VOLUME 42, NO. 15
JANUARY 29, 2021
SECTION A
$1.00
Volcanoes creating four-team
independent league
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After spending 23 years as
an affi liate of the San Fran-
cisco Giants, a new chapter in
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes base-
ball is scheduled to arrive this
spring.
On Tuesday, Jan. 26, the or-
ganization announced that they
were creating a new, four-team
independent league called the
The Mavericks Independent
Baseball League. The league
will be facilitated by the Vol-
canoes and all games will be
played at Volcanoes Stadium.
“We're excited about the
new year and we're very hope-
ful about the setup we have
here. We are happy to know
that we're going to be able to
provide high-quality baseball
this year and beyond,” Volca-
noes CEO Mickey Walker said.
“We control our own destiny
now, and
The Volcanoes
that's some-
will transition
thing that
to a four-team
is a really
independent
big deal for
league, with
us. We're
two storied
team names,
going
to
beginning this
be self-sus-
May. Tryouts
tainable, we
will be held in
don't need
spring.
outside or-
ganizations
KEIZERTIMES/
Andrew Jackson
to play a
part. We can
do this our-
selves.”
The Mavericks League will
feature the Salem-Keizer Vol-
canoes, Portland Mavericks,
Salem Senators and Campes-
inos de Salem-Keizer, and all
20
Top
Volcanoes
near-misses
PAGE A10
Please see LEAGUE, Page A8
Trash collection rates
will bump up in March
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Garbage hauling rates will
increase by 6.5%, or $1.76 for
a 35-gallon bin, per month on
March 1.
The Keizer City Council
approved the rate changes at
its meeting Tuesday, Jan. 19,
in a 6-1 vote. Councilor Ross
Day was the lone dissent.
Loren’s Sanitation and Valley
Recycling
and
Disposal
customers will both be
affected by the increase. Local
haulers need the council’s
approval to change rates
because they hold franchise
agreements with the city.
The monthly rate will
Iris artist
announced —
She's 8!
increase again in March
2022 by 3%. That increase
will add another .87 cents to
bills for those with mid-size
containers.
“We thought we would be
here a year ago, but decided
that [2020] was not the year
to be increasing rates,” said
Dr. Estle Harlan, a business
consultant who represented
the two local haulers for much
of the evening.
Responding to a request by
Keizer city councilors in 2019,
rates are being raised over the
course of two years rather than
a hefty increase in a single year.
Please see TRASH, Page A7
PAGE A2
File
The Keizer City Council approved increases for Keizer's waste haulers at a meeting Jan. 19.
Task force refocuses pros on assault
survivors, has eyes on longer game
By LAUREN MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
For 10 years, the Oregon Attorney General’s
Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF) has called
Keizer home. Nestled between fast food
joints, apartments and a property management
company – SATF staff have a small, unassuming
offi ce in which they do big work.
The non-profi t offers training for Oregon’s
police academy, fi rst responders, sexual
assault nurse examiners and higher education
institutions. Or as Executive Director Michele
Roland-Schwartz defi nes it “helping the
helpers.”
In lieu of
working direct-
ly with survi-
vors of sexual
assault, the task
force
works
with the vari-
ous professions
who work with
survivors.
“We train
people, we of-
fer
technical
assistance and
then we do legislative and public policy work,”
Roland-Schwartz said.
They’ve been based in Keizer – because of its
proximity to the capitol – for the last 10 years,
but at its inception 20 years ago the SATF was
based in Eugene. Unfortunately, the work is
also just as necessary as it was when the SATF
began. Oregon is second in the nation (behind
Alaska) in rates of sexual violence against
women, roughly 1 in 4 women will experience
sexual violence in their lifetime. Nationally, 1
in 5 women are victimized. More than 1 in 3
Native women will be raped in their lifetime.
Most of their work comes down to making
sure that the people survivors encounter –
confi dential advocates, fi rst responders, nurses,
police offi cers, campus staff and the like – are
trauma-informed. Trauma-informed intake
relieves survivors educating the people they
seek help from.
All of the training takes place through the
SATF Training Institute, which contracts with
about 20 instructors across the state. While not
having in-person training because of COVID
“The silver-lining we’re
experiencing is because we
moved so much of our stuff
online into a virtual format,
we are able to reach more
people in Oregon.”
— Michele Roland-Schwartz,
Sexual Assault Task Force
has been diffi cult in some aspects, it has opened
up access to people who may not have been
able to attend certain meetings because of
location.
“The silver-lining we’re experiencing is
because we moved so much of our stuff online
into a virtual format, we are able to reach more
people in Oregon,” Roland-Schwartz said.
The task force covers all of Oregon, and
zoom meetings have made it easier to have
Please see SATF, Page A7
A drive-up
milestone
birthday
MYB will polish
Claggett diamonds
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
McNary Youth Baseball
(MYB) has earned initial
approval to use baseball
diamonds in Claggett Creek
Park (aka The Cow Park)
in exchange for making
permanent improvements
to the spaces in the coming
months.
The Keizer City Council
still needs to approve an
agreement with the city
at a February meeting, but
all councilors appeared
to be onboard with the
plan.
Councilors
and
representatives of MYB
discussed the idea at a city
council meeting Jan. 19.
Michael
Bays,
vice
president of the youth
league, said the organization
is looking to use the fi elds
for its tee-ball program.
The fi eld use would help
cut costs for the program it
tries to offer for free. Drastic
reductions in revenue, as a
result of the pandemic, are
forcing the implementation
of a fee this spring.
“We only have one tiny
tee-ball fi eld at [Keizer Little
League Park] and those spots
are going pretty quick,” Bays
said.
Clear Lake Elementary
School is typically the
alternate site for the group,
but school facilities are off-
limits for outside groups
until further notice, said
MYB President Rob Tavares.
In exchange for free
use of the Claggett Creek
baseball diamonds in 2021,
MYB will “cut out base
lines, chalk and mow the
infi eld and outfi eld, install
permanent home plates and
permanent bases including
caps and plugs for all the
bases.”
MYB
would
have
exclusive access to the fi elds
between 5 and 6 p.m. on
Tuesdays and Thursdays
Please see MYB, Page A8
PAGE A2
Tax filing
start
delayed
PAGE A3