COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 20, 2016
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W EEDS
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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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