Beyond the Grove — 8A
S School l Z Zone
o one
on
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Dorena teachers retire
School Gardens
Lion King Pageant
page 9A
Lions on track — 1B
Fire Board election — 3A
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 44
Petitioners hope to place Main Street plan on ballot
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
plan to remodel Main
Street, Cottage Grove
between its historic buildings
downtown will appear before
local voters on their ballots this
September, should a group of
petitioners gather the appropri-
ate number of signatures in the
next few weeks.
The Cottage Grove City
Council approved the Main
Street Refi nement Plan with
two majority votes this month,
though Oregon law allows pe-
titioners to gather signatures to
place any ordinance adopted
without an emergency clause on
the ballot within 30 days of its
passage. This means that those
seeking to place the referendum
on the ballot have until May 13
to collect signatures represent-
ing 10 percent of the registered
voters in Cottage Grove, which
amounts to 478 signatures, ac-
Construction
planned for
Highway 99
cording to Cottage Grove City
Recorder Trudy Borrevik.
Cottage Grove’s planning de-
partment held public meetings
in cooperation with a Portland-
based consultant to formulate
the Refi nement Plan beginning
in December of 2013. The plan
— which spells out the widen-
ing of Main Street’s sidewalks
and narrowing of its travel
lanes, adds outdoor utilities
and does away with the pro-
nounced “crown” of the street
itself — was presented to the
Cottage Grove Planning Com-
mission, which conducted two
lengthy public hearings of its
own before approving the plan
with conditions. Along the way,
the plan was (and continues to
be) the subject of much public
scrutiny, with many objecting to
an early plan to remove the trees
lining Main Street. (The current
plan calls for the systematic re-
moval and replacement of the
trees in order of need.)
AFTER ALL THESE YEARS !
photo by Greg Lee
Bookmine founder Gail
Hoelzle (second from
left) celebrates 40 years
in business with, from
left, Kathy Wamsley,
Holli Turpin and JoAnn
Gray.
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
O
ffi cials with the Oregon Department
of Transportation are eyeing the start
of another road construction project in the
Cottage Grove area as one project draws
nearer to completion.
Last week, ODOT again warned drivers
to expect long delays on Sunday afternoon
and evening through a work zone estab-
lished to repave a section of Interstate 5 be-
tween Cottage Grove and the Highway 38
exit. Spokesperson Dan Latham said delays
of two hours or more have been experienced
by motorists at the project, especially on
Sundays, when motorists returning from the
coast via Highway 38 encounter the lane
closure at approximately the same time.
Latham said ODOT was working to open
lanes at the construction site over the week-
end but added that congestion will persist
there for some time. The agency suggests
drivers consider alternate routes to bypass
the construction zone, though Latham said
ODOT does not spell out those routes.
“We really don’t want to encourage
people to go up into the hills that may
not be familiar with those areas,” he said.
Latham said nice weather, falling gas prices
and a late Spring Break for Washington stu-
Please see ODOT, Page 12A
Chief petitioners listed on
the paperwork fi led for the ref-
erendum are Mary McNamara
and Michele Rose. On Friday,
McNamara said petitioners will
work to gather 600 signatures in
advance of the deadline.
“I don’t think it will be easy,
but it’s doable, especially with
the number of people who have
already offered to help,” McNa-
mara said.
McNamara said she fi led the
petition because she believes
Bookmine
turns 40 at
Art Walk
the plan will completely change
the downtown feel of Cottage
Grove that she knows and loves.
She said her biggest complaint
involves widening the sidewalks
and narrowing travel lanes.
“It’s not safe,” she said. “It
leaves drivers no room to open
their car doors. Some little old
lady is going to get hit because
she’s not going to know she has
Please see REFERENDUM, Page 12A
Three local vets
to take May 15
Honor Flight
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
seemingly endless stream of patrons and
well wishers came to visit the Bookmine
on Friday night — the fi rst Art Walk event of the
year, which coincided with the Bookmine’s 40th
anniversary.
The shop, located at 7th and Main streets, was
decorated for the occasion with mementos from its
past; newspaper clippings from the Sentinel and
collages from book-signing events, which have
included authors Lois Barton, Benjamin Hoff and
Howard Zinn. But these keepsakes served less as
history lessons and more as prompts to reminisce,
as many of the Bookmine’s guests on Friday were
there for every step of its journey.
“People just keep coming up to say ‘thank you,’
and it’s been so nourishing for us,” said co-found-
er Gail Hoelzle. “We’ve shared so many ups and
downs and ins and outs with so many precious
people. And we’ve seen this town grow in all kinds
of ways.”
Gail started the Bookmine with her sister, Birdy,
in 1975. Gail had graduated from college as an
English major and had plans to teach at South Eu-
gene High School, but Birdy suggested opening a
bookstore. So, for a $150 a month, they found a
location on the south side of Main Street, and with
borrowed money, they took a station wagon down
to the independent book distributor, Bookpeople,
in Berkeley, Calif. and purchased the store’s initial
inventory.
Six months later, with the help of friends and a
few borrowed grocery carts, they moved to their
current location.
Since that time, the store has become a commu-
nity gathering place, where people come for more
than just shopping. The Bookmine regularly hosts
local authors and poets, supports literacy through
various other programs and has been a place for
generations of kids to discover a love for reading.
“As with most things, you get back what you put
in,” Gail said. “It hasn’t just been a business; I was
25 when we opened this place, and I turned 65 yes-
terday, so it’s defi nitely the fabric of my life.”
trio of Cottage Grove-area World War II veter-
ans have booked a fl ight in mid-May that will
introduce them to our nation’s capitol and the memori-
als built there in their honor.
The Honor Flight Network works to fl y veterans
of World War II and the Vietnam and Korea confl icts
to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials, and last
week, Mike Pengercar, director of Honor Flight’s op-
erations in the south Willamette Valley, confi rmed that
Glen Bricker, Roy Haymes and Carlton Woodard will
be among the veterans visiting D.C. on a fl ight that
departs Portland on May 15.
A total of 46 veterans from Lane, Linn, Lincoln and
Benton counties will make this fl ight, Pengercar said,
and it will hold the distinction of being the fi rst fl ight
to carry Korean War veterans. Priority for fl ights has
thus far been given to World War II vets due to their
advancing age, and the local Honor Flight group has
transported 254 of them in the past two years.
“Unfortunately, a number of the veterans aren’t able
to make the trip due to their age and health status,”
Pengercar said. “Any veterans of any confl ict that can
certify that they are terminally ill are also put on the
next available fl ight.”
The Honor Flight itinerary includes a packed sched-
ule. Veterans will overnight in Portland before board-
ing a Southwest Airlines fl ight to Denver, where they
are scheduled to be recognized by the USO, according
Please see FLIGHT, Page 12A
Historical library named for prominent area historian
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
N
photo by JoAnn Gray
Marcia Allen said she was 'very hum-
bled' that the CGHS library was named
in her honor.
ewspaper clippings that detail
the history of Cottage Grove
and South Lane County can be found
in abundance at the Cottage Grove
Historical Society’s library, and re-
cently, the Historical Society named
the library in honor of a local histori-
an that saved many of those clippings
for posterity.
On Saturday, April 18, the His-
torical Society renamed its library in
honor of Marcia E. Allen, who, along
with a small group of locals inter-
ested in their own histories, began the
process of collecting Cottage Grove’s
historical records decades ago.
“The Historical Society’s library is
the research library for our communi-
ty, and we thought what better way to
recognize Marcia for her efforts than
to name it after her?” said past His-
torical Society president and friend
of Allen’s, JoAnn Gray. “It makes a
great statement about her efforts, her
passion and her knowledge of local
history.”
Gray said Allen was aware that she
would be recognized but was uncer-
tain exactly how.
“I had no idea,” Allen said. “I
thought I had all the honors I had
coming to me several years ago. I was
just very humbled, and when I started
to think about how it (the library) go
there, I guess I did have something to
do with it.”
Now approaching 94 years old, Al-
len said her quest to compile docu-
mentation of Cottage Grove’s history
came about from a desire to learn
more about her own. Her father, An-
drew Brund, and the father of Joan
Penniston, operated a mercantile
in the early days of Cottage Grove.
Along with Eileen Trunnell Grimes,
the trio began their own collections of
newspaper clippings about their own
histories.
“I guess we were the original ‘clip-
to-maniacs,’” Allen said.
After retiring and raising her chil-
dren, Allen said she had more time
to discover the location of her dad’s
store, and the information she uncov-
ered shed light on the earliest days
of Main Street, Cottage Grove. She
served on the Cottage Grove Muse-
um board with Grimes and Penniston,
and when Allen’s son, Steve, who
was serving as fi re chief at the time,
mentioned that the Museum might
not survive a fi re, the trio ramped
up their collections in earnest. In the
late 1980s, a representative from the
special collections department at the
Lane County museum taught Cot-
tage Grove’s Historical Society many
of the fi ner points of compiling and
maintaining a historical library, and
Cottage Grove’s Matt Parker later
began the process of compiling the
information online.
“We realized that it’s no use saving
anything if you can’t fi nd it later,” Al-
len said. “The content list was typed
and added to about fi ve times.”
Over the years, the library has
moved to the historic Vealey House
and, later, to its present location on
Main Street, and there are plans in
place to move it again to the Boots
and Sandals Square Dance Barn.
Through the years, Allen said, one
revelation has led to another.
“The more you read about a place,
the more you want to know,” she
said.
Over the years, Allen has become
a go-to source for nuggets of Cot-
tage Grove history, operating under
the mantra that, “If you don’t write
it down, it’s lost.” Her own recollec-
tions of local history can be found in
a compilation entitled “I Remember
When” that can be checked out at the
Cottage Grove Library.
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