Cottage Grove Half — 3A
Toys for Tots — 6A
Wreath ideas — 8A
Refl ections
OT
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page 1B
Album draws from
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page 8A
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 25
Council raises garbage rates, approves card payments for water
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
M
onday evening featured
the last meeting of the
Cottage Grove City Council in
2015, and as such its agenda
was a crowded one.
By the close of the meeting,
the Council had raised garbage
rates by 6.5 percent, tabled a to-
bacco retail licensing program,
appointed three members to the
Cottage Grove Planning Com-
mission, set a Jan. 25 date to
review applications for an open
Council seat and moved forward
with a plan to accept debit and
credit cards to pay water bills
and view online water usage
statements.
Little discussion preceded the
increase in garbage rates, which
had already essentially been
green-lighted by the Council at
its Nov. 23 meeting. Back then,
Tim Alverson, manager of the
Cottage Grove Garbage Ser-
vice, wrote to the Council that
rising costs for recycling and
other services led to the request
for a rate increase.
School Dist.
plans active
shooter training
proposing through its licensing
program. Boone lambasted the
County’s program, and the rest
of the Council agreed to table
the issue until it could examine
the data that Boone had just pre-
sented them.
“I don’t think this is going to
do anything in reducing youth
smoking,” Boone said. “All I
can see is that it’s going to take
money from our constituents
and transfer it to an agency in
Eugene.”
Next, the Council voted unan-
imously to reappoint Bob Ehler,
Jeremie Eckstine and Dan Nord
to fi ll their three expired posi-
tions on the Cottage Grove Plan-
ning Commission. The Coun-
cil thanked the three returning
commissioners and Kenneth
Roberts, a fourth applicant for
the Planning Commission who
was not appointed.
Councilor Heather Mur-
phy held her at-large Council
seat for the last time on Mon-
day, and the Council discussed
Please see COUNCIL, Page 10A
Transportation plan calls for Highway 99 improvements
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The Cottage Grove City Council got
a look at the TSP during an hour-long
worksession held before its Monday
night meeting, along with reports from
the engineering fi rm that’s overseeing
updates to the plan and a representative
from the Oregon Department of Trans-
portation. The Council will examine
the plan again at its Jan. 11 meeting,
which will include comment from the
public, and consider its adoption. The
A
recent traffi c fatality and the ad-
dition of land to Cottage Grove’s
urban growth boundary helped prompt
an update to the City’s Transportation
System Plan, or TSP, which is meant
to guide the ongoing development of
the City’s transportation system until
2035.
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
change in approach to active
shooter situations in schools
will bring personnel with the Lane
County Sheriff’s Offi ce, Cottage
Grove, Eugene, Springfi eld and oth-
er agencies to Cottage Grove High
School on Monday, Jan. 4 for train-
ing in the “A.L.I.C.E.” method of re-
sponse to such situations.
A.L.I.C.E., which stands for “Alert,
Lockdown, Inform, Counter and
Evacuate,” refl ects evolving thinking
with regard to active shooter situa-
tions in schools, according to South
Lane School District Superintendent
Krista Parent.
“In the past, you would generally
lock yourself in, close the windows
and wait,” Parent said. “Now, the best
thinking says that there are other pro-
cedures that can be used to counter
and confront a shooter.”
Personnel with the Sheriff’s Offi ce
have taken the lead in A.L.I.C.E. train-
ing throughout the County, and on
Jan. 4 — not a school day for South
Lane students — staff members will
witness seven different scenarios in
seven different classrooms at CGHS,
with two offi cers in each room to lead
the exercises. Offi cers will use blank
rounds in real weapons and Nerf guns
for live practice situations, and Parent
wished to caution those living near
Cottage Grove High that they may
hear the sound of shots fi red and wit-
ness an intense police presence dur-
ing the drills. She said the next step in
the process will be educating students
on the new procedures.
Offi cer Charlie Martin, who serves
as South Lane’s School Resource
Offi cer, said the old thinking that in-
volves students staying in one spot
and waiting for help is being aug-
mented.
“Countering and evacuation are
the newer thinking,” he said, though
Martin and others are keeping quiet
on the methods used to counter an ac-
tive shooter.
Parent said it’s unfortunate but
quite necessary that the District con-
duct such drills.
“It’s sad that we’re using our pre-
cious time for this instead of teach-
ing reading and writing,” she said.
“But you have to be proactive in these
types of situations, and as educators,
we have to protect ourselves, too.
We’re a high target.”
Health about the need for a li-
censing program for tobacco
retailers in Cottage Grove. The
County pointed to increased
use of tobacco products among
teens as reason for the program,
though Councilor Jake Boone
questioned the merit of target-
ing retailers to lessen teen to-
bacco use when teens typically
get their tobacco elsewhere.
On Monday night, Boone pre-
sented data to the Council that he
said proved that the State of Or-
egon already conducts the type
of monitoring that the County is
“Since our last increase on
Oct. 1, 2013, Lane County has
increased the disposal fee 12
percent,” Alverson wrote, “and
the cost of commingled recy-
cling increased in increments
from no cost to $40 per ton.”
The increase changes the rate
for garbage carts between $.55
for a 35-gallon cart and $1.85
for a 95-gallon cart; one-yard
containers will increase from
$104 to $109.
Also at its last meeting, the
Council heard from representa-
tives with Lane County Public
full TSP document can be viewed at
cottagegrovetsp.org.
Mat Dolata, a transportation engi-
neer with DKS Associates, explained
that the TSP is meant to guide the “20-
year vision” for transportation in Cot-
tage Grove, which should in turn guide
investments in transportation projects
that can accommodate many modes of
transport. The plan, Dolata said, should
also help the City’s planning depart-
ment coordinate with other agencies
such as ODOT and be competitive in
the search for grant funding for road
projects.
The TSP was last updated in 2008,
but the expansion of the City’s urban
growth boundary, data from 2014
showing lower traffi c volumes in Cot-
tage Grove than in previous years
Please see TSP, Page 10A
S NOW RIDE
Guitar in hand,
Kevin Dow
traverses the
swinging bridge
amid a wintry
mix of snow and
rain over a roil-
ing Coast Fork
of the Willamette
River Sunday
morning. Winter
weather brought
heavy snow to
the mountains
surrounding
Cottage Grove
over the
weekend.
photo by Jon Stinnett
Safe Haven hopes to found sober living facility,
says support in the community is strong
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
group of locals interested in es-
tablishing a sober living facility
in Cottage Grove said they’ve noticed a
“tremendous response” from the com-
munity to their efforts.
Dolores Anderson, president of the
board of directors of Safe Haven, said
the group hopes to provide a safe and
sober place to live following drug or al-
cohol treatment or incarceration. Their
fi rst meeting in July drew 12-15 people
interested in making the facility a real-
ity, Anderson said.
“Everyone was so excited and saying
we just have to get it organized,” she
said. “The reception from the commu-
nity has been amazing. We’ve gotten a
passionate, committed response from so
many people.”
Many of those committed to the effort
are participants in Alcoholics Anony-
mous or other groups, Anderson said,
adding that the beginnings of the Safe
Haven effort can be traced to Billie
Bird, who arrived in Cottage Grove 18
months ago and noticed that the com-
munity did not have its own “recovery
house.”
“You have to have a clean environ-
ment to go back to after treatment,” Bird
said. “I talked to a couple people who
said, ‘Let’s start it up,’ and before long
there were 20 people wanting to get in-
volved. It’s something this community
needs.”
Bird said a recovery house can have
a “trickle-down effect” that can have a
benefi t beyond those it serves directly.
“It helps everyone,” she said. “It keeps
crime down and is a big part of having a
community that shows it cares.”
Bird said the effort has “stirred up
quite a conversation” in the AA/NA
community.
“Every time you go to meetings, peo-
ple are so excited,” she said. “Everyone
is 100 percent behind it.”
Anderson said Safe Haven has incor-
porated as a business and is now fi ling
paperwork for non-profi t status. The
group has already solicited donations
but could receive more as a non-profi t,
she said. In the beginning, Anderson
said the recovery house will only serve
women, though a second facility for
men and another for women with chil-
dren are also in the works. The group is
currently searching for a home, likely a
three-bedroom house that can house an
offi ce for the facility’s manager.
Safe Haven is hosting a spaghetti din-
ner and raffl e in the Shepherd Room of
the Cottage Grove Community Center
on Saturday, Dec. 19 from 5-8 p.m.
A plate of spaghetti, garlic bread and
drink can be purchased for $6, and raf-
fl e tickets will be $2 each or three for
$5. Questions can be directed to Bird at
541-228-4751 or billiebird60@gmail.
com or through Facebook at “Safe Ha-
ven Cottage Grove.”
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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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