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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2015)
A very big year School Gardens — 4A Bond talk — 3A School News — 10A Lions making a splash, page 1B Creswell birder wants to see 5000, page 6A $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 Also inside: VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 31 Councilors sworn in, talk tobacco Opt-out clause sought for student drug-testing policy State of the City highlights a wacky year School Board to hear proposal at Feb. 2 meeting BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he Cottage Grove City Coun- cil was in agreement on many items on the Jan. 26 meeting agenda. However, one topic that will likely take several more rounds of discus- sion to resolve is a potential licen- sure program for tobacco/nicotine products. In December, the Lane County Board of Commissioners and the Lane County Board of Health adopt- ed an ordinance that requires stores that sell tobacco and e-cigarettes to obtain a license within the unincor- porated areas of the County and pro- hibits the sale of e-cigarettes to mi- nors. Until the County adopted the ordinance, there was no regulation on the sale, possession or use of e- cigarette products in unincorporated Lane County. There are currently no such laws in Cottage Grove. Assistant Director of Lane County Health and Human Services Karen Gaffeney and senior health offi - cer Dr. Patrick Luedtke from Lane County Public Health gave a brief 'Folk History' Readers connect with Highway 99 stories, page 3A Beautiful music Music minister steps down after a decade, page 8A photo by Matt Hollander From left, City Councilors Jake Boone, Mike Fleck and Garland Burback are sworn in at the Council's Monday meeting. Boone and Burback ran unopposed last fall, while Fleck replaces out- going Councilor Victoria Doyle. presentation on their work with county’s Tobacco Retail Licensing Ordinance. The presenters touched on a vari- ety of topics including current smok- ing rates, the danger of e-cigarette chemicals in the hands of children and the lack of support for e-ciga- rettes as a healthy product — even though they may be less harmful than cigarettes. These fi ndings have helped Lane County to conclude that e-cigarettes need to be subject to laws, especially when it comes to youth. The key component of the or- dinance is the licensing program. Retailers would pay a fee to sell tobacco/nicotine products, which would support the administrative costs of enforcing guidelines on how the products are marketed and sold. If a retailer habitually ran afoul of these guidelines, he could be subject to fi nes or lose the retail license. The presenters made the case that this system would have more “teeth” for enforcement than the status quo. While the Council agreed that nicotine/tobacco products harmful to children and should be banned for them, there was debate on whether or not a licensure program would be the most appropriate measure. Councilor Jake Boone expressed concerns for levying fees on local Please see COUNCIL, Page 6A Details of Jan. 15 shooting trickle in T he Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce has released the identity of the man shot and killed following an al- tercation southeast of Cottage Grove, though details of the incident that led to his death remained scant at the Sen- tinel’s press time Monday evening. On Thursday, Jan. 15 at about 7:30 p.m., the Sheriff’s Offi ce received a report of a gunshot wound at a resi- dence on Lower Brice Creek Road. The male subject, later identifi ed as Mitchell Demopoulos, a 49-year old Culp Creek resident, was transported to the hospital, where he later died from his wound. The Sheriff’s Offi ce stated that the incident in question involved a physi- cal altercation between Demopoulos and a female at a Dorena-area resi- dence. They say that, at one point in the argument, a third party fi red the weapon that fatally wounded Demo- poulos. Police have declined to name the female or the third-party shooter, cit- ing an ongoing investigation into the incident, and they have yet to release any further information. Sgt. Car- rie Carver said the case is expected to be forwarded to the Lane County District Attorney’s Offi ce for review, which had yet to happen by press time Monday. Carver added that no related charges had yet been fi led. A policy implemented last fall by the South Lane School District Board of Directors mandates a drug test for high-school students who wish to participate in extracurricular activi- ties. The policy, passed by the Board at an Aug. 11, 2014 meeting, has thus far only been used to drug-test student athletes and has not been ex- tended to apply to those who participate in other extracurriculars such as band, choir or the chess team. Still, some parents and other community members have taken issue with the new policy, and some have put forth a plan that would al- low students to opt out of the testing with paren- tal consent. At its Monday, Feb. 2 meeting, the School Board will hear details of their proposal. The Board has fi elded a request for an opt-out clause regarding the drug-testing policy before; at its Dec. 1 meeting, concerned parent Patricia Noe put the idea before the Board, but the group requested that the issue be placed on the agenda at a subsequent meeting so planning and outreach could be conducted. The Board’s Jan. 12 meeting was cancelled due to the Oregon Duck football team’s appearance in the National Championship game. “We believe the procedures from the origi- nal vote were fl awed,” Noe told the Board. “We would like the agenda item to be moved to next month when we’ve had time to inform the public of the agenda item and can be sure it’s properly placed.” It’s unclear what reception the notion of an opt-out clause might receive from the Board, with some board members appearing to already favor the expansion of drug testing to other extra- curricular activities and the middle-school level and others claiming to be leery about that expan- sion. In earlier comments to the Eugene Register- Guard, Superintendent Krista Parent stated that the students most likely to seek the ability to opt out of the tests may be those who are not likely Please see CLAUSE, Page 6A Local logger honored by his peers Wilbur Heath recognized for work on behalf of Oregon's contract loggers BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A Cottage Grove logger who has spent decades working to improve conditions and knowledge among those in his profession was recently honored by his peers for his efforts. Representatives from the Associated Oregon Loggers, which bestowed an award of special recognition upon Cottage Grove’s Wilbur Heath at its 45th annual convention on Saturday, Jan. 17 in Eu- gene, heaped praise on Heath, one of the association’s founding members. According to the AOL’s Jim Geisinger, the Association was formed in 1969 to represent the community of contract log- gers, to lobby to the state legislature and Congress on issues pertaining to the group and gain a greater knowledge of forest regulatory issues, policies and insurance programs. Heath, who joined his father working at Heath Logging in 1950, has been with AOL “almost from the beginning.” “Nobody in the history of Associated Oregon Loggers has fought harder or cared more for the welfare of contract loggers than Wilbur Heath,” according to a recent AOL press release. “He has won every award we have ever offered.” At the AOL banquet, Brad Haga, the Association’s president, cited several rea- sons behind Heath’s recognition. Haga stated that Heath was one of the Associ- ation’s earliest members; he was its fi rst president and the only member to serve as president for two separate terms; he has been recognized as Logger of the Year; he was featured in “Time” magazine in an iconic photo featuring a Spotted Owl and has served his country in both World War II and Korea. Geisinger later elaborated that the AOL hopes to help loggers “be successful any way they can.” He said that timber giant Weyerhaeuser is the only company that employs its own loggers, and that most other logging is done by contract loggers, perhaps known more commonly in the past as “gyppo” loggers, to use a phrase that carries some hint of condescension. “We used to call them gyppos,” Geis- inger said. “Almost all of these companies are family owned and have between 12 and 100 employees. They’re small busi- nesses that have many of the issues related to small businesses.” Please see HEATH, Page 6A photo by Jon Stinnett Wilbur Heath with wife, Catherine, stopped by the Sentinel to talk about his work with the AOL. Rain Country Realty Inc. Principal Brokers Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735 Frank Brazell....................953-2407 Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838 Why use a Cottage Grove Realtor? We can serve you in a timely fashion due to our close proximity to your home. Need a quick showing? Here we are! Need a check on a vacant property or tenant? We are right here! We provide all the other services as the big, big brokerages and our connections are as far reaching, all over the world! And yet you get the one on one attention you deserve. Brokers Ron Schneider..................521-8713 Laurie Phillip....................430-0756 Valerie Nash ....................521-1618 Most importantly our commissions stay right here in Cottage Grove to bolster our economy and keep our friends and neighbors in business! 5DLQ&RXQWU\5HDOW\FRP UDLQFRXQWU\UHDOW\#JPDLOFRP CONTACT US www.cgsentinel.com On the Internet (541) 942-3325 By telephone (541) 942-3328 By fax cgnews@cgsentinel.com By e-mail P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 By mail Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove In person +Z\ WEATHER CONTENTS HIGH LOW 58 38 Partly Cloudy Licensed in the State of Oregon Calendar....................................... 11B Channel Guide ............................... 4B Classified ads................................. 6B Obituaries....................................... 2A Opinion .......................................... 4A Public Safety .................................. 5A Sports ............................................ 1B 75 CENTS