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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2015)
City Beat — 3A Garage sale season! — 5A Summer at the Library — 6A Inside this edition! at Wh ’ s a Kid to D o? A Look at local activites to pass the summer Published as supplement to Cottage Grove Sentinel 2015 June 3 $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015 Also inside: SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 49 School Board talks budget, drug testing recap BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A year-end review of a con- troversial policy com- prised much of the South Lane School Board’s Monday-night meeting, which also found the Board sifting through a long list of retirements and new hires for the 2015-16 school year. The Board had fi rst approved a policy of mandatory random drug testing for high-school stu- dents participating in extracur- ricular activities back in August of 2014, a policy that ignited a fi erce debate among parents, students and staff as its imple- mentation began during the fall sports season. It was later de- cided that only student-athletes would be tested this school year, and on Monday, the Board was asked to review the results of the testing policy with the option to expand testing to the middle- school level or to participants in other high-school extracurricu- lars such as band and choir. First on the agenda Monday, though, came good news in the form of a promise from the Or- egon legislature to increase its funding allotment for K-12 edu- cation. The previous $7.15 bil- lion allocation for the 2015-17 biennium had put South Lane School District in a hole to the tune of about $100,000. A new fi gure of $7.36 billion, however, allowed the School Board to ap- prove a list of add-backs to the 2015-16 budget. Superintendent Krista Parent said the higher allocation would allow the District to add back $707,994 to the 2015-16 bud- get. She recommended trans- ferring an additional $250,000 to the District’s reserve fund to cover its obligations to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). In addition, she recommended adding eight hours of funding for a special education assistant and eight Please see SCHOOL BOARD, Page 11A Committee approves city budget — quickly Some members upset with amount of review BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel Photographing Pre T he City of Cottage Grove Budget Committee ended its May 26 meeting on time and with an approved budget to boot. But this did not sit well with several members. At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, which began at 6 p.m., the committee established an adjournment time of 8 p.m. City Manager Richard Meyers then led the committee through a presentation of the 2015-2016 budget, including a summary of each individual fund. When 8 p.m. came around, Local artist shares experience during '72 Trials, page 1B the committee had not yet fi n- ished going through the 228- page document, and several members expressed interest in a line-by-line discussion of the budget. Nonetheless, a motion to approve the $26.4-million budget passed by a vote of 6-5. And a public hearing and com- ment session was scheduled for the June 22 City Council meet- ing. Several of the committee members, including City Coun- cilor Kate Price, were openly frustrated by the conclusion. Please see BUDGET, Page 6A photo by Jon Stinnett Kay Beckham of Creswell docks her kayak at the Baker Bay boat ramp Sunday. Beckham visited Dorena Reservoir with her husband, Charlie, and was pleased with its high water level. W ATER WE TO EXPECT ? Say 'Velo' Futuristic vehicles zip through Cottage Grove, page 3A Dorena, CG Reservoirs more full than most following dry winter and spring Young folks gather together for a rousing volleyball match, and all manner of pleasure craft ply the waters, which reach high up the boat ramp, offering easy access to the lake. It’s a scene that will be- come increasingly common at Dorena Reservoir southeast of Cottage Grove as summer weather continues to grace the southern Willamette Val- ley, though it’s one that won’t be taken for granted at other area reservoirs managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel O n a hot, muggy Sunday afternoon, boats line the dock at Baker Bay. Fami- lies crowd together at picnic tables, the smell of grilled hot dogs and burgers fi lling the air. reservoirs that still showcase low water levels following a dangerously dry winter and spring. Low water conditions are a serious concern throughout the west, though Dorena should be one of few reservoirs in this area not lacking for water. “One of the serious mission impacts will be recreation,” ac- cording to Corps of Engineers spokesperson Scott Clemans. “A great many boat ramps Please see WATER, Page 12A Fire District budget funds added staffi ng in Creswell BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A committee overseeing the budget process for South Lane County Fire and Rescue approved a $5,437,147 budget for the agency last week that includes funding for in- creased staffi ng, particularly for staff based in Creswell. South Lane provides fi re protection, rescue, emergency medical services, fi re preven- tion and code enforcement services for Cottage Grove, Creswell and outlying areas of South Lane County. Chief John Wildwood Falls claims another life Wooten said Monday that the department will be increasing staffi ng in Creswell by moving three of its engineers — one per day — to the Creswell station. Another fi refi ghter/paramedic will also be hired with funds garnered through the local op- tion levy that was approved for SLCF&R by voters in 2013. In all, the agency will be increas- ing its total staffi ng by 12 hours per day, Wooten said. The change comes in response to high call volume, particularly in the northern part of the Fire District, Wooten said. “I’d bet that for every three structure fi res we’ve responded to in the year I’ve been here, two have been in Creswell, and they’ve usually come at a time when the ambulance was al- ready out on call,” he said. “The change is an effort to maintain the ability of that engine (in Creswell) to respond even if the ambulance is already out on a call. We’re trying to limit the risk as much as we can.” The additional staffi ng in Creswell will reduce the “daily footprint” at the Cottage Grove station by one person, Wooten said. Elsewhere in the budget, South Lane budgeted more funding to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) in response to what Wooten called “signifi cant cost increases,” in- creases the department expects to occur again in 2017. He said South Lane has attempted to withhold funds to cover those anticipated cost hikes without being forced to reduce staffi ng. “We weren’t able to put a lot into reserve funds due to those added costs,” he said. The South Lane Fire and Res- cue Board of Directors is ex- pected to approve the 2015-16 budget at its June 18 meeting. Nineteen-year old student jumps, does not resurface BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A popular recreation area southeast of Cottage Grove became the scene for yet another water-related death over the weekend. South Lane County Fire and Rescue personnel responded at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday to a re- port of an unknown subject that had reportedly jumped from Wildwood Falls and failed to surface. Dispatchers with the Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce were advised that the subject had been underwater for at least fi ve minutes. Sgt. Carrie Carver, public in- formation offi cer for the Sher- iff’s Offi ce, said LCSO heard reports that the man had resur- faced briefl y after the jump and that a bystander had attempted an unsuccessful rescue before witnesses ran to a nearby home to call for help. Sheriff’s deputies and the County’s Search and Rescue dive team responded to the lo- cation, and volunteers were able to locate a body at the bottom of a deep pool at the base of the falls. The deceased was identifi ed as Sidney Anthony Nelson III, a 19-year old student at the Uni- versity of Oregon, whose fam- ily resides in California and has been notifi ed. Carver noted that, until the County’s medical ex- aminer issues a cause of death, the incident has yet to be offi - cially classifi ed a drowning and is instead referred to as a “wa- ter-related death.” The incident is the second fatality at Wildwood in just under a year. On July 1, 2014, 16-year old Scott Alexander Smith of Aloha did not emerge from the waters beneath the falls after attempting to rescue his younger brother. The assis- tance of a towtruck was even- tually required to remove the downed log from the falls that had trapped Smith. Past drown- ings have occurred at the falls in 1996 and 1999. Joe Raade, Division Chief of South Lane Fire and Rescue, said he wasn’t sure that Sun- day’s incident was caused by the characteristics of the falls themselves, though he acknowl- edged that cold water early in the year and the force of water cascading over the falls could certainly have contributed. Rain Country Realty Inc. AGE T T O C E L ADORAB 1905 E. 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Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 By mail Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove In person Brokers Laurie Phillip....................430-0756 Valerie Nash ....................521-1618 $255,000 UDLQFRXQWU\UHDOW\#JPDLOFRP CONTACT US Principal Brokers Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735 Frank Brazell....................953-2407 Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838 130 Creekview Lane, Drain $121,900 Please see WILDWOOD, Page 12A +Z\ WEATHER CONTENTS HIGH LOW 68 49 Partly Cloudy Licensed in the State of Oregon Calendar....................................... 11B Channel Guide ............................... 5B Classified ads................................. 7B Obituaries....................................... 2A Opinion .......................................... 4A Public Safety .................................. 5A Sports ............................................ 1B 75 CENTS