COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL June 15, 2016
Offi cer Jarrod
Butler, who su-
pervises Taser
training for CGPD,
displays the new
X-26P Taser, a
digital weapon that
records its own
use and can be
fi red with the aid
of a laser sight.
Butler said offi cers
have to re-certify
in the use of their
Tasers every two
years.
Tasers upgraded from analog to digital
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
hey’ve been a part of the arsenal
carried by Cottage Grove Police
for about a decade, and recently one
of CGPD’s weapons, along with the
skills needed to wield it, received an
upgrade.
This spring, local offi cers were recer-
tifi ed in the use of their Tasers — con-
ducted electrical weapons (CEWs)
sold by the company of the same name
— a recertifi cation required every two
years. In addition, local police received
upgraded X-26P model Tasers, digital
weapons to replace their analog coun-
terparts.
Tasers fi re two small dart-like elec-
trodes at their targets, through which
an electric current is driven to disrupt
control of the muscles in whatever live
target the electrodes strike. They can
also be “dry-fi red,” or used to stun a
subject through direct contact. The up-
grade from analog to digital technology
essentially means that offi cers are car-
rying a new weapon, according to Offi -
cer Jarrod Butler, who supervises Taser
training for CGPD.
According to Butler, the new digital
Tasers record data each time they are
deployed, and each deployment counts
as a use of force. The Tasers fi re their
two darts to a distance of about 25 feet,
though their accuracy diminishes past
about 15 feet as the distance between
the two darts increases. Once they hit
3A
their target, the electricity traveling in
the area between the darts immobilizes
that area.
Police rarely use more than two fi ve-
second deployments of their Taser on a
subject, Butler said.
“If it’s not working the second time,
you’ve got to change tactics,” he said.
New rules govern the way Tasers can
be used; they can no longer be used as
a method to induce “pain compliance,”
that is, they cannot be used to cause pain
that forces a subject to comply. Butler
said they can only be used as a less le-
thal weapon to confront someone who
may be an immediate danger to them-
selves, offi cers or others. Subjects can
Please see TASERS, Page 11A
photo by Jon Stinnett
'Cascadia
Rising' drill
tests hospital's
earthquake
preparedness
The band
‘Thought Po-
lice’ performed
various songs
Friday evening.
Vocals by Wendy
Durham, guitars
by Billy Harring-
ten and Jacob
DeWilde, bass by
Roland Phillips
and drums by
Royal Gullickson.
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
P
ersonnel at PeaceHealth Com-
munity Medical Center in Cot-
tage Grove expect to be quite busy
in the event that a high-magnitude
earthquake strikes the Willamette
Valley. Last week, a tabletop exercise
aimed to help the hospital’s top brass
prepare for such a disaster.
Hospital Administrator Tim Her-
rmann led Thursday’s exercise,
planned as a way to help the Cottage
Grove hospital assess its facilities and
its ability to respond to a major earth-
quake. It’s a subject that has loomed
large for about a year, ever since an
article in the “New Yorker” magazine
detailed the devastation of a nine-plus
magnitude earthquake that could oc-
cur along the Cascadia Subduction
Zone off the coast of Oregon.
As part of last week’s exercise,
PeaceHealth administrators gathered
at a mock command outpost in the
hospital and received regular updates
throughout the morning about the
status of hospital facilities here. Her-
rmann said the hospital would fi rst
Photo by Sam Wright
photo by Jon Stinnett
PeaceHealth personnel gathered in a makeshift command center
Thursday and spent most of the morning testing their response
to a high-magnitude earthquake.
work to lock down and secure its fa-
cilities, then assess its priorities going
forward.
Hospital personnel know they
would need to work together dur-
ing such a crisis, Herrmann said,
and that resources would be limited.
Some hospital staff may be attempt-
ing to journey south from the Eu-
gene/Springfi eld area to go to work or
vice-versa, meaning that PeaceHealth
would have to prioritize who might
stay put to help out where they are as
opposed to attempting to travel.
As part of the exercise, bridges
were reported as being destroyed on
Interstate 5, another obstacle to secur-
ing supplies and personnel. Relaying
information to the public was another
important piece of the puzzle, and
PeaceHealth Senior Communication
Specialist Monique Danziger said
she would have to work to inform the
public that the hospital was treating
critical needs and those who could
avoid a hospital visit should do so.
Federal authorities requested per-
mission to establish a FEMA medical
station on hospital grounds during the
exercise, which Danziger said was
carried out at all four PeaceHealth fa-
cilities in Lane County.
PeaceHealth personnel set up a
childcare facility as part of the ex-
ercise, acknowledging the fact that
there may be a lot of “walking wor-
ried,” people with a variety of issues
who may or may not have homes to
go back to, following a large quake.
According to Danziger, the Cas-
cadia exercise was the next in a long
line of preparedness scenarios.
“We’ve had a lot of different types
of crises,” she said. “Ebola outbreaks,
the UCC shooting — we’re always
preparing.”
Child’s Way brings
bands to town
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
O
n Friday evening, downtown
Cottage Grove was fi lled with a
new sound coming from the Axe and
Fiddle pub.
Child’s Way charter school hosted
a live concert for the very fi rst time
in Cottage Grove. The students were
led by band director Robert Lee, who
shared his passion for music with sev-
eral bands made up of students rang-
ing from middle-school to high-school
ages.
For the entire 2015-2016 school year,
Lee came to practice with the students
twice a week. Some students had never
played their respective instruments be-
fore in their lives.
“It was really fun to improvise with
the kids and teach music my way,”
Lee said. The students were especially
surprised to fi nd out that they were to
perform at the Axe and Fiddle, a well-
known music venue throughout the
area.
“When I told them, they said, ‘Wow,
that’s a real music place’ because they
were expecting something much small-
er,” Lee explained.
The bands played a variety of rock
music, featuring a soft and instrumen-
tal-only version of “In Bloom” by Nir-
vana, and then at one point, Lee him-
self joined a band on stage to help sing
a duet by Five Seconds of Summer.
“It was great for them to play at such
a venue, they seemed to have a lot of
fun,” Lee said.
Get your LOCAL news
How you want it...
In Print. Online. On the go!
Cottage Grove Sentinel
www.cgsentinel.com