4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 1, 2015
O PINION
Councilor's website an
excellent account of
water rate structure
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
“
Everything is more complicated
than you think.”
Cottage Grove City Councilor Jake
Boone said he had many ideas for
changes that could be made to city gov-
ernment during his time as a freshman
councilor. Some of those ideas con-
cerned the rate structure for the City’s
water, sewer and wastewater systems,
which have again become a hot topic
and a source for local grumbling af-
ter the Council approved a cumulative
increase of about 26 percent in those
rates by 2022 during the adoption pro-
cess for the 2015-16 budget.
But soon after delving into the issue
himself, Boone recognized that there
are details of the system that “don’t
come out in any form of short conver-
sation” about the City’s water rates,
and after engaging with the public on
Facebook and answering lots of ques-
tions recently about the rate system,
Boone has taken it on himself to col-
lect the information on his own web-
site, jakeboone.net.
It’s a well-reasoned, well-written
perspective on water rates and one
that’s worth checking out even for those
with a pretty good handle on the sub-
ject, and its style is pure Jake Boone, a
style many have come to know through
his seemingly tireless interactions with
the public online. Those interested
in knowing why their water costs so
much (and will soon cost more) can
begin their explorations under the aptly
titled heading “Why does water cost so
much?”
“It seems like I get more water-re-
lated questions than almost any other
subject (except maybe for “how tall are
you?”),” Boone writes. “Therefore,
I’m going to try to share what I know
about the topic…”
In his writings, Boone also outlines
some of the ideas he harbored about
the system early on:
“When I was fi rst elected to the City
Council, one of my priorities was to
get rid of the (Middlefi eld) golf course,
because I couldn’t see any reason why
a municipality should own one in the
fi rst place,” he writes. “I was rapidly
shown the error in my thinking, howev-
er; if we sold off the golf course, we’d
lose the assurance that we’d be able to
continue discharging wastewater there,
and we’d end up having to build that
expensive cooling tower. I think we’re
better off with the golf course.”
He also outlines the current conun-
drum the City Council fi nds itself in
with regard to the rising costs of a sys-
tem that will require about $19 million
in repairs in the near future:
“It appears that our choice, realisti-
cally, isn’t between ‘do we raise the
rates or not?’; it’s between ‘do we raise
the rates a moderate amount now, or
do we kick the can down the road and
make a future Council raise the rates
massively in the future?’”
Boone said he hasn’t seen any
“push-back” from city staff regarding
his recent online work, which he said
allows him the “space to delve into the
details” of the water system. In con-
trast, City Manager Richard Meyers
said the website is a good thing, espe-
cially since Boone is among those who
recently approved the rate hikes.
“They don’t want to raise rates any-
more than anybody else does,” Meyers
said of the City Council. “But at least
we’re being responsible about it now.”
Boone agreed.
“If we could, we would certainly
keep the rates low,” he said. “But this is
one of the many situations where we’re
just not looking at what we want to do.
We’re trying to fi nd the ‘least worst op-
tion.’”
Please see WATER, Page 11A
Offbeat Oregon History
Cursed or not, S.S. Rosecrans was
an unusually unlucky ship
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
T
he steamship Rosecrans
didn’t have a colorful
witch’s curse laid upon her at
launching, nor a colorful nick-
name like “The Ship of Romance
and Death.” But she more than
made up for that defi ciency with
body count. By all accounts, the
Rosecrans was a remarkably un-
lucky vessel.
The Rosecrans was a big ship
for her time, having been built
in 1884 in Glasglow, Scotland.
She was 335 feet long, 38.2 feet
wide, and 2,700 tons in gross
displacement. She was built
for the Union Castle passenger
line, christened the S.S. Meth-
ven Castle and put on the mail-
packet run to South Africa.
The Rosecrans had a fairly
unremarkable career until she
came to the Pacifi c Coast after
being bought up by the Associ-
ated Oil Co. of San Francisco
and converted to a tanker.
The fi rst misfortune that be-
fell her was when, in March
of 1912 while battling through
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS
Cottage Grove City Hall: 942-5501.
www.cottagegrove.org/
Cottage Grove Mayor Tom Munroe:
942-5501.
Cottage Grove City Councilors:
Mike Fleck, At Large: 942-7302
Heather Murphy, At Large: 942-3444
Lane County Commissioners:
Faye Stewart, East Lane
Commissioner
Lane County Public Service Building
125 East 8th Street
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 682-4203
Fax: (541) 682-4616
Oregon State House of
Representatives:
Jake Boone, Ward 1: 653-7413
Jeff Gowing, Ward 2: 942-1900
Garland Burback, Ward 3: 942-4800
a heavy gale 22 miles north of
Santa Barbara, she was tossed
broadside onto the rocks; two
mariners died in the wreck and
subsequent evacuation of the
ship.
Heroic salvage efforts en-
sued, and it almost seemed a
miracle when the Whitelaw
Salvage Company managed to
get the Rosecrans off the rocks
and up to San Francisco, where
a 25-foot gash in her hull was
repaired. But it’s hard to see
this success as anything other
than a misfortune. It sealed the
fate of 33 men, including the
Rosecrans’s captain, Lucien F.
Johnson.
All of them had less than a
year to live.
As if to drive home the point
that the Rosecrans’s time was
come, disaster struck again just
Rep. Cedric Hayden (REP)
District: 007
900 Court Street NE
Suite H-288
Salem, OR 97301
six months later, when a fi re
broke out while oil was being
loaded aboard at Gaviota. The
ship was nothing more than a
gutted-out hulk after the fi re
had run its course. Again, the
unlucky old vessel was salvaged
and rebuilt.
But the third time is the charm
— or, as the case may be, the
hex. The Rosecrans’s third cata-
strophic wreck in a single year
was to be its last. It happened
in January of 1913, when the
ship was en route to Portland
with 19,000 barrels of crude oil
aboard.
Everything went smoothly on
this, the Rosecrans’s fi nal voy-
age, although when the big ship
arrived off the north coast of Or-
egon a 60-knot gale was blow-
ing out of the southwest.
By itself, the storm wasn’t a
Phone: (503) 986-1407
Fax: (503) 986-1130
Email: rep.cedrichayden@state.or.us
Oregon State Senate:
Sen. Floyd Prozanski (DEM)
District: 004
900 Court Street NE
Suite S-319
Salem, OR 97301-0001
Phone: (503) 986-1704
Fax: (503) 986-1080
Email: sen.fl oydprozanski@state.or.us
real threat to a big steamship
like the Rosecrans, as it might
have been to an old-fashioned
sailing barque or steam schoo-
ner. But it made the situation
that followed a great deal more
complicated — lethally so — as
the wee small hours of Jan. 7
ticked by and the Rosecrans
steamed slowly northward at
what her skipper thought was a
safe distance from land.
According to the recollec-
tions of one of the survivors,
quartermaster John Slinning,
the steamer passed what Capt.
Johnson thought was Tilla-
mook Rock Light a few hours
before dawn. By this time the
storm was pounding the seas
with thick, heavy rains, and the
lights weren’t always visible,
but presently the captain saw
what he took to be the Cape
Disappointment Light off the
starboard bow and another one
south of it, which he believed
was the North Head Light. He
couldn’t make out the Columbia
River Lightship, but he appar-
ently attributed that to the thick
weather.
He was wrong. The lightship
wasn’t out of position, nor was
it invisible in the rain. It was the
Rosecrans that was out of posi-
tion. Its crew thought it was well
offshore — fi ve or 10 miles, be-
yond the reach of trouble — but
in fact, it was just a mile or two
from the beach. They hadn’t
seen the lightship, because the
Rosecrans had sailed between it
and the shore. Nobody had been
looking off the port side of the
ship. Why should they? There
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
Links between animal protein, IGF-1 and cancer
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
M
ost people are aware of
the connections between
red and processed meats and
cancer—that there is convinc-
ing evidence that these danger-
ous foods are a cause of colon
cancer. In addition, cooking any
meat at high temperatures (for
example, grilled or fried chick-
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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RON ANNIS, Graphics Manager
(USP 133880)
en) forms
carcino-
genic com-
pounds
such
as
heterocy-
clic amines,
which con-
tribute to
cancer risk.
However, animal foods such
as non-fat dairy products, egg
whites and fi sh are considered
healthful by most people. It
not yet widely recognized that
foods such as these, since they
are so high in animal protein,
may also contribute to increased
cancer risk.
When we consume too much
animal protein, the body in-
creases its production of a hor-
mone called IGF-1, (insulin-
like growth factor 1). IGF-1
is one of the body’s important
growth promoters during fetal
and childhood growth, but later
in life IGF-1 promotes the ag-
ing process. Reduced IGF-1
signaling in adulthood is asso-
ciated with reduced oxidative
stress, decreased infl ammation,
enhanced insulin sensitivity
and longer lifespan. In contrast,
IGF-1 has been shown to pro-
mote the growth, proliferation
and spread of cancer cells, and
elevated IGF-1 levels are linked
to increased risk of several
cancers. Several observational
studies have suggested that high
circulating IGF-1 may translate
into promotion of tumor growth
in colon, prostate and breast tis-
sue.
Which foods raise IGF-1?
Since the primary dietary fac-
tor that determines IGF-1 levels
is animal protein, the excessive
meat, fowl, seafood, and dairy
intake common in our society
elevates circulating IGF-1. Re-
fi ned carbohydrates, like white
fl our, white rice, and sugars can
also raise IGF-1 levels, because
they cause rapid increases in in-
sulin levels, leading to increases
in IGF-1 signaling. In fact, IGF-
1 signaling is thought to be a
major factor in the connection
between diabetes and cancer.
It is the amino acid distri-
bution of animal protein that
sparks IGF-1 production. For
this reason, isolated soy protein,
found in protein powders and
meat substitutes, may also be
problematic because the protein
is unnaturally concentrated and
its amino acid profi le is very
similar to that of animal pro-
tein.
How can we keep IGF-1 in
a safe range? Reducing IGF-
1 levels by dietary methods is
now considered by many sci-
entists to be an effective cancer
prevention measure. Minimiz-
ing or avoiding animal protein,
isolated soy protein and refi ned
carbohydrates can help to keep
our IGF-1 levels in a safe range.
Green vegetables, beans and
other legumes, and seeds are
rich in plant protein and they
have cancer-preventive, not can-
cer-promoting properties. For
optimal cancer protection, veg-
etables, beans, fruits, nuts and
seeds should comprise the vast
majority of our calories.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York
Times best-selling author and a
family physician specializing in
lifestyle and nutritional medi-
cine. Visit his informative web-
site at DrFuhrman.com. Submit
your questions and comments
about this column directly to
newsquestions@drfuhrman.
com. The full reference list for
this article can be found at
DrFuhrman.com.
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