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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2016)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 20, 2016 W EST 9A W EEDS Continued from page 1A sack lunches, clothing, groceries and other items available at Commu- nity Sharing. “What don’t they do?” she said of the organization. “I’ve learned how to not abuse what’s available but to use them.” A book about the early miners of Oregon helped West learn how to live outdoors, including how to live in tents and layer clothing in cold weather. When not riding her bike, West said she sleeps a lot but also tries to keep active, “volunteering without anybody knowing,” includ- ing cleaning up parking lots. She said she’s learned to deal with her current situation, knowing that it isn’t per- manent. “Who wants it to be permanent?” she said. “All I know is that a tent is a lot better than some of the houses I was in.” Along the way, she’s encountered police on numerous occasions. “I’m trying to help myself and the cops know it,” she said. “They’ve always been very nice. One even brought me a new tent. That was very special, and I felt like I couldn’t let him down, because somebody be- lieved in me.” Recently, West has aided in the search for William Thomas Stuart, who had been missing since Decem- ber and who used to occupy the tent next to hers. “Since he’s disappeared, I’ve seen us work more closely together in- stead of against each other,” she said of the other campers. “People come and go all the time out there.” West reasoned that many of those who are currently homeless have mental health issues. Homelessness, she said, can also be a “generational thing,” and it’s easy to become dis- couraged. “We lose a lot of hope within our- selves,” she said. “I hear a lot about people talking about killing them- selves. But real change has to come from within the person. The commu- nity can only do so much. A lot of people up and leave, and you wish them well. You just don’t want to be another statistic. Right now, I need to heal mentally. I didn’t expect the streets here to be this bad. It’s scary; it really is.” about four hours per day, McCasline said, with the rest used by commu- nity programs; thus about 65 percent of its operations are aimed at public use. The City furnishes two million gallons of water to the pool each year, and the School District pays for any amount of water it uses beyond that threshold. At an estimated 60 percent of its total costs, McCasline said it costs about $89,000 to run the public pro- grams at the school, though she said the District chooses not to calculate the total that way because the Dis- trict would still have to pay its utili- ties, etc. without offering public pro- grams. Instead, she calculated the amount of staff time she and her two super- visors spend with the public, a total that comes to between $60,000 and $65,000 per year. City Manager Richard Meyers pointed out that the District also takes in fees from the public for its use of the pool. “So you’re more than doubling that money that we (the City) contribute,” Meyers said. McCasline said the District ex- pects to pay an additional $3075 per year due to the recent hike in Ore- gon’s minimum wage and an addi- tional $1125 to cover mandatory sick leave, and fee increases are proposed to cover those new expenses. The in- creases amount to 50 cents per fami- ly or 25 cents per individual per visit. Lessons are expected to increase in cost by $5. The School District has also ear- marked $2.9 million for the pool in funds it could obtain from a bond to replace Harrison Elementary School and make other district upgrades if the bond is approved by voters in May. An additional $2.5 million could be obtained from a match- ing grant. McCasline said that bond revenue cannot be used to pay pool staff. A renovated pool would likely encourage more public use, she said. “More public usage would mean that more staff time is needed,” she said. “So the partnership with the City would be vital to maintain and increase public use.” After McCasline’s presentation, council members lauded the public programs at the pool. “It was a big issue at fi rst, and at that time I wasn’t a big fan of the City contributing to the pool,” said Councilor Jeff Gowing. “Your hard work convinced me that it is worth- while, and since then I’ve heard far more people lobbying to keep the pool open.” “I was pretty critical in the early days,” Councilor Mike Fleck added. “But the proclamation speaks vol- umes. You’re saving lives and en- hancing the lives of children in this community.” reservoirs. The construction of the Cottage Grove dam began in 1940, shortly af- ter the construction of the Fern Ridge dam began. These dams were not only de- signed to prevent fl ooding but cre- ated reservoirs that could help with hydropower, controlling water lev- els, irrigation, water supply, and wa- ter quality in the rivers. The location of the Cottage Grove dam was situated where the creation of the Cottage Grove Reservoir would be right on top of the town of Hebron in a small Coast Fork val- ley. It was originally settled in 1852 with the original name being “Cor- pus Prairie,” until the name changed to Hebron due to the church that was the heart of the community. Less then 100 years later, the town would be wiped off the map. Hebron was a very small farming town with a school of one teacher and 20 students across eight different years, a common structure for small American farming towns at the time. In the late 1930s, the United States Army Corps of Engineers came down to explain the project and what was going to happen to the town. Ultimately, Hebron residents were forced to sell their property. Geer remembers the anxiety that permeated the town during the con- struction period. “Nobody new if they were going to get decent payment for their property so they could live somewhere else,” she wrote in her book. In 1942 (nearing the end of the dam’s construction), around 20 families were uprooted and forced to move. The town of Hebron was never re-established, but ultimately (and Geer mentions this in her book) the people and the surrounding commu- nities understood the benefi ts that the Cottage Grove dam brought about. P OOL Continued from page 1A out the budget for the next year. In recent lean budget years for South Lane School District, the District stated that it may have to close the pool for all but its own uses if the city’s contribution was not made, and a group of pool supporters came together to see that the pool would remain open to the public. “At budget time last year, I was asked how much it costs us to run the public programs,” McCasline told the Council last week. “So that’s what I’m here to talk about.” The pool cost a total of $266,324 to operate last year, McCasline said, and about 52 percent of that total, or $139,121, was used to pay staff, which includes McCasline, two su- pervisors and its lifeguards and in- structors, who earned about $35,000 last year. The School District uses the pool D AM Continued from page 6A many years. “The Cottage Grove Hotel would stay open and people would just row in to the lobby and rent a room up- stairs, which was dry,” Johnson said. In 1933, the town saw 4.2 inches of rain in just three days. In that same year, nine counties got together and formed the Willamette River Water Press Association, which pressed the government to act. This brought about the Willamette Valley project that led to the construction of 13 dams. Congress passed a fl ood control act, which granted funds to begin construction of the dams and vegetable garden. Avoid the leaves of black wal- nut trees (Juglans nigra) or tree of heaven (Ai- lanthus altissima), which can inhibit growth of plants and seeds. Don’t use grass or lawn clip- pings if the lawn was mowed when weeds were in seed. Plastic sheeting may also be used to control weeds. Black plastic reduces light and prevents weed growth. You will need drip irrigation and appropriate fertilizer in place before you lay the plastic. Make slits in the plastic, and if weeds appear in the planting slits, immediately remove them. Sprinklers water a large area, but encourage weed growth. Drip irrigation delivers water only where you want it and will slow the amount of weeds in the garden. Rototillers are useful tools for incorporating organic matter and controlling persistent winter weeds before planting. If you space your rows wide enough, rototillers can be used between rows for weed control as your crops grow. One caution: If you rototill perennial weeds like quackgrass, morning glory and Canada thistle, you likely will increase the number of individual weeds because new plants will grow from broken roots left in the soil. But persistent pulling of these “weed fragments” will weaken their hold on the garden. Rototillers can damage roots or stems if used close to plants. In addition, too much tilling may damage the structural qualities of the soil. Never till soil when it is wet or you’ll end up with clod- dy, compacted soil. Hand pulling works well in small gardens and raised beds. Pull when the soil is damp, but not wet. Try to get to annual weeds before they go to seed or you’ll get a whole new crop. When you pull perennial weeds, you won’t get all of the root system. However, if you persistently re- move new weedy shoots, you prevent the plant from storing carbohydrates and may, eventually, kill the perennial plant and win the war. This process is called carbohydrate starvation and must be done with passion almost every day to be successful. But people really can control morning glory and other perennial weeds by this level of commitment. Hoes are a traditional and effective way to weed. Several styles are available. A scuffl e hoe is better for larger areas. The hula, or action hoe is a lightweight scuffl e hoe. Pushing and pulling it just under the soil surface eliminates newly emerging weeds. It is less effective against well- established weeds. The lightweight Warren hoe has a heart-shaped blade and is useful for culti- vating between plants. 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