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