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Passing tests
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in 7-on-7 action
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$ 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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CONTACT US
www.cgsentinel.com
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(541) 942-3325
By telephone
(541) 942-3328
By fax
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By e-mail
P.O. 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
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LaRae Ct., Cottage Grove
Calendar....................................... 11B
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Classified ads................................. 6B
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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