COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL November 18, 2015
3A
Armory hosts Veterans Day ceremony
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
I
t was an exciting week of celebration
in Cottage Grove as veterans, citizens
and servicemen saluted our country’s he-
roes. The celebrations kicked off with a
U.S.O. show on Saturday, Nov. 7 with a
hearty dinner and various performances.
Then on Wednesday, Nov. 11, a formal
Veteran’s Day celebration was held at the
Cottage Grove Armory. It was a special
year for the celebration, as State Repre-
sentative Cedric Hayden attended and also
gave a speech. Hayden, a politician who
supports reform for better care of veterans,
took the opportunity to honor all Cottage
Grove-residing veterans and raise aware-
ness of some of the hardships faced by vets
retiring from active duty.
“Sometimes [veterans] don’t always get
what they deserve,” said Hayden. It’s some-
thing we need to push in the state of Oregon
and in Washington to help those who have
served this country honorably.”
Please see VETS, Page 11A
photo by Christie Johnson
Local Scouts (with fl ags) and the Lincoln Middle School Choir (on stage)
assisted with the Veteran's Day Ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the
Cottage Grove Armory.
Sentinel fi le photo
The City of Cottage Grove began installing its fi ber
optics network in 2009. Here, crews are shown
installing fi ber into a downtown fi ber hut. The City
Council recently voted to expand the network.
Zen Paws offers
added options,
without the kennel
City to expand fi ber
optics backbone
Pet portraits, treats also available
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove recently
welcomed a new busi-
ness at the Gateway Shopping
Center that is more unique than
it appears. Sam and Heather
Barrett opened up their pet spa
“Zen Paws” about three weeks
ago, and they provide more
than just a bath and a haircut
for dogs.
The new business is not
only a pet spa, but also a place
where dogs can have their
photographs taken profession-
ally. Heather Barrett has been
grooming dogs for over 15
years, starting in high school in
Huntington Beach, California.
She also worked as a veteri-
nary assistant and consistently
works with animal rescue pro-
grams. Sam is a well-equipped
professional photographer and
has been for the past six years.
He studied photography at
Monterey Peninsula College
and has mostly done freelance
work and a few exhibitions. Zen
Paws features an area in which
dogs can be photographed with
proper lights and portrait back-
grounds.
Aside from getting a bath,
haircut and perhaps a pretty
picture, dogs can be treated
quite literally at Zen Paw’s
treat bar. The bar features a
large variety of different treats
from big biscuits to bit-sized
nibblers for owners to mix and
match for their pets. Above and
around the treat bar are novelty
toys for sale.
In the back of the spa is the
grooming area where all the
magic (and sometimes chaos)
happens. The area is kennel-
free, which Heather Barrett
says helps a lot with dogs that
may have separation anxiety.
“We want the dogs to feel as
comfortable as possible,” she
said. The back also has a more
enclosed bath station, and a sta-
tion in which the dogs are held
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
photo by Sam Wright
Heather and Sam Barrett and Echo are happy to have
opened Zen Paws at the Gateway Shopping Center.
while their teeth get cleaned.
“I think what makes us
unique are things like our treat
bar and novelty toys, along
with a kennel free grooming
area,” said Heather.
The Barretts have lived in
Cottage Grove for about a year
with their 11-year old minia-
ture bull terrier named Echo af-
ter moving from the Monterey
Bay area in California. They
met at a coffee shop and share
a love for animals.
“The funny thing is, I was
always more of a cat person
and Heather was more of a dog
person,” Sam Barrett said. “But
after I met Echo, I started lov-
ing dogs a lot more.”
Heather’s primary focus has
always been compassionate
care.
“That’s why we chose a ken-
nel-free environment with ex-
pedited services, natural prod-
ucts and aromatherapy.”
The Barretts are active in an-
imal rescue in Cottage Grove.
On the day of their grand open-
ing, they held a benefi t raffl e
for the Humane Society of Cot-
tage Grove.
he Cottage Grove City
Council voted at its Mon-
day, Nov. 9 meeting to extend
the City’s fi ber optics network
to the Industrial Park south of
town and the Village Shopping
Center, in addition to adding
additional strands to further ca-
pacity at other stages along the
route.
The Council approved a mo-
tion to award Coburg-based C-2
Utility Contractors, a telephone
and television cable contrac-
tor, the project in the amount of
$220,941.58. The City received
a $400,000 loan in April of 2013
to extend the fi ber network at a
time when a call center was re-
portedly interested in relocating
to the Village Shopping Center
on Highway 99, though the call
center’s owner was reportedly
concerned about the lack of In-
ternet capacity there. The City
Council green-lighted the exten-
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EUGENE
JUNCTION CITY
VENETA
Cottage Grove City Hall
400 E. Main St., Cottage Grove
Veterans Memorial Assn.
1626 Willamette St., Eugene
Junction City
Community Center
175 W. 7th Ave., Junction City
CRESWELL
Countryside Pizza & Grill
645 River Road, Eugene
City of Veneta
Community Center
25192 E. Broadway, Veneta
City of Creswell
Community Center
99 S. 1st St., Creswell
FLORENCE
Florence Events Center
715 Quince St., Florence
Campbell Senior Center
Elsie’s Room
155 High St., Eugene
Papa’s Pizza
1577 Coburg Rd., Eugene
SPRINGFIELD
Papa’s Pizza
4011 Main St., Springfield
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City of Oakridge
47674 School St., Oakridge
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sion of the fi ber optics network
to the center, though the center
eventually relocated to Veneta,
its owner citing the high cost of
renovating the building it would
have inhabited in the shopping
center.
Fiber optics technology sends
information at lightning speeds
across colored glass fi ber and
is viewed as the future of digi-
tal information transmission.
Cottage Grove’s own foray into
fi ber began over a decade ago
and is to this day undergoing
continued speculation and de-
velopment.
The City will also place addi-
tional strands of fi ber in a sec-
tion of the network downtown
but has decided to wait on a plan
to add strands in a section from
Fifth Street to Villard, according
to City Manager Richard Mey-
ers, who said that the Villard
section, which was installed and
is owned by the Lane Council
of Governments, will not be
augmented because LCOG is
concerned about the danger that
may be posed by placing an ad-
ditional 288 strands of fi ber in
the two-inch conduit that cur-
rently only holds 48 strands.
“We’re excited to extend the
fi ber to the Industrial Park, since
there’s not much going on out
there,” Meyers said. “And with
King Estate expanding into the
park, it will be nice to have the
fi ber there if they want to use
it.”
Meyers, who helped spear-
head the project to design the
fi ber optics backbone in Cottage
Grove, in addition to adding the
wireless Internet transmitters
throughout town, said the fi ber
project has already been a suc-
cess, as it’s currently in use by
South Lane School District, the
City of Cottage Grove, Peace-
Health Community Hospital in
Cottage Grove, Territorial Seed
and Charter Communications.
“We’re going to inch along
with it until we can get it every-
where,” he said. “Hopefully we
can get some Internet providers
to carry more stuff on fi ber and
continue to expand.”