COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL January 6, 2016
First CG baby arrives on fi rst
afternoon of 2016
C
ottage Grove didn’t have to
wait long for its fi rst baby
born in 2016.
At 4:06 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 1,
Brenna Register and Tresvelle
Gray of Cottage Grove welcomed
their fi rst child, daughter Kamaya
Irie Gray, into the world at Peace-
Health Sacred Heart Medical Cen-
ter. She weighed in at 7.78 pounds
and was 20 inches long, her mom
said.
Kamaya was born a little be-
fore her due date, and when her
mom’s water broke just before 3
a.m. on New Year’s Day, she knew
something special could be in the
works.
“I thought, ‘Oh my, she’s going
to be a New Year’s baby!” Register
said.
Grandparents are Judy Register
of Cottage Grove and Randy Reg-
ister of Medford and Echo Gray of
Cottage Grove and Gary Bounds
of Portland.
As winners of the Cottage Grove
Sentinel’s First Baby contest, Gray
and Register will receive a one-
year subscription to the newspaper,
a FireMed membership, lunch for
two at El Tapatio and other prizes.
Kamaya
Irie
Gray
was
born
at 4:06
p.m.
Friday.
T
photo by Jon Stinnett
Danny Hintze, Eric Johnson, Harry Anderson and Daniel West enjoy a game of "Raiders of
teh North Sea."
Home destroyed by fi re believed to be one of area's oldest
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
L
ocal historians believe that a
part of the Cottage Grove ar-
ea’s early history went up in smoke
last week.
South Lane Fire and Rescue per-
sonnel responded to reports of a
house fi re on Hillside Drive south
of Cottage Grove on Monday af-
ternoon, Dec. 28, a fi re that heavily
damaged the structure. Following
the fi re, Holli Turpin of the Cottage
Grove Historical Society told the
Sentinel that information suggests
2016
the home was that of Alexander
Cooley, an early settler in the area,
and was built in 1865.
“I believe the overwhelming evi-
dence shows the home that burned
was owned by Alexander Cooley
until his death in 1921, when is was
bought by Virgil D. White, then
passed down to Frank White (Vir-
gil’s son),” Turpin wrote.
Local history enthusiast Colette
Kimball recently shared an account
of the home’s history on her blog at
www.mysouthlane.com.
“What burned was not just an
abandoned house but a little part
of Cottage Grove’s early history,”
Kimball wrote, adding that she had
the chance to meet Alex Cooley’s
grandson, Clair, several years ago.
Using recollections that Clair Cool-
ey penned in 1995, in addition to
reports from University of Oregon
students and Internet sources, Kim-
ball compiled a brief history of the
home and its inhabitants. Alexander
Cooley was born in 1835 and came
to Oregon on the Oregon Trail at age
18 with his family.
“Once in the valley the family ‘got
their claims and started homestead-
ing.’ George settled in the Browns-
Cottage Theatre
presents
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5
2
The
P S ELLING BEE
A hilarious
musical romp
through
middle school
Music & Lyrics by
William Finn
Book by
Rachel Sheinkin
Conceived by
Rebecca Feldman
Directed by
Mark VanBeever
January 29, 30, 31*
February 4, 5, 6, 7* t11, 12, 13, 14*
Sponsored by:
*matinee
Warning: show contains frank (but funny) puberty moment
Tickets available online, by phone, or at the door one hour before performance
Thursday−Saturday 8:00 pm; Sunday 2:30 pm. $25 Adult, $20 Youth (age 6−18)
www.cottagetheatre.org • 541-942-8001 • 700 Village Drive • Cottage Grove
Jan. 11 meeting also features
State of the City address
A
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Please see SQUALL, Page 11A
Council to examine
transportation plan,
tobacco ordinance
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Gamesquall storms into Odd Fellows Hall
he “Squall” started to pick up steam
after lunch.
Cottage Grove’s Odd Fellows Hall played
host to the Gamesquall, a gathering of board
game enthusiasts reminiscent of Portland’s
annual “Gamestorm,” beginning at 11 a.m.
New Year’s Eve. By the end of the event,
which stretched into the fi rst few hours of
2016, organizer Jake Boone said 75 people
had taken part.
Lining the walls of the Odd Fel-
lows Hall were over 300 games
from
Boone’s
personal
collection.
“I have a vice,” Boone, who also serves as
a City Councilor in his spare time, said by
way of understatement. Apparently, others
share Boone’s vice, as gamer Eric Johnson
said that Boone’s game collection is smaller
than his own.
3A
ville area, however he continued to
support his family in Cottage Grove
until the land was paid off. The rest
of the Cooley family lived together
in a log cabin on their land claim
until Alex married Eliza Shields in
1865…
Afterwards, the family began con-
structing two homes, one for Alex
and Eliza to the north, the other for
John and the rest of the family to
the south. John never married, so
his mother lived with him until she
died.
Please see COOLEY, Page 11A
packed agenda for the Cottage Grove City
Council’s Monday, Jan. 11 meeting includes
Mayor Tom Munroe’s State of the City Address, a
public hearing on the City’s Transportation System
Plan and another look at an ordinance that would
create a countywide tobacco retail licensing pro-
gram.
The Transportation Plan, or TSP, is meant to
guide the ongoing development of the City’s trans-
portation system until the year 2035. The Council
explored the document during a worksession on
Dec. 14 and could adopt the TSP with two majority
‘yes’ votes. The full TSP document can be viewed at
cottagegrovetsp.org.
The TSP was last updated in 2008, but the ex-
pansion of the City’s urban growth boundary, data
from 2014 showing lower traffi c volumes in Cottage
Grove than in previous years and the recent adop-
tion of the Main Street Refi nement Plan — which is
meant to guide the revamping of Main Street down-
town between its historic buildings — have all led to
a need for an updated plan. The plan breaks needed
road projects down into two categories: projects that
should be prioritized given the amount of funding
the City can reasonably expect and projects that are
needed but for which funding may not be readily
available. It also gives priority to areas of the City
that have proven to have safety issues. It is hoped
that the TSP can help the City secure grant fund-
ing for the upgrades it describes, and an engineering
consultant told the Council that a special package
of projects has been identifi ed as a possible source
for grant funding. These include converting High-
way 99 from four to three lanes near the Connector,
examining driveway access to the highway, widen-
ing the connector bridge, building sidewalks to span
gaps where they don’t exist and planning for the
Connector/99 intersection.
The Council will also revisit an ordinance that
would make the City part of a countywide tobac-
co retail license program. Representatives with the
County health department advocated for the program
twice before the Council last year, presenting data
showing that youth tobacco use for all products rose
in 2014. The issue was tabled at the Council’s Dec.
14 meeting after Councilor Jake Boone presented
information that he said proved that the state of Or-
egon is already conducting the kind of oversight that
the County claims its program would cover.
“I don’t think this is going to do anything in re-
ducing 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.”
Monday’s Council meeting is open to the public.
It begins at 7 p.m. at the Council chambers in City
Hall.