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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL May 25, 2016 3A The meaning of Memorial Day C.G. Museum exhibit explores vets and graduates BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel On Sunday, the Cottage Grove Mu- seum hosted a Memorial Day exhibit to showcase old gear and historical mili- tary equipment from local donors, as well as remembering the fi rst graduates of Cottage Grove High School. The ex- hibit kicked off with a guest speaker, Jonathon Landon, a retired U.S. Army Chaplain who served on active duty and reserve time for a total of 28 years. In his speech, Landon suggested that the meaning of Memorial Day has become lost on most Americans. “It has become a national day of bar- becue,” he said. “It has become a day off from work to celebrate ‘all things summer.’” Landon continued to point out, however, that Cottage Grove’s Me- morial Day tradition is a solemn and appropriate one. Every year, the tradition is to gather in the Armory in the morning, then proceed to the Memorial Park, where a wreath of fl owers is cast into the river while ‘Taps’ is played. “That tradition is solemn, dignifi ed, honorable and appropriate,” Landon stated. But the issue within the commu- nity on Memorial Day is attendance of C.G. Memorial Day celebration Monday, May 30 Begins at 11 a.m. at the Cottage Grove Armory such a ceremony. Where usually there are only about 200-300 that attend, Landon believes that based on this town’s population, there should be at least 1,000 from veterans and their families alone. Landon says that this is a result of an overall dwindling understanding about the military among the public. According to a New York Times article referenced by Landon, less than half of a percent of the population currently serves in the armed forces, while over 12 percent served during World War II. Furthermore, 70 percent of Congress members had military service under their belt in 1975. That fi gure has now dropped to only 20 percent. It was pointed out that it is some- times the small details that perpetu- ate this lack of understanding or lack of knowledge about the military. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration published an article in 2010 titled “Understanding the Mili- tary: The Institution, the Culture and the People.” But the cover photo of the online article shows military service members standing shoulder to shoul- der, and the caption reads: “background image of soldiers in fatigues standing at attention.” The problem is that they aren’t soldiers. They are Marines. Sol- diers serve in the Army, Marines in the Marine Corps, sailors in the Navy and airmen in the Air Force. “If you told a counselor that you served in the Marines, and that coun- selor then referred to you as a soldier, wouldn’t that reduce your trust in that counselor’s ability to understand you and your military experience?” Landon asked. Landon offers simple, yet important solutions to fi xing the problem. “Before we can educate the pub- lic, we need to persuade them that this knowledge is important,” he said. Landon stresses that the public and our nation’s leaders must fi rst understand how little they know about military life. He then suggests that their needs to be N EW LIBRARY ENVISIONED T he Cottage Grove Li- brary currently features an exhibit that aims to imag- ine its successor. During their winter term, a class of 45 graduate students at the University of Oregon focused their design efforts on creating a vision for a new Cottage Grove Library. The group focused on sites at Main and Seventh Street downtown, which were cho- sen so students would have the challenge of designing a contemporary library building in a historic context. Community Services Di- rector Pete Barrell pointed out that the exercise was merely theoretical; there is no current plan or funding to replace the Library, but Barrell said the Library is already frequently short on space for its pro- grams. “However, this could be interpreted as the fi rst step to- ward envisioning what the li- brary in Cottage Grove might look like fi ve, 10 or 20 years in the future,” Barrell said. A visit to the Library of- fers the chance to peruse the designs of a few of the 45 stu- dents. photo by Sam Wright Mary and Jim Gilroy listen to a presentation by Army chaplain Jona- thon Landon Sunday afternoon. an improvement in the visibility of vet- erans in communities and that military service members and veterans should address the public regularly. But most of all, Landon says that Memorial Day and other memorial ser- vices and ceremonies should be treated seriously. “For our families and friends at the passing of a veteran, there is little com- fort in the medals and badges; however, there is tremendous comfort in know- ing that a grateful nation recognizes and honors the important contribution made to the freedom of our men and women who were willing to put our lives on the line,” he said. Flood code gets public hearing A ttendees at the Cottage Grove Planning Com- mission got a chance to hear an explanation of the proposed changes in the City’s Flood Damage Prevention Code, which aims to help curb such damage locally in the event of a fl ood. City Planner Amanda Fergu- son told the crowd last Wednes- day, May 18 that the proposed new code has been updated in an effort to ensure that Cottage Grove be included in the com- munity rating system of the Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency, which provides federal fl ood insurance for those structures required to carry it. The new code would primar- ily affect homes near the Coast Fork of the Willamette River, Ferguson said, as much of the land around the Row River is owned by the City. The Coast Fork is quite channeled out, Ferguson said, so the fl oodway can usually be defi ned as the area between its banks, and the only properties that should be affected by the code are located near River Road. A more stringent code throughout a municipality can help reduce fl ood insurance rates, Ferguson said. In April, Ferguson and Community De- velopment Director Howard Schesser attended a class that she said uncovered how out- of-date Cottage Grove’s cur- rent code is. State and federal laws have changed in response to disasters such as Hurricane Sandy, and the new code would bring the City into compliance with the most recent codes. The code recommends that no construction be allowed in the fl oodway, though homes already built there are “grand- fathered in” unless their owners choose to substantially improve their dwellings. During public comment, two longtime citizens spoke of the uproar created when FEMA attempted to redefi ne the fl oodplain in Cottage Grove in the 1980s, which would have led to the requirement to pur- chase fl ood insurance for many properties. “The proposed codes are a little tougher, and that can’t be good from a layman’s position,” said David Hemenway. “FEMA is going to try to expand the fl oodplain, and we can’t let that happen.” The proposed code will ap- pear before the City Council for another public hearing on June 27. 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