COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL August 31, 2016
11A
T EENS
H ARRISON
Continued from page 1A
Those driving northward
on Taylor Street will see the
school’s new library as they ap-
proach the school, Gorman said,
adding that street improvements
to correct a narrowing of the
street from Taylor to Gateway
will be necessary. Parent and
bus drop-offs will occur in park-
ing lots to the east of the school,
and the 10th Street intersection
will see new crosswalks. The
current Kennedy High School
location will become the early
learning center that is slated to
house Head Start, new preschool
offerings and Peggy’s Primary
Connection, the District’s fam-
ily resource center. Kindergar-
ten classrooms will be located
nearby, and the current parking
lot for the Warren H. Daugherty
Aquatic Center will also serve
as a drop-off for the school’s
youngest students.
The new school will be two
stories tall, Gorman said, and
will feature a dividing wall be-
tween the more public areas of
the gymnasium and cafeteria
and the classroom “pods” that
should effectively allow the
classrooms to be walled off
from the public during a secu-
rity emergency. These “pods”
will feature four classrooms
aligned around a common area
that should also allow for the
completion and display of lon-
ger-term projects.
Kindergarteners through sec-
ond-graders will go to class on
the fi rst fl oor, with older students
upstairs. The school will feature
a design of wooden beams in
one hallway meant to replicate
the area’s covered bridges, and
its designers say the building
will not lack for natural light.
Rising costs
Parent told the group that
rising construction costs mean
that the school, which was fi rst
estimated to cost $19 million,
is now being quoted at a cost of
about $23.4 million, even after
designers cut 4000 square feet
from its dimensions. She added
that the District made money
selling the bonds and expects
to make more by investing bond
funds that don’t need to be spent
immediately.
Parent said that a tight mar-
ket for sub-contracting work,
brought on in part by bond proj-
ects for other schools, means
that sub-contractors don’t have
to “sharpen their pencils” and
provide competitive cost esti-
mates.
“They can ask what they
want,” she said.
Still, Parent said the District is
confi dent that by positioning the
timeline of its project between
the completion of other school
construction jobs, choosing ma-
terials wisely, making good in-
vestments and saving money on
the other bond-related projects,
the cost of the new school can
come in closer to $20.5 or $21
million, though the District only
budgeted for a $900,000 contin-
gency.
“It’s all about what we have
to do internally to manage these
projects,” she said. “We should
save money on other projects
and make more by investing.”
Parent said she is “totally cer-
tain” that the District will deliver
on the promises it made regard-
ing the use of its bond funds.
“We will deliver on our prom-
ise to build a quality, long-last-
ing and functional school that
can be a hub of the community,”
she said.
Other projects
Parent and Maintenance Su-
pervisor Matt Allen detailed
progress on other bond-related
projects, including the instal-
lation of night locks for every
classroom door that are cur-
rently being installed to keep
intruders from easily entering
classrooms. Latham Elementary
has received a new intercom
and lockdown system, and the
District has put out a request for
proposals for camera systems
for each school. The District has
also ordered 25 new laptops,
300 Chromebooks, 15 projec-
tors and 18 document cameras.
With regard to deferred mainte-
nance, Allen said that an aging
sewer line has been replaced at
Lincoln Middle School, a prob-
lem piece of sidewalk has been
replaced at Bohemia Elemen-
tary and the District is shopping
for the best system to replace
the HVAC system at Bohemia.
Timeline
Parent said designers will hold
another round of meetings with
teachers this October. The new
school will go to bid in March. A
groundbreaking is scheduled for
April 1, and the District hopes
to “go vertical” next July in time
to open for the 2018-19 school
year. Kennedy High School is
set to move to the former De-
light Valley School location in
the summer of 2018. More in-
formation on bond-related proj-
ects is available at the district
website, www.slane.k12.or.us.
F IRE
Continued from page 1A
with South Lane Fire and
ODF in the investigation.
“I termed it ‘reckless’ because
we’re still not aware of the exact
circumstances, and it’s unknown
if it was deliberately set,” Shep-
herd said. “But it seems ‘kid-
dish’ to me, and at least one by-
stander said they heard voices
up there at about that time.”
Residents in the Northwest
Neighborhood area and beyond
were able to witness the response
of fi refi ghters from South Lane,
Goshen, Lorane and Pleasant
Hill, in addition to the Oregon
Department of Forestry, which
deployed the helicopter, bull-
dozer and other resources. Woo-
ten credited a strong partner-
ship with ODF with helping to
preventing the fi re’s spread on a
hot, windy day that might have
otherwise carried the fl ames
further up Mt. David or into the
neighborhood below.
“We had a lot of resources
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on standby, but we were able
to send them back because the
helicopter got there so quick,”
he said. “That’s why we love
the partnership we have with
them.”
Wooten explained that South
Lane is responsible for the
structures in its District, while
ODF protects the wooded areas
around them. That afternoon,
bystanders watched (with many
later commenting about it on
social media and elsewhere)
the helicopter scoop up water
from the Coast Fork of the Wil-
lamette River in its bucket, then
make repeated trips to Mt. Da-
vid to pour its contents on the
fl ames. (The Sentinel attempted
to contact the pilot in person but
learned that he and his helicop-
ter were already at work fi ghting
the High Pass Fire on Bureau of
Land Management lands about
10 miles west of Junction City.)
Continued from page 1A
before the fi re could spread to
nearby homes and an apartment
complex,” Gagner wrote in the
news release.
“If it had been windy, it would
have been all over,” Branstet-
ter surmised. “The fi re could’ve
easily jumped the path and gone
toward the homes on the other
side.”
Gagner added that, after a
brief investigation, police ar-
rested three 15-year olds they
believe were involved with both
fi res, who were to be lodged at
the Youth Center on charges of
Arson, Reckless Burning, Crim-
inal Mischief and Conspiracy.
Branstetter said that the inci-
dent marked the fi rst time in his
career that he had taken juve-
niles to Serbu on felony charges.
The youths were charged with
Conspiracy to Commit Arson,
he said, because it could not be
determined which individual ac-
tually set the fi re.
“No one said they actually lit
it, and it would be diffi cult to
prove who it was,” he said.
Branstetter called the youths’
actions “beyond reckless” with
respect to the conditions.
“I didn’t get a sense of re-
morse from any of the three
of them,” he said. “It was kind
of shocking from that aspect.
At 15, you’d think the fi re bug
stage might be over.”
Branstetter said the teens
denied involvement in the fi re
that broke out on Mt. David
two days prior and is believed
to have been intentionally set,
though the investigation into
both incidents continues.
D E F AZIO
Continued from page 1A
would be applied to barrels of
oil at the refi nery, but couldn’t
get much interest from his fel-
low congressmen.
DeFazio railed against the
Transpacifi c Partnership, or
TPP, which he called “the last
and worst trade deal America
will ever have.” He expressed
dismay that the trade deal was
written in collusion with 500
corporations while he wasn’t
able to view its language in real
time, though he believes the
agreement may not pass.
“I think we’re going to beat
it,” he said. “Americans have
awakened, and they realize it’s
not about free trade; it’s about
chasing the cheapest sources of
labor around the world. The mis-
chief that can be done through
this agreement is extraordinary.
I think we might beat it, but
lame duck sessions are very un-
predictable.”
DeFazio also addressed more
than one question regarding the
rancorous discourse of Ameri-
can politics.
“I have a concern about the
tone of our political environ-
ment,” said Ron Blackstone
from the audience. “What
can our political leaders do to
change that tone? I would like to
see more discussion, more hope,
more optimism of how we can
work together.”
DeFazio responded that, at
least in the House of Represen-
tatives, the practice of redistrict-
ing that has created essentially
bulletproof districts aligned with
one party or the other should be
ended.
“We’ve got to change our
elections,” he said, adding that
in the recent past there was a
time when the voting habits of
each party crossed over into the
other party’s territory. “In 2010,
things were redistricted to create
as many Republican districts as
possible. That wipes out swing
districts…because in their pri-
mary, their only concern is their
party.”
The deregulation of the tele-
communications industry has
also created “partisan media,”
DeFazio said, which also harms
the political discourse. Later,
he likened Congress to a high
school class of 435 students.
“You’re going to have the
jocks and nerds, some smart
people and a few real yo-yos,”
he said. “There are people who
get elected that make you shake
your head.”
With regard to the “revital-
ized” notion of a national public
option for healthcare, DeFazio
said the public option is quite
necessary.
“It’s apparent now with the
problems with the insurance
exchanges and rates going up,
we need to look at a different
model,” he said.
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