City Beat — 5A
On the floodplain — 3A
Daytripper at Odell — 6A
Big wins!
Lions take down ranked opponents,
page 1B
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 29
Community mourns shooting victim
Kyle Ledford, 22, died of a gunshot wound in a home
on Sixth St. on Tuesday, Jan. 5
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
F
amily and friends are mourning
the loss of a 22-year old Cottage
Grove man following a shooting that oc-
curred in a home on Sixth Street on Tues-
day evening, Jan. 5.
That evening at 8:47 p.m., the Cottage
Grove Police Department received a 911
call from a male reporting that another
male had been injured with a fi rearm at
a home just south of Main Street down-
town and needed help. Offi cers arrived at
the location to fi nd an adult male — later
identifi ed as 22-year old Kyle Ledford
of Cottage Grove — with an apparent
gunshot wound. Offi cers and medical
personnel attempted to revive Ledford,
C
who later died at the scene. Police said
two witnesses were at the scene and were
cooperating with the investigation.
An outpouring of emotion colored
social media in the days after Ledford’s
death, and a gathering was held at the El
Tapatio lounge, where he loved to play
pool and drink Shirley Temples, on Sat-
urday evening. Besides pool, Ledford’s
mother, Terry, said her son loved dirt
bikes and that his “love for skating never
ceased,” a love that shone forth when
Ledford led a group of skaters to cam-
paign to get the Cottage Grove Skate
Park reopened after vandals damaged the
park back in 2011.
“He skated at the new skate park in Eu-
gene every chance he got,” Terry Ledford
said. “It was still his big thrill.”
Ledford said her son recently had a job
stocking inventory for Walmart stores
throughout the Pacifi c Northwest. He
was due the day after his death to start a
new job at Aaron’s Rent to Own Furni-
ture and Furniture Rental, she said.
“He was a good kid,” Ledford said.
“He didn’t drink, didn’t do drugs. He
might’ve known a lot of people that did
that kind of stuff, but he didn’t. It was
hard for me to even get him to take an
aspirin.”
Ledford said her son “had a good
heart” and would help his friends when-
ever he could, adding that she’s heard a
lot of great things about him since his
death.
“I heard how he’d always try to make
people feel better. I was really proud of
him,” she said. “His dad and I both were.
We’re going to miss him horribly.”
Please see SHOOTING, Page 11A
Paving again
planned for I-5
south of CG
onstruction to repave In-
terstate 5 south of Cot-
tage Grove is about to ramp up
once again.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation announced last
week that Interstate 5 motorists
traveling between Rice Hill and
Cottage Grove should expect
lane closures and delays for the
next 18 months as construction
begins on a new highway proj-
ect in north Douglas County.
The $40.3 million I-5: Anlauf
to Elkhead Paving project aims
to pave all four travel lanes with
concrete between milepost 154
and 162. The project will also
build a southbound auxiliary/
climbing lane on the hill south
of Exit 162 (Drain/Oregon 38
junction) between milepost 162
and 160.
Starting on Tuesday, Jan. 12,
ODOT said rolling slowdowns
will be used during the morn-
ing or other off-peak hours as
workers begin clearing trees,
drilling and preparing to exca-
vate the new climbing lane. The
slowdowns will take place in
both directions and may result
in traffi c being briefl y delayed,
ODOT Public Affairs Offi cer
Dan Latham wrote in a recent
press release.
Also
inside:
Chamber banquet
courtesy photo
Ledford was remembered by many
on social media following his
death.
Teachers, contributors,
businesses to be
recognized, page 3A
C ITY C OUNCIL
Southbound motorists should
also watch for lane closures be-
tween milepost 160 and 154.
This will allow workers to re-
pair the shoulder of the highway
in several areas.
Motorists are advised to give
themselves extra travel time to
reach their destinations.
An earlier I-5 paving project
caused long traffi c delays in
2014 and 2015 south of Cot-
tage Grove. Hours-long delays
were reported at the Drain exit
as travelers returned from week-
end journeys to the Coast.
Over the last six months,
ODOT said that the agency and
prime contractor K&E Excavat-
ing of Salem have adjusted the
plans for the new project to re-
duce the likelihood of long de-
lays occurring.
The southbound auxiliary/
climbing lane was recently
added to the project, and ODOT
said this will reduce the need
for lane closures during con-
struction. In the long term, the
climbing lane aims to provide
additional space for vehicles
traveling slowly uphill.
The project’s website can be
found at: http://www.oregon.
gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION3/
Pages/Anlauf-Elkhead.aspx
photo by Jon Stinnett
Mayor Tom Munroe recognized Danny and Candace Solesbee for their work refur-
bishing three downtown buildings at Monday's City Council meeting.
Berries!
Address recounts a busy 2015
Best bets for
beleaguered birds,
page 10A
State of the City Address for Munroe, who re-
iterated following the meeting that he will not
seek reelection in 2016. However, without the
presence of a full Council due to the absence
of Councilor Jeff Gowing and the resignation
of Councilor Heather Murphy at the end of last
year, Munroe also accepted a motion to delay
deliberations on an agenda item that may have
brought many to Council chambers on Mon-
day.
Before the Mayor’s speech, he saluted three
individuals who “do things above and beyond
the norm to try to make things better for those
Transportation update passes,
tobacco ordinance shelved
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove Mayor Tom Munroe sa-
luted the efforts of three citizens toward
community betterment prior to his annual State
of the City Address on Monday night, an ad-
dress in which he recounted the accomplish-
ments of a “busy and active year” in 2015.
A rather large crowd joined the City Council
for its fi rst meeting of the new year and the last
Please see COUNCIL, Page 11A
City's wastewater report details extent of 2015 drought
Much of last year's rainfall — almost 15
inches worth — occurred in December
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
report recently released
by the supervisor of Cot-
tage Grove’s Wastewater Treat-
ment Plant sheds light on just
how dry a year 2014 was in the
area.
Each Superintendent Ed Mills
submits a recycled water report
to the Department of Environ-
mental Quality, a report that
showcases last year’s drought in
surprising numbers.
Back in 2014, 889 million
gallons of wastewater fl owed
through the plant on the south
end of Cottage Grove, a number
that generally “doesn’t fl uctuate
too much,” according to Public
Works Director Jan Wellman.
In 2015, however, just 668
million gallons of water fl owed
through the plant, a 21.3 percent
overall decrease.
Wellman said the decrease
was the result of residents
conserving more water in dry
times, in addition to less “infl ow
and infi ltration” into the City’s
storm drainage and wastewater
collection system.
“I&I, as it is known, is a ma-
jor contributor to total waste-
water fl ows and results from
storm drainage waters entering
the collection system, vis-à-
vis, rain events,” City Manager
Richard Meyers wrote in the
City’s Friday Update publica-
tion last week.
To really illustrate the mag-
nitude of last year’s drought,
Wellman pointed out that, of the
668 million gallons that fl owed
through the plant last year, 183
million gallons came in De-
cember alone, an extremely wet
month that saw 14.77 inches of
rainfall locally.
“If you take December, 2015
fl ows out of the equation, total
fl ows for 2015 were roughly
half of the total fl ows for 2014,”
the Friday Update stated.
“It shows just how severe the
drought was,” Wellman said.
“It’s rare to see that dramatic a
change in a number that doesn’t
fl uctuate much.”
The Friday Update also stat-
ed that 33,200,000 gallons of
treated wastewater effl uent were
land-applied last summer at
Middlefi eld Golf Course for ir-
rigation purposes. The City also
recycled 390 yards of limbs,
1,010 yards of leaves and 16,108
pounds of scrap metal, and 210
gallons of waste oil were used to
heat the City Shop.
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P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
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Principal Brokers
Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735
Frank Brazell....................953-2407
Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838
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