The pandemic also impacts the
amount of revenue we receive. For
example, we receive a fee from in-
surance companies, Medicare or
Medicaid when we transport some-
one to a hospital. This revenue funds
emergency personnel, ambulances
guest
column
and medical equipment needed to
respond to calls. More people stay-
ing home means fewer calls that
would require such a service. Make
no mistake – we want you to stay
home! But, it’s important to under-
stand how this reduces funding for
emergency services.
If the operating levy is approved
by voters, we will hire additional
personnel and set some money aside
to replace apparatus and equipment.
The reality is that some funding also
will go to pay costs associated with
COVID-19.
As a fi re chief, fi refi ghter, para-
medic and registered nurse, I know
how to respond to almost every
emergency be it COVID-19, a res-
idential fi re, car accident or skinned
knee. But I honestly have no idea
what the outcome of our ballot
measure will be. I just know that
the need for emergency services
funding is critical in these uncertain
times.
(Kyle McMann is the Fire Chief
for Marion County Fire District #1.
The Fire District is a separate tax-
ing authority and independent of
Marion County. More information
on the Fire District’s operating
levy request can be found at www.
mcfd1.com.)
Problems with adding parts of Oregon to Idaho
Jim Parr’s Will Oregon shrink?
(Keizertimes, May 1) inspired reac-
tions from provocations to thought-
ful considerations. Meanwhile, for
the last two legislative sessions, state
House Republicans have walked
out of the Capitol due to deadlock-
ing disagreements with
the Democrats, resulting
in disabling divisiveness
due to hidebound ideo-
logical differences tak-
ing center stage where
not much happens there
these days save for the
spending of taxpay-
er dollars for legislator
costs to assemble, where verbal bat-
tles enjoin threats of violence.
Parr’s imagined Idaho writ large
would be easy by geography but
profoundly diffi cult by the fact that
some communities in his expanded
Idaho, such as Ashland, Bend, Coos
Bay, Florence and Ontario could
result in vigorous opposition, loud
protest, and bring armed insurgents
to the Capitol steps over address
relocations. Then there’s the politi-
cal involvement in such a matter of
fi nancial consequence where inter-
ests would simply not roll over and
go along with Oregon losing a con-
gressional district and Idaho gaining
one.
Those who may fi nd a redesign
of the west’s boundaries appealing
may want to contemplate the pos-
sibility that such an arrangement
would not work out so
perfect for the former
Oregonians. Idaho may
still be very conservative
like eastern and southern
Oregon; yet, rumor has
it that Boise and other
places throughout Idaho,
especially where business
growth and population
are growing by outsider numbers
just could become as progressive
and even—horrors!—liberal as
Portland and Eugene, with Salem
coming up in third place among the
three by adoption of modern views.
Oregon was established as a state
on February 14, 1859. During
subsequent years, when Republi-
cans and Democrats vied to be in
charge, one or the other managed
in and out of power without, to my
knowledge, one party walking out
of the Capitol because they couldn’t
have their way. Which has always
gene h.
mcintyre
been due (by any accounting of
state history) with the ability of one
party over the other in triumph by
the attractiveness of its campaign
promises and record, attracting
more votes. Now, as it turns out, we
have a condition not so prevalent in
former times.
That relatively new condition is
ideology. Ideology defi ned here is
people who’ve taken the oath of
offi ce to serve all the citizens of Or-
egon but really come to the Capitol
as uncompromising, dogmatic apos-
tles dedicated to one way of think-
ing: unyielding and fi xed in their
approach to all matters legislative.
Therein lies the real challenge
of our time: entrenched, immov-
able attitudes versus minds open to
discussing differences, using the art
of compromise and listening skills.
Without practicing resolution to
disputes by compromise, our de-
mocracy has reached critical mass
and highly likely near its end with
jackboots, clenched fi sts and weap-
ons of war a daily spectacle at our
Capitol.
City’s service
charges spike
Online bill
pay to blame
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Earlier this year, the City of Keiz-
er switched to a new service that was
more “friendly and integrated” for
end users.
With the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic, and the closure of the Keiz-
er Civic Center to walk-in traffi c, us-
age of the payment portal has spiked
and resulted in higher-than-anticipat-
ed bill for service fees.
“With the increase in the activity,
there is an increase in service fees,”
said Tim Wood, Keizer fi nance direc-
tor.
On Monday, May 6, Keizer city
councilors had to approve the transfer
$20,000 from one account to another
to cover the surging costs.
It was a tough pill to swallow for
Keizer City Councilor Dan Kohler,
who said it was “a lot” to pay in ser-
vice charges.
Kohler asked whether the city
would have to absorb the service
charges or recoup the money in some
other form.
Wood said the charges would
normally be factored into water and
stormwater rates, but the city has de-
cided to forego increases in those util-
ities during the coming fi scal year.
“We will be absorbing them for the
immediate future and it will be a slow
down in capital outlay,” Wood said.
He added that the new system has
increased effi ciency.
The online bill payment system
is owned by Springbrook Software,
which collects a .30-cent fee on every
transaction is addition to signifi cantly
higher fees on returned and reject-
ed payments. If every one of Keizer’s
roughly 14,000 households paid util-
ity bills online, the Spring Software
would collect approximately $4,200 a
month in fees.
Springbrook Software was pur-
chased by a California-based private
equity company, Accel-KKR, in Jan-
uary 2020. The Accel-KKR website
boasts of possessing “$9 billion in
committed capital across its buyout,
growth capital and credit funds.”
police scanner
MONDAY, APRIL 27
5:39 a.m. - Failure to per
form du-
ties of a driver when property is damaged
and reckless driving in the 7000 block of
Parktree Lane NE.
11:07 a.m. - Arrest on warrant in the
5000 block of River Road N.
11:07 a.m. - Crime damage in the 5000
block of River Road N.
TUESDAY, APRIL 28
5:49 a.m. - Reckless driving at the in-
tersection of River Road N and Home-
wood Court N.
4:28 p.m. - Driving under the infl uence
of intoxicants in the 700 block of Dietz
Avenue NE.
6 p.m. - Motor vehicle theft in the 4000
block of Shoreline Drive N.
7:16 p.m. - Stolen vehicle in the 1000
block of Clearview Avenue NE.
12:45 p.m. - Identity theft in the 1000
block of Eugene Court NE.
3:12 p.m. - Traffi c accident at the inter-
section of River Road N and Manzanita
Street NE.
FRIDAY, MAY 1
8:30 a.m. - Arrest on warrant for criminal
in possession of counterfeit currency in
the 4000 block of Gary Street NE.
5:22 p.m. - Vandalism in the 5000 block
of McLeod Lane NE.
9:06 p.m. - Unlawful use or carry of a
weapon in the 1000 block of Dearborn
Avenue NE.
SATURDAY, MAY 2
12:01 a.m. - Failure to perform duties of
a driver when property is damaged in the
4000 block of River Road N.
10:15 a.m. - Fleeing an offi cer at River-
crest Drive N and Dennis Lane N.
5 p.m. - Forgery in the 5000 block of
River Road N.
12 a.m. - Unlawful entry into vehicle in
the 3000 block of River Road N.
12:48 a.m. Arrest on warrant in for un-
lawful possession of methamphetamine
in the 3000 block of River Road N.
2 a.m. - Theft from motor vehicle in the
100 block of Garland Way N.
1:12 p.m. - Possession of methamphet-
amine in the 1000 block of Alder Drive
NE.
9:07 p.m. - Unlawful possession of meth-
amphetamine in the 5000 block of River
Road N.
THURSDAY, APRIL 30
SUNDAY, MAY 3
1:16 a.m. - Unlawful possession of meth-
amphetamine in the 3000 block of River
Road N.
10:28 p.m. - Assault, coercion and stran-
gulation in the 4000 block of Northside
Drive NE.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29
(Gene McIntyre lives in Keizer.
He shares his opinion regularly in
the Keizertimes.)
letters
Radio veteran’s lament
To the Editor:
Call this an old radio guy’s lament:
While there is no doubt (except in
the mind of a certain “stable genius”)
that the Russians meddled in the last
election and are at it again—sowing
discontent on new media to improve
the reelection chances of the afore-
mentioned Tweeter-in-Chief, I posit
that the greater danger is old media
domestic propaganda.
Home grown hokum, conspiracy
theories (Here’s looking at you, Alex
Jones) and plain lies are broadcast dai-
ly on cable and on our own local ra-
dio stations and have been for years.
“Deep State” Limbaugh was spouting
crowd pleasing clap-trap on AM ra-
dio before Cadet Bone Spurs was a
gleam in Putin’s eye.
And now, in the time of corona-
virus, Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingrahm,
Savage and all the other stars of the
theater of fear and loathing pose an
even greater threat to the democracy
—cheerleading the clueless and care-
less, the anti-vaxxers, the gun toters
and fl ag wavers who would open the
country up now! “Damn the virus,
full speed ahead.” All in an effort—
just like Vlad the Trolle—to ensure
the reelection of Donald J. Trump, the
germophobe who let a germ overrun
his country.
Martin Doerfl er
Keizer
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