CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL January 28, 2015
On the road — again
Crash claims life
of Dorena man
Second book details 99's 'Folk History'
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
W
hile it certainly has the
ability to move people
and goods from place to place,
local author Josephine “Jo” Brew
feels that Interstate 5 lacks much
of the charm of its predecessor.
“The freeway makes a point of
not connecting cities,” Brew said.
“You can go all the way from one
end to the other and never be in
one city.”
For her newest book, Brew es-
chews the Interstate in favor of the
many cities along Highway 99,
often stopping in lesser-known
locales and even paying a visit
to ghost towns along the way.
But “Oregon’s Main Street: U.S.
Highway 99, The Folk History”
is about more than the cities that
Oregonians call home. Instead, the
book tells the history of the famed
highway through the stories of
those who lived there, stories that
have thus far found an enchanted
audience.
“We’re delivering books to
stores, and people seem to be en-
joying them,” Brew said. “They
like that there are short pieces that
can be read one or two at a time,
but a lot of people say they want
to keep a copy, so they can follow
the road.”
Brew and family followed the
road a lot during her early years.
She attended high school in Ash-
land, moving from north to south
along 99 “as the road was built.”
She’s lived and worked in Califor-
nia, Grants Pass and has taught in
Cottage Grove. These days, Brew’s
work appears in a regular column
in Creswell’s “Chronicle.”
A clipping from a Chronicle col-
umn that looked back on her early
days in Ashland eventually formed
the basis of her fi rst book.
“I always enjoyed those little
stories,” she said. For over four
years, she dutifully interviewed,
listened and copied them down,
often with the need to verify his-
torical details later on. Along the
way, she talked with several fami-
lies and often several generations
of the same family.
After amassing stories by visit-
ing small museums up and down
the Highway and accepting sub-
missions from others with a story
to tell, Brew felt she had a rough
draft that was ready for an edi-
tor. The book would tell the tales
of Highway 99 in sections corre-
sponding to maps that would also
be included.
Brew sent her early draft to Pat
Edwards, herself a published lo-
cal author of historical accounts
such as “Sawdust and Cider”
T
courtesy photo
Author Jo Brew spent four years compiling stories about
life in the communities along Highway 99.
and “From Sawdust and Cider to
Wine,” which chronicle the history
of the Lorane area. Right away,
they zeroed in on a problem.
“She said to me, ‘You have 845
pages,’” Brew said. “So eventu-
ally we decided we would have to
separate it into two books.”
After some wrangling, it was
decided that the stories Brew loved
so well would comprise the fi rst
book; “U.S. Highway 99: The Sto-
ries,” which was released in 2013
with little fanfare or promotion.
They then decided that Edwards
would handle the historical details
that populate “Folk History,” a his-
tory again told with the voices of
those who lived it.
“Folk History” travels Highway
99 sharing stories along the way.
In Cottage Grove, much attention
is paid to the area’s pioneering tim-
ber families, and the small com-
munities of Saginaw and Walker
also get a nod.
Brew and Edwards started their
promotional efforts at a presen-
tation organized by the Cottage
Grove Genealogical Society,
which Edwards said drew a nice
crowd. Many left with copies of
both books, which are now often
purchased as a set.
“From hearing everybody’s re-
actions to it, I’d say they’ve taken
it very well,” Edwards said. “I was
especially nervous about how his-
torians would take it, but even they
seem impressed.”
Both books can be purchased at
the Genealogical Society offi ce in
the Community Center and at the
Bookmine in Cottage Grove.
Committee to discuss bond levy, replacing Harrison
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
S
outh Lane School District of-
fi cials have sought to replace
the aging building that houses Har-
rison Elementary School for some
time, and a meeting scheduled
this week should start the most in-
depth conversation on how to make
replacing Harrison a reality.
Built in 1949, Harrison is one
of South Lane’s oldest buildings
and its second-largest elementary
school. In December, South Lane
Superintendent Krista Parent peti-
tioned the School Board to create a
committee charged with exploring
the feasibility of a local tax levy
that would raise funds to build a
2015
new Harrison, though Parent didn’t
stop there. Many technological
and facilities upgrades are neces-
sary throughout the District, Par-
ent said, and a bond to put before
local voters may be the only way
such upgrades could be fi nanced.
At the Board’s Dec. 1 meeting,
Parent read a draft ‘statement of
purpose’ that charges the bond
advisory committee with “review-
ing and prioritizing the District’s
facilities needs” and “conferring
on recommendations regarding a
bond for facilities upgrades.”
Parent said those recommenda-
tions could also potentially involve
technology and security upgrades
throughout the District, a new
pool, baseball fi eld and perform-
ing arts center.
“We shouldn’t just call it the
Harrison committee,” she said.
“There are other possibilities that
should be wide open. I don’t want
to narrow the possibilities of things
I think we won’t ever get without a
bond. With regard to technology,
the gap just gets wider and wider,
and security in our facilities is just
really not acceptable.”
Applications for prospective
members of the bond advisory
committee have come in steadily,
according to District spokesper-
son Garrett Bridgens, who said
the committee will likely consist
of 10-12 district employees and a
similar number of interested citi-
zens.
The committee is expected to tar-
get an election scheduled for either
May or November of 2016 to place
the bond issue before voters. Par-
ent explained that another aspect
of the timing of a potential bond
levy involves the expiration of a
previous levy used to build the cur-
rent Cottage Grove High School.
The District recently restructured
the bond it used to rebuild CGHS,
and the rate taxpayers contribute
to pay off that bond will drop sig-
nifi cantly in 2017. Parent said that
adding another bond at that time
would not change overall the rate
paid by taxpayers.
The School District Bond Advi-
sory Committee will meet Thurs-
day, Jan. 29.
he Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce is crediting the
driver of a tall truck with discovering the car
wreck that claimed the life of a 75-year old Dorena man
on Thursday.
On Jan. 22, the Sheriff’s Offi ce received a report of
a vehicle that was located 30-40 feet down a ravine off
Row River Road between milepost 18 and 19. Accord-
ing to Public Information Offi cer Carrie Carver, the ve-
hicle was situated far enough down the ravine that it is
unlikely that it would have been visible from a passenger
vehicle; however, the community member reporting the
wreckage was driving a commercial truck that sat far
enough off the ground to provide visibility. When the
vehicle was spotted, the community member called for
help. It remains unknown at this time when the accident
occurred or why the vehicle veered off the road.
The driver, Robert Peck of Dorena, was found de-
ceased in the vehicle. Peck was reported as a missing
person on Tuesday, Jan. 20 by his caregiver. The Lane
County Sheriff’s Offi ce will conduct a death investiga-
tion in conjunction with the Lane County Medical Ex-
aminer’s Offi ce.
Flue fi re spreads
to attic,
displacing family
Fire dept. offi cials still exploring
why blaze spread
W
hat started out as a report of a fl ue fi re on Thurs-
day escalated quickly for offi cials with South
Lane County Fire and Rescue.
Division Chief Joe Raade said the department re-
sponded to a report of a chimney or fl ue fi re (a fi re in-
volving the accumulated soot or creosote in a chimney)
in the 1300 block of S. 8th St. across from Kennedy
High School.
“When we got there, we noticed that the outside of the
fl ue was burning,” Raade said. “We opened the attic, and
the whole attic had burned already.”
The cause of the fi re is unknown, and Raade said
fi refi ghters also wonder how the blaze could have trans-
ferred from the fl ue to the nearby attic. Occasionally, he
said, fi res escape a fl ue in which the inner jacket has
decayed.
“The homeowners are lucky to have discovered it
when they did,” he said. “They were an hour or two from
going to bed, and then things could have been different.
Looking from the outside of the house, you can’t even
really tell anything has been burned.”
The fi re did considerable damage to the home, how-
ever, and the Cascades Region offi ce of the American
Red Cross reportedly assisted the family consisting of
two adults, a child and a dog with temporary housing.
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