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.
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