I joined the Salem Reporter staff in May, but it feels like just yesterday that I rolled into town in a U-Haul truck with no clue what was what.
While I’m not even a year in, I’ve been privileged in my role covering local government and beyond in Salem, a place that has revealed so much of itself in such a short period of time.
All the stories I’ve managed to write, from the tragic to the joyous and everything in between, have only begun to form in my mind the unique tapestry that makes up this city.
I feel genuinely grateful to have landed in Salem where its residents are both interested and engaged in their community.
I can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store and don’t be afraid to reach out to me with story tips or ideas.
One of my first assignments when I got to Salem was to cover the student occupation at Willamette University seeking university divestment from the U.S. arms industry. It was during a contentious time in world affairs as the Israeli military unleashed violence on civilians in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
As an American Jew myself I am far removed from the politics in the Middle East. As the situation deteriorated I was forced to confront my own understanding of such a complex and heartbreaking affair.
The student occupation at Willamette demanded the university divest from the U.S. arms industry which they said is profiting from genocide in Gaza. When I approached the students in charge of the occupation, I was surprised to learn many of them were Jewish. One of the occupation’s leaders said he and other Jewish students felt it was their responsibility as Jews to join the growing list of student movements across the nation condemning the violence.
That evening, on Friday, I watched as the students lit candles for Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. The experience changed the way I understood the discourse around the Israel-Gaza war at the time and I’m happy I was able to share the story with the community.
Later in May, the Salem City Council passed a resolution on the crisis in Gaza, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and the end of U.S. aid directed to Israel or the Israel Defense Force until there is a ceasefire.
It took three hours of public testimony from a diverse group of community members before the resolution was adopted. The resolution ultimately did not use the world “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the compromise was far from perfect as far as the parties involved were concerned.
Covering such a messy affair as a reporter was interesting to say the least, and I learned a lot listening to so many different people speaking their minds together in the city council chambers.
Later in the summer, on June 18, the RAM Restaurant & Brewery abruptly closed leading to roughly 40 employees being laid off without notice.
The closure was a shock to many in Salem who had been going to the RAM for decades. The Washington-based company that owned the Salem RAM, the RAM Restaurant Group, would not provide details on why the restaurant closed aside from stating the Salem RAM was no longer profitable.
Tips from the community prompted Salem Reporter to investigate.
About a month later, using an array of public records from state, county, and city agencies and testimony from former employees, we were able to piece together the events and circumstances leading up to the restaurant’s closure.
It turned out the Salem RAM was in physical disrepair, with employees saying needed repairs were routinely neglected by management. At one point, the ceiling nearly caved in on an employee.
I consider the RAM investigation my first watchdog piece at Salem Reporter, and the experience of putting it together, brick by brick, is a feeling that will never get old. I feel lucky to get the chance and the bandwidth to do work like that as a reporter in Salem.
The closure of the Brooks garbage incinerator sparked a community conversation about how the city and the surrounding area will dispose of its waste moving forward. The incinerator, owned by New Jersey company Reworld Marion, formerly known as Covanta, burned much of the county’s garbage but stopped accepting municipal waste on Dec. 31.
While the company was unclear as to why it is leaving, the closure comes after the state legislature passed a law, Senate Bill 488, which requires continuous monitoring of emissions from the incinerator’s smokestack.
The company has struggled in the past to remain in compliance with state environmental regulations and was fined several times by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for failing to meet emissions limits.
I was impressed by how much engagement Salem Reporter got on this story, demonstrating the strong community interest on this matter.
One of the most memorable moments for me on the city government beat has to be the vote the Salem City Council took on Nov. 12 to publicly censure then City Councilor Julie Hoy, the city’s mayor-elect, and City Councilor Deanna Gwyn, for voting on a land use appeal submitted on behalf of a company owned by a major political donor.
The two councilors chose to vote on the matter despite the city charter saying councilors should consider recusing themselves from votes involving donors who contributed more than $501. Many interpreted the charter as being at odds with their decision, leading to widespread debate within the community on the ethics of the vote.
For me, this experience brought into full focus the extent to which the Salem community is dedicated to city government affairs. Experiences like this remind me of my role in the community, which is to act on its behalf, as we all make sense of and keep tabs on the governments and systems that affect our lives.
I enjoyed writing in August about a group of dozens of Salem residents who took time out of their day to walk around the North Lancaster neighborhood as part of an initiative called Peace Walk Salem.
The peace walks were an idea that came out of the city’s Community Violence Reduction Initiative, which began a series of community forums to discuss the concerning upward trend in community violence in Salem.
The peace walk in August was the first as part of the initiative and involved a group of residents gathering and then walking through North Lancaster, a neighborhood that’s seen a higher rate of violence. The idea is to walk through the area and to connect with the residents as a means of bringing hope and togetherness to the community.
The walks were spearheaded by members of the city’s faith community, and the kind-hearted nature of the endeavor made me proud to live in a community where people are willing to take matters into their own hands.
One of the more tragic stories I wrote this year involved a woman named Teresita Millard who was hit and critically injured by an SUV while she crossed Northeast Lancaster Drive on Aug. 14. Millard later died at Salem Hospital.
While looking into Millard’s death, I was incredibly fortunate to make contact with her niece, Carla Alegre, who shared with me about who her aunt was in life. Alegre provided details that gave Millard’s story a sense of her humanity in a story which would have otherwise been devoid of such powerful details.
It is never easy to write about collisions like these, but writing about Millard and hearing the stories about her life from Alegre gave me a sense of a woman who lived a long life punctuated by selflessness and kindness. Alegre told me her aunt’s life was not so easy in her home country of the Philippines where money was tight and where she suffered a debilitating bout of polio at an early age affecting the rest of her life. Despite the hardship she was always the one who went out of her way to take care of her family.
I learned from Alegre that Millard died crossing the street after picking up medication for her husband who is bedridden.
I was humbled by these details and I hope the story I was fortunate to write helps keep Millard’s memory alive in the community she called home.
Writing about a new haunted house inside the Grand Theatre downtown was likely the most fun I had on the job as a reporter in Salem in 2024.
The Ghosts of the Grand started this year and myself and photographer Laura Tesler were fortunate to get into the haunted house for a private tour.
The experience was both hilarious and unsettling, and the actors and ambiance were incredibly well done. It was an enjoyable Halloween experience.
I won’t lie, there were a couple of times I was legitimately freaked out, but mainly because my colleague was way more freaked out than I was.
It was the 1997 Cadillac DeVille funeral hearse parked in front of the Grand that resulted in me doing the feature on the haunted house. The vehicle was parked in front to draw attention to the Ghosts of the Grand and I couldn’t help but laugh every time I walked by it with the two skeleton clowns sitting in the front seat.
Doing the story, and watching Laura scream, was totally the highlight of my Halloween.
Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.
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Joe Siess is a reporter for Salem Reporter. Joe joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and primarily covers city and county government but loves surprises. Joe previously reported for the Redmond Spokesman, the Bulletin in Bend, Klamath Falls Herald and News and the Malheur Enterprise. He was born in Independence, MO, where the Oregon Trail officially starts, and grew up in the Kansas City area.
