Peach paradise — 6A
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ATTENTION: EARLY DEADLINES
The Sentinel will be closed Sept. 7 for Labor Day. Its Sept.
9 edition will be operating on early deadlines, which are as
follows: Thursday, Sept. 3 for classifi ed and display Adver-
tising and editorial submissions.
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
Fire Board fast-tracks
bond process for new
fi retrucks, tenders
VOLUME 127 • NUMBER 9
H AZY DAYS
Also
inside:
Proposed 5-1/2 year bond would raise
$2.6 million for equipment
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he South Lane County
Fire and Rescue Board of
Directors knows that other local
agencies have needs that may be
fi lled by the approval of a bond
measure by local taxpayers. As
such, the Board voted last week
to green-light its own plan to
place a bond before voters this
fall in order not to compete with
other potential bond efforts.
“South Lane Fire and Rescue
is more than aware that the City
and School District also have
needs that they could be look-
ing to take to voters, so we’re
attempting a bond this year so
we’re not on the ballot with
them,” said Division Chief Joe
Raade.
Last week, the SLFR Board
voted to place a bond on the bal-
lot for the Nov. 3, 2015 election,
and the District will have until
Sept. 3 to fi le the necessary pa-
perwork to make it happen. The
proposed bond would generate
$2.6 million that South Lane
Fire hopes to use to purchase
a ladder truck, two fi re engines
and two water tenders. It would
tax local ratepayers at a rate
of $.30 per $1000 of assessed
property value.
“Replacing the current, aged-
out fl eet provides safer, up-to-
date apparatus with fi refi ghting
capabilities not currently avail-
able,” according to information
released by the District on Mon-
day.
Raade said that, if voters ap-
prove the bond, the District will
attempt to purchase the new
equipment right away rather
than buying a piece at a time.
“The longer we wait, the more
expensive it (the equipment)
will be,” he said. “At the end of
the 5 ½ years, we may be hav-
ing a conversation about another
bond to replace the Creswell fi re
station.”
Raade said that the District is
“trying to not ask for things we
don’t really need.”
“We’re not after the Cadil-
lac model,” he said. “We need
working trucks. We now have a
station with an engine that’s go-
ing to be 30 years old, and we
defi nitely need more water, so
tenders are a priority.”
Raade said that the current
ladder truck’s ladder also only
extends 55 feet, an anomaly in
this day and age.
South Lane Chief John Woo-
ten recently said that he spoke
recently with South Lane
School District Superintendent
Krista Parent to ensure that the
two districts would not attempt
to pass a bond at the same time,
and it appears now that the at-
tempts will not take place si-
multaneously.
The South Lane School
Board has yet to decide whether
to attempt to pass a bond to re-
place the aging Harrison School
building in May or November of
2016, according to its Commu-
nications Coordinator, Garrett
Bridgens.
The District has sought to re-
place the Harrison building for
Please see BOND, Page 12A
Barn renewal
Square Dance Barn
gets more than a
facelift, page 3A
photo by Jon Stinnett
Smoke from several nearby wildfi res blanketed much of Oregon and Washington over
the weekend, with smoke appearing to quickly envelop the Cottage Grove area begin-
ning mid-day Saturday. Air quality conditions were listed as very poor, but the smoke
began clearing up on Monday.
Taylor Butte Fire burns an acre
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
F
irefi ghters with South
Lane County Fire and
Rescue and the Oregon De-
partment of Forestry mobilized
Sunday afternoon to fi ght a
brush fi re that fl ared up in the
Quaglia/Pitcher Lane area near
Mosby Creek southeast of Cot-
tage Grove.
The blaze that is now being
called the Taylor Butte Fire
started early Sunday afternoon,
according to Jeri Chase, Public
Information Offi cer for ODF. It
grew to about one acre in size,
Chase said, adding late Monday
morning that the fi re had been
100 percent lined and contained
and that crews were busy with
mop-up operations and patrol.
Division Chief Joe Raade of
South Lane County Fire and
Rescue said that, while the fi re
did not cover a lot of acreage,
it was a major concern because
at one time, it had approached
within 10-15 feet of nearby
structures.
“When we called ODF, they
responded with a lot more re-
sources,” Raade said, resources
that Chase said included a he-
licopter owned by a landowner
and ODF fi re engines.
“They are on the ready,”
Raade said of ODF. “This time
of year, they don’t want any-
thing to take off on them.”
Quick response times are
Cottage Grove's
fourth dispensary
opens
the agency’s chief strategy to
fi ght fi res in extremely dan-
gerous conditions, Chase said.
“We’re hitting them so dang
hard that they don’t have a
chance,” she said. “Our main
strategy is an aggressive initial
attack — the dollars, effort and
resources saved are exponential
if you can get there early versus
allowing them to become some-
thing of any size.”
The cause of the fi re is under
investigation, though Raade said
that it occurred on ODF land in
an area that is diffi cult for most
people to access and was, in
fact, diffi cult to access for South
Lane Fire personnel.
A
nd then there were four.
Cottage
Grove’s
newest medical marijuana
dispensary has been open for
about a week and a half, and
business has been good so far
at the Medication Station, ac-
cording to Graciela Moreno,
co-founder and president of
Med-Cannabis Pharma, Inc.,
the parent company that also
operates dispensaries in Bend
and Newport. The Medica-
tion Station is located at 1041
Pacifi c Highway/Highway99
adjacent to the former site of
Opal Center's newest
is epic, page 9A
Daddy-daughter day
Daytripper brings
along a friend, page
10A
Rules for recreational
sales at dispensaries
released by OHA
'Medication Station' says it
offers a holistic approach
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Don't myth it
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Café Sheilagh.
Moreno said that, in addition
to providing marijuana fl ow-
ers, edible products, tinctures,
oils and topical treatments, the
Medication Station also plans
to focus on a more holistic
health approach.
Taking the lead on that ap-
proach will be Manager Sharon
Cohen, who boasts 30 years’
experience as a local caregiver
and said she was the parent of
one of the fi rst children on the
Oregon Medical Marijuana
Program at the time of its de-
but in 1999/2000.
Moreno said that Cohen’s
education as a caregiver and
C
photo by Jon Stinnett
Sharon Cohen and Graciela Moreno say business has
already been good at the Medication Station.
“community
connections” use of a multi-wave oscillator,
make her “a great asset to have which radiates waves of ener-
here in the store,” which fea- gy with the goal of a patient’s
tures previews of other hemp-
based products and offers the
Please see STATION, Page 12A
ottage Grove’s fourth
medical marijuana dis-
pensary was busy opening for
business just as the Oregon
Health Authority released
a draft of a set of rules that
will allow dispensaries to sell
marijuana for recreational use
beginning this fall.
Dispensaries will be able to
sell up to a quarter-ounce of
marijuana at a time to recre-
ational customers beginning
Oct. 1, a provision set up the
state legislature in an attempt
to allow already established
businesses to supply the new
recreational market. Recre-
ational sales at dispensaries
will continue until Dec. 31,
2016; in 2016, the Oregon Li-
quor Control Commission will
begin processing licenses for
businesses hoping to sell rec-
reational marijuana.
Cottage Grove’s dispensa-
ries appear ready to offer their
products to recreational users,
and personnel at the Medica-
tion Station, the newest dis-
pensary on Highway 99, say
they’re speaking to many in-
dividuals interested in hearing
more about the recreational
market in advance of the Oct.
1 deadline.
Riley Llamas opened the
Holistic Co-op on Main Street
Rain Country Realty Inc.
N
ING
T
S
I
L
EW
TOO NEW
FOR PHOTO
545 Cresswood, Creswell
Vaulted ceilings,
3 bedroom, 2
bath with fenced
yard. Built in
2002 with
1161sqft.
PE
!
G
N
I
ND
Principal Brokers
Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735
Frank Brazell....................953-2407
Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838
532 Harlan Ave
Lovely Home on
over 1/2 acre. Sold
quickly due to
scenic location and
large lot
Brokers
Laurie Phillip....................430-0756
Valerie Nash ....................521-1618
$149,500
$199,500
Licensed in the
State of Oregon
"
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Please see SALES, Page 12A
Calendar....................................... 11B
Channel Guide ............................... 4B
Classified ads................................. 6B
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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