WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018 ܂ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Silverton cottages face opposition
Residents fight church’s proposal to build structures for homeless
Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A few days after a proposal to place small cottages
for homeless women in the parking lot of a Silverton
church was presented to the public, a woman in the
community contacted St. Edward’s Episcopal Church
Rev. Shana McCauley and offered a spare room in her
house for a woman in need.
McCauley also heard from a woman who is losing
her housing and asked for help.
And a group of neighbors of the church are banding
together to oppose the plan.
The church’s proposal to build four 8-foot-by-8-foot
cottages would take months to come to fruition – if it
ever does – but it has drawn attention to the communi-
ty of Silverton and distinct reactions from it.
McCauley said the idea of cottages to house the
homeless in Silverton started around January of 2016.
Word about pieces of the plan had spread on social
media over the past few months, and the organizers of
the plan including Sarah White of Silverton Warming
Shelter and Kenneth Houghton of Mid-Willamette
Community Action Agency wanted to fully present
their project to the public and not let incorrect infor-
mation about the project spread.
That’s why St. Edward’s hosted a heated public
meeting on April 19.
“Our presentation was a little earlier than we might
have done it,” McCauley said.
“Ideally we would have had the whole thing fleshed
out.”
McCauley said that since the meeting, media out-
lets including Portland television stations have picked
See COTTAGES, Page 3A
Detroit Lake ‘full,’
but for how long?
A rendering of the proposed four-pod structure to
be placed at St. Edward's Episcopal Church in
Silverton. BILL POEHLER/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Silverton
Rotary
charters new
action group
Christena Brooks Special to Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Detroit Lake, seen here on April 20, has reached its full water level. ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Officials: Recreation
facilities to be available
throughout summer
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Detroit Lake has reached its summertime high wa-
ter level of 1,564 feet above sea level.
That’s good news for everybody who enjoys fishing
and boating at the popular reservoir east of Salem.
Detroit Lake is primarily managed for flood control,
but each summer the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
brings the lake to a good level for recreation between
May and August.
The fact that the lake reached its full pool this early
in the season — and that surrounding mountains have
only slightly below normal snowpack — bodes well for
the season, officials said.
“Recreation facilities are expected to be available
through the summer, and we should expect a pretty
good recreation season,” Corps operations project
manager Erik S. Petersen said last week.
A full reservoir is a welcome sign for Detroit busi-
nesses, who’ve struggled through low water in the
lake during 2015 and ’16, in addition to wildfires that
slowed tourism last year.
"Last year with the complications of air quality due
to the forest fires, tourism took a big dip in our prime
season,” said Elaine DeGeorge, owner of the Lodge at
This graph shows Detroit Lake’s water level, as seen
by the blue line. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE U.S. ARMY CORPS
OF ENGINEERS
Detroit Lake. “All of the local business owners felt it.
“We look forward to seeing the visitors return and
to make some memories at our beloved lake."
The lake should remain in good shape through La-
bor Day Weekend, Corps spokesman Rich Hargrave
said.
"The recent rains really helped fill the lake," he said.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photog-
rapher and videographer in Oregon for 10 years. He is
the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and
can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or
(503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORout-
doors.
Stunning parks opening in Marion Co.
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Some of the best parks in the Salem area opened
their gates on May 1.
The parks, which include swimming holes on the
Little North Santiam and fishing spots on the Willam-
ette, are managed by Marion County Parks Depart-
ment.
Here's a quick breakdown of parks opening.
Bear Creek Campground and Park
This park is a 15-acre campground in the Little
North Santiam Canyon off North Fork Road. The park
has 15 first-come, first-served camp sites and costs
$14 per night with a 14-night maximum stay.
Each of the camping sites has picnic tables and fire
pits and accommodates one vehicle.
The day-use portion of the park is open 6 a.m. to 10
p.m. Bear Creek Park also provides day-use access to
the Little North Fork Santiam River.
North Fork
A short trail leads to a rocky beach and the turqu-
See GROUP, Page 3A
See PARKS, Page 2A
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Oregonians have long complained about “brain
drain” among its high school and college graduates, a
collective flight of its best and brightest 20-some-
things to jobs in other states.
Nowhere is that more obvious than in rural areas
and small cities, where even those young people who
stay instate leave their hometowns to find careers –
and sometimes, new lives – in larger cities.
A group of young Silverton residents is countering
the trend by keeping their focus close to home.
Last month 16 of them publicly chartered a brand-
new Rotaract Club, an association of 18-30-year-olds
connected with Silverton Rotary but separate in
leadership, style and focus.
“Our name – Rotaract – really explains our mis-
sion: it’s Rotary in action,” said Tess Schurter, 26, a
healthcare administrator and the club’s vice presi-
dent.
“We want to see more of our age group come out of
the woodwork,” added Elvie Sutton, 27, a cosmetol-
ogist. “Everyone has all this pent-up energy, and not
always a place to put it. We want to see our genera-
tion succeed.”
Like their peers, most of Silverton’s Rotaract
members work outside the town where they graduat-
ed high school, but they still live, play and volunteer
here. Now they’re doing more than assisting the pro-
jects conceived by their parents’ generation; they’re
coming up with their own.
Twice a month, they meet downtown over the din-
ner hour to listen to a variety of speakers and plan
service projects. As a group, they’ve already helped
hang adaptive swings for kids in wheelchairs, adopt-
ed cleanup responsibilities for a section of Pine
Street and helped remove invasive plants from Silver
Creek.
One of the projects in the works is the new club’s
plan to bring puppies to Silverton High School to try
to reduce stress for students there.
Rotaract member Kylie Zenchenko, 22, brought
the idea forward after she heard about deaths among
the student body. Soon, she’ll head off to graduate
school in Arizona to become a veterinarian, but be-
cause of her love for animals, her job at Silver Creek
Animal Clinic and her concern about suicides at her
old high school, she’s pushing the idea forward.
“With all the horrific things that have happened at
the high school, those high schoolers have stress,”
she said. “Animals are a proven stress reliever.”
The Rotaract Club is almost ready to start fund-
raising for its first scholarship – an award targeted to
“returning students,” those who didn’t go to college
right after high school but want to now.
“College scholarships are designed for 18-year-old
high school graduates. If you decide to go later,
there’s not much out there for you,” said Rhett Mar-
tin, club president.
At age 26, Martin is also Silverton’s youngest city
councilor by a decade and an example of someone
who entered the workforce right after high school. He
is a testing manager for Columbia Helicopters in Au-
rora who took a few classes at Chemeketa before
landing what’s become “a great job for me,” he said.
Silverton Rotary sent the young councilor to a
leadership camp last summer, and he came back
fired up to start a club for his age group here. Prospec-
tive members began meeting in January, with the
group receiving its charter Feb. 14. A formal ceremony
was held on April 21, with Rotary Club President Cin-
dy Jones and other Rotarians attending.
50 cents
©2018
Printed on recycled paper
“Our name – Rotaract – really explains
our mission: it’s Rotary in action.”
Tess Schurter
a healthcare administrator and the club’s vice president