COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 8, 2015
Quake shakes area
early Saturday a.m.
Popular
lookout
tower closed
to public
Tremor based near Walterville causes little
damage, LCSO says
L
A
popular
camping
destination
known for its stunning views has
been temporarily closed due to structural
defi ciencies.
The Cottage Grove Ranger District of
the Umpqua National Forest announced
Friday that it has closed Fairview Peak
Lookout Tower southeast of Cottage Grove
to the public after discovering structural
defi ciencies during a routine inspection.
The Forest Service's Jed Hancock said
that the tower has "weakness in its legs"
and that the agency is in a holding pattern
as it explores the best way to fi x it.
"It's a very popular rental," Hancock
said. "It's unfortunate that we had to call
people and tell them about this."
At this time, the Forest Service said it is
unknown when the tower will be repaired
and open for public use.
Fairview Peak has been occupied as a
Brice Creek Road
incident prompts
armored response
T
he Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce said
Monday that a call regarding a dis-
pute in a home off Brice Creek Road late
Sunday evening prompted a response from
LCSO that included an armored personnel
carrier.
Sheriff’s Offi ce spokesperson Carrie
Carver said that, due to limited communica-
3A
Fairview Peak Lookout Tower boasts stunning views of much of Oregon
from the Bohemia Saddle.
fi re lookout tower since the 1920s. The
lookout cabin is a 15x15-foot room, set
53 feet above the ground. On a clear day,
guests at Fairview Peak Lookout can
see north to Mount Hood, south to Cra-
ter Lake and Mt. McLaughlin and east
to many prominent peaks in the Cascade
Range, making the tower a highly sought-
after destination.
Participants of the Bohemia Mining
Days celebration will not be able to climb
the tower but may drive to the top of For-
est Service Road 773 and enjoy amazing
views from the tower’s base on Sunday,
July 19.
Those interested in further information
and a list of nearby tower and cabin rent-
als can contact the Cottage Grove Ranger
Station at 541-767-5000.
tion in the Brice Creek area and a possible
history of fi rearm ownership in the home,
LCSO sent the armored vehicle to be able to
respond to an evolving situation in the 3800
block of Brice Creek Road late Sunday night.
Deputies sought to ascertain the welfare of a
woman at the home who may have been in-
volved in a domestic dispute, a woman who
eventually emerged from the home several
hours later, at 6:26 a.m. Monday. Following
the incident, Dakota Miller was arrested and
taken into custody on charges of Assault IV,
Menacing and Strangulation.
Crews extinguish hay fi re
in Creswell
Offi cials with South Lane County Fire and
Rescue are still investigating a fi re in a hay
fi eld that occurred on Sunday afternoon.
According to Eugene news station KMTR,
fi re crews were able to extinguish the fi re
at a Creswell-area farm within 15 minutes.
The fi re reportedly caused no injuries, and
crews were able to extinguish it before it
spread to nearby trees.
Pizza delivery driver takes out power pole
Cottage Grove Police say a charge of failure to
maintain a driving lane has been fi led for a pizza
delivery driver that crashed into a power pole near
the intersection of 10th St. and Taylor Avenue early
Wednesday evening, July 1.
Offi cer Taylor Smith said the accident occurred
about 5:30 p.m., and while Smith declined on a pos-
sible cause for the crash, saying that it is still under
investigation, he indicated that inattention on the
part of the driver, John Jones, was a factor.
Pacifi c Power spokesperson Tom Gauntt said a
power outage affected about 300 customers in the
surrounding neighborhood, an outage that lasted
until 2 a.m. Thursday for some customers as crews
worked to replace the power pole and restring
power lines at the site of the crash.
photo by Helen Singer
ocal residents who were
up and about on Inde-
pendence Day morning may
have felt the earth move around
them.
The Lane County Sheriff’s
Offi ce said its personnel felt
shaking at their downtown Eu-
gene personnel offi ce at 8:42
a.m. on Saturday, July 4. They
say reports of the earthquake
were felt in several areas of the
county, including Sheriff Byron
Trapp at his home and Emer-
gency Manager Linda Cook at
her home. The County’s Emer-
gency Management personnel
initiated immediate contact with
the coastal area while awaiting
information about the quake
location, according to Sheriff’s
Offi ce spokesperson Carrie
Carver.
Once confi rmation was re-
ceived that no shaking was
felt on the coast, the focus was
shifted to inland locations. The
United States Geological Survey
(USGS) recorded the event as a
4.2 magnitude earthquake 14 ki-
lometers to the east/northeast of
Springfi eld near Walterville Sat-
urday morning at approximately
8:42 a.m.
Reported impacts include an
extremely loud explosion-type
sound, items falling off walls
and shelves and a woodpile
shifting. The Sheriff’s Offi ce
conducted well checks on local
businesses and no major dam-
ages or injuries were reported.
The US Army Corps of Engi-
neers reported to Emergency
Management they are doing
routine inspections on the 13
Willamette Valley dams. After
the quake, incident responders
with the Oregon Department
of Transportation reported that
they were conducting visual in-
spections of bridges in the Eu-
gene-Springfi eld area after the
earthquake. They say there are
no reports of any damage to any
roadways or bridges at this time.
Bridges under ODOT jurisdic-
tion are inspected every one
to two years. The agency says
that, while it is highly unlikely a
quake of this magnitude would
damage a bridge structure,
ODOT is taking the precaution-
ary step to provide certainty to
the traveling public.
Installation of culvert at
undercrossing delayed
W
orkers with Weitman
Excavation say the
planned installation of a box
culvert at the construction site
of an undercrossing of Row
River Road southeast of Cottage
Grove last week was delayed by
the breakage of part of the cul-
vert on its way to the job site.
Preparations for an under-
crossing that will bring the Row
River Trail — a bike trail that
leaves Cottage Grove before
skirting Dorena Reservoir on a
34-mile loop — under Row Riv-
er Road have been going on for
some time, and the installation
of the box culvert was expected
to occur on Wednesday, July 1,
according to a Weitman Excava-
tion spokesperson.
But on Wednesday, work-
ers informed the Sentinel that
a piece of the box culvert was
broken in transit and will have
to be repaired. They said they
hope to install the culvert some-
time this week.
The death of cyclist and for-
mer Cottage Grove High School
counselor Michele Portmann at
the intersection in a 2011 crash
helped prompt Lane County and
the Bureau of Land Management
to explore safety issues through-
out the trail, and a federal grant
funded the construction of the
undercrossing, which county
offi cials expect to be complete
by the end of the summer.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BOHEMIA MINING DAYS
Cottage Theatre presents
a CT PLAY Youth Production
By Wing, By Wheel,
By Engine of Steel...
The Mayor has
OR LOCO-MOTIVES
An Original Melodrama by Keith Kessler
Directed by Janet Rust
Music Direction by Catricia Mayhue
July 17 & 18 at 7pm
July 19 at 2:30pm
RUN&WALK
S
JULY 17 TH 9 PM $ 20/ $ 30
•
FRIDAY
•
TWILIGHT RUN
S.T.E.A.M.
W/ T-SHIRT
A twilight run or walk through lovely Cottage Grove.
START & FINISH WASHINGTON & 6TH, COTTAGE GROVE, OR.
Close to awesome places for food and drinks!
REGISTRATION INCLUDES DRINK TICKET FOR BREWSTATION AND GLOW STICK FUN!
GOLD DASH
Sp
o
re
nso
y:
db
500 M • SAT, JULY 18 TH • 9:30 AM
Start on 14th & Main
•
FREE!
•
PRIZES!
Tickets $7 all ages:
available online or by phone
REGISTER AND MORE INFORMATION
www.goldrushcg.com
Advance purchase recommended.
&EX[[PVT3aXeT$# (#!'
www.cottagetheatre.org