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$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016
VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 43
SOUTH LANE AND NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
New Breed Seed making plans to
revolutionize marijuana industry
Owners hope to be in
operation by the end
of the month
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A
much-discussed
con-
struction project off Row
River Road in Cottage Grove
should soon be in operation,
and its owners hope that their
new venture can revolutionize
the marijuana industry.
Harold Frazier said he was
growing and selling onions in
Washington when marijuana
was legalized for recreational
use, and the opportunities pro-
vided by legalization have led
him and several business part-
ners to found New Breed Seed,
with headquarters located be-
hind Subway.
“We’re interested in the op-
portunity to provide quality
seed to home growers,” Frazier
said. He said his father, Sandy
Frazier, had long been acquaint-
ed with Territorial Seed founder
Tom Johns, and while Johns is
quick to point out that the new
venture has “nothing to do with
Territorial Seed,” Frazier said
the building owned by Johns
that his new business currently
occupies helped convince the
group that it was “a good place
and time to start something
new.”
“We knew about the current
state of the quality of marijuana
seeds, and we knew we could
use our knowledge and experi-
ence to produce quality, lower-
cost seeds that will germinate
for the home grower,” Frazier
said.
The new greenhouse is ex-
pected to serve as a sort of
proving ground for new strains
of marijuana that can be propa-
gated from seed as opposed to
cloning. Frazier said he believes
New Breed Seed can also breed
and select plants that perform
well in the presence of common
diseases, plants that could one
day be free of diseases and not
require the use of pesticides.
“We don’t feel there’s any
reason marijuana couldn’t be
seed-propagated,” he said. “It
should be much cheaper, and
it may end up a much healthier
crop.”
Marijuana is typically grown
using clones, Frazier said, be-
cause the genetics of the plant
have not been stabilized enough
to grow the plant from seed. As
such, marijuana seeds are very
expensive Talkin'
(about $8-12 per
seed, as opposed to about $1 per
seed for tomatoes).
“It doesn’t have to be that
way,” Frazier said. “It’s not that
hard to make seeds.”
Frazier added that he’s not
aware of any other company
specializing in seed propagation
of marijuana in this fashion.
“This is an unprecedented op-
portunity in the breeding of can-
nabis,” he said.
New Breed Seed is expected
to be a small operation, and
Frazier hopes to get to work at
the end of this month, assum-
ing the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission, which regulates
the production of recreational
marijuana, signs off on his oper-
ation. It was the OLCC, he said,
that required the black fencing
Zone change for
two properties
must wait
photo by Jon Stinnett
Harold Frazier said legalization has offered an "unprece-
dented opportunity" to reimagine how marijuana is grown.
around the business that has
gotten the town talking about
what’s happening there. The
Cottage Grove City Council ap-
proved the design review for the
new business last fall, and Fra-
zier said the City has been great
to work with.
The new company’s products,
however, will only be available
to other licensed recreational
marijuana retailers.
“We’ll be selling small pack-
ages of seeds to other retailers
for resale,” Frazier said. “It will
only be available to other op-
erations licensed by the OLCC,
and there can be no interstate
commerce.”
Community's use
Purported use of one property
earns a 'nay' vote
Pool report talks public programs
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
F
or those who do not visit
often, one look at the
schedule of Cottage Grove’s
Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic
Center should make it obvi-
ous that the pool is a very busy
place.
One of the few pools in Or-
egon under the ownership of
a school district, the facility
hosts mandatory swim lessons
provided for area youngsters,
and offi cials boast that not one
graduate of these programs has
drowned since the pool was
built in the 1950s.
The pool also hosts com-
munity programs such as adult
T
he Cottage Grove City Council will revisit zone
change applications at its Monday, April 25 meet-
ing for two properties on Lane Street after the changes
came one vote short of unanimous passage.
Glen Taylor and Eric Scully submitted applications
to change the zoning on their properties at 115 and 125
N. Lane Street, respectively, from C-2 Central Business
District to C2-P Community Commercial, a change that
was recommended for approval by the Planning Com-
mission in March.
At its April 11 meeting, the Council conducted a pub-
lic hearing at which no one stood up to speak, and City
Manager Richard Meyers told the group that the two
zonings are actually very similar.
“The C-2 zoning didn’t require that the property own-
ers add parking,” Meyers said. “But the properties are
now disconnected from Main Street because of the clos-
ing of Lane Street. There’s room now to add parking,
and (City) planning recommends the change.”
Meyers added that since the Planning Commission
had already approved the zone change application and
the notice of the City Council’s intent to review the ap-
plication had been available to the public for a week, the
Council could adopt the change in one meeting with a
unanimous vote.
Councilor Garland Burback asked what the property
owners intended to use their properties for, and Meyers
defl ected the question.
“The zone change is content-neutral,” he said. “What-
ever they’re doing, it doesn’t matter. They can do horti-
culture or other uses, but they do have to add the park-
ing.”
City Planner Amanda Ferguson and Community De-
velopment Director Howard Schesser had said that Scul-
ly had been forthright with the City regarding his inten-
tion to operate a marijuana grow site on his property,
an allowable use with the C2-P zoning. (Scully could
not be contacted by the Sentinel for this article). Taylor,
meanwhile, declined comment on plans for his building
on Monday.
At voting time, Burback cast a ‘nay’ vote that ensured
the application would be reviewed again, and during
closing remarks by the Council, he indicated that the in-
tended use of the property had been the reason for his
vote in opposition.
“That’s the reason I voted no on the change in zoning,
because they’re going to do a marijuana grow thing over
there,” he said. “I’m really unhappy about this. It just
isn’t right, I don’t think. There needs to be a limit."
photo by Jon Stinnett
Instructor Amelia Phillips help Violet Peters work on
her kicks during Aqualions swim lessons Monday.
water fi tness classes, family
lap and recreational swims and
pool rentals, and at its Monday,
April 11 meeting, the Cottage
Grove City Council heard from
the pool’s manager, Carrie Mc-
Casline, about those programs
and the expenses they entail.
Mayor Tom Munroe also read
a proclamation proclaiming
April as Drowning Prevention
Month.
For the past several years,
the City has contributed about
$50,000 to pay for community
offerings at the pool, a contri-
bution that comes under scru-
tiny each spring as the City’s
budget committee hammers
Please see POOL, Page 9A
Clearing the camps, part II: One woman's story
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
W
hen Cottage Grove police offi cers re-
cently began visiting an illegal camp-
site on the southern end of town, they came into
contact with 53-year old Roberta West, who
said she’s used the police directive to leave the
camp to end a harrowing chapter of homeless-
ness here.
“I started putting everything I own into a stor-
age unit when the cops said we were going to
have to move,” West said. “I had never been
homeless before. It’s shocking and humbling,
especially not knowing where to get answers or
go for help.”
By the fi rst part of May, West said she plans to
fi nd herself in Arizona, where she will have her
own address for the fi rst time in years. This will
not be her fi rst new start, however.
“I’ve started over three or four times,” she
said. “Everything I’ve gone through has been
new to this 53-year old.”
West said she fi rst came to Cottage Grove in
photo by Jon Stinnett
Roberta West said she believes eight
out of 10 people who are homeless
have mental health issues.
2007 and worked at Liberty Lanes. She brought
her beloved cat here from southern California
— who she still lives with and many refer to as
the “camp cat” — while fl eeing a man who had
broken her jaw.
West worked at the bowling alley for two
years before leaving Cottage Grove. She came
back about three years ago.
“It’s a small town, and I thought it would give
me the mental peace I needed,” she said. “It’s
kind of like Mayberry here, but it’s not.”
West soon discovered how little like an idyllic
television scene Cottage Grove could be, as the
person she came back to live with “turned out to
be a tweaker.”
“I’ve been kicked out of places because I told
guys no,” she said. “I lost a trailer at Saginaw
Trailer Park — someone literally backed up to it
and took it away.”
West said she has returned to her tent and
found someone else occupying it. She’s had her
bike — which she said she uses to ride at least
10 miles a day — stolen three times and three
backpacks taken. Her ATM card has also been
swiped, likely in an attempt to nab the Social
Security funds she receives.
Over time, however, West said she’s learned
to access help that’s available locally, including
Please see WEST, Page 9A
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