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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2016)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL November 9, 2016 Council, Planning Comm. set to meet Local developer invents test prep app for med students C ottage Grove local gov- ernment agencies are set to tackle several issues in up- coming meetings. Here’s a brief rundown of upcoming agendas of the City Council and Plan- ning Commission: BY JON STINNETT The Cottage Grove Sentinel City Council: EBID extension, tiny homes T aking a test that has immense impli- cations for one’s future can lead to no small amount of anxiety, even if its subject matter can be mind-numbingly dull. A Cot- tage Grove-based game developer, though, has in- vented a game that aims to take the anxiety and ennui out of studying for students of the medical profes- sions. A self-taught T. Raven Meyers computer pro- grammer, web de- signer and midwife, T. Raven Meyers lived in various places throughout the world and courtesy graphic Scrub Ninjas allows players to create a surgical 'weapon' to answer study questions for exams in AP psychology and biology, pre-med and nursing studies. spent years in Thailand with her family be- ten requires a visual element to learn any fore journeying back to Cottage Grove, from piece of information, and she knows she’s where her husband hails. Now, Meyers said not alone. She said she’s the fi rst person to she’s combined her passions for program- create a game that includes test preparation ming and helping create a more fulfi lling for medical students, which she developed learning experience in creating Scrub Nin- in tandem with a doctor friend that supplied jas, a test preparation application designed the instructional material. “The students love it,” she said. “It’s got to support students taking a range of courses from high school advanced placement psy- visual stimuli that help keep them engaged chology and biology to pre-med and nurs- and stimulate the part of the mind that helps ing school requirements. Please see NINJAS, Page 10A A visual learner, Meyers said that she of- Art sought for new elementary school entry S outh Lane School Dis- trict is seeking an artist to beautify part of Cottage Grove’s new elementary school. Voters passed a bond to re- place the aging Harrison El- ementary School building in the spring, and the school is sched- uled to open in the fall of 2018. Now, South Lane has put out a request for proposals for art that will be displayed as a center- piece in the entryway of the new school. In the request, Communica- tions Coordinator Garrett Brid- gens wrote that the building’s design narrative “is to create an engaging metaphor for growth that is functional, fl exible and re- 3A courtesy graphic spectful of children as thought- ful, independent learners.” The school’s main entry and living room will be a gathering place for students who will then cir- culate into the main building. Its design will reference the historical abundance of covered bridges, wood trusses and cross bracing. The art that is chosen would be displayed above the school’s main vestibule. The dimensions of the area are approximately 22 feet high, 16 feet wide and 24 feet deep. The chosen appli- cation will be awarded $5000 and given a $3000 budget for materials and other supplies. The District said that applica- tions should include a narrative of what the proposed artwork represents and how it ties to the local heritage and history of Cottage Grove. A drawing and itemized budget is also to be included. The deadline for ap- plications is 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 2. Questions can be directed to Superintendent Krista Parent or Bridgens at 541-942-3381. On Monday, Nov. 14, the City Council will hold its sec- ond public hearing on the pos- sible extension of the Business Improvement District and Eco- nomic Business Improvement District. The fi rst hearing, at which no one spoke, was held last month. The EBID and BID are assess- ment districts in which property owners choose to be assessed an annual fee that is used to pro- mote and improve the business- es located there. The original districts were created in 2004 and extended in 2007, 2010 and 2013. The EBID/BID boards are requesting a fi ve-year extension this time around. The extension will be considered after the sec- ond public hearing. Previous EBID initiatives include the remodel and renaming of All- America City Square (a/ka Opal Whiteley Park.) Planning Commission: Air- port rezoning, rental shop At its Wednesday, Nov. 16 meeting, the Planning Commis- sion will examine a zone change application for the Cottage Grove Airport, which was re- cently annexed by the City from Lane County. The applicant is seeking to change the zoning on Cottage Grove’s Land Use Map for the Airport from Lane Code Chapter 10 AO, Airport Opera- tions, to Cottage Grove Chapter 14 Parks and Recreation Dis- trict. The Planning Commission will also examine an application for a site design review of plans for a new industrial rental shop facility in the Cottage Grove Industrial Park, located at 2125 Getty Circle. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. Both meetings are open to the public. Applications for home heating assistance increase T he need for energy as- sistance for low-income families in the Cottage Grove area increases a bit each year, according to one local agency charged with implementing a Go where you want, when you want. Open a Banner Bank Connected Checking account and use any ATM in the country, with no fees. Think of it as your freedom to explore. Let’s create tomorrow, together. Unlimited surcharge rebates from non-Banner owned ATMs. Also on Nov. 14, the Council is expected to hear a presenta- tion from the Cottage Villages Coalition, a group dedicated to bringing ‘tiny homes’ to Cot- tage Grove as housing for those at risk of being homeless. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Member FDIC federal energy assistance pro- gram. Mike Fleck, Executive Di- rector of Community Sharing, which distributes funds through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, said late Monday that 566 local households had signed up for the program on or after the Nov. 1 deadline. Commu- nity Sharing would likely close the registration process for LI- HEAP on Monday, Fleck said, after reaching its quota, though registration may be opened up again if more funding is allo- cated. Fleck said Community Sharing was allocated about $160,000 to provide energy as- sistance through the program, a number that could climb toward $170,000. For the fi rst month, households that have a mem- ber living with a disability are given preference for funding, after which all households mak- ing 185 percent of the federally recognized poverty level are eli- gible. According to Mary Ellen Bennett, LIHEAP coordinator for Lane County, a household’s current gross monthly income must be at or below 60 percent of Oregon’s median income level to qualify for LIHEAP. A household of one person can have a gross monthly income as high as $1,885 and qualify. A household of four people can have a gross monthly income of $3625 and qualify. The amount of assistance a household receives depends on a number of factors. The program pays the assistance directly into a household’s utility account as a one-time payment that can range from $150-$550. Fleck said that Community Sharing will continue paying out LIHEAP assistance through the winter and often into April. “We will probably reopen reg- istration, and if we do, it always happens on the fi rst business day of the month,” he said. “At that time, those interested can call to see if it’s been reopened.” Fleck said energy assistance is frequently accessed by the “working poor” of the area, though such “front-of-counter” services such as laundry and prescription drug assistance are held to a much more stringent requirement of 110 percent of the poverty level. Another key Community Sharing outreach, its food box program, has re- portedly leveled off in the 700 or so per month range, but has not decreased with an improv- ing economy. $ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM Our Community Newspaper since 1889