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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2015)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL January 21, 2015 Cottage Grove Retrospective Last year was Oregon's second-warmest on record A look back at Sentinel stories from 30 years ago Jan. 23, 1985 McDonald’s chain ponders site in CG The fast food mogul McDon- ald’s is considering signing and option agreement on a 4 ½-acre parcel of undeveloped land near the Cottage Grove I-5 exit, according to a high-ranking offi cial at the restaurant chain’s regional headquarters in Bel- levue, Wash. McDonald’s real estate man- ager Mel Brook said Monday it may take up to 30 days before an agreement is signed, but that a restaurant could be opened here by late summer. “We really don’t know what we’re going to do with it,” Brooks said of the property. “We want to put a McDonald’s there, but we really need time to study it.” Cottage Grove attorney Ron Ir- vine, who represents the owners of the Cottage Grove property, confi rmed McDonald’s is in- terested in purchasing the land. “We are now in the process of negotiating an option on the property with McDonald’s,” he said. “We’re waiting for them to return the documents.” Brook said while “we’re close to a fi rm agreement with the landowners,” Cottage Grove residents should realize a series of hurdles need to be cleared before the golden arches are raised here. POLICE BLOTTER Jan. 12 A reporting person requested a follow-up on a case regarding a pair of underwear found on her ceiling fan; she has identi- fi ed a possible suspect. Criminal mischief, E Quincy Ave A caller reported damage to a rear fence that occurred some- time Friday night. There was no suspect info, and the estimated damage was $20. Shoplift, Walmart Complainant reported that a theft occurred at 11:30 p.m. the night before and that he has video of the incident. The stolen Though the McDonald’s restau- rant here would primarily draw local customers, it would likely need to pull from freeway traffi c to succeed, Brook said. The heavy tourist trade found in the summer months could prompt quicker action on the restaurant, he hinted. “I would say we would be pushing to open a store by mid-summer” assuming everything proceeds smoothly, Brook said. If all does proceed smoothly, the McDonald’s franchise for Cottage Grove will likely be awarded to a Eugene man who is already operating McDon- ald’s restaurants in Eugene, Lebanon and Albany. Cottage Grove Police Department 24-Hour Anonymous Tip Line: 767-0504 property is approximately 120 pieces of silver and stainless steel jewelry valued at $2,404. Follow-up, N 9th St He explained that even if an option agreement is signed, McDonald’s will need up to four months for engineering work and to study the feasibil- ity of opening a restaurant in Cottage Grove. Even then, McDonald’s may elect to pass up the land — al- though Brook considers that doubtful. If the nationwide fast-food corporation decides to purchase the land, Brook explained, McDonald’s will apply for the necessary building permits from the city. Upon approval from the city, construction on a restaurant could commence. Brook said it usually takes about 110 days to build one of these restaurants once ground is broken. Criminal mischief, S 6th St Caller reported three broken windows on the south side of the building. There was no sus- pect, and the estimated damage was $900-$1000. Jan. 13 Burglary, Harvey Rd Caller said she had just re- turned home from a trip and found her residence burglarized. Numerous items had been tak- en, including an iMac computer valued at $1500. Jan. 16 Suspicious condition, Dari Mart Reporting person said that a young boy came into the busi- ness asking for directions to the coast, saying that he was going to walk there. The reporting person was concerned for the child’s welfare. Jan. 17 5A Unlawful entry into motor vehicle, Blue Sky Dr. Caller reported multiple things missing from his vehicle, including a Sony digital camera ($900), a Compaq Presario lap- top ($100), an Acer Aspire lap- top ($500) and miscellaneous clothing ($100). There was no suspect info. Jan. 18 Follow-up, Police Station Animal injured, S 6th St and Lincoln Complainant brought a small, plastic baggie containing two hairs he found in his vehicle that do not belong to him. It was determined that the hairs had no evidentiary value and were dis- posed of. A reporting person said that there was a possibly dead ani- mal in the intersection at the location. The offi cer contacted the owner at the scene, who then removed the animal from the roadway. Portland, they discovered some- one had stolen 800 more than pounds of opium from a gang member’s house. Apparently the word was out on the street. A little later, 1400 pounds of dope were chucked off the Wilmington and successfully retrieved and hauled to a gang member’s house, as they of- ten did, in the middle of the night. This evening was special, though, because the gang mem- ber’s wife had gotten into a feud with one of the neighbors, who had been just waiting for them to bring in another big load so she could call the cops on them. Luckily, when she did, she got hold of a friend of Blum’s at the police station. So Blum ran down and introduced him- self as a detective, took her in- formation, thanked her and told her authorities were on the job. While he kept her busy telling him all about what his gang members had been up to, the gang members themselves were busy loading up a ton and a half of dope and hauling it off to someone else’s house. BY MARK FLOYD For the Sentinel T he year 2014 was the hot- test on Earth in 134 years of record-keeping, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration (NOAA) reported on Friday, continuing a pattern of global warming that is attrib- uted primarily to rising levels of greenhouse gases. Oregon was not exempt from the warming and logged the sec- ond hottest year since records were kept beginning in 1895, according to researchers with the Oregon Climate Change Re- search Institute at Oregon State University. “We had a warm summer, and now a warm winter and that’s where we got our warm year,” said Kathie Dello, deputy di- rector of the center. “We are looking at our future right now – warm winters and low snow- packs.” The average statewide tem- perature in Oregon in 2014 was 49.5 degrees, which is 3.0 degrees above the average for the 20th century. The only hot- ter year on record was 1934 – when the United States suffered through the Dust Bowl. The average temperature in Oregon that year was 49.9. Low snowpacks are of par- ticular concern later in the year when less water is available, Dello pointed out. “Drought continues to be a concern in southern and eastern Oregon, as well as in Califor- nia,” she said. “The tempera- ture outlook for the next three months is pointing toward con- tinued warm temperatures for the western United States.” According to NOAA, the av- erage 2014 temperature across both land and ocean surfaces globally was 1.24 degrees above the 20th-century average. This was the highest among all years on record dating back to 1880, the agency noted. Regions that were considered the warmest last year, according to NOAA, included eastern Rus- sia, the western United States, portions of Australia, much of the northeastern Pacifi c Ocean, segments of the equatorial Pa- cifi c, large swaths of the Atlan- tic Ocean, most of the Norwe- gian Sea, and parts of the central to southern Indian Ocean. Philip Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Re- search Institute, said the sub- tlety of rising temperatures on a global scale can be hard to comprehend, since people tend to view climate based on their personal experiences. “Most of us relate to climate through what we remember and the week-long spell of near- record cold, snow and ice last February may seem more per- tinent or convincing than global mean temperature,” Mote said. “But from a physics perspec- tive, global mean temperature represents lots of interesting processes – rising greenhouse gases among them. “Setting a record like this means those processes lined up this year,” Mote added. “On av- erage, greenhouse gas increases make each year roughly .04 degrees warmer than the last – which may not sound like much, but really adds up over time.” At that rate, the temperature would increase one degree ev- ery 25 years, and four degrees each century – an alarming rate of increase, scientists say. “And unless emissions of greenhouse gases are curbed,” Mote said, “the warming is likely to be faster than that in the future.” O FFBEAT Continued from page 4A did not work out and Blum’s runner had to bribe suspicious farmers and curious riverboat pilots to retrieve it. That summer, Blum tried to smuggle some dope into San Francisco in two big steamer Matt Bjornn ChFC, Agent 1481 Gateway Blvd Cottage Grove, OR 97424 Bus: 541-942-2623 matt@bjornninsurance.com trunks but lost the claim check to one of the trunks. He was followed by two accomplices, one of whom got busted with a full 250 pounds. By the time the thumbfi ngered drug-runners fi nally straggled back home to … and I’m one of them. My customers know who to turn to for help with their insurance or financial planning. Don’t stress over figuring it out on your own. I exist to assist. CALL ME TODAY. Busted This sort of thing, of course, couldn’t go on forever. In De- cember 1893, a grand jury handed down indictments against everyone … including NEW: Digital X-Rays (use less radiation) Implants •Teeth Whitening • Extractions Lumineers (no prep veneers as seen on TV) Cottage Grove Dental Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS 350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies) 1408556 541.942.7934 State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL Jim Lotan. The charges involved smuggling more than two tons of opium and running a human- traffi cking operation smuggling undocumented Chinese laborers into Portland. Also indicted was Seid Back, the most prominent and successful Chinese mer- chant in the Northwest. Hoping to catch a break, Blum turned state’s evidence, was placed on the stand and started singing. The trial held the city spell- bound. But Lotan and Back hadn’t much need to worry. The roster of court offi cers at this trial reads like an excerpt from the Arlington Club directory. Lotan was represented by fu- ture Senator Charles W. Fulton. Former and future state Senate President Joseph Simon repre- sented another defendant. Per- haps most outrageously, federal prosecutor John Gearin — who had just been appointed by Pres- ident Grover Cleveland as spe- cial prosecutor for opium frauds — was, in the case of this par- ticular opium fraud, on the side of the defense. The judge was one of Simon’s former law part- ners, and the jury foreman was fellow Arlington Club member Charles Ladd. The smugglers go free So the trial ended with a hung jury. The word on the street was that the vote was 11 to 1; jury foreman Ladd had refused to vote to convict his friend. A new trial would have to be sched- uled. But one never was. Before a new trial could be scheduled, Mr. Blum … disappeared. Odd coincidence, yes? As for Lotan, the resulting bad publicity does seem to have hurt him … but not much. The following year, the city relented and bought the aging, decrep- it, increasingly unseaworthy Stark Street Ferry from him for $40,000 — which was still an overpayment on the order of 2,000 percent. (Sources: MacColl, E. Kim- bark. Merchants, Money and Power: The Portland Estab- lishment 1843-1913. Portland: Georgian Press, 1988; Port- land Daily Telegraph, 11/27- 12/24/1893; Portland Orego- nian, 11/29/1893) Finn J.D. John, an instruc- tor at Oregon State University, writes about unusual and little- known aspects of Oregon his- tory. To contact him or suggest a topic: fi nn@offbeatoregon.com, @OffbeatOregon (on Twitter), or 541-357-2222. Cottage Grove Board of REALTORS® Territorial Land Company, REALTORS R %AST -AIN 3TREET #OTTAGE 'ROVE s Real Estate Brokerage & Property Management FOR RENT DUPLEXES FOR RENT- BENJAMIN AVE. All units are 3 bedroom, 2bath, 1100+/- sq. ft., 1 & 2 car garage units. Oak cabinets, w/w carpet, most have skylights/back covered patio. Lawn maintenance provided. Rents are $855/mo 1 car and $875/mo 2 car $895/mo for corner units. Standard $1,000 deposit with decent credit and good references. No smoking, some take pets (under 18#’s) with extra $1,000 added to deposit. DOUG PERKEY, Broker ppp'm^kkbmhkbZeeZg]'\hf WANTED A1-REALITY JOHN & LUCETTE I'm rounding up new property listings and I've got buyers for the good, the bad and the ugly. Whether you've got prime timberland or a stump farm. Premium bottom ground or a hillside, a palace or a fixer-upper, give me a call for a free market analysis. The only thing between you and a sale is the price. JOE WARD PROPERTIES 541-912-0934 Joe Ward, eves 541-942-3958 REAKSECKER “We Sell Real Estate” (541) 683-6241 541-221-4004 cell www.a1-reality.com (Member Lane County Realtors Million Dollar Club) WANTED WANTED: “LITTLE FARM” West or North of Cottage Grove. QUALIFIED BUYER in $300,000 plus range. WIN – WIN Opportunity. WANTED: READY TO ACT “BUYERS ” who know what they want AND need not just an ok deal BUT demand a GREAT BUY and GREAT FINANCING. and a WIN – WIN Real Estate Deal. Call John 541-221-4004 We Appreciate our Affi liates Commonwealth Financial Network Cottage Grove Sentinel Cynergy Pest Control Eagle Home Mortgage ENG Lending Evergreen Land Title Escrow First American Title & Escrow First American Home Warranty Siuslaw Mortgage State Farm Insurance Umpqua Bank PayneWest Insurance White Water Well Drilling & Pump Service Williams & Mathis Accounting Service
