PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 29, 2021
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police scanner
SUNDAY, JAN. 17
THURSDAY, JAN. 21
12:10 a.m. - Arrest for driving under
the infl uence of intoxicants in the 6000
block of Keizer Station Blvd.
4:04 a.m. - Theft from motor vehicle in
the 6000 block of Keizer Station Blvd.
1 p.m. - Criminal mischief in the 200
block of Dearborn Avenue N.
3:30 p.m. - Bicycle theft in the 4000
block of River Road N.
9:09 p.m. - Burglary in the 4000 block of
Tiffany Place NE.
10:13 p.m. - Fleeing a police offi cer at
the intersection of Manbrin Drive N and
River Road N.
MONDAY, JAN. 18
12:38 a.m. - Theft from building in the
1000 block of Juniper Street N.
2:05 p.m. - Criminal trespassing in the
5000 block of River Road N.
TUESDAY, JAN. 19
12 a.m. - Vandalism in the 500 block of
Chemawa Road N.
5:06 a.m. - Unlawful possession of meth-
amphetamine in the 5000 block of Joan
Drive N.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 20
9:20 a.m. - Physical harassment in the
6000 block of McLeod Lane NE.
2:30 p.m. - Arrest for identity theft in the
4000 block of River Road N.
4:30 p.m. - Arrest for parole violation in
the 900 block of Chemawa Road NE.
5 p.m. - Robbery in the 5000 block of
McLeod Lane NE.
9:07 p.m. - Stalking at the intersection of
Brooks Avenue NE and Shady Lane NE.
4:30 a.m. - Motor vehicle theft in the
6000 block of Ulali Drive.
9:02 a.m. - Felon in possession of weap-
on in the 700 block of Manbrin Drive N.
SATURDAY, JAN. 23
5:06 p.m. - Failure to perform duties of
driver when property was damaged at the
intersection of Chemawa Road N. and
River Road N.
SUNDAY, JAN. 24
2:35 a.m. - Driving under the infl uence
of intoxicants at the intersection of Che-
mawa Road N and Four Winds Drive N.
4 a.m. - Burglary in the 800 block of
Manbrin Drive NE.
4:45 a.m. - Assault in the 500 block of
Rose Park Lane NE.
McNary plans for
graduation ceremony
at Volcanoes Stadium
Focus on home ownership
My point was that I was seeing
By KYLE JURAN
Being in the residential con- young people not feel that they
struction industry, I see the ups needed to or that they could pur-
and downs of the real estate market chase a house. Yes, it is not easy
maybe a little more than the average starting out thinking about the long
homeowner. And being an employ- term, but I believe if we can give
er, I also see the struggles of people young people the vision or the goal
young and old with fi nancial issues. of home ownership and that it is a
wise investment that they
In a recent letter to
could strive for as they
the editor in the Keiz-
work up in their jobs.
ertimes (Jan. 22, 2021) I
This is not always at-
was chastised for saying
guest
tainable; people have dif-
in a city council work
column ferent needs and different
session where we were
circumstances but if we
talking about what
can give people the in-
could be done to help
formation on how to plan
with home ownership
in our area, that I felt young people and set goals towards home owner-
needed to change their mindset on ship it could help them with long
home ownership and focus to make term success. I am not sure what is
taught in high school economics,
it a goal.
I was not saying this was the only but from what I have been told by
reason people are not able to get to one of my kids that graduated from
be homeowners. What I wanted to McNary in the last fi ve years, that
point out was that I noticed back they were not even taught how to
years ago when I started hiring em- fi ll out a check let alone given the
ployees that entry level laborers/ instruction of how important home
carpenters at that time started out at ownership could be to their long-
around $12 hour (minimum wage term personal wealth.
Right now, home buyers could
was around $7.25 at the time). I no-
ticed that as employees moved up be in a great position to purchase
in pay they would spend as much as a home if they can fi nd one they
they made buying toys and new cars can afford, but if they have not been
and did not think about the future, preparing they may miss the low
including home ownership. And interest rates on mortgages that we
when they fi nally thought about have had in the last few years.
I know there are some incentive
buying a home they were in debt
and it could take fi ve years or more programs out there for fi rst time
to get out of debt so they could start home buyers that can help them
get into a home. I recently read that
saving for a down payment.
I have talked to many employees our new president has proposed a
over the years about this and most $15,000 fi rst-time home buyer tax
did not realize what an import- credit. There are also other mort-
ant investment purchasing a house gage tax credits, down payment
was. They usually just felt that they assistance grants, state and federal
could stay in an apartment and keep programs available. I know of local
their cost down, not thinking about realtors that do classes on how to
that rent being increased over the prepare and plan to buy a home. I
years. I would tell them that when would like to see everyone have the
purchasing a house your payment opportunity for home ownership. I
does not go up, taxes and insurance believe it can be an exceptionally
certainly do but the payment does large benefi t in a person’s long term
fi nancial outlook.
not.
FRIDAY, JAN. 22
I completely understand that in
Keizer this is almost a non-attain-
able reality due to the high cost of
homes and limited supply but that
doesn’t mean we can’t help inform
people that it can be attainable in
the future, it may take longer or that
they may have to fi nd a home out-
side Keizer or Salem (USDA loans
for rural areas) which is sad to think
because I myself enjoy living and
working in Keizer.
I do think we need to work to
fi nd ways to alleviate the rent bur-
den and the increasing cost of home
ownership in Keizer, but without
more property to build homes on
and with more people willing to
live in the Keizer area and drive to
work in the metro area, our cost
of homes will increase. The local
housing market has faced a major
inventory shortage and with more
demand from commuters and pro-
spective new home buyers with-
out addressing the supply will push
home prices up at a faster rate.
Therefore it is crucial that we
here in Keizer work towards adding
developable land in Keizer whether
it be keeping up the work to ex-
pand the Urban Growth Boundary
or help with creative ways to incen-
tivize more dense owner-occupied
construction. This is something that
could be looked at by having land
restrictions eased through legisla-
tion. I do hope there are ways to
slow this real estate cost explosion
down.
By BROOKLYN FLINT
Of the Keizertimes
The offi cial graduation for Mc-
Nary High School’s Class of 2021
is tentatively slated for Wednesday,
June 9 at Volcanoes Stadium.
On Thursday, Jan. 21 Erik Jes-
persen, principal of McNary, re-
leased a short update video for stu-
dents with important information.
The fi rst topic mentioned had
to do with the gradu-
ation date. No
time for
the cere-
mony is
set yet but
Jespersen
and
his team are
working
on it.
“As we
get
more information
and
as we continue to work with our
planning committee, we will be
able to push out more information
regarding time of the commence-
ment and all other activities that
are related to graduation,” Jespersen
said.
Normally, graduation cere-
monies are held at the State Fair-
grounds, but the 2020 graduation
was held on the McNary football
fi eld for health and safety reasons.
This year’s ceremony is planned to
be at the Volcanoes Stadium be-
cause the track at the McNary’s
Flesher Field is scheduled to un-
dergo work in June.
The other main topic men-
tioned was in-person learning.
Jespersen encourages students that
need additional help to talk to their
teachers about scheduling a time to
come into the school. Teach-
ers and tutors are
there to help
students
w i t h
their as-
signments
and getting caught
up on work.
Season Two for
athletes is starting
soon. Any student interested
in sports should look on the web-
site, mcnary.salkeiz.k12.or.us, for
more information and admission.
All athletic fees have been waived
this year due to the season being
shorter than normal. Practices start
in February and contests will begin
at the end of the month going into
March.
Jespersen plans on announcing
updates twice a month going for-
ward so that students have as much
information as they need.
sudoku
(Kyle Juran owns Remodeling
by Classic Homes and is a Keizer
City Councilor.)
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