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Feeding frenzy! Raptors join the pursuit of hatchery trout, page 11A Cottage Grove Sentinel WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016 SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 40 School Board worksession deals with budget shortfall Also inside: BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel W ith a little more than two months remaining in the 2015-16 school year, South Lane School District fi nds its budget about $600,000 short following a lower-than-expected estimate of the state of Oregon’s contribution to education funding. The District also faces a shortfall for 2016-17, and together these gaps were the sole focus of a School Board worksession late Monday afternoon. South Lane Superintendent Krista Parent spent much of the worksession detailing the methods the District — particularly Parent herself and district Business Manager Phil Scrima — have used to estimate South Lane’s budget numbers throughout the year, then aug- ment those numbers when more exact estimates come from the state. The most recent State School Fund esti- mate, however, which was delivered on March 17, “set us on our backside,” Parent said. Declining enrollment at South Lane is partly to blame for the decrease, Parent explained, showing a table in- dicating that the District is graduating classes of some 240 students while welcoming classes of incoming kindergarteners that number only 160 or so. The state funds school districts per student, and the March 17 es- timate included an enrollment fi gure that dropped by 30 students since December of 2015 and is about 130 stu- dents lower than this time last year. When used to cal- culate the State School Fund estimate, the enrollment number created a defi cit of $949,919 for the 2015-16 school year. Other reductions in the estimate would lower the State School Fund contribution even more. The Dis- trict lost $81,274 through a drop in the index used to Please see BUDGET, Page 10A Jenny Gamez killer gets 35- year sentence Meet my Farmer New location draws a crowd, page 3A photo by Jon Stinnett Keiko and Rex Ziak tell Kathy Parsons about the writing on a fl ag her father once owned. Par- sons gave the fl ag to the Obon Society, which will work to return it to its original owner, during an event at the Cottage Grove Library Saturday. Flag returned at library exhibit Group will now work to fi nd its owner or his family BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A society that works to return heirlooms lost or taken dur- ing wartime to their original own- ers fulfi lled its mission in front of a small crowd at the Cottage Grove Public Library Saturday. A donation from the Doyle and Donna Shepherd Foundation brought the Obon Society to Cot- tage Grove for the fi rst stop of its new traveling exhibit. Its founders, Rex and Keiko Ziak, brought a dis- play featuring photographs of many of the Japanese fl ags that were car- ried close to the hearts of Japan’s soldiers during World War II, fl ags that carried beautifully inscribed messages from loved ones to sol- diers that often did not return from battle. American soldiers subsequently brought many of the fl ags home from them as souvenirs or the spoils of war, though many soldiers or their families now desire to give the fl ags back to their rightful owners in what Rex Ziak called “the fi nal chapter of World War II” during Saturday’s brief library presenta- tion. “In this case, American soldiers brought back memories of their service, but rather than retain them, they had feelings that these items should go back to the families to provide some closure,” he said. “We think this is the fi nal chapter of the war, the healing of hearts that lets us know the hostilities are over.” Keiko Ziak added that the fl ags Fool's errand Results of new 5K, page 4B Please see OBON, Page 10A Refurbished vs. new: School District chose a new Harrison as opposed to renovating old school Former Wisconsin police offi cer also charged with killing a Minnesota woman BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he former Milwaukee, Wisc. police offi cer con- victed of killing a 19-year old former Cottage Grove resident in 2012 was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the crime last week. Steven Zelich, 54, apologized and said he was “100 percent responsible” for the death of Jenny Gamez, whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase along a Wisconsin highway in 2014, according to the “Mil- waukee Journal-Register.” Zelich pleaded guilty to fi rst-degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse in January. He had faced a maximum 50 years in prison. “‘It was not an intentional act,’ Zelich reportedly said. ‘I’m very sorry Jenny was the victim and I wasn’t able to protect her the way I was supposed to.” Zelich is also charged in the killing of Laura Simon- sen, a 37-year old Minnesota woman who died under similar circumstances. The bodies of both women were discovered in suitcases. He reportedly told investiga- tors that the women’s deaths came about as a result of a sex act that went too far, which he described as “breath play” involving asphyxiation. For a time, Gamez had stayed in the care of Lorraine Ericksen of Cottage Grove, who served as her foster mother. She graduated from Al Kennedy Alternative High School in 2010, then started school at Lane Com- munity College. Ericksen told the Sentinel she had lost contact with Gamez shortly after she moved out of her home. S outh Lane School District offi cials hope that a bond levy to replace the aging Harrison Elementary building in Cottage Grove will pass muster with voters during the May 17 primary. Others in the community, however, have wondered about the feasibility of renovating the existing Harrison property and whether it might be more cost-effective to repair the old Harrison building than to build a brand-new one. It’s a question that the District sought to answer itself in 2015 when, during the deliberations of the 50-member Bond Advisory Committee that examined the pos- sibility of putting a bond before voters to replace Harrison, it com- missioned a report from architect David McClean (himself a member of the advisory committee) of DMc Architects that would outline the costs of renovating the old building and the needs a renovation could fulfi ll. Voters this May will decide whether to approve a $35.95 mil- lion bond to rebuild Harrison El- ementary at the former Cottage Grove High School site on Taylor Street, make security and tech- nology upgrades throughout the District, relocate Kennedy High School, renovate the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center and tackle deferred maintenance proj- ects. The District enlisted the ser- vices of BLRB Architects, which has worked with the community to formulate a plan for a new Harri- son at an estimated cost of $18.921 million, plus the costs of furnish- ings, permits and other associated costs that total about $4 million of the cost of the bond. The Harrison Elementary Space Needs/Facilities Audit, Master Plan and Renovation Project, sub- mitted by McClean in July of last year, seeks to “determine the costs associated with repairing, modify- ing and, if necessary, expanding the Harrison facility to the extent that it is functionally comparable to a new school.” To accomplish this, the report aims to identify current issues with the Harrison building, determine the need there going forward, gen- erate a facilities master plan and determine the costs related to such a project. In the report, McClean acknowl- edged that the report stepped be- yond merely renovating a new building: “While the data contained within this study is derived from a com- bination of design experience and reputable costing sources, the broad scope of this project re- quired educated assumptions and a degree of subjectivity…” he wrote. “While not an exact science, the data herein should serve as a use- ful tool in helping determine the value of a repaired, modifi ed and expanded Harrison in comparison to a new school of similar size and complexity.” The report details a Harrison Elementary building with a host of shortcomings. Expanding the building to the west (the only di- rection McClean deems possible on the narrow site) would entail the purchase of nearby residential properties. There are currently no provisions for off-street parking at Harrison, and the report is short on details with regard to how to include enough parking at a reno- vated site. The existing Harrison building has no dedicated gymnasium, and the master plan proposed the addi- tion of a gym. The existing kitchen is half the size that would be ap- propriate for a school its size, and the plan proposes expanding the kitchen to the west. Many class- rooms were built between other classrooms, cutting off light to several rooms, and the report states that their “biggest fault is their Rain Country Realty Inc. DO E! K A L A REN 36025 Shoreview. Lot on the lake! 1 acre, all utilities are in, lots of trees P G! N I D EN 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 WEATHER Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735 Frank Brazell....................953-2407 Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838 Broker Valerie Nash ....................521-1618 $35,000 each Licensed in the State of Oregon CONTENTS HIGH LOW 78 49 Sunny Principal Brokers 0 Curtin Hill Two 5 + acre building lots. Previously logged and steep . Were priced at $100,000 Please see REPORT, Page 10A Calendar....................................... 11B Channel Guide ............................... 5B Classified ads................................. 7B Obituaries....................................... 2A Opinion .......................................... 4A Public Safety .................................. 5A Sports ............................................ 1B 1 Dollar