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About The Chronicle : Creswell & Cottage Grove. (Creswell, Ore.) 2019-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2023)
THE SPRINGFIELD CHAMBER'S BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 2022 $1.00 VOLUME 61 I ISSUE 20 THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023 CHRONICLE LOCALLY-OWNED SINCE 1909 CHRONICLE1909.COM @CHRONICLE1909 @THECHRONICLE1909 S E R V I N G S P R I N G F I E L D , C R E S W E L L & C O T TA G E G R O V E Creswell Council to vote on sleep site, or buck law Opening weekend BY ERIN TIERNEY-HEGGENSTALLER ERIN@CHRONICLE1909.COM CRESWELL 3 It all boils down to time, place, and manner. Creswell City Council this week spent four hours working toward coming into compliance with a federal court ruling that states that cities cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough homeless shelter beds for their home- less population. In a city with an average unhoused population between six and 10 and no support services available, the City must come into compliance with federal and state law by July or risk being sued. Under the Eighth Amendment, the courts have ruled that criminalizing homelessness is unconsti- tutional if there is no available alternative for people to sleep. For Creswell, and for all cities in Oregon, that means designating a time, place, and manner for the unhoused. During a council meeting earlier this month, coun- cil discussed the option of designating Garden Lake Park as a safe site for the unhoused to sleep, but after hefty public comment and push back, the option to designate Garden Lake Park was briskly taken off the table and will not be considered further. Instead, Mayor Dave Stram organized the meeting to allow each councilor to list potential locations for consideration, followed by public input. The robust, hours-long discussion ultimately boiled down to two options for consideration: The City will either vote to designate the South First Street Pocket Park as a safe site for the unhoused to sleep, or it will vote June 2-4 A fab, fi t run SPRINGFIELD 4 Nothing casual about this particular run, Jess Coonfare crosses the û nish line at Island Park in a prom dress and running shoes as part of the Springû eld Twin Rivers Rotary Prom 5K. Participants were asked to dress glamorous and race to through the park as part of a beneû t for the Springû eld Young Readers Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program. Her literacy project provides a free book every month for all Springû eld children from birth to age 5. More photos: Page 16 and online at Chronicle1909.com The Springû eld Drifters play host to the Port Angeles Lefties next weekend to open their second season in the collegiate wood-bat West Coast League. All games at Hamlin Field. Ticket prices vary. Manager Tommy Richards Friday, 6:35 p.m. Saturday, 6:35 p.m. Sunday, 1:05 p.m. BOB WILLIAMS / THE CHRONICLE Schedule, roster: driftersbaseball.com See UNHOUSED 4 4 MAILING LABEL BELOW Thurston baseball perfect in league BY PIERRE WEIL PIERRE@CHRONICLE1909.COM SPR I NGF I ELD 3 T he Thurston Colts baseball team finished a sweep of rival Springfield last week, secur- ing an 18-0 record in the Midwestern League in the process. Thurston already secured its o fth straight league title in its series two weeks ago against Crater, but this year9s team becomes the o rst to go undefeated in league play. <League titles are nice because it's hard to win one and it9s hard to win two, let alone o ve. We've been fortu- nate enough to have good play- ers, and we play good baseball,= Thurston coach Dennis Minium said. <We're trending in the right direction, and I think we're in a good spot going into the play- offs.= Despite the league success, the state championship has eluded the Colts baseball program up to this point. Even in discussing what it means to win o ve straight league titles, Minium said the lack of a blue trophy, given to the state cham- pions, is the one thing still miss- ing. <Ultimately, I'd give up every single one of those (league titles) for a blue trophy. I think it9s within our grasp right now,= he said. <League titles are nice, but at the end of the day, there's one See THURSTON 4 9 Voters supporting jail levy, Creswell schools bond CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT Ballots in Lane County are still being counted and results so far indicate several clear winners in races for the Springo eld, South Lane, Creswell, and Lane Community College school boards. On May 16, voters were also asked to select candidates for area library, o re, water, and recreation boards 3 as well as ballot measures. Ofo cial election results will not be released until June 1. SCHOOL BOARDS South Lane School District: In position two, Duane Taddei is bringing in 53.85% of the vote while his two opponents, Martha Allen (15.93%) and incumbent Dustin Bengtson (29.69%) split the remainder of them. Position 7 is still contested, with incumbent Gary Mort bringing in 46.88% of the vote, and his opponent, Tina Murphy with 52.63%. In position one, incumbent Tammy Hodgkinson ran unopposed and is bringing in 80.32% of the vote. In position 6, Joe Tucker ran unopposed and is bringing in 93.58% of the vote. Creswell School District: In position 1, incumbent Kandice Worsham ran unopposed and is bringing in 97.90% of the vote. In position two, Sarah Cox is bringing in 82.65% of the vote, while her opponent, Ronald Colletti, is bringing in 16.84%. In position three, incumbent Debi Wilkerson has an See VOTERS 44