VOLUME 42, NO. 21
MARCH 12, 2021
SECTION A
$1.00
City manager discharged
gun in civic center offi ce
Press release
says ‘accident’
Salem
man
arrested
for fake
bomb
threat
A 56-year-old Salem man
was arrested Sunday, March 7,
for allegedly
threatening
employees of
a discount
store
with
a supposed
bomb.
Keizer
T. Schneider
Police De-
partment
dispatch received a call at
10:08 a.m. from the Dollar
Tree, 5014 River Road N., re-
porting a man in the store was
acting suspiciously and told
employees he had a bomb in
a black duffel bag he was car-
rying.
“Responding offi cers de-
tained the man without inci-
dent after he exited the store,”
Please see BOMB, Page A9
DON’T
FORGET
TO SPRING
AHEAD
PAGE A2
Please see GUN, Page A5
SRO program to end
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
For almost a year now,
many community members
and activist groups, such as
Latinos Unidos Siempre, have
been calling for Salem-Keizer
Public Schools (SKPS) to
end contracts with Student
Resource Offi cers (SROs),
citing that they make students
of color feel unsafe and play
a role in contributing to the
“school-to-prison pipeline.”
On Tuesday, March 9,
SKPS superintendent Christy
Perry announced that the
district will no longer be
contracting with local police
departments to station SROs
at schools.
“We have also heard from
many of our students and
parents of color that the
presence of armed police
offi cers in schools can result in
emotional and psychological
harm that makes them feel
unsafe in our schools. Many
of these students have told
“ … these students have told us
time and again that the presence
of armed police offi cers
negatively impacts their
mental health …”
— SKPS superintendent Christy Perry
us time and again that the
presence of armed police
offi cers negatively impacts
their mental health and is a
barrier to them developing
a strong sense of belonging,”
Perry said.
“It is for these reasons that
I have decided to not renew
the school resource contract.
Making this decision at
this point in time allows us
to begin to imagine how
we can create schools that
are emotionally, physically,
and psychologically safe
MCFD1 to ask for
reduced levy in May
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
When Marion County Fire
District #1 (MCFD1) had
their local option levy rejected
by voters in the November
general election, the district
was forced to make signifi cant
cutbacks at the start of the
year — the levy accounted
for 30%, or $2.4 million, of
MCFD1’s operating revenue.
The district was forced
to lay off 12 full-time
fi refi ghters/paramedic, close
down fi re stations and take
emergency apparatus out of
service. MCFD1 is also down
to just having three responding
city property, including in parking
lots or in city vehicles unless ap-
proved in writing by the city manag-
er, chief of police or human resource
manager,” the city’s personnel policy
handbook states.
The handbook states employees
with concealed carry licenses are
permitted to have a weapon “in an
employee’s locked vehicle in a city
parking lot.”
Oregon law (ORS 163.195)
allows those who discharge fi re-
arms, other than police offi cers
or a resident acting in self de-
fense, to be charged with a reck-
lessly endangering another person.
units — down from the 5.5
units they had before the
budget cuts. Additionally,
MCFD1 has lost 23 volunteers
in the last 14 months.
Due to the lack of
personnel, MCFD1 is, at times,
unable to respond to 911
calls. Last month, when the
ice storm caused a multitude
of emergencies around the
Salem-Keizer area, the district
was unable to respond to 20
calls for service.
“I have been in the fi re
service for 28 years and I
have never seen anything
like this,” MCFD1 fi re chief
Kyle McMann said. “Usually
Submitted photo
when someone calls the fi re
department, we always come.
But that is not the case right
now.”
McMann also said that
response times have been
delayed by over a minute,
which doesn’t sound like a lot,
but could be the difference
between life and death.
“Response
time
is
everything. A fi re, for instance,
doubles every 60 seconds. A
brain or heart without oxygen
for 60 seconds can lead to
Please see MCFD1, Page A6
for all students that involve
a
different
relationship
with law enforcement. We
will continue to engage
our
students,
families,
community partners, staff,
and administrators, in this
important dialogue.”
The decision was met with
some backlash from board
members, who said they had
received feedback from SKPS
parents about SROs being a
benefi t to their student.
"I heard from so many
parents where my child was
being bullied and it was an
offi cer in the school that
actually saved their life, I
mean they didn't commit
suicide ... because that offi cer
was there," board director
Marty Heyen said.
The
district’s
SRO
program, which stationed
11 police offi cers at middle
and high schools across the
district, cost SKPS nearly
$1 million per year. Offi cers
from the Keizer and Salem
Police Departments, as well as
the Marion County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, each covered schools
that fell in their agency’s
jurisdiction.
The decision comes one
month before secondary
students are scheduled to
return to their respective
schools — Perry had
previously
suspended
contracts
with
police
departments for the school
year.
Perry claimed that her
Please see SRO, Page A5
City budget growing
ever tighter
Keizer’s rep
on the Duck
baseball
field
PAGE A12
A thoughtful
gift at
Cummings
PAGE A3
Fewer people are around
to run vital services
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Between employee layoffs
and positions that are not
being fi lled after numerous
retirements, the City of
Keizer has reduced its staff
by eight employees.
“The city is primarily a
people organization and that
means people are where we
go when we have to cinch
our belts,” said City Finance
Director Tim Wood at a
meeting of the Keizer Long-
Range Planning Committee
Monday, March 8.
In some instances major
positions, such as a planning
director for the city, are
vacant and the savings
are being funneled into
keeping the Keizer Police
Department staffed.
Nearly three years ago, the
city enacted a $4-per-month
police services fee to pay for
an additional fi ve offi cers.
That fee is still dedicated to
the fi ve offi cers, but offi cer
positions that are paid for
out of the city’s general fund
“ The question
has become
whether it is
worth it to
people that live
in Keizer to pay
a nominal fee
that increases
by about $ 1 00
a year”
— John Teague,
Keizer Police Chief
are going unfi lled.
As a result of numerous
retirements, KPD never
actually hit its goal of 42
offi cers. While COVID-19
made it possible to adjust
some staffi ng, such as
reassigning a school resource
offi cer (SRO), the SRO
WandaVision
review
Hint:
Watch it ASAP
PAGE A6
Please see BUDGET, Page A9
ALMOST here
Exciting
changes are
Check out Keizertimes
NEXT WEEK
Chris Eppley
Longtime Keizer City Manager
Chris Eppley discharged a fi rearm
in his offi ce inside the Keizer Civ-
ic Center around noon on Thursday,
March 4.
According to a press release, the
Keizer City Council has retained an
outside investigator to investigate the
accidental discharge of a fi rearm by
Eppley. No one was injured in this
incident.
“To protect the integrity of the
investigation, no additional informa-
tion will be released at this time,” said
Kathy Peck, the city’s attorney for
human resources.
Keizertimes has requested a copy
of an incident report stemming from
discharge of the weapon, but had not
received a reply before the press re-
lease was distributed.
Keizer Police Department offi cials
said they had no knowledge of the
incident and it does not appear on a
daily log of police calls from March 4.
Carrying a fi rearm on city proper-
ty would appear to be a violation of
the city’s personnel policies.
“The types of conduct listed be-
low are strictly prohibited: Being in
possession of guns and weapons on