COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL October 19, 2016
Lincoln principal Jeremy
Smith loses locks to raise funds
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
hursday’s lunch period at Lincoln Middle
School was not an ordinary one, espe-
cially for Principal Jeremy Smith. Each year,
the school hosts a fundraiser with a walk-a-thon
for the school. Smith pledged that if the school
reached $14,000, he would dye half of his beard
and allow a student to shave his head in front of
everyone during the school’s fi rst lunch period.
Smith reported that the students raised close to
$15,000.
“I thought it would be a good way to moti-
vate the students,” Smith said, and his method
worked.
Last year, the school barely broke $10,000,
showing Smith’s motivational tactics to be
worth around $5,000.
Before the haircut, Smith dyed the right half
of his beard yellow, which made the whole or-
deal a lot funnier than just a shaved noggin.
“I didn’t realize how much this would smell,”
Smith said laughing at his half-yellow beard.
As the bell sounded for lunch, Smith made
his way to the cafeteria, where students eagerly
waited to see their principal’s head be sheared.
The principal and other faculty waited for ev-
eryone to get their lunch and settle down before
beginning.
The shaving was done by student Hannah
Mathis, who earned the honor by raising the
most money. Mathis reportedly raised over
$2,000 in just over two weeks. She said that
she wrote handwritten letters to clients of her
mom’s business and sent in a pledge sheet to
her dad’s work. Her words obviously swayed
many to donate, and she earned the right to give
her principal a buzz cut.
“I thought it was fun and cool to do that,”
Cottage Grove
alum takes top
BIA forestry job
A
photo by Sam Wright
Student Hannah Mathis earned the
right to shave her principal's head
after raising over $2000 for the school.
Mathis said. Smith received a sporadic zig-zag
pattern throughout his head and showed up to
school on Monday with a completely shaven
head.
The $15,000 raised goes to teacher grants so
they can buy supplies for their classes. Some of
the money also went in to some campus equip-
ment such as picnic tables in the courtyard out-
side the cafeteria.
School Board worksession talks school bond specifi cs
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The South Lane School Board
was given another update on the
bond and the design for the new
elementary school that is to be
constructed off of Taylor and 10th
streets. Architects Mike Gorman
and Greg McCracken presented
their progress to the School Board
on Monday.
The architects, who started the
project in May, are currently in
the “design development” process,
where the overall design is done
Main Street
Halloween
celebration
set for Oct. 31
Over 20 businesses,
groups have already
signed up to operate a
booth
Cottage Grove’s Halloween
celebration has been planned for
Monday, Oct. 31 from 3-5 p.m.
on Main Street.
Chamber of Commerce Direc-
but different tweaks and changes
are being made in detailed areas.
McCracken says that the team
plans to be done with this process
by Nov. 7 and will have a detailed
3-D animation presentation on
Dec. 5.
Once the design development
package is complete, BLRB Ar-
chitects will hand off the designs
to Highland Construction, who
will return with a price at the same
time the architects get a price from
a third-party consultant.
Originally, BLRB Architects
estimated the cost of building the
tor Travis Palmer said the event
has been a coordinated planning
effort of the Chamber, the Main
Street Program, City of Cottage
Grove, Cottage Grove Sentinel
and Economic and Business Im-
provement District. Main Street
will be closed beginning at 1:30
p.m. to allow for the setup of
booths for businesses and organi-
zations that do not have a store-
front on Main Street. Palmer said
that 20 such groups had already
committed to operating a booth
by press time Monday.
The celebration will feature a
costume contest, pumpkin carv-
ing contest, scavenger hunt, car-
nival games and more. Those
interested in having a booth on
Main Street are encouraged to
contact Palmer at 541-942-2411.
elementary school to be around
$18.9 million. After bringing in
multiple consultants (one of which
gave an estimated cost of around
$28 million) Gorman and Mc-
Cracken arrived at an average price
of $23.5 million. The architects
took measures to decrease the cost
such as changing the square foot-
age of classrooms from 960 square
feet to 930. The school’s total area
covers around 80,000 square feet.
Currently in the design develop-
ment process, the estimated cost is
$21.5 million, though McCracken
projects the price to eventually
drop to around $20.9 million.
“We believe we can still bring
the price down a bit more,” Mc-
Cracken said.
The school is designed to fi t
600-800 students and will include
modern building features such
as FOB keys to lock and unlock
classrooms. The building is also
designed to be extremely energy
effi cient. Gorman says that the
entire building will utilize LED
lights.
Please see SCHOOL BOND, Page 10A
Four-year old lost to
crash on CG-Lorane
A
rea family and friends are in
mourning after a car crash on
Cottage Grove-Lorane Road claimed
the life of a four-year old girl on
Tuesday, Oct. 11.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Of-
fi ce was called to a report of a mo-
tor vehicle accident at Milepost 7
of the winding, curvy road between
the communities at about 9 a.m. The
vehicle, a 2002 Ford Explorer, was
reportedly traveling eastbound to-
ward Cottage Grove when it left the
roadway and rolled approximately
30 feet down an embankment. The
driver, later identifi ed as 23-year
old Courtney Bowman, survived the
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crash, along with two of her chil-
dren. Four-year old Payge Bowman
was killed in the wreck.
After the crash, Payge Bowman’s
father, Cyrus, put out a call for a
guardrail to protect drivers at the
dangerous curve.
“The one request we have is to get
a guardrail up on that corner so this
happens to nobody else,” Bowman
told the Register-Guard.
Family members set up a gofund-
me account to pay for Payge Bow-
man’s burial expenses. The account
had surpassed its $8000 goal by Sen-
tinel press time Monday.
1980 Cottage Grove High School graduate
has become the top forester at the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
Peter Wakeland, 54, became the BIA’s chief of
forestry and wildland fi re on Sept. 19. He is re-
sponsible for policy and
budgets for all tribes that
manage timber across
the United States. He
also oversees the BIA’s
wildland fi re manage-
ment agency based in
Boise, Idaho.
An enrolled member
of Oregon’s Confeder-
ated Tribes of Grand
Ronde, Wakeland grew
up in Cottage Grove and
graduated from Oregon Peter Wakeland
State University.
As
a Cottage Grove Lion, he earned varsity letters in
football, baseball and wrestling.
“I’m a Grover through and through,” Wakeland
said. “I love the Grove and I loved growing up
there.
“Who knows? When I retire, I may fi nd myself
back in the Grove. That’d be fantastic.”
Wakeland worked for the Grand Ronde Tribe for
nearly two decades, fi rst as the tribe’s forester and
then rising to the tribe’s No. two job as deputy ex-
ecutive director and director of development.
He left the Grand Ronde in 2014 to lead the Co-
quille Tribe’s Natural Resources Department. In that
job, he was responsible for managing about 10,000
acres of tribal forest, including programs dealing
with water quality, fi sh and wildlife, and other envi-
ronmental issues.
Wakeland is no stranger to the nation’s capital. He
spent a year there in the 1990s, working for the Nat-
ural Resources Conservation Service, and another
year as a Mark O. Hatfi eld Fellow in the offi ce of
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden.
“But Oregon is my home, and I’ll miss it every
day until I make it back,” he said.
He is joined in Washington by his wife, Bonnie.
They have been married 34 years and have two sons:
Brooks, a lawyer for the Grand Ronde Tribes; and
Torey, a biologist for the Coquille Tribe.
He said his goals for his new job include bridging
the gap between the forest management efforts of
the BIA and America’s tribes.
“There are so many good people out in Indian
Country — really good foresters and wildland fi re
folks,” he said. “We need to fi nd ways to better share
resources, share knowledge, eliminate challenges to
moving between governments, and prepare a work-
force that will lead and sustain Indian forestry into
the future.”
In
Honor
of All
Veterans
The Cottage Grove Sentinel is preparing to publish its
“Proud to Have Served,” a special section devoted to all military
veterans who are Cottage Grove-area residents or have a connec-
tion to this area.
If you are interested in sharing your military story in the annu-
al Veterans Day publication, or in updating information that we
have published previously, please complete the form below and
submit it to the Cottage Grove Sentinel. Service photographs are
also welcome.
Submit forms and photos (preferably) by e-mail to
cgnews@cgsentinel.com; or by mail to Cottage Grove Sentinel,
Attn: Jon Stinnett, PO Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424; or drop
forms off at the Cottage Grove Sentinel, 116 6th Street, Cottage
Grove.
Please be sure that all materials are carefully labeled with your
name and phone number. ALL FORMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
MUST BE SUBMITTED BY OCTOBER 31, 2016.
Thank you for participating in this project to remember and
honor our veterans.
Name: ____________________________________________________________________________
Contact Phone Number: ______________________________________________________________
Branch of Service: __________________________________________________________________
Rank Achieved (optional): ____________________________________________________________
Dates Served: ______________________________________________________________________
Where did you serve? ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Special Information (E.G., POW): ______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
The Alligator Auction promises
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businesses and listeners
A percent of the proceeds to benefi t South Lane Dental Clinic
3A
________________________________________________________________________________
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Has your veterans information been published previously in the Cottage Grove Sentinel Veterans Publication?
YES
NO
Do we have your military photo(s) on file? YES
NO
(Note: If you have submitted photos in the past, we will still have them on file.)