COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL May 27, 2015
Local WWII veterans
catch their Honor Flight
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
hree Cottage Grove-area World War II vet-
erans have returned home after taking the
Honor Flight to visit the nation’s capitol.
The Honor Flight Network works to fl y veter-
ans of World War II and the Vietnam and Korea
confl icts to Washington, D.C. to visit the memori-
als built to honor their service, and on May 15,
Glen Bricker, Roy Haymes and Cart Woodard,
along with 43 other veterans from Lane, Linn,
Lincoln and Benton counties, took their turn to
be recognized.
During their overnight trip, they visited 10 me-
morial sites, all the time accompanied by a full
police escort, which allowed their buses to travel
from point to point without delay.
“It was truly exciting,” said Haymes, who
served with the U.S. Army 718 Amphibian Trac-
tor Battalion from 1943-46 and participated in the
Leyte Invasion on Oct. 20, 1944 and the Okinawa
Invasion on April 1, 1945. “Us old guys don’t
move around so fast anymore, so to see so many
monuments up close on a quick trip was a once-
A LONG FOR THE R IDE
in-a-lifetime experience.”
Bricker served as a Radioman 3rd Class in the
Navy in Guam from 1944-46 and on the USS Los
Angeles during the Korean War, and Woodard
served as a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps
from 1941-45.
Haymes said that he did not know of Bricker or
Woodard prior to the trip and that it was a neat ex-
perience to discover new connections with people
in from Cottage Grove.
Along the way, the Honor Flight veterans were
greeted by hundreds of well-wishers who thanked
them for their service and sacrifi ce to the coun-
try.
“It’s very nice to be remembered,” Haymes
said. “It was a long time ago, and you can forget
what it was all about. But this reminded me that
there was a real reason to go.”
The South Willamette Valley is one of fi ve
Honor Flight hubs in Oregon. There’s no cost to
the veteran to participate, and those interested
may apply at http://swvhonorfl ight.org. The next
Honor Flight is scheduled for October.
courtesy photo
Additional pictures and video clips of the Honor Carlton Woodard with Lt. Col. Kirsten Palmer at
Flight can be viewed at the KVAL-TV web site.
the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
BMX track
idle, city
seeks interest
courtesy photo
Cottage Grove's Carol Wood re-
cently returned from an Honor Flight
herself, having accompanied Pend-
leton's Gib Brandstetter, who fl ew
with the Honor Flight Network of the
Bend Heroes Foundation.
Art Walk to shine
spotlight on youth
C
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
P
assersby may have noticed recent
activity at the BMX bicycle track in
Cottage Grove, though it’s not the type of
activity most commonly associated with the
venue.
Public Works employees with the City of
Cottage Grove have been working to clean
up the track, which has “basically been
abandoned” by area riders, according to
City Manager Richard Meyers.
“We’re still trying to fi gure out what to do
with it,” Meyers said of a facility that has
hosted regular events and local organizations
in the past but has struggled to maintain its
momentum. “Right now we’re cleaning the
place up, trying to get as much of the junk
out of there as we can. But there’s nothing
scheduled there now at all. There are still
some people using it, but the riding club
went away last year,” he said.
The challenge to keeping the track up
and operating, Meyers believes, is that over
the years, groups of young people and their
photo by Jon Stinnett
Activity at Cottage Grove's BMX track has waned in recent years, and the
City of Cottage Grove is considering its options for the venue.
parents have utilized the track and invested trolled cars have also been bandied about,
in its success. Then, as those young people and a group of RC car enthusiasts visited
grow up, graduate from school and often the site but decided that the track wasn’t
move on to other concerns, interest and ac- suitable for just their endeavor. But Meyers
said the City is open to other ideas.
tivity at the BMX track wanes.
“We’re willing to see what we can put to-
“There isn’t sustainability to it,” Meyers
said. “If we can get an organization inter- gether,” he said.
Those interested in forming a group or
ested in keeping up and operating the track,
scheduling events at the BMX track can call
we’d be all for it.”
Ideas for mountain biking on the track City Hall at 541-942-3325.
and outfi tting it as a track for radio-con-
ottage Grove’s Downtown
Art Walk will feature the
work of the community’s young
artists this Friday, May 29 from
6-8 p.m. Guests can peruse local
art in historic downtown Cot-
tage Grove on the last Friday
of every month from April to
October. Complimentary treats,
tastings and live music accom-
pany visitors throughout the Art
Walk, which is a free event.
The artist listing for this
month includes:
Bohemia Rose — Cottage
Grove Artist Hannah Brown
Buster’s Main St. Cafe and
Bottle Shop — open
Delight — Maya Ahara:
drawings, patches and acrylic
paintings; Maisey Folb —block
prints and photography
Apple Pie Antiques — Lin-
coln Middle School artists:
handmade wood and acrylic
pens; Joe Burrus — vintage bi-
cycles
Big Stuff BBQ — open for
dinner
Axe & Fiddle — open
Kalapuya Books — Child’s
Way Charter School student art
Coast Fork Feed and Brews-
tation — Heather Pickett, pho-
tography
Analog Barbershop — Don
Rich, stencil techniques series
1: street art/spray paint on can-
vas; DJ music and refreshments
Imagine It Framed — Local
art, music and refreshments
Timeless Treasures — open
The Crafty Mercantile — Nico
Cornelius: Eclectic art; London
School artists: kids workshop
Opal Center — Chalk art
Victoriana — open
Shampoo Dolls — Mckayla
Martindale, painting and paper
art
Stacy’s Covered Bridge —
open for dinner
The Bookmine — Penny
Schaack, jewelry; Rod Wil-
liams, author; Ron O’Keefe —
music; clarinet and fl ute music
performed by Jon Douglas and
Spencer Mort
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Cottage Grove
Sentinel
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
www.cottagetheatre.org
Tickets available online, by phone, or at the door one hour before performance
Thursday−Saturday 8:00 pm; Sunday 2:30 pm. $19 Adult, $16 Youth (age 6−18)
700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove 541-942-8001
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