Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
Track team dominates — 1B New Farmers Market — 3A Bark in the Park — 6A photo by Peggy Von Bargen Incoming clouds light up the sky over Bohemia Park. A storm system brought a beautiful cloudscape Friday evening, fol- lowed by thunder, lightning and lots of rain. Cottage Grove Sentinel WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 VOLUME 128 • NUMBER 47 Attention: Memorial Day means an early Sentinel deadline for the June 1 edition. Submitted materials will be due by noon on Thursday, May 26. Kwikee building may have a buyer, city says Committee approves City budget Occupant long sought for jobs that could be brought to town Positions added for nuisance abatement, police operations; water rate increases continue BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel A 14-member committee gathered last week to help guide the City of Cottage Grove’s fi nancial future for the next year, and the committee will recommend that the 2016-17 budget it approved be adopted by the City Council at an upcoming meeting. Below are some of the highlights of next year’s budget: Overview The Budget Committee, which consists of Cottage Grove’s Mayor, City Council and seven citizen volun- teers, met Tuesday, May 10 and again Thursday for meet- ings of three and two hours, respectively. As the meet- ing began, City Manager Richard Meyers told the group about a change of format that would work to ensure that the budget be reviewed adequately. “The change is the result of people’s concerns last year that the Committee hadn’t had a chance to review the budget in full,” Meyers said. “This process almost takes away your ability to pass the budget in one night.” The committee listened to comment from the audi- ence during a public hearing, much of which concerned community promotions that sought funding in this year’s budget. It then recessed briefl y and opened a worksession that lasted until the end of Tuesday’s meeting. The work- session continued a line-by-line review of the budget on Thursday. The change came about after a disagreement among members of the 2015 committee about a hurried adoption of the budget last year. In his budget message, Meyers said that the $28,641,115 budget represents an increase from last year, largely in the City’s spending from its reserves, which are amassed to pay for capital projects such as the effort to expand the irrigation system that discharges effl uent from the waste- water treatment plant onto Middlefi eld Golf Course in- stead of pumping it directly into the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. Meyers pointed out that, like most operations, the City’s largest expenditures involve paying personnel, and he stated that cost increases in the Public Employees Please see BUDGET, Page 11A BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel O ffi cials with the City of Cottage Grove say that a commercial build- ing the City has been trying to fi ll for some time may have a buyer. Sentinel fi le photo Late last week, Community Develop- The Kwikee building has been shuttered ment Director Howard Schesser said the since 2007, but the City hopes it will soon be City had been contacted by a company in fi lled. search of zoning information for the Kwi- kee building, an 80,000 square foot hulk of a structure on the east end of town in which stairs for the entrances of recre- ational vehicles were manufactured until the company closed up in 2007. The City has sought a new owner, in addition to the jobs that a new occupant could provide for the Kwikee building ever since, listing the search as its highest priority for fi lling a commercial building. Please see KWIKEE, Page 11A Playing catch-up Staggered start, added assistance, preschools aim to help get Kinder students started BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel T he second year of full-day kindergarten at South Lane School District will feature a stag- gered start for the District’s young- est students, in addition to more help for teachers in each kinder- garten classroom. The District also plans to establish preschools based at two area elementary schools to help prepare them for school. photo by Jon Stinnett The Oregon legislature man- Harrison Elementary teacher Amy Swearengin reads to her class Monday. It is hoped that dated a full day of kindergarten for students in all school districts more classroom assistance and a staggered start this fall will help ease kindergarteners' beginning in 2015, and according transitions to school. to administrators and teachers at ten teachers throughout the year ten was a welcome one, Hamilton A Preschool Promise grant that South Lane, the transition from a to tackle both the behavioral and said, as preparedness assessments will fund the establishment of pre- half-day of instruction was not a academic challenges brought on in basic math and reading for kids schools at Bohemia Elementary smooth one. by a full-day schedule, and it was entering school at South Lane rank and Dorena School aims to help “After this year, we noticed decided that kindergarten students the District among the lowest in draw area students even with their some hiccups in supporting all will still come to school for a half- Lane County, and a full day of kin- peers, and at the Monday, May 9 of our kids properly,” said South day throughout September this dergarten was seen as necessary to meeting of the School District’s Lane Special Services Director year, basically a three-week win- help students catch up. Budget Committee, South Lane Chad Hamilton. dow before they start full-time in “Kids coming in are, on average, Hamilton said administrators October. less skilled than in other districts,” Please see KINDER, Page 11A have been meeting with kindergar- The move to full-day kindergar- he said. Gowings headed to D.C. on 10-day veterans' awareness ride BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel B y the time many readers pick up their copy of this week’s Cottage Grove Sentinel, Jeff and Celia Gowing should be on the open road atop their motorcycles, headed about as far east as it’s possible to ride. On Monday, the Gowings de- parted for Auburn, Calif., where they will rendezvous with other members of the National Vet- erans Awareness Organization for its annual ride, a 10-day trip across the country to Washing- ton, D.C. that includes stops at eight Veterans Association hos- pitals and several schools. Their ride starts Wednesday, and they’ll be meeting up with four riders from Roseburg, in addi- tion to friends that Jeff Gowing, himself a U.S. Army veteran and a current Cottage Grove City Councilor, met on previous rides in 2009 and 2010. Back in 2010, the Gowings rode for two days of the 10-day trip, and they said that saying goodbye without making it to D.C. was the hardest part of the journey. Celia Gowing will be making her fi rst cross-country ride this year. “I’m nervous,” she said. “When I’m back safely, it’ll be great. It’s going to be quite an adventure, though we are con- cerned about the weather out east. I won’t ride in any thun- derstorms.” Jeff Gowing said he fi rst vis- ited a V.A. hospital in Reno, Nev., adding that he may have been the only company that the veteran he visited there had seen all year. “The ride is about bringing awareness to the veterans, to remind them that people are thinking about them,” he said. This year, the Gowings will be taking several notes from Lin- coln Middle School students to deliver to the veterans they en- counter along the way. They’ll be eating many of their meals at American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, where volunteers will host and serve them. When they arrive at their des- tination, the Gowings will also take part in the Rolling Thun- der Run, a ride that draws up- wards of 500,000 riders to the nation’s capitol each Memorial Day weekend and aims to “edu- cate, facilitate and never forget by means of a demonstration for service members that were abandoned after the Vietnam War,” according to its website. The Gowings expect to return to Cottage Grove on June 10, and they have promised to share details of their ride with the Sentinel when they get home. photo by K. Michael Roberts Celia and Jeff Gowing will depart Wednesday for a 10- day ride to Washington, D.C. Principal Brokers Rain Country Realty Inc. 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 Broker Valerie Nash ....................521-1618 Licensed in the State of Oregon CONTENTS HIGH LOW 72 46 Sunny Teresa Abbott ..................221-1735 Frank Brazell....................953-2407 Lane Hillendahl ................942-6838 Calendar......................................... 9B Channel Guide ............................... 6B Classified ads................................. 8B Obituaries....................................... 2A Opinion .......................................... 4A Public Safety .................................. 5A Sports ............................................ 1B 1 Dollar
