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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2015)
City Beat — 8A Perfect Flavor — 3A BMD Countdown — 6A Passing tests Lions already showing improvement in 7-on-7 action page 1B $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 Council hears proposal on utility rate increases F ATHER AND SON Also inside: VOLUME 127 • NUMBER 1 Plan calls for combined rate increase of 26.5 percent for water, sewer and storm drainage by 2022 BY MATT HOLLANDER The Cottage Grove Sentinel Carousel conversation W Local service clubs hear pitch for attraction, page 3A photo by Jon Stinnett Michael Hibbetts leads his son, Christopher Keith, around the ring atop Willow at Misfi t Toy Ranch, which offers free lessons for combat veterans and their families. H ORSES HELP HEAL AT LOCAL RANCH BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel 'Proof' Cottage Theatre dwells on relationships, page 12A O n an idyllic property outside London, horse and rider size each other up as they circle the ring. “I’m not crying!” exclaims fi ve-year old Christopher Keith “CK” Hibbetts, as Willow, a massive white Percheron draft horse, plods pa- tiently along. “I’m not screaming either!” Just outside the ring, CK’s father, Michael Hibbetts, watches approvingly, a smile on his face. A week ago, the younger Hibbetts’ lesson consisted of failed attempts to muster the cour- age to ride. Now, he circles the ring with ease, riding fi rst one horse, then another, clicking his heels with confi dence to set the animals in mo- tion. Formerly from Las Vegas, Michael Hibbetts and wife Kimberly came to Cottage Grove nine Please see RANCH, Page 11A House Rep. Hayden talks health care bills BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A s a dentist by trade, it’s probably not surprising that Cedric Hayden, the Republican who represents Oregon’s House District 7 in Salem, found himself serving as vice-chair of the House’s health care committee. Hayden is just a freshman in the state Congress, having assumed the seat held by longtime Representative Bruce Hanna. On Wednesday, June 10, Hayden came to the Brewstation in Cottage Grove at the behest of the Blackberry Pie Society, which has moved its speakers’ series to pub- lic gathering spaces and private homes re- cently to attract a broader audience, accord- ing to the Society’s Leslie Rubinstein. It’s also not surprising that Hayden spent the lion’s share of Wednesday’s discussion talking about bills he’s written dealing with health care and specifi cally dental health ini- tiatives. Hayden said the diffi culties he and his brothers encountered while attempting to organize an oral health network through- out Oregon have prompted him to work to create a “safety net” for the thousands of Oregonians living without proper dental care. Hayden also shared that he commutes 160 miles per day to Salem. “I’d rather get home to see my kids,” he said. The Representative spoke of a pilot proj- ect he’s championing to bring oral health instruction to schools with a high poverty rate. A companion bill to that effort, he said, would allow for 15 minutes of teacher in- struction on oral health during the school hile an unscheduled argument about social media stole the headlines of the June 8 City Council meet- ing, it was another item on the agenda that could have the most tangible impact on the people of Cottage Grove. The City is facing major capi- tal improvement projects to its water, wastewater and storm drainage systems, and current rate structures do not support those projects, according to John Ghilarducci, Principal of FCS Group, a consulting fi rm hired by the City to help create a fi ve-year utility fi nancial plan. The City would need to issue $8.63 million of debt to com- plete all of the recommended projects. In order to service that debt and account for annual cost escalations, the utility fi nancial plan calls for annual rate in- creases of 1.8 percent, 3.1 per- cent and 7.9 percent for water, wastewater and storm drain- age, respectively, through 2022. Over that time span, the com- bined monthly utility bill for a single-family residence would rise from $103.16 to $130.59 — a cumulative increase of 26.5 percent. Cottage Grove already has the seventh-highest combined utility rate in the state for water, wastewater and storm drainage, and with the recommended rate increases the city would climb to number three, according to a rate comparison compiled by FCS. Because Cottage Grove offers these services indepen- dently, the rates are much higher than for larger communities that benefi t from an economies of scale. However, the City does offer a decreased rate for low- income households. Should the City choose to for- go the recommended projects, Ghilarducci said that the City could encounter major prob- lems that would require rapid rate increases of 40-50 percent for costlier projects. Although the City deferred many projects during the recession years, the utility lines were often held to- gether with short-term repairs, according to city engineer Ron Bradsby. Much of the City’s in- frastructure is over 50 years old and is outdated by contempo- rary standards. “The fi scal side of me under- stands why we need to do this, but the non-profi t side of me thinks it will break the backs of the low-income folks in this community,” said Councilor Mike Fleck, who is also the ex- ecutive director of Community Sharing, which offers utility as- sistance, among other services. Fleck said that utility assistance is one of the organization’s most highly sought services, and they can only afford to help three to fi ve clients per month. The fi ve-year utility fi nancial plan was only a discussion item at the June 8 meeting, and the City Council will be asked to consider it for adoption at a later meeting. Early fi re season began Tuesday: ODF T photo by Jon Stinnett Oregon House District 7 Representative Cedric Hayden spoke with a large crowd at the Brewstation on Wednesday, June 10. lunch hour. Hayden said he’s also written a bill to expand the wellness screenings conducted before a child enters school to include oral health. “We’ll also be trying to use the informa- tion to see how many people truly have ac- cess to dental care,” he said. Another bill Hayden is working on con- cerns the methods many oral health provid- ers use to sedate their patients, a bill that aims to update practices that he said some- times haven’t been revamped in 20 years. When asked about various bills that would mandate paid sick leave for Oregon work- ers, Hayden said he would prefer a system where employers provide paid time off that could be used for sick leave instead of man- dating the amount of sick leave that should be offered. “I think employers ought to have the fl ex- ibility to create a compensation package that’s in the best interest of their employ- ees,” he said. he Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) an- nounced late last week that all of its districts in the Northwest Oregon Fire Protection Associa- tion will enter wildfi re season on Tuesday, June 16. “With the current and predict- ed weather, summer is here,” said Columbia Unit Protection Unit Forester Malcolm Hiatt. “We want to get out in front of the situation, since fi re danger is increasing.” The department says that many of its indices that deter- mine fi re danger are already at or above the levels that it was observing at the time of the Scoggins Creek Fire last year that started on Sept. 19, 2014. Entry into fi re season chiefl y addresses industrial forest op- erators. Logging operations, for example, are required to have a fi re watch present after work ac- tivity ceases for the day, and fi re suppression equipment must be positioned on site. But if the warm, dry weather continues, ODF says additional restrictions may be added on recreation and other activities. The ODF districts entering fi re season on Wednesday in- clude: Astoria, Forest Grove and Tillamook. On Sunday, ODF stated that the Sunset Grade Fire, which is burning about 30 acres primarily in the Tillamook State Forest, began just before noon Saturday. No other fi res had yet been reported in Oregon by press time Monday. Those seeking more informa- tion on the restrictions imposed by the fi re season declaration can contact the nearest Oregon Department of Forestry of- fi ce. Contact information for the Astoria, Forest Grove and Tillamook district offi ces can be found at: www.oregon.gov/ ODF/offi ces.shtml. 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Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 By mail Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove In person Laurie Phillip....................430-0756 Valerie Nash ....................521-1618 +Z\ WEATHER Licensed in the State of Oregon CONTENTS HIGH LOW 80 50 Sunny Brokers $28,500 $105,000 5DLQ&RXQWU\5HDOW\FRP Principal Brokers Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735 Frank Brazell....................953-2407 Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838 LaRae Ct., Cottage Grove Calendar....................................... 11B Channel Guide ............................... 4B Classified ads................................. 6B Obituaries....................................... 2A Opinion .......................................... 4A Public Safety .................................. 5A Sports ............................................ 1B 75 CENTS
