Water rate website — 4A
Wings & Wheels — 3A
Traditional 4th Picnic — 6A
Some sunset!
photo by Paul Henrichs
Hot, humid weather meant late-evening clouds
and spectacular sunsets in the Cottage Grove
area throughout the weekend, and with triple-digit
temperatures forecast this week, it's a good bet
that sundown will continue to be a magical time.
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 127 • NUMBER 1
Also Round two of heat wave forecast
inside:
Lightning has already started fi res, and
more could be on the way
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
E
xtreme heat baked much
of Oregon over the week-
end, and with three-digit tem-
peratures in the forecast again
this week, Cottage Grove resi-
dents will again be seeking a
respite from the blazing sun.
Vets collection
Library donation tells
veterans' stories,
page 3A
The Weather Underground
website, which keeps track of
weather utilizing local stations,
recorded highs of 98 degrees
both Friday and Saturday, tem-
peratures more than 20 degrees
above normal for this time of
year. Forecasts again call for
highs approaching 100 degrees
beginning Thursday, continu-
ing a pattern that has already
sparked wildfi res in several lo-
cations throughout the state.
South Lane County Fire and
Rescue Division Chief Joe
Raade said that fi refi ghters con-
tinue to be concerned about dry-
er-than-usual temperatures this
early in the summer following a
winter that never was.
“We’re concerned about the
dryness, but we’re more con-
cerned about the weather this
weekend, with thunderstorms,
no rain and temperatures ap-
proaching 100 degrees, weather
that’s expected to trickle into
next week,” Raade said Friday.
Those concerns became valid
with the start of many fi res over
the weekend. The Oregon De-
partment of Forestry issued an
update of fi res started on lands
it manages on Monday, stating
that the agency and its partners
“are managing fi re conditions
usually experienced in late July
or early August.” Lightning
What now?
A look at what recreational
marijuana legalization will (likely)
mean for Oregon and Cottage Grove
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
New game gets a go in
CG, page 1B
Please see FIRE, Page 11A
Price steps
down as
councilor
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
In a pickle
sparked the 700-acre Harper
Complex Fire near John Day,
and the Sugar Loaf Fire was
reported Saturday burning in
grass and timber in central Or-
egon on Bureau of Land Man-
agement land nine miles north
of Dayville. The ODF reports
74 lightning-caused fi res so far
this year, though that number is
dwarfed by the 233 fi res report-
edly caused by humans.
ottage Grove and the rest of Oregon awoke to a new
reality today, Wednesday, July 1, the fi rst day adults
over the age of 21 have been able to legally possess and
use marijuana for recreational purposes.
Oregon voters approved Measure 91, which legalized
recreational weed, back in November. The measure that
set the deadline for legalization, though many other details
are still up in the air, as the state legislature is still ham-
mering out specifi cs of the new legislation.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has been
charged with implementing the system that allows marijua-
na to be legally grown, bought and sold, and in response to
myriad questions about that system once legalization takes
effect, the OLCC has published a website, www.whatsle-
galoregon.com, that touches on many of its basics.
Put simply, possession is legal for those over 21, though
it is illegal to use the drug in public. Adults can possess up
to eight ounces of usable marijuana in their homes and up
to one ounce outside the home, and they can grow up to
four plants at home out of view of the public. Driving un-
der the infl uence of the drug remains illegal, and marijua-
na can’t be legally bought or sold for recreational purposes
until retail shops open, though the Oregon legislature may
allow medical marijuana dispensaries to start selling rec-
reational pot on Oct. 1 of this year. Marijuana can be given
away or shared between adults.
So what does all this mean for Cottage Grove?
The use and possession of mari-
juana by adults over age 21 became
legal July 1, though some questions
about what legalization may bring
have yet to be answered.
The Cottage Grove City Council fi nds
itself one vote short following the recent
resignation of Councilor Kate Price, who
has represented Ward IV for 2 ½ years.
Price made an announcement last week
via Facebook that she and husband Ben
Price “have decided to move our growing
family to Eugene.”
“We would have liked to stay in Cottage
Grove but were unable to fi nd a house that
suited our needs,” she continued. Price
said Monday morning that there doesn’t
seem to be that much housing available
in Cottage Grove anyway, and for her to
continue to represent Ward IV, she would
have to fi nd a suitable home in about a
square-mile of territory on the southeast
end of town. The Ward takes in residents
living south of Madison Ave. and east of
Highway 99. Price said the decision will
not affect either of the two businesses she
or her husband operate in town — Any-
time Fitness and Hard Knocks Brewing.
Price said she gave the City notice that
she would be resigning effective July 1,
and she said she’s already heard “quite a
lot of response” from those who may be
interested in representing the ward.
“A couple people have been interested,
which is great because we’ve had trouble
Please see PRICE, Page 12A
Please see POT, Page 8A
Undercrossing at Row River Road/Trail progressing
Box culvert to be installed
this week
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
photo by Jon Stinnett
Workers with Weitman Excavation have cleared the old asphalt
of Row River Road and plan to install a box culvert Wednesday.
he relationship between one of Cot-
tage Grove’s most popular tourist
attractions and its main county roadways
is changing in earnest this week.
Lane County Planner Lydia McKin-
ney said late last week that site prepara-
tion work for an undercrossing that will
bring the Row River Trail — a bike trail
that leaves Cottage Grove before skirt-
ing Dorena Reservoir on a 34-mile loop
— under Row River Road has been going
on for some time now. On Friday, work-
ers with Weitman Excavation said they’ll
be installing the box culvert that forms
the tunnel under the road today (Wednes-
day, July 1).
“They’re working concurrently on both
intersections,” McKinney said. “We ex-
pect to have the project complete by the
end of the summer. That doesn’t mean
there defi nitely won’t be complications,
but we’re hoping to be done by the end of
July or early August.”
The death of cyclist and former Cot-
tage Grove High School counselor Mi-
chele Portmann at the intersection in
a 2011 collision with an automobile
prompted Lane County, which oversees
Row River Road, to team up with the
Bureau of Land Management, caretakers
of the Row River Trail, to explore safety
measures at the intersection at Milepost
4 where Portmann and another cyclist,
Claude Weimer, lost their lives (Weimer
was killed in a crash there in 2007).
The BLM subsequently applied for
and received a $1 million Federal Lands
Access Program grant to build the un-
dercrossing, which was approved after a
round of public meetings.
McKinney said the County is not an-
ticipating any road closures related to
the construction project. Workers have
already paved a bypass of the road under
which the undercrossing will travel, she
said, and trail users are currently using
an “at-grade” crossing built to accom-
modate equestrian trail users, who had
earlier indicated that their horses would
not like to travel underground via the un-
dercrossing.
McKinney cautioned drivers and trail
users to be cautious in the work area,
which currently has a 35 mile-per-hour
speed limit.
Rain Country Realty Inc.
Principal Brokers
Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735
Frank Brazell....................953-2407
Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838
"WISHING YOU A SAFE AND HAPPY
INDEPENDENCE DAY!
FROM YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS AT
RAIN COUNTRY REALTY, INC."
Brokers
Laurie Phillip....................430-0756
Valerie Nash ....................521-1618
Licensed in the
State of Oregon
CONTACT US
www.cgsentinel.com
On the Internet
(541) 942-3325
By telephone
(541) 942-3328
By fax
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
By e-mail
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
By mail
Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
In person
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Calendar....................................... 11B
Channel Guide ............................... 5B
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