NOVEMBER 26, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
Keizer man arrested after walking
away from corrections warehouse
State police on Sunday, Nov. 21
arrested a man who walked away from
an Oregon Corrections Enterprises ware-
house Friday morning.
Oregon State Police worked with
the state Department of Corrections'
Fugitive Apprehensive Unit to arrest
Benjamin Woods in Salem around 7:30
p.m. Sunday, according to a corrections
department news release.
Woods, 38, of Keizer, walked away
from the warehouse on Oregon State
Penitentiary grounds in Salem around
10:15 a.m. Friday, according to a Friday
news release.
People in custody can be paid to do
varying jobs at the warehouse including
making furniture, metal work and laun-
dry, corrections department spokesper-
son Jennifer Black said on Friday.
Black said there are Oregon
Corrections Enterprises employees and
a corrections department security offi -
cer onsite at the warehouse. The Oregon
Corrections Enterprises employees are
responsible for counting the adults in
custody and go through the same train-
ing as corrections department secu-
rity except for fi rearms and use of force
training. "OCE participates in general
homes for people who have been dis-
placed for more than a year. Brown
said the state would build fi re resilient
housing and rebuild businesses. Of
the more than 4,000 homes that were
destroyed in the 2020 fi res, half were
manufactured or mobile homes, Brown
presented by
self-defense," she said.
Woods entered the correction's
department's custody on March 24.
He pleaded guilty in February 2019 to
attempted fi rst-degree burglary and in
March 2020 to fi rst-degree burglary, both
in Marion County Circuit Court, court
records showed.
Before walking away from the ware-
house, he was housed at the Santiam
Correctional Institution and was working
as a clerk at the corrections enterprises
warehouse. His earliest release date is
Aug. 29, 2024.
Oregon to get more than $400
million to rebuild from wildfi res
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Of Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon will receive more than $422
million from the federal government
for rebuilding from the 2020 wildfi res
that were among the worst in state
history.
The money comes from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, which is distributing $2
billion in disaster recovery and resil-
iency funds among nine states and
Puerto Rico. Oregon is the second larg-
est recipient of funds after Louisiana,
Oregon and California, which suff ered
billions of dollars in damage from wild-
fi res in 2020, are the only states in the
West allocated money.
“Put simply, climate change is truly
a hammer hitting Oregon and many
of the states directly in the head,” Gov.
Kate Brown said at a virtual press
conference to announce the funds on
Thursday.
“Our Labor Day fi res of 2020 were
unlike anything we have seen in recent
memory,” she added.
Brown was joined by the federal
housing secretary and the governors
of Puerto Rico and Louisiana. There
is no timeline for when the money will
be available. Program requirements,
which would include more detail about
where and how money can be spent,
are in the works and will be published
in the Federal Register when ready,
according to federal housing offi cials.
A spokesperson from the Governor’s
offi ce said the priority for funds would
be for rural, low and moderate income
households, and communities of color.
The next step is for the Oregon Housing
and Community Services Department
to embark on a public engagement
process with heavily impacted commu-
nities that will inform how the money
is deployed, the spokesperson said.
At the conference, Brown said she
plans to use the money to aid the most
impacted communities and replace
of the Week
said, adding that most were in rural
parts of the state that already lacked
aff ordable housing options and were
going through great economic stress
from the pandemic.
“Truly, communities disappeared
overnight,” Brown said.
NEWS
TIPS?
JOSE DOMINGUEZ
Where and how
do you volunteer?
"•Latino Action Committee
• Providing scholarships to Senior
Migrant students at McNary High
* Connecting Latino families to
resources for their particular need.
If it's happening
in Keizer, or to someone
from Keizer —
WE WANT TO KNOW.
kt@keizertimes.com
* Volunteering at prisons. Oregon
State Correctional Institute and
Coff ee Creek Facility
*Provide counseling spiritual
enrichment and life skills through
the Word of God to men and
women inmates."
Why do you
volunteer?
"• Serving and helping brings
meaning to my faith in Jesus
Christ.
• Expresses God’s love and makes
my faith active and real."
What does
volunteering do for
you?
"• Brings satisfaction to my
work knowing someone was
encouraged, helped and given
hope.
• Helps me Bring joy and a smile to
people's face in their time of need."
How would you get
others to volunteer
in their community?
"• Express the need, show them
the need, invite them to be a
solution of help and hope."