COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 18, 2015
This South
Lane
School
District
bus sus-
tained
heavy
damage
in a crash
outside
Dorena
Thursday
afternoon.
photo by Jon Stinnett
Bus accident sends student to hospital
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The ride home from school turned scary for
students and a bus driver from Dorena School
Thursday afternoon.
Personnel from South Lane School District
said about 25 students were on board the bus
that left the school headed southbound when
a northbound Dodge Ram pickup driven by
49-year old Johnnie Sayles reportedly crossed
the centerline and careened down the left side
of the bus. Division Chief Joe Raade of South
Lane County Fire and Rescue later surmised
that the bus driver may have corrected the ve-
hicle’s route toward nearby homes and the Row
River by instead hitting a tree by the roadside.
Raade said that one girl who was riding on the
bus was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for
a potential head injury; Raade said paramed-
ics didn’t transport anyone else from the scene,
including Sayles, who was also unhurt. Sayles’
truck continued traveling down the guardrail
for what appeared to be a half-mile from the
crash site. The bus and pickup both sustained
extensive damage.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce joined
South Lane Fire and an offi cer from the Cottage
Grove Police Department at the scene, where a
second bus eventually arrived to take students
home after the crash. Sgt. Carrie Carver of
LCSO said that Sayles was later given a citation
for driving under the infl uence of intoxicants.
She said that Sayles was cooperative with po-
lice following the crash.
3A
Presentation, exhibit to focus
on history of Applegate Trail
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
O
n June 5, 1846, a group
of Oregon settlers based
in Dallas set out to fi nd a south-
erly route to the new territory
that could bypass many of the
dangers they’d encountered on
the Oregon Trail three years
prior. The group, which nota-
bly included Jesse and Lind-
sey Applegate, Levi Scott and
others, spent three and a half
months plotting the trip to Fort
Hall, Idaho, later convincing a
wagon train of settlers to return
on their new route. It was a de-
cision and a journey that would
shape much of Oregon’s history
(and particularly the history of
this area) thereafter, and one
that will serve as the focus of an
exhibit and presentation on the
Applegate Trail at the Cottage
Grove Library.
Back in 1996, Cottage Grove’s
Joann Skelton was one of a co-
alition studying and interpreting
the historical signifi cance and
offi cial route of the Applegate
Trail, and in 1995, the facts
Skelton and others uncovered
helped set the record straight on
its route in time for the 150th
anniversary of the trail’s begin-
nings.
Skelton’s fi ndings became
a presentation before the Cot-
tage Grove Historical Society
in 1995, a lecture entitled “Not
an Easy Road,” a fact Skelton
stressed often while discussing
the trail.
“People only used the trail for
two years, basically,” Skelton
said. “In those days, the Oregon
Territory was jointly occupied
by the U.S. and the British. The
fi rst group of leaders knew that,
if war broke out between the
two countries, the main fort,
Fort Vancouver, was held by the
British and they would need a
way to get out of this area. They
also knew that a route from the
south might convince more set-
tlers to come out here. The road
was almost as bad as the one
they’d come over on, but that
may be beside the point.”
By the time the settlers had
reached Martin Creek just south
of Cottage Grove, they were
powerfully hungry, Skelton said,
and no doubt a little miffed at the
work that had been necessary to
get them there. The Applegates
would go on to settle near Yon-
calla, and their home served as a
stopping point for future settlers
thereafter.
Among that fi rst group of
northbound settlers was James
Chapin, who would do his part
to found Cottage Grove in later
years, in addition to a host of
names that are now common-
place in Eugene (Charnelton,
Blair, Hewland). The route the
Applegates founded later be-
came the route followed by
Highway 99 and later Interstate
5, though some historians (par-
ticularly those in Polk County,
according to Skelton) preferred
to name the trail after Levi
Scott.
In the mid 90s, Skelton and
other researchers also helped es-
tablish the fact that there were in
fact two routes of the Applegate
Trail — one that came through
Cottage Grove and another more
westerly route through present-
day Lorane. Their research was
able to convince the U.S. Na-
tional Parks Service of the his-
torical signifi cance of both parts
of the trail.
Skelton will elaborate much
more fully on the Applegate
Trail at a Historical Society pre-
sentation this Saturday, Feb. 21
at 10 a.m. at the CG Community
Center. A kickoff for the His-
torical Society exhibit featuring
the trail will follow on Monday,
Feb. 23 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the
CG Library. The Society’s Holli
Turpin said the exhibit will in-
clude several trail maps, back-
ground information and biog-
raphies of notable early settlers.
The exhibit will be on display
through March.
Lockdown drill tests preparedness of CGHS staff, students
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
J
ust before 10 a.m. Thurs-
day, a loud alarm pierced
the otherwise calm morning air
at Cottage Grove High School.
Instantly, teachers, students
and administrators sprung to
action — teachers shepherding
students into classrooms be-
fore locking their doors tight;
students hustling to the room
they’re supposed to occupy and
administrators communicating
with radios to try to keep track
of them all. Several students un-
fortunate enough to fi nd them-
selves outside their classrooms
instead made a trek outside the
school building while members
of the Cottage Grove Police
Department swept the halls in
search of trouble.
A few minutes later, it was all
over, and school offi cials gath-
ered with police to talk about
the school’s performance in a
drill designed to test Cottage
Grove High School’s response
to a potential school shooting or
other such catastrophe.
“The kids know where they’re
supposed to go in a lockdown
drill,” explained Athletic Direc-
tor Dave Presley, who also orga-
nized the exercise. “We’ve done
drills before that assumed that
the situation was already con-
tained, and the students knew to
stay in the classroom and away
from the door, but we also know
that most incidents reportedly
happen during passing periods,
so we wanted to know the pro-
cess for that situation.”
Presley said he thought the
exercise went well, and Cor-
poral Conrad Gagner of CGPD
agreed. They pointed out that
teachers locked their doors as
instructed and after a certain
amount of time had passed
would not open them for any
one, not even tardy students.
One student, they pointed out,
was in an upstairs bathroom
when the alarm rang out, and
several more made their way
outside to the front of the build-
ing in a group.
School offi cials pointed out
that, during a potential school
shooting, the second-safest
place to be is in a locked class-
room, with outside the building
being the best option. Com-
mander Scott Shepherd said it
took about 3-4 minutes to get
all the students there Thursday,
calling the morning’s exercise
a “good fi rst drill.” Shepherd
cautioned, though, that students
who left the building could not
necessarily expect to see blink-
ing police lights as guides, as
police would likely arrive in un-
marked cars and would be too
preoccupied with nullifying the
threat indoors to gather students
or secure a perimeter. Shepherd
also noted the importance of
conveying a sense of urgency
to the student body about taking
such a drill seriously.
Superintendent Krista Parent
said South Lane School District
is working on a common pro-
tocol for lockdown situations
throughout the District. She
said similar drills take place at
all district schools. On Thurs-
day, school offi cials and police
discussed the next possible drill,
which may not be scheduled and
announced quite as thoroughly
as last week’s exercise.
Gagner said school shoot-
ings remain “at the forefront of
people’s minds” because they
can happen anywhere. He said
law enforcement offi cials have
gone from a mindset of gath-
ering forces outside a building
before venturing in — a sort of
SWAT-team mentality — and
sending police in immediately
to try and neutralize a threat that
can quickly turn deadly. Gagner
said Cottage Grove Police are as
“ready as we can be” to respond
to such a situation.
Three common childhood dental health concerns
When your baby’s fi rst teeth come in, everyone rejoices;
it’s a sign that all is progressing as it should. But as your
child ages, various dental concerns can come along as
well. Some issues are genetic and will require orthodon-
tic work a bit later on, but there are others you can pre-
pare for right now.
1. BABY BOTTLE TOOTH DECAY
Prevent early childhood caries, or cavities, by nursing or
putting only mother’s milk and formula in your baby’s
bottles. Don’t let your baby fall asleep with the nipple in
the mouth; gently wipe your infant’s teeth with a sterile
gauze pad be fore sleep
time.
2. THUMB SUCKING
Thumb sucking is gen-
erally accepted to be a
harmless habit in young
children; sucking is a
natural refl ex in babies,
and for toddlers it is
Douglas G. Maddess, DMD
Brightening Lives One Smile at a Time
Welcoming New Patients
Call for an appointment today!
914 South 4th St.
#' s
douglasgmaddessdmd.com
an effective self-soothing strate-
gy. However, the American Dental
Association says that thumb suck-
ing after the age of four can affect
the alignment of your child’s teeth
and jaw. Talk to your pediatrician for
advice about thumb sucking.
3. ACCIDENTAL TRAUMA TO THE TEETH
A blow to the mouth, cheek, or jaw
may cause damage to teeth above
or below the gum line. Take your
child to the dentist’s or to the hospital
emergency room if a tooth is cracked
or knocked out or if an object gets
caught in the mouth or between the teeth. In the case of
a knocked-out tooth, try to recover it and bring it to the
dentist or hospital. Keep the tooth moist, ideally in the
child’s mouth; if your child is old enough to not swal-
low it, place it between the teeth and gums or in the gap
from where it fell out. You can also place the tooth in a
cup of milk.
Shane Parsons, DMD
New patients welcome
605 Jefferson Ave. • Cottage Grove
Please call for an appointment.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm
Emergency appts. available daily
www.shaneparsonsd md.com
541
942-9171
Brent Bitner, DDS
Dentistry with Family in Mind
C ALL U S T ODAY !
541.942.7934
350 E. W ASHINGTON A VENUE • C OTTAGE G ROVE
WWW.CGSMILES.COM