Opal Center
offers
'Parallel
Lives',
page9A
Lent draws
churches
together,
page 8A
Slow Ponies channel
a wistful era, page 3A
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
School Board passes
resolution for bond to
build new Harrison
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he South Lane School
Board voted unanimous-
ly Monday night to place a
$35,950,000 bond levy before
voters in the May 17, 2016 elec-
tion, with funds to be utilized to
replace the aging Harrison El-
ementary School building; up-
grade safety, security and tech-
nology throughout South Lane
School District; tackle deferred
maintenance projects and reno-
vate the Warren H. Daugherty
Aquatic Center.
Superintendent Krista Parent
told the Board that the bond’s
planning committee worked to
keep the property tax rate of
the bond below $2 per $1000
of assessed property value for
local homeowners, after learn-
ing during previous efforts to
pass a bond to replace Cottage
Grove High School that such an
amount was most likely to gain
the support of voters.
First on Monday evening,
though, came a review of the
planning process that’s led to
the bond recommendation, and
Mike Gorman and Greg Mc-
Cracken of BLRB Architects,
the fi rm hired to shepherd the
early planning and design pro-
cesses, were on hand to provide
specifi cs.
Parent stated that a bond ad-
visory committee of about 50
individuals began exploring the
O N H UMAN O RIGINS
olice are still on the look-
out for the suspect in a pur-
suit that spanned two counties
and enlisted the help of several
agencies
on Tues-
day, Feb.
16.
T h e
Douglas
County
S h e r i ff ’s
Offi ce an-
nounced
that it was William Dee
involved Spain
in a vehicle pursuit that began
at about 8:15 a.m. on Territo-
rial Highway and ended at the
Riverwood Mobile Home Park
in Creswell, though the chase
ended without the apprehension
of the suspected driver, William
Dee Spain, 33, of Cottage Grove,
who Sheriff’s Offi ce spokesper-
son Dwes Hutson said was still
at large by Sentinel press time
Monday.
The morning of the incident,
a deputy was reportedly check-
ing on a reported suspicious ve-
hicle in the 1000 block of Ter-
ritorial Highway in the Curtin
area when he came across two
Also
inside:
possibility of a bond to replace
the Harrison building and make
other upgrades about a year and
a half ago. After the School
Board approved an initial rec-
ommendation to pursue the
bond in May of 2016, a plan-
ning committee has met several
times to begin setting priorities
for the bond. Parent added that
the District is scheduled to be-
gin screening six applicants for
the project’s general contractor
this week.
According to documents pre-
pared by the District, rough cost
estimates of the project are:
On to State!
Wrestlers shine at
District meet, page 1B
New Harrison School on old
CGHS campus: $18,921,100
Safety and security upgrades
district-wide: $1,485,813
Deferred maintenance
projects: $2,300,443
Network and technology
upgrades: $1,250,000
Pool facility improvement:
$2,920,129
Early learning center:
$1,073,775
Kennedy High relocation:
$412,000
Harrison property reuse:
$513,455
Other costs: $6,173,285
Project contingency: $900,000
photo by Jon Stinnett
Paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner (in purple) offers tips on teaching human
evolution to a group of educators at the Smithsonian traveling exhibit.
Crowds fl ock to
origins exhibit
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
E
The presentation offered ad-
ditional details regarding each
Please see BOND, Page 11A
vehicles and several subjects.
The subjects dispersed, and the
deputy attempted to stop one of
the vehicles, a white 1994 Hon-
da Accord.
The deputy pursued the ve-
hicle north on Territorial High-
way through Lorane and then
onto Hamm Road. Near Cre-
swell, police said the vehicle hit
spike strips that had been set by
Oregon State Police Troopers.
Shortly after the car hit the spike
strips, the pursuit was terminat-
ed. Troopers located the vehicle,
unoccupied, about an hour later
at the trailer park south of Cre-
swell.
Spain is wanted on charges
of Eluding, Reckless Driving,
Recklessly Endangering and
Driving While Suspended. Po-
lice said Spain also has a felony
warrant for parole violation out
of Douglas County. He is de-
scribed as fi ve feet, 11 inches tall
and weighing 165 pounds, with
brown hair and brown eyes.
Those who may have informa-
tion as to Spain’s whereabouts
are asked to contact their local
law enforcement agency or call
the Douglas County Sheriff’s
Offi ce at 541-440-4471.
Fun Fly
arly in his presentation before a packed house at the
Cottage Grove Community Center, paleoanthropolo-
gist Dr. Rick Potts asked the question that’s central to the
Smithsonian Institute’s traveling exhibit: What does it mean
to be human?
Hands in the audience shot up immediately; one person
stated that the capacity for abstract thought is the key to
humanness. Another posited that a sense of humor makes
us stand out. Yet another answer involved our ability to ask
‘Why?’
For Potts, the question and its responses served as the
starting point for a conversation about the origins of
Suspect in chase
remains at large
P
VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 35
Please see EXHIBIT, Page 11A
RC aviation
enthusiasts gather at
Armory, page 3A
photo by Bruce Kelsh
Dr. Rick Potts, paleoan-
thropologist and curator of
the Smithsonian Institute’s
Human Origins Exhibit
spoke to a capacity crowd
Wednesday evening at the
CG Community Center.
Body of missing CG man identifi ed
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he coordinator of the Lane
County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Search and Rescue team con-
fi rmed late Monday that the hu-
man remains discovered follow-
ing a search in the Brice Creek
area southeast of Cottage Grove
last week indeed were those of
a Cottage Grove man that had
been missing since September.
A vehicle found on a remote
road on Sunday, Feb. 14 led po-
lice and later Search and Rescue
to the remote location. That day,
the Cottage Grove Police De-
partment received a report that
a white Chevrolet Blazer with
Oregon license plate #285GAH
had been located in the foothills
approximately 25 miles south-
east of Cottage Grove, off of
Brice Creek Road. The report-
ing person indicated that the ve-
hicle was unoccupied and cov-
ered with leaves. Additionally,
he said the windows were down
John Jarrell
and the vehicle’s interior was
very wet. Police said the vehicle
matched the description of that
reportedly in the possession of
John Jarrell, who was reported
missing by his fi ancé on Sept.
30, 2015.
Cottage Grove Police De-
partment personnel reportedly
responded to the vehicle’s loca-
tion and verifi ed the vehicle was
Jarrell’s.
“We think it’s been there the
whole time,” Detective Doug
Skaggs of CGPD later indicated.
“It was on a spur off a spur of a
logging road; there was nothing
else around it, and there were no
recent tracks.”
Just two days prior, Interim
Cottage Grove Police Chief
Scott Shepherd stated that there
had been no new information
to aid in the search for Jarrell,
though a call for information
that could aid in the search was
again distributed to media out-
lets.
On Monday, Search and Res-
cue Coordinator Tim Chase
confi rmed that an autopsy had
positively identifi ed the remains
as belonging to Jarrell, adding
that the manner of death was
determined to be a self-infl icted
gunshot wound.
Following the discovery of
the vehicle, Lane County Search
and Rescue was contacted, and
due to darkness the decision was
made to have Cottage Grove
Police Department secure the
scene and remain with the vehi-
cle overnight, while Search and
Rescue personnel were contact-
ed and prepared to begin search-
ing the following morning.
Lane County Search and
Rescue organized and began a
search of the area on Feb. 15,
including the deployment of
a cadaver dog, but throughout
the day was unsuccessful in lo-
cating Jarrell or any additional
evidence.
Police said the team returned
the following day and continued
the search, this time focusing
on a different area of the forest.
At about 2:30 p.m., the Cot-
tage Grove Police Department
received notifi cation from Lane
County Search and Rescue that
a deceased person had been lo-
cated in a heavily forested area
on a hillside about a mile from
the vehicle.
Lane County Search and Res-
cue secured the scene while de-
tectives from the Lane County
Sheriff’s Offi ce responded to
conduct the death investigation.
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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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