COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL October 21, 2015
Celebration of area
farmers planned at
Bohemia Park
Rotary
chapter
looks back
on 55 years
T
he local chapter of Rotary
International marks an
anniversary decades in the mak-
ing this month.
The local Rotary club cel-
ebrated its 55th birthday dur-
ing its regular noon meeting
on Thursday, a celebration that
included a brief history of the
club.
In early 1960, then Cottage
Grove Police Chief Carl Rumpf,
along with Paul McCoy — the
club’s last surviving charter
member — and 24 other Cot-
tage Grove businessmen and
civic leaders, petitioned Rotary
International for a charter to es-
tablish a Rotary Club in South
Lane County. The charter was
granted in October of 1960. The
Charter night banquet and in-
stallation of offi cers was held at
the Village Green, on Saturday,
Nov. 26, 1960. After the origi-
nal Charter members signed, an
additional 10 were signed in at
the banquet, making a total of
35.
The local Rotary Club has
been a leader in Region 5110
since its formation. Today, there
are 67 Rotary clubs in District
T
courtesy photo
Rotary's Don Williams (left) and Jessica Baker of the CG Community Hospital Foun-
dation talk Rotary history with Paul McCoy, the club's last charter member.
5110, which takes in clubs from
Corvallis to Northern California
and from Burns to the Pacifi c
Ocean.
Worldwide, Rotary clubs
number over 34,000. Rotary is
organized and active in over 200
countries.
Most of Rotary’s activities are
on the local level, such as the
South Lane Dental program, an
annual Christmas party, schol-
arships, aid to the Family Relief
Nursery, and a soon-to-be-un-
veiled project, the third phase of
Coiner Park’s children’s play-
ground equipment.
The local club has 17 proj-
ects, which are rotated accord-
ing to budget and needs. Others
include a dictionary program
for third-graders and Interact (a
sort of junior Chamber of Com-
merce in the high school). As
programs are needed, they are
brought back to address addi-
tional needs of the community.
The local chapter is also active
in International projects. Lead-
ers say its main focus for many
years has been Polio Plus, the
eradication of polio worldwide.
The club also has a library proj-
ect in Thailand and is active in
International Exchange Student
Programs.
The local Rotary club will
celebrate Christmas with a pro-
gram on Dec. 17. The featured
entertainment will be Socially
Insecure, a comedy barbershop
quartet that originates out of the
Cascade Chorus. Of the four
members of the quartet, two
— Kevin Stevens and Bob Mar-
tindale — are past presidents of
CG Rotary Club. It is planned
to have McCoy, the last remain-
ing Charter member, attend the
celebration, which will also in-
clude a celebration of his 96th
birthday.
Those who would like to at-
tend this special Rotary meet-
ing are asked to RSVP a week
in advance to janover@epud.
net. The meeting is scheduled
for 12 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17
at Stacy’s Covered Bridge Res-
taurant, and the cost is $12 per
person for lunch.
he second in a pair of an-
nual events designed to
highlight the contributions that
local farmers make to the area’s
food systems takes place this
Saturday, Oct. 24 at Bohemia
Park and the nearby Bohemia
Public Market.
Beth Pool of cgFEAST, which
aims to promote local farmers
and their wares, said the group
joined with the First Presbyte-
rian Church last spring to help
organize its annual Meet My
Farmer event. Saturday’s gath-
ering, which will feature family
activities in the park in the af-
ternoon and dinner and dancing
at the market in the evening, is
billed as “Celebrate our Farm-
ers” and runs from 1-10 p.m.
From 1-5 p.m., activities at
Bohemia Park include a farm-
er’s market, a pie walk, creating
seed masks and pumpkin carv-
ing. At the Public Market, lo-
cated across from the park at the
237 asks local voters to approve
a bond to raise $2.6 million to
replace fi ve of the District’s ve-
hicles at a rate of $.30 per $1000
of assessed property value for
local taxpayers. If approved, the
Fire District plans to use bond
revenue to purchase a ladder
truck, two fi re engines and two
water tenders. Wooten said the
District is currently looking at a
ladder truck that can possibly be
purchased for around $800,000,
though they can cost up to $1.2
million. New engines start at
about $380,000, he said, and
water tenders are comparably
priced.
The District has not pur-
chased a new fi re engine since
corner of 10th and Washington
streets, a free dinner, beverages
provided for sale by the Brews-
tation and Iris Vineyards and en-
tertainment by the Wood Tone
Trio and Matt Hall and Friends,
is scheduled for 5-10 p.m. Pool
said the proceeds from the event
will support similar events in
the future.
Pool said a number of local
students have also contributed
to the event, including staffi ng
booths at the park and dinner.
She explained that cgFEAST is
the food-focused branch of Sus-
tainable Cottage Grove, which
“works to make Cottage Grove
as sustainable as possible,” ac-
cording to its website. These
efforts are in turn funded by
the Healing Matrix downtown.
Those interested in more infor-
mation about Saturday’s event
or these organizations can call
Pool at 541-942-2360.
Dedication of Little
Free Libraries planned
Last of 16 libraries to be installed at
All-America City Square
Ballot for Nov. 3 election includes only fi re levy
A
B
y press time Monday, vot-
ers in South Lane County
had likely received by mail their
ballot for the Tuesday, Nov. 3
election. And if they’ve opened
that ballot, they’ll likely notice
that there is but one decision to
be made.
South Lane County Fire and
Rescue’s Ballot Measure 20-
3A
its inception with the merger of
the Cottage Grove and Creswell
departments in 2003; according
to a fact sheet prepared by South
Lane Fire, the average age of the
fl eet is 24 years old. The District
was able to secure bond funding
to staff its everyday operations
in 2012, but that funding cannot
be used to purchase equipment.
project
spearheaded
by community leaders
under the tutelage of the Ford
Family Foundation’s leader-
ship program will culminate in
an unveiling this Friday, Oct. 23
at All-America City Square in
downtown Cottage Grove.
Close to 40 members of the
Ford Family Foundation’s lead-
ership training cohort began
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meeting in January of 2014 to
learn how to become more effec-
tive leaders in their communi-
ties. Throughout monthly meet-
ings in the winter and spring of
2014, they worked to identify a
project that could enhance the
lives of those in Cottage Grove
and Creswell.
From a list of over 60 project
ideas came the eventual winner,
Little Free Libraries of South
Lane County, an effort notably
championed by the cohort’s
youngest member, Cottage
Grove High student Allie Har-
ris, and its oldest, Don Strahan.
Beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, the
group will unveil the last of the
16 Little Free Libraries at the
square, located at the corner of
Seventh and Main streets.
Little Free Libraries are based
on the “take a book, leave a
book” model, and they’re de-
signed to be simple, well craft-
ed, free and open to the public
at all hours. The project aims
to promote reading and literacy
while fostering a desire to learn
in local neighborhoods, and the
libraries are also designed as
neighborhood gathering spaces
that can potentially help build
a stronger community. The fi rst
two libraries were installed
at Stewart Park at the corner
of Eighth and Johnson streets
and at the Vealey House in the
Northwest Neighborhood.
The Little Free Library proj-
ect also announced that it is in
need of children’s books to fi ll
the free libraries. Those with
books to donate are welcome to
bring them to Friday’s celebra-
tion.