Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2016)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 6, 2016 Cottage Grove Retrospective CITY BEAT A look back at a Sentinel story from 30 years ago April 2, 1986 pied. Another is in the middle stag- es of construction, while a fourth start was initiated last week. The four houses are all in the $55,000 to $65,000 range. Two more housing starts in the same area are planned for this summer, added Reaksecker, who is confi dent of the area’s ability to attract home buyers. “We’re betting on the future,” he explained. “We think Cottage Grove can be an attractive suburb of the Eugene-Springfi eld metro- politan area. The interest rates would seem to have a direct effect on that predic- tion, particularly for a young cou- ple or other potential homeowners with moderate incomes. Accod- ing to Butler, the monthly bill for someone with a $50,000 loan on a 30-year fi xed mortgage is now about $150 less than when inter- est rates were closer to 13 percent last year. Butler and builder Jack Bran- don, both of Eugene, are the only contractors who have developed any sustained construction activity in the Cottage Grove area. While the falling interest rates and the heightened public interest pleases Butler, he remains skepti- cal of the future. “I’m not going to get all that excited,” he said. “I POLICE BLOTTER March 30 Traffi c Stop, Ash St. A vehicle was pulled over at the location, and the driver gave consent for offi cers to search his vehicle. Upon searching, offi cers found a bag containing scales, baggies and a loaded syringe. Marshall Baskette was arrested for possession of meth, delivery of meth, manual delivery of a controlled substance, and Dustin Demarchi was arrested for para- phernalia. March 31 Burglary Alarm, Madison Ave. April 1 Assault, HWY 99 A caller sounded hysterical over the phone, advising police that she woke up and found that she was drenched in gasoline. She has jumped in the shower but the gasoline is also in her eyes. Medics were dispatched and the neighboring residents were noti- BINGO COUPON COTTAGE GROVE ELKS LODGE 755 North River Road Information 942-3554 PUBLIC WELCOME Every Wednesday (except Holidays) Warm Ups 6:30pm Regular Games 7:00pm Frequent Smoke Breaks, Exciting New Game Program “Bingo Burger Menu” Available 2 PROGRESSIVE JACKPOTS Bring this coupon and receive a 2nd Warm-up Pack FREE 6 CG -day weather forecast THURSDAY April 7 FRIDAY April 8 50° | 83° 48° | 72° Sunny Partly Cloudy SATURDAY April 9 SUNDAY April 10 44° | 64° 44° | 62° Mostly Cloudy Partly Cloudy MONDAY April 11 TUESDAY April 12 45° | 63° 43° | 62° Partly Cloudy City Manager Richard Meyers attended the annual Spring NW City Managers Conference in Stevenson, Wash. Local government managers from Oregon, Washington, Alaska and even Poland attended the con- ference, which covered topics that included marijuana legislation impacts, innovation in local government, emergency response and preparation for communi- ties, homelessness and ethics. Representatives from the International City/County Management Associa- tion attended from Washington D.C. and reviewed the Code of Ethics. Additionally, the Spring Conference also hosts the Annual Oregon/Washington Managers Volleyball match that has a legacy and fame that leg- end has it actually began the use of the phrase, “March Madness.” Construction workers Bruce Bergby and Terry Hughs check foundation level at housing start on Jason Lee Av- enue. don’t think anything is going to expected. change very much until the con- Butler noted that one woan tract is settled. who had shown interest in one of Butler was referring to the con- the new homes hedged on buying tract between International Wood- mainly because of the uncertainty workers of America mill employ- surrounding the wage issue. ees and major employers such as “She is indicative of the con- Weyerhaeuser Co. and Bohemia cerns that many people have here,” Inc. he explained. The contract, which affects Monce echoed Butler’s com- workers and timber fi rms through- ments. out the Northwest, expires June 1. “That’s the biggest deterrent to To this point, neither IWA union the major decision-making,” he offi cials or company representa- said. tives have shown signs of compro- mise, although negotiations are Cottage Grove Police Department 24-Hour Anonymous Tip Line: 767-0504 An alarm of a house at the location went off and the alarm company contacted the police. The police arrived at the location to discover no one, but multiple turkeys were located inside the perimeter again. Partly Cloudy From the City's Friday Update Northwest Regional City/ County Manager Conference Building spurred by optimism and interest rates While Cottage Grove may not be destined to become a sprawl- ing suburb in the style of South- ern California communities, new housing construction is beginning to make a modest comeback here. Everyone questioned about the construction revival explained it with three words: lower interest rates. “It’s really a key factor,” con- fi rmed Al Monce, president of The Cottage Grove Bank. “People are becoming a little more enthusias- tic to build… and there’s an air of optimism that (interest rates) will stay down.” Added local realtor John Reak- secker: “It’s really a help to get the interest rates down.” Reaksecker has seen tangible results of the lowring rates, which have dropped to near the 10 percent level. His fi rm, Century 21-Nugget Realty, has been involved in the recent sale of new homes in a small subdivision on Jason Lee Avenue near Bohemia Elementary School. The houses are being construct- ed under the supervision of build- er Bob Butler, owner of Future B Homes, who is also a real estate agent out of the Nugget offi ce. Two of the homes are nearly complete, with one already occu- 5A fi ed. Unauthorized use of Vehicle, Riverwalk Pl. A complainant at the police department advised that subjects stole a safe and a motorcycle out of his garage. The case was taken for information at the time. After further investigation the vehicle was entered as stolen. The bike is black and teal in color with black leather saddle bags and two bees' eyes on the front and a naked lady sticker on the front of the fender. Warrant Service, Main St. A caller advised of a subject lying partially on the sidewalk at the location, possibly intoxicated. Of- fi cers came out to the subject and confi rmed he was intoxicated. The subject was transported to the police department for process- ing and was cleared in lieu of custody due to medical condi- tions. The subject was dropped off at Taco Bell. April 2 Criminal Mischief, Kennedy Alt. School A complainant saw two subjects pushing large rocks that line the driveway of the school out onto the street, then the subjects left on bikes. The rocks were located and rolled back into place. or years, scammers have been preying on people by sharing unbelievable news of winning a lot- tery prize worth millions. And for a few hundred dollars and some per- sonal or banking information, the prize could be yours. “The Oregon Lottery was recent- ly notifi ed by a player stating that someone from the Oregon Lottery called to inform her she had won $75 million and a Mercedes Benz,” said Lottery spokesman Chuck Bau- mann. “The caller told her that all she needed to do to receive her prize was provide personal information to the caller. Luckily the player recog- nized the caller was asking for an unusual level of personal informa- tion and ended the call. Scammers often ask for identifying personal or fi nancial information, which you should not share if you do not know who is calling.” If a person does not have a ticket for the game in question, there is no way for them to win a prize from that game. “A good test to use if you get news like that,” added Baumann, The restrooms at All-America City Square were opened this week for the summer, and the City said it will no longer be using the automatic locks on the doors at Coiner Park or All-America City Square. They say the restrooms will be closed each night when our contracted cleaning company, Full Circle, conducts daily cleaning. They hope this eliminates people from circumventing the automatic locks and spending the night in the restrooms. In the past the overnight restroom guests would vandalize and trash the restroom, making it unusable by others. Park lights City staff has been wrestling with the problem of providing more light in Coiner Park. It said the cur- rent electrical load in Coiner Park was over-loaded and that adding even one additional light was not possible without either a major electrical supply upgrade or the removal of existing lights or equipment. Recently several of the lights in the park needed to be repaired and have the ballasts replaced. Staff explored the op- tion of rather than replacing the burned out lights or ballasts to retrofi t a new LED light into the existing lights and reduce the load and increase their ability to install additional lights. After consulting with their contract electrician it was determined that the lights could be retrofi tted for a similar cost, and it would re- duce the electrical load signifi cantly to allow for ad- ditional new LED lights. One old light in the park uses nearly six times the electricity that one comparable LED light would use. Many of the lights in Coiner Park have been replaced and additional lights have been installed in the pa- vilion in Coiner Park. Even with the new additional lights in the park, The City said it anticipates saving over $1,000 dollars in electrical costs each year for the Coiner Park lights. Row River Trail Meeting On Tuesday of this week, Fleet and Facilities Man- ager Russ Kaleese, Parks Employee Chad Reel, Utili- ties Supervisor Tony Kirk and Public Works Director Jan Wellman met with BLM Recreation Planner Liz Aleman and BLM Eugene District Engineer Jim Con- dit at the site of the recently constructed Row River Trail underpass to check the condition of the trail af- ter the underpass fl ooded as the result of the recent heavy rainfall. The fl ood water has receded to a point where the trail surface and underpass approaches can be observed. The fl ooding is of concern because of bike rider safety and possible deterioration of the trail surface. (Heavy rains that fi rst began in December of 2015 had fl ooded the underpass, and the BLM indi- cated that it had anticipated such fl ooding. Janet Mayer, Design Engineer with Lane County Public Works, said it “would’ve been incredibly ex- pensive” to design the underpass in a way that it could be drained for all fl ood events, so the County and BLM chose not to. “We made the judgment call to allow the underpass to fl ood in heavy rains since we already had a usable at-grade crossing,” she said.) There were also some cosmetic concerns with the surface of the underpass structure that will be relayed to Lane County Public Works by the BLM District En- gineer. Trail maintenance issues were discussed by both City and BLM representatives. The City said that, all in all, this relationship has been benefi cial for both the City and the BLM and both entities are happy with the arrangement and want to see it continue. Lottery says don't be fooled by scams F Outdoor season has begun “is to remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” When the Lottery notifi ed the Ore- gon Department of Justice Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection Section of the call, the Consumer Protection staff was not aware of scammers using the Oregon Lottery’s name. Most recently, they noted, scam- mers have been using the name of the Publisher’s Clearing House. To protect themselves from being scammed, the Department of Justice suggests and encourages people to not answer phone calls unless they can recognize the number of the caller. By letting the incoming call go to their phone’s voice mail, the call can be reviewed and deleted if it is a scam. Oregon Department of Justice online complaint form: https://justice.oregon.gov/forms/ consumer_complaint.asp The Oregon Attorney General’s Consumer Hotline: 1-877-877-9392 2015 e Grove Cottag er Chamb erce m m o C of Save for a rainy year. s Busines e of th Year LOW COST Matt Bjornn ChFC, Agent State Farm Agent 1481 Gateway Blvd Cottage Grove, OR 97424 Bus: 541-942-2623 541-942-0456 southlanewheels.org APR* Bank with a Good Neighbor ® . CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION. CALL FOR A QUOTE No elgibility requirements. 1.20 % 6HWDVLGHPRQH\ZLWKDÀ[HGUDWHRIUHWXUQ,·OOEH WKHUHWRVKRZ\RXUDWHVDQGWHUPVWKDWFDQKHOS \RXUHDFK\RXUJRDO Local & Metro Weekday Trips Professional Caring Staf Your Regional Public Transportation Service Get a 15 Month FDIC-insured CD *Annual Percentage Yield as of 03/02/16. Advertised rates are subject to change at the Bank’s discretion. The minimum balance required to earn the stated APY is $500 (rates apply to deposits less than $100,000). A penalty may be imposed for withdrawals prior to maturity. Special Term CDs renew automatically into the next highest Standard Term CD. Some products and services not available in all areas. FDIC basic coverage amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category. IRA and ESA CDs are not available for terms less than 12 months. Callers who are hearing or speech impaired should dial 711 or use a preferred Telecommunications Relay Service. 1501580 State Farm Bank, F.S.B., Bloomington, IL