PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 27, 2020
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The unintended
consequences
risks to make sure our kids are safe.
By SHANEY STARR
Our leaders and experts are do- When this pandemic started and we
ing the best they can to navigate went through our fi rst shut down—
this health crisis and to fl atten the CASA didn’t close, we didn’t stop.
curve and keep COVID-19 from Our offi ce became a distribution
taking more lives. But in the sim- and collection site for basic essen-
plest of terms, our world has been tials for our foster families—diapers,
clothes, wipes, baby food,
turned upside down by
we even had the elusive
this pandemic. People
toilet paper and sanitizer.
are suffering from pro-
When schools closed and
longed isolation, fi nan-
guest
life went virtual, we didn’t.
cial instability and food
insecurity to name just
column We knew someone need-
ed to be having eyes on
a few challenges.
our kids. And our volun-
Our children have
teers stepped up in a big
been robbed of key
milestones of their youth. Our way. They donned their masks and
homes have become our workspac- gloves, and came up with creative
es and our parents are now expected ways to see our most vulnerable
to be both teacher and employee at children in person, to make sure
the same time. For most of us, our they were safe and thriving. And
entire world has now become our sometimes we have had to fi ght to
computer screen—everything is ensure our CASAs had access to
having eyes on kid—but that’s what
now virtual.
For those of us who serve at-risk we do—we work tirelessly to ensure
and vulnerable children, the past our children are safe and thriving.
My ask of you, our communities,
eight months—and who knows
how much longe—have watched is simple. Have the brainstorming
our worst nightmare unfold right conversations in your circle of in-
before our very eyes and we feel fl uence about how to get #Eye-
completely helpless. The data tells sOnKids and think outside of the
us that our mandatory reports of box. Be vigilant. Volunteer with
concern for child abuse and ne- organizations that have ways to see
glect have decreased by 40% since kids in person (socially distanced
the pandemic and subsequent shut- and masked of course). The options
downs started because child care are endless: volunteering to be a
providers and our schools were our CASA, volunteering to meet tangi-
frontline reporters regarding child ble needs for our children in care
and supporting our foster families
abuse and neglect.
Research tells us there is a di- through our Every Child initiative,
rect correlation to child abuse and volunteering to sit with children
neglect when there is housing in- after they have been removed from
security, food insecurity and fi nan- home and while they wait for place-
cial stress amongst the top toxic ment. Call me and I will personally
stressors. All of those issues existed help connect you with the best way
before the pandemic, but now have to help our kids.
Most importantly, if you have
been exacerbated with the ramifi -
cations of dealing with COVID. We concerns about abuse and neglect
now have isolation added into the of a child, please call the Oregon
mix. Our kids are living in what can Child Abuse Hotline at 1-855-503-
only described as a pressure cook- SAFE. Thank you and have a safe
er of toxic stress. The perfect storm and blessed Holiday season.
is coming—when our schools and
(The mission of CASA is to pro-
communities begin to fully reopen, vide every child in need with trained,
we expect the number of children volunteer advocates to ensure they
coming into foster care to surge.
are safe, have a permanent home and
But until then, the unthinkable the opportunity to thrive. For more
is happening—abuse and neglect is information on how to get involved
going unreported because we don’t in keeping our children safe, please
have in person #EyesOnKids.
call Shaney Starr at 503-967-6420.)
Shaney Starr, MS, CFRM, is the
I was recently asked what gets me
up in the morning and what keeps executive director of CASA of Mar-
me going—it’s our 150 plus CASAs ion County.
that are quite frankly taking personal
When
the
Sa-
lem-Keizer school build-
ings closed, the Keizer
letters
Kloset (a project of the
foundation) closed with
To the Editor:
them. That closure did
Over the past few
not eliminate the need
weeks I’ve been reading
for Keizer children, and
Matt Rawlings’ fi ne column The
we continued to answer the call by
Top 20 Volcanoes of All Time. My
providing donations to our local
family and I have enjoyed watching
Keizer Community Food Bank and
Volcanoes baseball every year since
monies directly to the schools, and
1997. Many fi ne ballplayers have
then we waited.
passed through here.
We waited for our school lead-
It’s a shame that Major League
ers and teachers to determine how
Baseball is planning to do away with
to move forward in the school year
many minor league teams, including
and what and how the Keizer Com-
the Volcanoes. I hope that we can
munity Foundation could do to
bring another team to Keizer for
support their efforts.
our summertime entertainment—
We have now heard from some
perhaps one of the summer-league
of our schools; they need our help.
clubs made up of college players,
Some local schools have request-
on the order of the Portland Pickles
ed food drop-offs. We can do that.
and Corvallis Knights. What a way
We are currently coordinating with
to get back in the “swing” of things.
school counselors to have food
Ken Palke
and other personal items available
Keizer
for them to deliver to students via
home visits.
We are providing new clothing,
blankets, gloves, hats, jackets, and
other articles of necessity, for distri-
bution to families in need (as deter-
To the Editor:
On pages 7 and 8 of the Keizer- mined by school counselors).
The Keizer Community Foun-
times’ Holiday Guide was a list of
organizations that may refl ect your dation was proud to contribute to
values—where you might want to the second story pole carving in
donate your dollars. The Keizer- front of the Keizer Civic Center.
times did not list an important local This project had great community
Keizer foundation that is seeking support and honored our long-time
help right now: the Keizer Com- agricultural history.
We have just been informed that
munity Foundation.
Fan enjoys
Top 20 Volcanoes
articles
Guide missed key
non-profi t orginzation
Keizertimes
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Phone: 503.390.1051 | email: kt@keizertimes.com
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EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Lyndon Zaitz
publisher@keizertimes.com
2019-2021 President
Oregon Newspaper Publishers
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Defi ance is not leadership
could see that mom and dad with
By JOHN MORGAN
Keizer’s mayor, Cathy Clark, ex- their big holiday celebration are vi-
pressed at the Nov. 16 city council olating those orders. I wonder if the
meeting that she is “extremely con- fear a few of those children may be
cerned” and “deeply disturbed” (her experiencing comes from being
words, not mine). She believes that worried about getting a potentially
there are children out there living deadly disease or that grandma and
in fear that instead of grandma and grandpa or mom and dad might be-
grandpa showing up for Thanksgiv- come sick with COVID and die, just
as so many already have.
ing dinner, it will be the po-
It would not make for
lice coming to arrest mom
a Merry Christmas. In
and dad.
other
less than one year over
I suppose it is possible
a quarter of a million
that some of these fearful
voices
Americans have died
children envision a SWAT
from the coronavirus.
team breaking down the
With infection rates,
front door, with guns
drawn, coming to cite, and even pos- hospitalizations and deaths from
sibly to arrest those violating Gov- COVID exploding across the coun-
ern Kate Brown’s most recent orders try, deaths from COVID will exceed
which are designed to help slow by fi ve times the number of US
the spread of COVID-19 in Ore- soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
gon. Orders that Mayor Clark sees I certainly hope that Mayor Clark
as “borderline harassment.” The city is equally concerned about the fi rst
manager’s assurance that this would responders, the nurses and doctors,
not be happening seems to not have working to the point of physical and
helped alleviate her state of being mental exhaustion, from not just try-
ing to save the lives of those dying
deeply disturbed.
Anyone who has ever raised from COVID, but sadly also from
children surely knows that they are trying to console those who cannot
incredible observers of the world visit loved ones in the ICU who are
around them. It is very possible that slowly suffocating to death.
At that same council meeting,
some have heard about the gover-
nor’s new restrictions, and if they are state Rep. Bill Post felt the need to
old enough to count higher than six, encourage people to ignore Gov-
ernor Brown’s latest order and cel-
ebrate in “freedom.” What type of
freedom is there when one is in the
ICU hooked up to a ventilator? What
about the freedom of those working
in a COVID ward at the hospital, liv-
ing in constant fear of either ending
up in a bed next to one of the pa-
tients they are desperately trying to
save, or of infecting a family member
when they return home from work?
It is extremely dangerous to dis-
courage people from following Gov-
ernor Brown’s new COVID-19 re-
strictions, restrictions that have been
proven worldwide to help. Anyone,
and especially an elected offi cial
with a public platform, who does so,
in some confused conviction about
constitutional rights, is directly re-
sponsible for the continued spread of
this deadly virus. Instead of helping
us to all pull together in this fi nal
stretch, with a vaccine on the hori-
zon, which is what any good leader
would instinctively do, they further
spread division among us, and guar-
antee that many more Americans
will unnecessarily contract COVID,
become severely ill and possibly die.
That type of political leadership is
not something to be thankful of, but
rather should be stopped.
(John Morgan lives in Keizer.)
My testimony before city council
[Delivered at Nov. 16 Keizer Ciy a moment. There are people present
here tonight who represent families
Council meeting]
Madam Mayor, councilors and that have six or eight, or even 10 or
12 or more. To ask them to not get
Keizer city staff,:
First of all I want to address the together for the grand celebration
ongoing issue of the “statement of that is Thanksgiving, is something I
value.” I believe the statement of val- can’t believe I’m even hearing. It’s
ues for our great city should be very not only unconstitutional, and un-
heard of but in my estimation, it rep-
clear, very concise and very simple.
resents inequality and
“All people shall be
inequity at its most hei-
treated with dignity and
nous and isn’t that what
respect.” Period.
the statement of values
All means all. If we must
that’s been discussed
resort to listing specif-
here in council cham-
ic people or groups, then
bers is supposed to be
“all” loses its meaning and
all about?
strength. I believe Keizer
Add to that the
is the most “welcoming
plight of the work-
to all” city in Oregon and
ers. That hundreds, if
I’m proud to be a Keizer
not thousands, of hard
resident.
working, lower wage
This then leads me to
perhaps as ear-
the topic that is the most
from the people,
ly as this Wednesday
important tonight that we
will lose their jobs is
as citizens of Keizer and
capitol
so heartless and callous,
the state of Oregon should
By BILL POST
I can hardly believe it.
be discussing: The gover-
What also stuns me, as
nor’s latest orders.
a representative in the
No government leader
Oregon Legislature, is
in the history of the Unit-
ed States has ever said “we’ll come to the Executive branch has “weapon-
your house, your private home, cite ized” a state agency, Oregon Health
and/or arrest you” for having a fam- Authority (OHA,) without input, or
ily dinner. Just think about that for frankly anything from the Legislative
branch. OHA has “police powers”
that even supersede the real police!
Our governor has turned Orego-
nians against Oregonians.
I do not want to put the city of
Keizer into an awkward or uncom-
fortable situation but I am asking the
council to consider making Keizer
a truly welcoming place for work-
ers and employers. For businesses.
For families. I am asking that we as
a community just ignore this latest
order. That Keizer be a shining ex-
ample of hope for Oregon.
I am asking my fellow Keizerites
to be smart. Wear your mask when
appropriate. Keep your distance
when you can. Cover your mouth
when coughing. Wash your hands—a
lot. Do the things that we all know
are safe and effective at stopping the
spread of this virus. Just don’t let
that common sense go out the win-
dow by not having your family and
friends over for dinner. Celebrate
Thanksgiving as you see fi t and as
the founders of this nation meant: in
freedom.
November 20, 2020 Keizertimes:
Surviving new COVID restric-
tions wisely supports a health/sci-
ence-based approach for us in re-
sponding to the COVID pandemic.
The second editorial, We can still be
thankful regardless of 2020 gets to
the heart of what is most import-
ant to us during the holidays: being
thankful for what we have; family,
friends and the wonderful place we
live. We do not need to be together
in person to know the love that we
feel for each other. Zaitz mentions
several alternatives.
In sharp contrast to uniting as a
community in a safe and emotion-
ally connected way, Bill Post urged
citizens to defy Governor Kate
Brown’s freeze orders. His action
smacks of political grandstanding
at the expense of lives. Dividing
citizens in political camps does not
build a stronger community. It de-
stroys trust in our institutions and
each other. He speaks of “freedom,”
but his selfi sh version is at the ex-
pense of other people.
Mayor Cathy Clark increased
already high anxiety in the Keizer
community by implying the state
freeze puts families gathering for
Thanksgiving at risk of arrest. I
must have more faith in the judg-
ment of the Keizer police than the
mayor. Our Keizer police also have
families and they have a good sense
for what is important and how to
enforce our laws.
This holiday season will be dif-
ferent, but it can be special. With
the challenges our world faces, gen-
erosity to families, organizations and
small businesses in need are a mean-
ingful way to reach out and show
you care. Together, let us unite in
positive actions in Keizer.
Cathey Philbrick
Keizer
Keizer is able to add an addition-
al sculpture to our collection along
River Road. The sculpture is an
eagle that will be installed on the
northeast corner of the Chemawa/
River Road intersection in ear-
ly 2021. The Keizer Community
Foundation will contribute to this
project by supplying the artist’s sti-
pend.
This crisis hasn’t stopped and
neither have we. If you value your
community, its children and its cul-
ture, please consider helping us.
Please visit our website, keizer-
communityfoundation.com.
Or,
visit our Facebook page at face-
book.com/keizercommunityfoun-
dation.
Audrey Butler
Keizer
(Audrey Butler is president of the
Keizer Community Foundation).
Council meeting left
reader disappointed
To the Editor:
I am absolutely appalled and dis-
appointed at what I witnessed at the
November 16, 2020 City Council
meeting.
Our elected offi cials openly de-
fying the governor’s request to
“freeze” some activities for two
weeks to try and get our soaring
COVID numbers back down, done
at the urging of the hospitals and
medical community.
Representative Bill Post and
Mayor Cathy Clark (she has a mas-
ters degree in science and should
know better) are playing politics
with their constituents health.
Once again we witness party
over people. How very sad.
Carol Doerfl er
Keizer
Editorials struck
the right points
To the Editor:
Kudos to Lyndon Zaitz for two
editorial articles he wrote for the
(Bill Post represents House Dis-
trict 25. He can be reached at 503-
986- 1425 or via email at rep.bill-
post@oregonlegislature.gov.)
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