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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2015)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL September 2, 2015 Fundraiser helps online group 'Pay it Forward' BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T hey’ve been at it for almost two years, and organizers of an event held Saturday in Bo- hemia Park got a bit of the community’s help “pay- ing it forward” to those in need. This December marks the two-year anniversary of the founding of the “Pay it Forward Cottage Grove” group on Facebook, a group that uses the online platform to gather and transfer items from those in the area who can spare them to those that need them. On Saturday, a fundraiser to help cover the group’s cost drew a large crowd. “We were very busy, though a little under- staffed,” said Jennifer Neil, who started the group with her mother, Mindy Beer, and continues to run it from Beer’s Cottage Grove home. Neil said funds raised from the event will help cover the costs of warehouse space to store items before weekly pick-up days, in addition to purchas- ing supplies to fi ll boxes for the homeless, baby formula and other community needs. Saturday’s fundraiser included a “huge free sale,” that Neil said went very well, doling out over 3000 pieces of clothing. A successful silent auction, free games, a bounce house, snow cones and a dunk tank also helped round out the day’s events. The Pay it Forward group recently gained its sta- tus as a non-profi t organization, Neil said, a process that was more diffi cult than one might imagine. “We got it two weeks ago, and it was a big thing,” she said. “They didn’t know quite how to categorize us because we don’t pay anybody — a lot of times a non-profi t will have a paid executive director or administrator.” The Pay it Forward group, in contrast, operates due to the efforts of Neil, Beer and a handful of volunteer administrators including Monique Cris- tine, Amanda Wilson, Emily Robinson and Bob Ehler. The group hopes that its new non-profi t sta- tus can lead to sponsorships to further its work in the community. 3A Reduced-cost lunches eliminated throughout School District Students who previously qualifi ed will now get them free BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel R courtesy photo educed-cost lunches have been eliminated at schools in South Lane School District, and Food Service Supervisor Monica Yoss said it’s a great thing for area youth. About 65 percent of students at South Lane qualify for free or reduced lunches, Yoss said, though students at all schools who would previ- ously have qualifi ed for reduced lunches will now get them for free. Oregon Governor Kate Brown recently signed into law House Bill 5017, which will offer free lunches to about 30,000 of the state’s students who previously qualify for a reduced cost. The bill appropriated $2.4 million toward the mandate for more free lunches. Last year, 217 of the nearly 2600 South Lane students qualifi ed for reduced lunches. With the exception of students at Dorena School and Al Kennedy Alternative High School, these families will still be required to fi ll out an application, but they can now keep the $.40 per meal they previ- ously paid as the reduced rate. “The same amount of people will qualify for free and reduced lunches, but now they will all be free,” Yoss said. The qualifi cations are based on the number of individuals in a household. A two- A fundraiser for the 'Pay it Forward Cottage Grove' group on Facebook drew a large crowd, where a free sale included the donation of over 3000 items of cloth- ing to community members. The group recently gained non-profi t status. Please see LUNCH, Page 11A Sheriff's Offi ce chase yields a different wanted subject Search for James Vaughn leads to Sebastian Bivens, wanted on a long list of charges BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he pursuit of a wanted subject by Lane County Sheriff’s Deputies on Thursday led to the apprehension of a man long familiar to local, state and county law enforce- ment — though it was not the subject po- lice origi- nally hoped to capture. Lt. Chris Sebastian Doyle of Bivens the Sher- iff’s Offi ce said that the pursuit of James Allen Vaughn, 45, who is reportedly wanted in regard to traffi c violations, began in the Row River area near Sharps Creek Thursday afternoon af- ter a failed traffi c stop. Police were unable to locate Vaughn, Doyle said, though they did fi nd his blue Chevrolet pickup truck abandoned on the Row River Trail near Harms Park. The added Sheriff’s Offi ce staff in the area in response to the pursuit included a deputy that recognized 25-year old Se- bastian Bivens of Cottage Grove as a passenger in a vehicle dur- ing an unrelated traffi c stop, Doyle said. Bivens was subse- quently arrested and was lodged at the Lane County Jail on Mon- day afternoon. Bivens has a long history of contact with Cottage Grove Po- lice, and he managed to elude local, state and county police for much of the month of July. He was captured with considerable effort last January; he then elud- ed local police in the process of another arrest on June 28. On the weekend of July 30-31, Bivens was able to ditch a car he had been driving on London Road and again elude Oregon State Police and other agencies on foot — twice. He was again arrested — this time without incident — by Lane County Sheriff’s Deputies on Aug. 14 while walking near Baker Bay County Park after again evading police throughout the previous evening. On Monday, staff at the Lane County Jail said that Bivens was being held on a host of charges including attempted assault II, possession of a stolen vehicle, eluding police, escape III, reck- less driving, attempted animal abuse and criminal mischief I. The jail representative did not have information on Biv- ens’ previous arrest this month, though personnel with the Cot- tage Grove Police Department said they had been informed that he had previously been released after just a matter of hours be- hind bars. Doyle said the Sheriff's Offi ce would still very much like to speak with Vaughn, who is de- scribed as a white male weigh- ing about 200 pounds and stand- ing fi ve feet, eight inches tall. Those with information on his whereabouts are encouraged to call the Sheriff's Offi ce at 541- 682-4150. 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