COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL March 25, 2015
9A
Public safety, medical marijuana part of Creswell's conversation
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Concerning
T
he City of Creswell has decisions
to make regarding its future, and
a recent City Council meeting gave the
community a few hours to try to hash
out those decisions.
The Creswell City Council joined in-
terested citizens for a marathon meeting
on Monday, March 9, with the issues
of public safety and medical marijuana
chief among a list of agenda items that
kept the gathered crowd busy through-
out the evening.
Public safety fi gured heavily into
the conversation, with a public hearing
scheduled to help the Council deter-
mine whether to continue, discontinue
or change a fee added to local utility
bills to pay for patrol services by the
Creswell
News and notes from our neighbor to the north
Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
Three scenarios are under consid-
eration by the Council, as reported by
the 'Creswell Chronicle' — one would
fund three full-time sheriff's deputies
and a half-time sergeant at a cost of
$641,579; option two would fund three
deputies and a third-time sergeant with
a $611,318 price tag, and the third op-
tion would fund 2 ½ deputies and a
half-time sergeant for a $563,038 total.
Last year, the City enacted a $6 pub-
lic safety fee that was added to water
bills to fund a third deputy in response
to a spike in crime, though the fee was
designed to sunset on June 30, and the
question of whether to enact funding
again this year looms large as the time
to prepare the city budget approaches.
“The question has always been
whether to fun three deputies or a third-
time sergeant,” said City Administrator
Michelle Amberg, who said a report on
local policing conducted at Portland
State University is due in June but may
be too late to impact the conversation.
"We need to discuss whether to keep
the fee or make changes," Amberg said.
"We need the numbers now, but we'll
probably go ahead for budget purposes
with the conservative estimate of 2 ½
deputies and a half-time sergeant."
The Chronicle reports that Lane
County Sgt. Billy Halvorson advocated
the fi rst scenario, noting that property
crime decreased by 33 percent follow-
ing the addition of the third deputy.
Creswell also faces the appearance
of medical marijuana dispensaries in
the City, as the one-year moratorium it
enacted to delay their establishment ex-
pires and applications for new dispen-
saries will be accepted on May 1. The
City Council was asked to help outline
any restrictions it may choose to place
on where dispensaries may locate be-
fore that time; Creswell’s Planning
Commission has reportedly favored
restricting dispensaries to operations in
commercial and industrial zones while
keeping them out of the core of down-
town. State law currently prohibits mu-
nicipalities from restricting dispensa-
ries’ hours of operation, etc.
The Council unanimously passed an
ordinance restricting the location of
dispensaries to commercial or indus-
trial zones.
Amberg said there has already been
talk of “a couple people” interested in
opening dispensaries in Creswell.
O FFBEAT
Continued from page 4A
Oregon and Washington is-
sued a proclamation giving them
full law-enforcement authority.
The life of a Sand Pounder
was not easy, and although it
wasn’t combat, it could be dan-
gerous at times. There was al-
ways the danger of being swept
out to sea if one got too close
to it while rounding one of the
capes or outcroppings; Coasties
on Sand Pounder duty frequent-
ly got soaked up to the bridle in
spray from the waves. And the
horses added an unpredictable
element as well. One unfortu-
nate fellow was patrolling along
the coast near the Southern Pa-
cifi c railroad track when the
engine, passing by, fi red up its
boiler burner, startling the horse
— which threw the rider (35-
pound radio and all) and gal-
loped off into the night.
The Sand Pounders shared
the fate of the Aircraft Warning
Service volunteers and the Tilla-
mook-based blimp squadron: by
the time their program was up
and running, the Japanese men-
ace to the Pacifi c Coast — other
than balloon bombs — was en-
tirely gone. So the Sand Pound-
ers of Oregon didn’t get much
action — other than the fre-
quent drills they participated in,
practicing repelling amphibious
invasion. And in early 1944, as
the tide of the war started turn-
ing, the beach patrols started be-
ing cut drastically back. Patrol-
FREE
Disorientated Express
one been dispatched to Oregon’s
shores, there’s every reason to
think they would have. Their
effect on morale alone may
have made them worth having
around; their presence on the
beaches was a real comfort for
the nervous residents of Oregon
coastal communities during the
dark, fearful year that followed
the Fort Stevens and Brookings
attacks.
But it’s also possible that the
Sand Pounders had won their
KNND
Raffle
Ticket
FREE
Murder on the
men young enough for combat
duty were sent off to help the
Navy deliver the D-Day inva-
sion force; surplus horses were
auctioned off at the Tillamook
County Fairgrounds.
And, of course, with the end
of the war came an end of the
Beach Patrol entirely.
So, were the Sand Pounders a
success? It depends on how you
measure it. Although they never
had the opportunity to catch an
invasion or infi ltration force, had
Hourly Prizes will be drawn and posted at the
Cottage Grove
Home & Garden Show
April 11 & 12
Cottage Grove High School Gym
on N. River Road.
A DINNER MYSTERY THEATRE
presented by: Friends of the Cottage Grove Library
Name: ___________________________________
Saturday, March 28 th , 7:00pm • CG Comm. Center
Phone Number: ____________________________
Additional Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5
Main Prize Drawing April 12 at 4 pm.
Must be present to Win
Two nights at Shilo Inn and other large prizes.
Singles $25.00 • Couples $45.00
Tickets can be purchased at
The Bookmine • 702 E. Main Street
fi ght before they even suited up.
When that unarmed, untrained
Coastie stumbled across the
Nazi saboteurs on Long Island,
in the incident that caused the
Beach Patrol to be organized,
the message got back to the Axis
Powers, loud and clear, that the
American home front was not
going to be an easy target. The
prompt arming and organiz-
ing of the beach patrols would
have been a topic of intense in-
terest to Axis spies in the U.S.,
and would have been observed
and reported back to Berlin and
Tokyo. The fact that the patrols
were mounted and equipped
with battlefi eld radios meant
that all that would be needed to
ruin a months-long operation
would be a glimpse. Who knows
what diabolical plans were nev-
er hatched by wartime enemies
because they knew the beaches
were so thoroughly monitored?
The Sand Pounders had a bor-
ing time of it during their lonely
beach duty. None of them ever
saw a single enemy combat-
ant. But they were never meant
to be a combat force. The fact
that they never saw any action
doesn’t mean they were a fail-
ure; in fact, if anything, it’s a
certifi cation of their complete
success.
(Sources: Bishop, Eleanor.
Prints in the Sand. Missoula,
MT: Pictoral Histories, 1989;
Noble, Dennis. The Beach Pa-
trol and Corsair Fleet. Wash-
ington, D.C.: U.S. Coast Guard
Historian’s Offi ce, 1992)
Finn J.D. John teaches at
Oregon State University and
writes about odd tidbits of Or-
egon history. For details, see
http://fi nnjohn.com. To contact
him or suggest a topic: fi nn2@
offbeatoregon.com or 541-357-
2222.
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South Lane Mental Health
Douglas G. Maddess, DMD
Serving Cottage Grove Since 1988
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Pharmacies
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