Take a kid fishing — 6A
90 by 30 feels blue
Fighting youth homelessness — 3A
Awareness campaign for Child Abuse
Prevention Month paints the town, page 2A
Easter celebration — 12A
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 41
Lawsuit over inmate death settled
City to pay $450,000 to mother of a 24-
year old who died of aspiration pneumonia
at the CG Jail in 2012
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he City of Cottage Grove
has reached a settlement
agreement with the mother of a
24-year old man who died of as-
piration pneumonia in the Cot-
tage Grove Jail in 2012.
The City has agreed to a
$450,000 settlement to end
litigation in a wrongful death
The suit stated that CGPD
failed to provide necessary
medical care while Cooper was
serving a sentence in the Cot-
tage Grove Jail for possession of
a Xanax pill without a prescrip-
tion, a failure it says ultimately
led to his death.
Megan Yarnall, a Eureka,
California-based attorney, fi led
the suit on behalf of Cooper in
March of 2013. Attorneys with
Miller and Wagner LLP of Port-
land defended the City. Facts
agreed upon by both parties in a
pretrial order fi led in November
of 2014 state that Nathan Coo-
suit fi led by Wendy Cooper,
the mother of Nathan Cooper,
against the City and several
representatives of the Cottage
Grove Police Department for
what it called the “intentional
conduct, reckless or conscious
disregard, deliberate indiffer-
ence or gross negligence” that it
says “deprived Nathan Cooper
of his civil and constitutional
rights.”
per was booked into the jail on
the morning of April 26, 2012
to serve a 10-day sentence. The
next day, Cooper experienced
what appeared to be heroin
withdrawal symptoms. That
evening, Offi cer Tami Howell
summoned paramedics to ex-
amine Cooper.
Cooper was released on a
“medical furlough” on April
29 to “detox on his own” but
reportedly failed to return to
the jail at the designated time.
He was re-arrested on April 30.
Paramedics were summoned
to evaluate Cooper again on
May 1, and they told CGPD to
monitor Cooper and keep him
hydrated. On May 2, Cooper
reportedly asked Offi cer Conrad
Gagner what it meant to puke
up blood. On May 3, Cottage
Grove’s Municipal Court Judge,
Court Clerk and City Attorney
met with Cooper in his jail cell
to discuss his criminal charges.
Early in the morning of May
5, Offi cer Jarrod Butler report-
edly found Cooper unconscious
during a jail check. He was pro-
nounced deceased at 4:31 a.m.
Also
inside:
Please see SUIT, Page 9A
Bond committee tours
pool, sees Harrison
cost estimate
Stock rising
Walk-off heroics power
Lion victory, page 1B
Members asked to identify priorities
in advance of April 8 meeting
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
F
or some time, a replacement of Harrison School has
been identifi ed as the prime target of South Lane
School District’s prospective bond measure. In addition,
the bond committee has discussed several other projects
for that bond. On Tuesday, March 31, the conversation
took a more concrete form when school district offi cials
presented the estimated cost of a new elementary school.
Based on recent school construction data from through-
out the western region, a new elementary school of 85,000
square feet, which could support 500-650 students, is es-
timated to cost $21.2 million, explained Superintendent
Krista Parent.
At a rate of $219 per square foot, it is 27 times more
expensive to build a new elementary school in 2015 than
in 1958. But while infl ation and increased construction
costs account for some of that difference, the profi les of
schools have also changed, Parent said.
All new schools are equipped with fi ber optics and
network connections; most have gymnasiums that are
not used for meals, and, compared to 1995, elementary
schools are providing about 80 more square feet of space
per student.
“Schools are no longer built with rows of desks in
mind,” Parent said. “There is more hands-on, project-
based learning, and that requires more space.”
The estimated cost for the new elementary school
includes both the building cost ($18.6 million) and the
costs associated with outfi tting the school ($2.6 million).
However, it is generally expected that the latter expendi-
tures will come out of whatever funds remain after con-
struction has been completed.
Please see BOND, Page 9A
photo by Jon Stinnett
Marc and Christina Lund completed the purchase of Sunset Hills last week after the facility
went through a period of receivership.
Lunds acquire Sunset Hills funeral chapel
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
M
arc and Christina Lund
have been spending quite
a bit of time in Eugene lately, but
they’re quick to point out that Cot-
tage Grove is still their home and
headquarters.
Last week, the Lunds, owners
of Smith-Lund-Mills Funeral Cha-
pel and Crematorium in Cottage
Grove, completed the purchase of
Sunset Hills Cemetery, Funeral
Home and Crematorium in south
Eugene, taking that business out of
a brief period of receivership.
The Lunds say they became in-
terested in purchasing Sunset Hills
while assisting the organization
during its time in receivership.
Last year, Sunset Hills faced the
threat of being shut down for lack
of licensure. Previous owners had
failed to qualify for state cemetery
requirements.
“Someone needed to step in and
do the right thing”, said Marc Lund.
“So many families had put their
trust in Sunset Hills, and funeral
service in general. I just couldn’t
see letting them down.”
Marc Lund pointed out that,
much like Smith-Lund-Mills, Sun-
set Hills features a three-part busi-
ness model that includes a chapel,
crematorium and cemetery. Each
business requires separate licens-
ing, and the Lunds were among the
few licensed funeral practitioners
Feet, cared-for
PeaceHealth opens
local clinic, page 3A
Please see CHAPEL, Page 9A
Project Prom: Interact Club works to bring down the cost of the big dance
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove High School stu-
dents Tori Fullerton and Tesslyn
Gordon along with fellow members of
Interact Club, were originally tasked
with staging a prom for the communi-
ty’s senior citizens. But it didn’t take
long for them to realize an equally
worthwhile opportunity in their own
back yard: making prom more afford-
able for high-school students.
In 2014, U.S. News and World Re-
port, citing data from Visa, estimated
that the average household spends
$978 on prom, the biggest expendi-
tures being clothes, limousine rentals,
tickets and dinner.
“We realized that a lot of students
were deciding not to go prom because
it was too expensive,” said Fullerton,
a senior.
While Interact did not abandon its
original plan — Fullerton said that a
senior-citizen prom is on tap for next
year — the club refocused its energies
over the past two months into bringing
down the cost for students to attend
this year’s high school prom, sched-
uled for April 25.
The club recently held a bake sale
to subsidize prom tickets for students
on free or reduced lunch programs.
The proceeds from the bake sale cut
the price of those tickets from $25 to
$12.50.
Interact Club, with Parent Partner-
ship, will also host a two-day event
this weekend at the high school for
students to pick from donated formal
wear. The event is open Saturday and
Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Gordon said that the support of local
businesses has been instrumental to
the project; many donated gift cards,
which will be awarded in a raffl e to
anyone who donated a piece of formal
wear.
Additionally, Shampoo Dolls Salon
donated fi ve hair and makeup appoint-
ments, which Interact Club will pres-
ent to deserving students.
“It’s been a bit overwhelming trying
to fi nd the time to pull this all together,
but it’s such a worth while cause and
we’ve had a lot of support from the
community,” Fullerton said.
Gordon, a junior, said she is confi -
dent that the project will return next
year.
“The past few months have been
a run of trial-and-error. We already
know a lot about how we will do it
better next year,” she said.
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www.cgsentinel.com
On the Internet
(541) 942-3325
By telephone
(541) 942-3328
By fax
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
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