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Vol. 43 • No. 29
MAY 06, 2022
County leaders address rising crime
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
Business and civic leaders from
around the Mid-Willamette Valley met
Monday, May 2 at the Chemeketa Small
Business Development Center in Salem
to host a panel of elected and appointed
Marion and Polk county officials on the
subject of rising crime and public safety.
The discussion group, which usually
meets monthly online, is a partnership
between the Chambers of Commerce in
Salem, Keizer, Silverton and Dallas. The
group’s focus is on how and what local
communities can do to improve public
safety in Marion and Polk counties.
Dominating the discussion topics
was the intersection of mental illness,
drug abuse, homelessness, crime and
the resource limitations imposed by the
COVID pandemic. The panel included
both the Marion and Polk County
sheriffs, district attorneys and county
commissioners.
A non-profit advocacy group, Mental
Health America, recently calculated
Oregon as last in the country – 51st place
– in mental health, using a cross-section
of data covering substance abuse, home-
lessness, the uninsured and self-reported
mental illness. They also count Oregon
as 47th in mental illness among youth.
“I think, in general, the biggest chal-
lenge we’re dealing with is this mental
health crisis,” said Marion County Sheriff
Joe Kast. “We’ve been dealing with it for
a long time, and it’s co-occurring with a
lot of other issues.”
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Marion County Commissioners Colm Willis and Danielle Bethell spoke at the Mid-Willamette Valley Public Safety and Crime
Discussion, May 2, at the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center in Salem.
Photo by CHARLES GLENN of the Keizertimes
Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton
said he would “totally agree” with Kast’s
remark, adding that the mental health
crisis calls in Polk county have doubled
in the past two years.
Garton said these calls are not simple
– they are complex and time-consuming,
and requires a lot of continual training
for the officers involved.
More than one speaker made a point
to say that panels like this are great at
identifying and describing problems,
but less effective at coming up with solu-
tions. That might be an oversimplifica-
tion intended to convey humility, or it
might be a reflection of the overlapping
complexities of mental illness, homeless-
ness, drug abuse, COVID and crime.
One point of agreement among
both speakers and chamber members
was a near-universal objection to sev-
eral pieces of recent state legislation, in
particular 2020’s Measure 110 and and
the recent Senate Bill 1510. Measure 110
mostly-decriminalized the personal pos-
session of illegal drugs in Oregon and
SB1510 placed a host of restrictions on
law enforcement.
According to Garton, most of Polk
County mental health crisis calls also
involve drug use.
See CRIME, page 3
KeizerFEST moves to Keizer Rapids Park
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
Starting this year, KeizerFEST will
now be held in August, prompting specu-
lation and public support for holding the
event at Keizer Rapids Park. The Keizer
Chamber of Commerce, who stages the
event each year and is recommending
the location change, sent an informal
request to city hall recently for prelimi-
nary approval.
City Attorney Shannon Johnson said
the chamber had already submitted all
the necessary documentation and a for-
mal request would be made to the coun-
cil as soon as next month, but city staff
members have not finished examining
the proposal.
“They are looking for at least a pre-
liminary commitment from the council
before they do a significant amount of
work to the ground out there,” Johnson
told council members at the May 3
meeting.
City councilors promptly moved and
seconded a motion to approve the cham-
ber’s request.
“Bob got his wish” said Councilor Dan
Kohler, prompting laughter in reference
to Chamber president Bob Shackleford’s
well-known desire to move the event to
Keizer Rapids Park.
See KeizerFEST, page 3
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