City Beat — 5A
Low-water shrubs — 9A
Tri results — 3B
Low lake levels, page 3A
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
'Super' Art
Walk happens
Friday
VOLUME 127 • NUMBER 5
T HE CROWD DOWNTOWN
Also
inside:
A
congregation of Oregon’s mayors has
prompted the planning of a Downtown
Art Walk of enormous scope.
Organizers expect the Art Walk scheduled
this Friday, July 31, to be big. Really big.
The last Friday of each month in Cottage
Grove’s Historic District is generally ear-
marked for Art Walk, in which businesses ex-
tend their hours and play host to local artists
who want to show off their work. But orga-
nizers say that this month’s “Super Art Walk”
will be taken to an entirely new level due to
the Oregon Mayors Association’s 2015 Sum-
mer Conference being held in Cottage Grove.
Approximately 70 mayors from cities
across Oregon will converge in Cottage Grove
this Thursday through Saturday for training,
sharing best practices and networking with
other mayors.
“The timing is really fortunate for us as the
host city this year,” said Chamber of Com-
merce Executive Director Travis Palmer. “We
already have some great things going on for
the mayors to experience around town. Our
job now is to make sure that they have such
a great time here that they can’t wait to come
back again and tell their friends. These visi-
tors are the spokespeople for their commu-
nities and they talk to a lot of folks. If they
see even a fraction of all the great reasons to
visit Cottage Grove, we’ll generate some great
word of mouth advertising for our little com-
munity.”
On top of the usual Art Walk activities, Fri-
day’s hours have been expanded to 4-9 p.m.,
and several additional displays and activities
are planned for the mayors and public. Visi-
tors can try their hand at panning for gold, chat
with historians who will be dressed in period
costume and see local Hollywood fi lm history
displays, which may include a photo booth
at the famous Deathmobile from “National
Lampoon’s Animal House.” Live Music, a
toga party, movie showings and other activi-
ties are also planned for the evening.
“It will be impossible to see it all,” said
Shawna Neigh, Coordinator of Cottage
Grove’s Main Street Program and one of the
event organizers. “We want to provide an op-
portunity for people to see how diverse, eclec-
tic, and fun our town’s history is and entice
them to come back and see more.”
Friday’s artist listing:
Apple Pie Antiques: Chris Doyle - Beauti-
ful unique necklace and earring set; Sally
Schwader - Landscape oil paintings
Set up on Main Street: Portrait artist James
Hodson
In Front of Bohemia Rose/Buster’s: Mike
McIntosh/ Extreme Metal Werx
Big Stuff: Open for dinner
Axe & Fiddle: Open for dinner, live music
Kalapuya Books: Candee Brennan - Ceram-
ics and paintings
Coast Fork Feed and Brewstation: Live music
Analog Barbershop: Open
Imagine It Framed: Danielle Brown Photog-
raphy
Timeless Treasures: Open
The Crafty Mercantile: Fyona Rose - Whim-
sical jewelry; Noelle Ervin - Vintage buttons
and feathers made into earrings and hair
pieces
Opal Center for Arts and Education: Movie,
“Animal House”
Victoriana’s: Live music by Corwin Bolt &
The Wingnuts
Stacy’s Covered Bridge: Open for dinner
Bookmine: Basket cases, pine needle baskets;
Eve Pierce, author; Kathy Kingsbury, Author;
Tao Orion, author.
In Front of Pandora’s Box: Marilyn Wilber
- Antt Farm Textiles
Nice Tri
Couple dominates at
CG Lake, page 1B
photo by Matt Hollander
The combination
Chili Cook-off/Car
Cruise fi lled Main
Street Saturday.
Classic Cars and Chili: A winning recipe
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
W
ith still hours left to go in
the annual Main Street Chili
Cook-off on Saturday, the Cottage
Grove Area Chamber of Commerce
had already sold out of the 1,000 taste
kits organizers had packaged prior to
we think that encouraged more peo-
ple to come downtown. We were also
very pleased to accommodate every
contestant on Main Street. In the past
we’ve had to put some folks on 7th
Street, but it seemed like this year’s
lay out made for better fl ow.”
the event.
“We’re selling them as fast as we
can put them together,” said Chamber
Executive Director Travis Palmer.
In all, Palmer and his team sold
1,300 taste kits — 300 more than at
last year’s Chili-cook off.
“It was a really good event,” he said.
“The weather wasn’t blazing hot, so
R
CG man undertakes
odyssey, page 11A
Please see CHILI, Page 12A
City Council stands pat on marijuana
Ban on early recreational sale
at dispensaries not pursued
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
B
eginning in October, it appears
that medicinal and recreational
marijuana will be available in Cottage
Grove as a one-stop shop.
On Monday the City Council agreed
not to pursue an ordinance that would
prohibit the early sale of commercial
marijuana by currently established
medical marijuana dispensaries.
“I don’t see any value in pursuing an
ordinance against the early sale because
that’s not what the voters wanted,” said
Councilor Mike Fleck.
While recreational marijuana use be-
came legal on July 1, 2015, it will be
some time, perhaps not until late 2016,
before a legal retail market can be es-
tablished by the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission (OLCC).
The Oregon Legislature would ap-
pear to be addressing this gap through
Senate Bill 460; Starting Oct. 1, 2015,
through Dec. 31, 2016, medical mari-
juana dispensaries may sell commer-
cial marijuana to adults age 21 and
older, while not being subject to a 25
percent sales tax. However, the legis-
lation adopted by the Legislature also
created options that are available for
local governments.
In the coming months, the Cottage
Grove City Council will have the op-
portunity to consider other regulations
on local marijuana retail.
Today's special
Betty shows us how to
use that zucchini,
page 6A
Please see COUNCIL, Page 10A
Driver sentenced for 2013 crosswalk hit-and-run
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove’s Laurie Colton
said she’s spent the last year
and a half monitoring the progress of
the case against a woman who was
sentenced for her role in the October,
2013 crash that claimed the life of
Colton’s mother, Claudia Kimery.
Kimery, 74, was attempting to cross
Highway 99 in Cottage Grove that
Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19, with the
aid of a walker when police say she
was clipped by the mirror of a passing
motorist, then hit again by a second
driver when she fell to the ground.
Kimery was pronounced deceased at
the scene.
Last Tuesday, July 21, 24-year old
Brittney Fletcher, the driver of the
fi rst vehicle, received jail time and
probation for failing to perform the
duties of a driver to an injured person.
Police say Fletcher fl ed the scene of
the accident and returned a short time
later. She will serve 30 days in jail
and three years’ probation for her role
in the accident. The second driver,
Wendy Jo Beard of Cottage Grove, is
scheduled to stand trial for the same
charge in August.
Since the accident, Colton said
she’s been working on behalf of her
family to stay up-to-date on the case,
including contact with victims’ ser-
vices at the District Attorney’s offi ce.
Colton acknowledged that the cases
against the two drivers were “very
complicated,” adding that as such
the family was willing to accept a
lesser sentence for Fletcher. (Neither
Fletcher nor her attorney, Greg Gill,
could be contacted by the Sentinel for
this story.)
Please see FLETCHER, Page 10A
Sentinel fi le photo
A memorial to Claudia Kimery was erected at the site of her 2013
death at a Cottage Grove crosswalk.
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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
Classified ads................................. 7B
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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