City Beat — 5A
New machine for hospital— 3A
Police dept. lot break-in— 6A
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2017
Also
inside:
New laws coming in
2017
Pg. 11
Holiday clean-up
Pg. 3
Faith schedule
Pg. 6
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 50
SOUTH LANE AND NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
Honorable Mentions
A Year in Review:2016
May 11
Every 15 Minutes vist
CGHS
A look back at the stories that impacted the
community
As we head into 2017, the staff of The Sentinel
has compiled a list of the year's top stories from
bridge troubles on Main St. to a fi re that captured the city's attention.
THE NEW SCHOOL
Voters’ fi rst contact with the decision to build a new elementary
school came on the May 17 primary election ballots. The question
was put forth on whether or not to approve Bond Measure 20-249,
which would replace Harrison Elementary School, fund deferred
maintenance and upgrade security and technology around the dis-
trict.
Initial estimates placed construction of the new building at
$18,921,100; just slightly higher than the cost of renovating the ex-
isting structure.
In July, offi cials from the South Lane School District traveled to
Portland to sell a group of bonds that would furnish the district with
the funds approved by the voters earlier in the year. The district
secured an interest rate of just under three percent.
December proved a diffi cult month for the construction process
after the planning commission continued an agenda item concern-
ing the conditional use permit for the new school. An oversight
of the height restrictions in the area according to code forced the
project to request a height variance before moving forward with
construction. It was expected to be readdressed by the commission
in mid-January.
BRIDGE TROUBLES
The Sentinel reported on March 23 that city offi cials had warned
a Main St. bridge could, “collapse any day.” The bridge in question,
connecting the eastern and western halves of Cottage Grove, was
deemed unsafe after the city received a report from OBEC Consult-
The “Every 15 Minutes”
program coordinated with
the Lane County Sheriff’s
Offi ce to give a highly real-
istic simulation of a drunk
driving incident involving an
extreme amount of detail to
highlight the horrors of the
consequences of intoxicated
driving.
July 6
Legendary track coach
dies
Sam Bell passed away on
June 27, 2016. Bell replaced
the famed Wally Ciochetti at
Cottage Grove High School,
where he coached Olympian
Dyrol Burleson.
See Year in Review pg. 8
Q&A with the new
City Mayor
BY CAITLYN MAY
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Jeff Gowing was born and raised in Cottage Grove. Before he
embarks on his new role as mayor, The Sentinel asked him what
challenges the community was facing and what he hopes to ac-
complish during his term. The following is a transcript of that
interview.
Full interview with
new Mayor Jeff
Gowing inside
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
www.cgsentinel.com
@
cgsentinel
@cgsentinel
#cgsentinel
Cottage-Grove-Sentinel
Why make the jump from
councilman to mayor?
My term was up and I got
on city council to learn and my
goal was, ultimately, to be may-
or. When Monroe ran last time
I didn’t feel I was ready at that
point so I just sat in my position
and learned more. When he de-
cided not to run again it was a
good opportunity to make the
transition.
What are the biggest chal-
lenges Cottage Grove is fac-
ing?
There’s several because in the
next two years we’re going to
hit the 10,000 population mark
and that puts more government
regulations on us and that’s go-
ing to be an issue. The infra-
structure is defi nitely needing
to be addressed. How are we go-
ing to fi x the roads, the housing
developments? The other thing I
see is we’re running out of land
inside the city limits. We’re not
going to have that growth like
Drain Mayor Resigns
BY CAITLYN MAY
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Drain Mayor Suzanne Ander-
son is leaving her post after be-
ing re-elected in November.
Her resignation was effective
December 31.
“For health reasons, she re-
signed,” Drain City Manager,
Carl Patenod confi rmed.
The city rang in the New Year
without a mayor but Drain City
charter allows the city council
to fi ll the position.
According to Patenod, that
process will begin sometime in
January.
Reportedly, two individuals
from the area stepped forward
for consideration, including a
former mayor.
“It’s not Eugene. It’s a typical
small town, it doesn’t become a
political issue. We have trouble
fi nding someone who wants to
do it,” Patenod said of the posi-
tion.
Anderson won the Oregon
Mayors Association’s merit
award in 2012 and previously
helmed the city’s newspaper
the Drain Enterprise, which has
since shuttered its doors.
when they rezoned on S. 6th, the
old drive-in. When that devel-
oped into housing, it developed
a lot of houses but we don’t have
that property anymore because
we fi lled it. Hayden Homes was
a vacant lot until they developed
that into 100-plus homes.
What is working in Cot-
tage Grove, what are we doing
right?
We’re attracting businesses.
Paktech is coming into town,
that’s going to be a major thing.
Paktech is going to have a lot of
skilled labor jobs and it’s going
to pay higher than what people
are looking at for wages. King
Estates is continuing to develop
out in the industrial park, that’s
a good positive feature they’re
adding to the community. I think
we’re looking at our goals and
sticking to them pretty good.
We’re doing another goal set-
ting session in January.
What are some of the things
on your list for that session?
I’m only one voice out of
seven, so it’s what the group
does but my biggest ones would
be the public safety. We have a
lot of speeders in town and run-
ning red lights and talking on
cell phones. We had a fatality
a few years ago, two cars hit a
lady in the crosswalk there. It
was an accident that could have
been avoided. I think if we start
addressing those things, those
petty crimes with the breaking
and entering in vehicles to get
things to quick sell for drugs,
I think you would start
impacting that if you had the
atmosphere where you enforce
the laws we have and hold
people accountable.
Please see Mayor pg. 8
Douglas County resident Jeff Havener,
left, joined a rally in late November con-
cerning the possible closure of several
library branches in Douglas County.
County Commissioners are set to meet
today, January 4, to fulfi ll their legal
obligation to hold two public meet-
ings before shutting down the library
system. Several community groups
have spoken out against the move after
a ballot measure designed to create a
library district failed in November. With
out a viable fi nancial solution, branch-
es will begin to close.
Photos submitted by Joe Ross
Douglas libraries may close
BY CAITLYN MAY
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
A fi ght over access to public
libraries is brewing in Douglas
County after voters denied a
ballot measure that would form
a tax district to continue offer-
ing library services. As a result,
several area libraries may cease
operation.
"Right now there is no plan,"
Douglas County Commissioner
Chris Boice said.
"The measure was voted down
by a vote of the people and the
county will not be able to con-
tinue to fund it," he said.
Ballot Measure 10-145 would
have formed a tax district with a
permanent rate limit for operat-
ing taxes of 44 cents per $1,000
of assessed value. However,
voters defeated the measure by
just over 50 percent.
Several libraries would be eff
ected by the change including
Roseburg and Drain.
Joe Ross lives in Roseburg
and said he voted for Measure
10-145.
"I believe libraries are good
for the community. They're a
meeting place but right now in
Douglas County there's a 'no
new taxes' sentiment," he said.
According to Boice, the li-
brary system will run out of
money by the end of the fi scal
year but not before cutting back
services drastically. In order to
maintain services, the library's
budget was front-loaded through
the fi rst half of the fi scal year,
leaving a smaller operating b
udget for the last six months of
the year.
"Two public hearings sched-
uled to talk about closure or
transition of the libraries. We
don’t have a different organiza-
tion to run it by the time we get
to the fi scal year in July and the
libraries will most likely close
but that I think would be tempo-
rary," Boice said.
The county commission will
meet during a public hearing on
January 4 to discuss the matter.
The are required by Oregon Re-
vised Statute to hold two public
meetings before transitioning to
a non-existent library system.
"I think they thought they
would put the notices about the
public hearings in the paper and
no one would notice," Ross said.
"People noticed."
Ross attended a rally in No-
vember with dozens of other
residents to show their support
for the library system in Doug-
las County.
"Hopefully it doesn't come
to closing the libraries because
they really are an important part
of the community," he said.
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30 11
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Calendar......................................... 3B
Channel Guide
Classified ads................................. 5B
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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