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.