Views on Referendum — 5A This year's
Catch a tagged trout — 3A
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Hall-of-Famers to be
Beyond the Grove — 6A
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 45
Saturday-evening shooting
leaves one dead, one injured
S
hots fi red in a Cottage
Grove neighborhood early
Saturday evening led to the death
of one man and injuries for an-
other.
Cottage Grove Police respond-
ed to a call indicating that shots
had been fi red in a home on Cur-
ry Avenue just before 6 p.m. Sat-
urday, according to Police Chief
Mike Grover.
Arriving on the scene, offi cers
located a male subject with a
gunshot wound, who was subse-
quently transported by a South
Lane Fire and Rescue Ambulance
for emergency medical care.
Cottage Grove Police then
requested assistance from the
Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce in
searching for a possible suspect.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Special Response Team (SRT)
used armored rescue vehicles to
approach the location and locat-
ed a deceased subject nearby.
The Sheriff’s Offi ce was con-
tinuing to withhold the identity
of the two men at Sentinel press
time Monday and offered no ad-
ditional information on the cir-
cumstances of the incident, cit-
ing their ongoing investigation.
But Grover indicated that a feud
between neighbors may have
played a part.
“There’s been a feud for years
and years,” he said. “We’ve been
out here many, many times.”
Also
inside:
photo by Jon Stinnett
Police Chief Mike Grover and Offi cer Shawn Brans-
tetter talk with an acquaintance of one of the men
involved in Saturday's shooting.
City gathers
feedback on
transit plan
Trees topple
Downtown business
owners removing
maples, page 3A
Next open house tentatively
set for late June
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he City of Cottage Grove is in the process
of updating its Transportation System Plan
(TSP), which will be used to identify the projects,
strategies and priorities that will address the city’s
transit needs through 2035.
On Tuesday, April 28, the City hosted an open
house at Stacy’s Covered Bridge Restaurant for
the community to fi nd out more about the initial
proposal and to share feedback.
According to City Planner Amanda Ferguson,
15 to 20 people attended this session; however,
she doesn’t believe this turnout is indicative of the
community’s interest in this process. She said that
the City has had the same materials available on
its website for some time, and many people have
already shared their thoughts through various ad-
vocacy groups such as the Bicycle Safety Coali-
tion.
One of the key road segments in the plan is on
Highway 99 between the Cottage Grove Connec-
tor and Woodson Bridge. There have been 16 col-
lisions on this segment over the past fi ve years of
available data. Ferguson said that the proposed
solution for this segment includes a roundabout,
which would be the fi rst such road feature in the
City. She added that this idea has prompted some
people to ask why there couldn’t be more round-
abouts in Cottage Grove.
Ferguson was pleased to say that state transpor-
tation authorities have already indicated an inter-
est in this segment and have made preliminary
plans to complete six separate projects at once,
photo by Matt Hollander
School Board candidate Nevin Beckes offers a comment during a forum hosted by the Blackberry
Pie Society Thursday night.
Communication key at School Board forum
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
‘
Communication’
permeated
much of the dialogue at the South
Lane School Board forum Thursday
evening at Bohemia Elementary.
Given the recent, highly publi-
cized saga of Eugene School District
4J, which hit a crescendo on April 29
when the Register Guard published
secret emails between board mem-
bers that showed potential violations
of state public meeting laws, it’s no
wonder that many questions and an-
swers during Thursday night’s ses-
sion centered on how the nine can-
didates for the South Lane School
Board would communicate should
they be elected next month.
During the forum, which was
moderated by Rob Dickinson and
broadcast live by KNND radio, each
candidate was given a minute or a
minute-and-a half to respond in turn
to the same questions.
“Frequently, openly and honest-
ly,” said Cirila Appeloff of how she
would communicate with her con-
stituents. Appeloff, a stay-at-home
mom, is running against incumbent
Marlene Martin.
Many candidates echoed similar
sentiments of transparency in their
responses and added that they would
invite constituents to contact them
through a variety of means, includ-
ing email, social media and in-per-
son. However, in a later question, the
candidates were asked to offer their
thoughts on South Lane’s decision
to remove from its website personal
contact information of current board
members in lieu of district-issued
emails.
Martin, who had a 22-year career
as an educational assistant in the
district, said that while the policy
could be interpreted as a limitation
of access, it was introduced to avoid
situations just like the one currently
facing 4J; it keeps all of their com-
munications in one place and leaves
no doubt as to whether board mem-
bers are complying with open meet-
ing laws.
Dickinson also asked the candi-
dates how they would envision their
relationship with Superintendent
Please see PLAN, Page 8A
For the Birds
Daytripper discovers a
bird paradise,
page 11A
Please see FORUM, Page 8A
Bond committee recommends new Harrison, tech and security upgrades
Initial estimates put
the cost of a new
school at
$21.2 million
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
O
n Monday evening,
the South Lane School
Board voted unanimously to to
move ahead with plans to pur-
sue a recommended 25-year
bond that's estimated to gener-
ate $29.8 million to replace Har-
rison Elementary and address
other areas of need in the Dis-
trict. The next steps, which were
outlined by the bond advisory
committee in its recommenda-
tion to the school board, include
forming planning and outreach
committees and submitting re-
quests for proposals.
The 47-member bond adviso-
ry committee, which fi rst met in
late January, recently completed
a through and robust process of
reviewing current facilities and
prioritizing areas of need.
While a replacement for Har-
rison was always the focal point,
the bond advisory committee
offered unanimous support for
four other items on its list, in-
cluding deferred maintenance
projects, upgrades to safety and
security and hardware and tech-
nology throughout the district,
and a major renovation of the
Warren H. Daugherty Aquatics
Center.
Initial estimates suggest that it
would cost $21.2 million to con-
struct and furnish a new elemen-
tary school. While the amount of
funding for other projects would
ultimately be determined after
the new school is completed,
the bond advisory committee
estimated that it would take just
under $8 million to address the
other top priorities.
In addition, the bond advisory
committee also offered sup-
port for upgrades to the High
School’s performing arts venue
and relocating athletic fi elds
that would be lost through con-
struction of the new elementary
school to the high school’s cam-
pus. It’s estimated that these
projects would cost $150,000
and $1.5 million, respectively.
Members of the bond advi-
sory committee who presented
the recommendation on Mon-
day expressed confi dence in
their proposal in part due to a
survey that drew 485 responses
and showed the 89 percent of
those respondents would sup-
port a general obligation bond
to replace Harrison if there was
no increase to the high school
bond tax levy rate.
“The community has spoken,
and we need to move forward on
this,” said school board member
Sherry Duerst-Higgins.
The school board then passed
its motion to move forward with
next steps.
Superintendent Krista Parent
said that new committees will
likely be formed out of the bond
advisory committee. In addition
to their knowledge of the pro-
cess thus far, the bond advisory
committee represents a broad
cross-section of the community,
including district employees,
city employees, business own-
ers and parents, among others.
In addition to submitting
RFPs for a new school, Parent
also said that the district will
seek a formal estimate for a ren-
ovation of Harrison.
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Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
In person
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Laurie Phillip....................430-0756
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