Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 3

Statesman Journal SECTION 1 Ml rr METRO EDITOR: DAVID RISSER 399-6739 MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1997 IN THE dine for voter registration approachin. mm MARION, POLK CO Residents should receive their pamphlets and ballots by mid-October. BY DAVID KRAVETS Statesman Journal The deadline is nearing for those who need to register to vote in the Nov. 4 spe posed annual vehicle registration fee not to exceed $10 and a 6 percent tax on short-term rentals of hotel rooms or stays in recreational sites. A fifth measure would impose a 30-cent tax on each ton of sand, gravel, rock or other natural resources mined in Marion County.

SEE VOTER 2C cial election. For those who have not registered in Oregon, the last day is Oct. 14. Registered Oregon voters who have moved have until Oct. 27 to update their registration.

Oregon voters can update their registration between Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, but they will receive only a statewide ballot. Voter registration applications are available at post offices, state offices and branches of the Department of Motor Vehicles. The secretary of state and county elections officials are expected to mail voter's pamphlets to the state's 1.9 million voters this week.

Ballots should be mailed out separately after Oct. 15, officials said. County election divisions must receive the ballots by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4.

Residents can mail ballots or drop them off at designated sites throughout the area. Two statewide measures are on the ballot. Measure 51, the assisted suicide referendum, seeks to repeal a law allowing terminally ill adults to obtain a doctor's prescription for lethal drugs. Measure 52 would authorize the sale of $150 million in bonds to finance schools; the money would be repaid with lottery proceeds. Marion County voters will decide five tax measures, including proposals to enact a 3-cents-a-gallon tax on motor and diesel fuel to finance roads.

Other ref-erendums include a pro USEE STROLLERS RALLY FOR ALZHEIMER'S SUFFERERS fawyer to ceeter IN COMMUNITIES Printing 'museum' calls basement heme Lee Schrunk keeps this classy printing press emblem shining. The retired state printer has turned the basement of his West Salem home into a mini printing museum. 3C to aid rooor urns oj ct 8 has been analyzing census data to de-termine the work ethic of low-income people who 3 .1 i Sheketoff i RON COOPERStatesman Journal FLYING THROUGH: C.J. McKenzie and her blue-front Amazon parrot, Parrotten, joined several hundred other walkers Sunday in the eighth annual Memory Walk at Minto-Brown Island Park. The parrot, who accompanied McKenzie on the entire walk last year and this year, has pledges from McKenzie's friends.

ANOTHER RAINFALL RECORD BROKEN It wasn't enough that the 1996-97 rainfall year ended by breaking a record last week. Another record had to fall over the weekend. On Saturday, 1.01 inches were measured at McNary Field, breaking a 62-year-old record for Oct. 4. The previous high on that date was .79.

The seasonal total still remains the granddaddy of records. Salem's total of 61.37 inches from Oct. 1, 1996, through Sept. 30 is the wettest since the National Weather Service began keeping seasonal records in 1931. Rain still is in our future: Although only showers are predicted for today, their intensity is expected to pick up by midweek.

emory Walk steps toward cure The Silverton-based research project is financed by a $100,000 grant. BY KRISTEN GREEN Statesman Journal Ever since he started college, Chuck Sheketoff knew he would devote his career to working to help the poor. The Silverton lawyer was awarded $100,000 this fall to fulfill that goal. The Arlington, Va. -based Stern Family Fund named him a public-interest pioneer and awarded him grant money to launch the Oregon Center for Public Policy in Silverton.

With the 42-year-old Sheketoff as its first executive director, the center will work to break government stereotypes about the work habits of low-income people and to expand the debate on tax spending in Oregon. "I think it'll become a voice," Sheketoff said. "I have been concerned that sometimes (during) the debate about taxes and spending, people talk about building a bigger piece of the pie for themselves and not for everyone." Jerry Bieberle, president of the center's board, said he hopes the research-oriented center will provide a mainstream or slightly left-wing approach to debates that have been dominated by anti-government groups. One of the center's first are commonly thought of as being out of work when they're being given state assistance, Sheketoff said. The more accurate picture, he believes, is that many are working at various times during a year and come in and out of poverty and go on and off assistance.

"Just getting above the poverty line doesn't mean you're self-sufficient," said Sheketoff, who is also planning to analyze the state's welfare program. Bieberle concedes that the center's goals, which range from encouraging the government to changing the way it spends tax dollars are lofty. The organization was founded in 1995, but hasn't done anything until now because it didn't have any money. Sheketoff said he has already started fund-raising so that the center can hire additional staff and fund its endeavor. His interest in helping low-income people stems from his childhood, when his parents instilled in him the goal to create "a just Walkers set out to help raise money for the Mid-Willamette Valley Alzheimer's Association.

The event raises money for research into the memory-sapping disease. BY KALY SOTO Statesman Journal Mike Mclain knows breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research probably won't help his wife, Ann, but he went to Salem's eighth annual Memory Walk anyway. "I just hope that some day they can find something that will at least slow the memory loss process," said Mclain, who greeted walkers as they finished Sunday's event at Minto-Brown Island Park. About 300 people participated in the local 2.5-mile walk, which is WHAT'S 1 if ''ll I being repeated in cities na- zie is a worker at the Keizer want to be here to help," she tionwide. Retirement Health Care said.

Parrotten even got C.J. McKenzie and her Village. into the spirit by bringing parrot, Parrotten, partici- "Anyone who works with his own pledges, pated in the walk. McKen- Altzheimer's patients would SEE WALK 6C I I Yamada S. Braver Cr.

si. Alsea Alsea River Waldport Salem church offers salvation for pets DENNIS BOLTStatesman Journal christened with holy waters in its doggie life. "That's why she's lived so long," Bob Cantine said. Molly and Patrick Williams watched as their pet beagle dragged their 3-year-old son, Harrison, to the informal outdoor ceremony at the Prince of Peace Episcopal Church on Glen Creek RoadNW. "We go to church here, and I think it's important to have our dog blessed," Molly Williams said.

"I'm glad we do this. I think it's fun." with creation that is nonhu-man, McMurren said. St. Francis Day was Saturday. Jon Gould of West Salem borrowed his interpreter's 6-week-old Labrador mix so he could participate in the light-hearted liturgy.

The puppy, named Cheyenne, squirmed and whined in his arms during the ceremony. Anna Chinburg, who used sign language to translate the ceremony for Gould, was glad the puppy could keep her client company and be blessed at the same time. The Rev. Margaret McMurren said the ceremony gives her an opportunity to involve children in a learning lesson and to interact with members of her congregation in a way different from the more structured ceremonies. "For me, what it does is get people to see that pets are part of God's creation," she said.

"We have a special relationship with them, and God's in the mix." The ceremony is in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who emphasized a relationship BY KRISTEN GREEN Statesman Journal If there's a dog heaven, Bob and Beverly Cantine want their pet poodle to end up there. So the South Salem couple brought the 13-year-old dog, Jessie, to church Sunday, where it was consecrated in an annual Episcopal Church ritual. "They're a member of the family, and they need to be blessed just as we do," Beverly Cantine said. It was the eighth time the 9-pound toy poodle has been RON COOPERStatesman Journal SPIRITUAL VISIT: The Rev.

Margaret McMurren visits with Anna Chinburg and her 6-week-old puppy, Cheyenne, on Sunday at the Prince of Peace Episcopal Church. Located in Lincoln county, Yamada post office is on South Beaver Creek. It is reported that it was established as the result of feuds between the people on South Beaver Creek against the patrons of Ona post office, on the main Beaver Creek. Members of the postmaster's family ran across the name while sealing in Alaska. They liked the word and later applied it to the post office.

Source: "Oregon Geographic Names," by Lewis L. McArthur STATISTICS Flu clinics started this week, and health officials are encouraging people in high-risk categories to get their shots. Oregon's senior citizens take their flu shots seriously. Sixty-seven percent of those 65 and older were vaccinated against influenza in 1995 the third highest rank in the 50 states. Forty-five percent were vaccinated against pneumonia the second highest in the nation.

Source: Oregon Health Division Land-use issues force state to reject Salem transportation plan ANNE WILLIAMS Waremart Independence Address: 1737 Monmouth St. Owner: Waremart Inc. Contractor: Robertson Olson Construction, Vancouver, Wash. Architect: Mulveny Partnership, Portland Cost: $1.3 million Monmouth Rd. IMHTl MM 1 nandez said, explaining that the city still can use components of the plan without formal adoption.

The exhaustive plan discusses the guiding principles the city will use in planning its transportation system, and identifies specific road projects and designations ranging from alleyways to freeways for all streets. DLCD says the plan, three years in the making, does not comply with the state Transportation Planning Rule. Adopted in 1991, the rule requires cities and regions to produce transportation plans that adhere to certain guidelines, most of which focus on thinning the numbers of single-occupancy vehicles on the road. Plans must address bicycle, pedestrian and transit travel, in addition to vehicle travel. Eric Jacobson, a transportation and land-use planner with DLCD, said the draft plan's biggest flaw is its failure to adequately incorporate land uses into the plan.

"They have treated it as a transportation plan throughout, using the existing transportation plan as a basis," he said. "Now that they've gone this far there's a recognition they need to fold some more land-use changes into the plan." It was scheduled for approval last month, but Salem officials have put the brakes on a long-range transportation plan at least for a few months. That's because the state Department of Land Conservation and Development reviewed the plan and found it lacks a few key elements, said Peter Fernandez, the city's transportation services manager. "They found 11 points of non-compliance," Fernandez said. "They ranged from what we term housekeeping issues to some more specific land-use issues that will require much more intensive analysis." But after a monthlong SIGNS OF GROWTH delay, the City Council will get a first look at the plan at a work session today.

A public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13, and the council is expected to deliberate on the plan Oct. 27. It will not formally adopt the plan until early next year, Fernandez said. That gives the city time to work with DLCD to resolve the less complicated issues and hammer out a method for dealing with those that will take additional time.

"We didn't want to just not adopt the plan," Fer- DENNIS BOLTStatesman Journal Size: 30,000 sq. ft. Completions December EE LOTTERY Washington Dally Game, Sunday: 2-9-9. vitalizing the area immediately north of downtown by encouraging the addition of higher-density SEE LAND 2C Jacobson cited the recently adopted North Downtown Plan, which outlines zoning adjustments and other changes aimed at re Mii'-.