Keizertimes

The Keizertimes is a weekly community newspaper based in Keizer, Oregon, United States, published every Friday, and has a distribution through both the mail and newsstands.

History

The Keizer News was a newspaper published by Clarence Zaitz in the 1960s. The paper shuttered in the early 1970s after Zaitz failed to find a buyer and his son Les Zaitz opted to work as a reporter for The Oregonian instead.

John Ettinger moved to Keizer in the late 1970s and was encouraged by local merchants to launch his own newspaper. The first issue of the Keizertimes was published on Oct. 3, 1979. The paper was originally sent to people's residences twice a month for free but in 1982 it transitioned into a weekly paid-subscription model.

Ettinger sold the newspaper in 1987 to Les Zaitz and Scotta Callister. The couple launched the South Salem Times a year later, but it folded in 1990. They also launched the Salem Times, a free newspaper mailed to 40,000 homes, in 1994. It ceased after two years.

In 2004, the Keizertimes' office caught fire and sustained major damage. Arson was suspected.

Awards

In 1988, the Keizertimes won a first place award for best news story from a small weekly newspaper from the National Newspaper Association. The story was on the death of an elderly pedestrian. In 2000, the paper's publisher Les Zaitz was given the First Citizen Award by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce.

External links

• Official website
• Keizertimes entry from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association