COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 20, 2016
Relay, Tri, cars
and chili highlight
busy weekend
Swift pilots
enjoy return to
Cottage Grove
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he drone of a four-plane formation over-
head during Saturday’s Grand Miners Pa-
rade alerted many that the Swifts were in town.
This weekend brought the fi rst time in four
years that the Northwest Swift Fly-in has taken
place at Cottage Grove Airport, where the Or-
egon Aviation Historical Society and local pilot
Kent Koester welcomed pilots and their planes
from throughout the region and beyond on Fri-
day and Saturday.
The event would not be the fi rst visit to Cot-
tage Grove for Steve and Barbara Wilson, own-
ers of a Swift 210, who made the journey here
from Texas via Arizona.
“We know a lot of the West Coast Swifters,”
Steve Wilson said, “so this was a good chance
for us to come out here and visit.”
While conducting routine maintenance on his
plane, Wilson explained that the Globe Swift
was made from 1946-51 and that there were
about 1500 planes made in total. Most Swifts
were built to the same specifi cations, though
an endless array of modifi cations (mostly for
speed, fuel capacity and modern convenience)
make each plane unique. Factory-made Swifts
created only about 85 horsepower, whereas a
modifi ed plane can crank out over 200.
“I love the looks of the plane, the polished
L
photo by Jon Stinnett
A vast array of Swift airplanes were on display Friday and Saturday.
aluminum,” he said. “I have since I was a little
kid. They looked like the early fi ghter planes.”
The Wilsons’ journey from Phoenix took
about seven hours and two stops for fuel, and
although some Swift pilots traveled from afar
for the Fly-in, Steve Wilson said that most fl y
more locally with their airplanes.
“We’re just caretakers of these planes,” said
another pilot. “We try to keep them in good
shape and then pass them on.”
Former CG City Planner passes
A
former Cottage Grove City
Planner succumbed to recent
medical issues, an acquaintance has
notifi ed the Sentinel.
David Voss passed away June 26,
2016 due to complications from recent
medical issues.
Voss began working for the City of
Cottage Grove in 1992 as a graduate
student at the University of Oregon
in urban and regional planning. He
worked many hours researching the
background information of the historic
downtown buildings in order to help
nominate the city’s Downtown Busi-
ness District for listing on the National
Historic Registry. Later, the District
was granted o cial status as a National
Historic District on Jan. 28, 1994.
Voss also helped create Cottage
Grove’s Historic Context Statement,
which has been a valuable resource
3A
for those look-
ing for historic
information
regarding Cot-
tage Grove. He
served as City
Planner for the
city of Klam-
ath Falls and as David Voss
City Planner and helped land
Code Compli- CG's downtown
ance Offi cer for on the National
the city of North Register of His-
Bend until health toric places.
issues
caused
him to retire recently.
Friends say Voss will be remembered
most for his untiring commitment to
helping to preserve the historic integ-
rity of this city’s buildings and his pro-
fessional and friendly demeanor when
dealing with others.
By Saturday afternoon, Swift pilots were in-
quiring about the feedback related to their pa-
rade fl yover, which they said took a good deal
of maneuvering in order to make several passes
of the parade route. They said they look forward
to traveling to Cottage Grove and are glad that
the Village Green did not sell.
Local 17-year old
killed in Saturday
rollover crash
O
ffi cials with the Lane County Sheriff’s Offi ce said
Monday that a rollover crash at Garoutte Road and
Shoreview Drive claimed the life of a 17-year old Cottage
Grove resident Saturday morning.
Public Information Offi cer Carrie Carver said the Sher-
iff’s Offi ce was called to a report of a single-vehicle crash
near the intersection just before 6 a.m. Saturday. Upon ar-
rival, deputies discovered a 1992 Toyota Camry on its top
in a ditch.
Four of the fi ve passengers of the vehicle escaped injury,
Carver said, though the 17-year old driver was ejected and
passed away. Carver said the Sheriff’s Offi ce declined to
identify the driver due to her status as a minor. Three of the
other passengers in the vehicle were under 18 years of age
as well, she said.
The group was reportedly on its way to go fi shing, Carv-
er said, and the driver reportedly over-corrected around a
curve. Speed and alcohol are not being considered factors
in the crash.
ocals who fi nd themselves still reeling from a
plethora of summer activities will get little chance
to rest this week, as Cottage Grove braces for perhaps
the busiest weekend on its 2016 calendar.
For the past few years, the Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove
Triathlon has brought hundreds of competitors to Cot-
tage Grove Lake on a late-July Saturday that also fea-
tures KNND’s Rock, Roll and Rumble car cruise and
the Main Street Chili Cook-off. This year, a date change
brings another key event to that same weekend.
Sabina Johnson, coordinator of Cottage Grove’s Re-
lay for Life, said that middle-school graduation ceremo-
nies kept the event, which raises funds to fi ght cancer for
the American Cancer Society, from being scheduled in
its typical mid-June spot. Instead, Relay will take place
this Friday and Saturday on the track at Lincoln Middle
School.
“We kept pushing it out and pushing it out, because
there was something going on each weekend,” Johnson
said. She added that organizers are “a little worried”
about a packed schedule, though much of Relay will
take place before the other events.
“Most of the other stuff is on Saturday, and most of
our Relay participants leave between 9 a.m. and noon
Saturday morning,” Johnson said.
Relay will open at noon on Friday and close at noon
Saturday; its welcome ceremony and Survivor’s Walk is
scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday. Survivor bingo takes place
from 3-5 p.m., the lighting of the Luminaria will take
place at 10 p.m., and movies are scheduled at midnight.
Meanwhile, at Cottage Grove Lake, triathlon com-
petitors — there should be several hundred of them
— will begin picking up their race packets at 6:30 a.m.
Saturday in advance of an 8 a.m. start for competitors of
the shorter Sprint course, which combines a 750-meter
swim, 12-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run. Competitors
in the longer Olympic course will hit the water at 8:25,
and they’ll be swimming 1500 meters, cycling 24.8
miles and running 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles. Transi-
tions between each event keep Lakeside Park at Cottage
Grove Reservoir a blur of activity throughout the triath-
lon, which took just over an hour to compete for last
year’s male sprint course winner and not much over two
hours for the Olympic champion in 2015.
This Saturday will also feature the return of what or-
ganizers say has been a winning pair. The Main Street
Chili Cook-off is set to start downtown at 11 a.m., and
guests can try a variety of chili entries until 3 p.m. Priz-
es will be given for the best chili present, the people’s
choice and most festive booth.
Classic cars will line Main Street during the cook-off,
and the car cruise will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. on a
course that takes in a downtown loop and a cruise down
River Road.
Bond sentenced on charges
stemming from July, 2015 crash
The driver in a 2015 auto
wreck that killed a 20-year old
Cottage Grove woman received
a jail sentence on charges relat-
ed to the wreck last week.
Kyle Allen Bond of Veneta
has spent the past year behind
bars since the July 13, 2015
crash that found his truck hit-
ting a guardrail and fl ipping
over and that claimed the life of
Amber Cobiskey. Three people
were ejected from the truck bed
in the wreck.
Bond faced 12 charges related
to the incident and reportedly
pleaded guilty to a charge of
criminally negligent homicide.
He will receive credit for the
year he has spent in prison and
serve the remainder of a two-
year sentence.
Lane County Circuit Court
Judge Suzanne Chanti reported-
ly told Bond that he has a greater
responsibility to do good works
now following the incident.