City Beat pg.5
Fire dept. clarifi cation pg. 6
Record number of eagles in CG pg. 10
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
SOUTH LANE AND NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
Local non-profi t sues former employee
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 50
CGHS plans auction
More than $20,000 missing
BY CAITLYN MAY
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Former administrative co-
ordinator, Dante Layton is be-
ing sued by local non-profi t
Aprovecho after the organiza-
tion found more than $20,000
missing and electronic fi nancial
records deleted.
Layton is accused of not pay-
ing rent during his time on the
Aprovecho property, withhold-
ing tuition funds and making
unauthorized money orders to-
taling $33,565.
The lawsuit fi led in Lane
County Circuit Court alleges
that Layton, along with his
friend Samuel Williams, lived
on the 40-acre Aprovecho cam-
pus between 2013 and 2015.
During that time, Layton al-
legedly rented a house without
paying rent, and misused funds.
The suit alledges that Williams
had knowledge of Layton’s ac-
tions and may have benefi ted
from them.
Layton resigned in July of
2015.
“For us it’s just really unfor-
tunate that we were taken ad-
vantage of in this way,” director
of the natural building depart-
ment for Aprovecho, Chris For-
aker said.
Previous reports from lo-
cal media outlets noted that
Aprovecho spent $10,000 on
a forensic computer analyst to
recover the fi les. However, ac-
cording to Foraker, that amount
also includes the cost to recon-
struct the deleted fi les.
Further, reports that the Cot-
tage Grove Police Department
had no open investigation into
the incident were accurate;
Aprovecho is outside of the
Cottage Grove jurisdiction and
a complaint has been fi led with
the Lane County Sheriff’s Of-
fi ce.
“We just want to emphasize
that this unfortunate incident hit
during a time of growth for the
non-profi t,” Foraker said. He
said the organization has taken
steps to safeguard their book-
keeping practices in the future
and that the goal of the lawsuit
was to prohibit Layton from
acting in the same manner at an-
other organization.
“We’re doing great as an ed-
ucation and research center and
we’ll be able to ride this out,”
he said.
Executive Director Steven
Braun said, "Unfortunately,
we're in the same boat as a lot
of non-profi ts. It leaves oppor-
tunity for people to take advan-
tage of the belief that we're all
here for a good reason. There's
an assumption in a non-profi t
that everyone is invested in
the mission and sometimes,
unfortunately, that's not always
the case.
City Hall shut down
Electrical issues forced staff and inmates
from the building
Some offi ce re-arranging and
a tripped breaker saved the city
a potentially expensive repair
after an employee tasked with
fi xing the breaker, discovered a
more serious issue.
On Jan. 12, city employees
and inmates being housed in the
building were forced out into
the street due to what city man-
ager Richard Meyers described
as a problem with the main elec-
trical line into the building.
“A bolt had come loose,”
Meyers said. He went on to ex-
plain that the bolt was located
on part of the mechanism that
also allowed the building’s gen-
erator to take over in case of a
power failure.
At the time of the incident,
employees had been moving
furniture in one of the offi ces
which caused a breaker to trip.
The unrelated power bump sent
an employee down to where
the electrical line was located
where the smell of burning elec-
trical and metal alerted staff to
the larger problem.
“The bolt had gotten to 300
degrees. When the electrician
came he thought there was a
light on in the back of the box
but it was actually the bolt
glowing,” Meyers said.
The electrician cleared the
building to address the repair
and city hall was closed early.
Normally, city hall has a gen-
erator that could keep the build-
ing running in the event of an
electrical outage. However, the
bolt was located in an area that
was related to the generator,
prohibiting the back-up system
from taking over and powering
the building. Further, on the
electrician's advice, staff was
cleared from the building and
all electronics were turned off.
Had the problem gone unat-
tended, the city’s computers and
overall building structure could
have been affected.
The surprise incident appar-
ently has no other cause than a
loose bolt and is not cause for
alarm in the community.
“It’s something that can hap-
pen. When it was installed, the
bolt wasn’t tightened enough
and when it gets hot it expands
and contracts which loosens it
as well,” Meyers said.
Meyers said the city would be
making a note to have the bolt
be serviced and tightened on
a regular basis from now on to
avoid any further incidents of
the same nature.
CONTACT US
City manager Richard Meyers holds the bolt that melted
and shut down city hall on Jan. 12.
it will improve the ability of the
State Aviation Department to
develop and improve the airport
increasing economic develop-
ment opportunities.
Pak Tech will begin opera-
tions this spring. They are con-
tinuing to make improvements
to the property at 230 Davidson.
It will be exciting to see them
begin and we are very excited
to welcome them to our com-
munity.
Hayden Homes has broken
ground on the development of
their 32 units adjacent to Riv-
erwalk. The new rentals are
desperately needed in the com-
munity. The innovative cottages
will be an example of what can
be done to address the needed
housing in the community.
Online bill paying was made
available for city utility ac-
counts in 2016 and we already
have over 15% of the accounts
using the system to pay their
water/sewer bills.
Great exhibits at the li-
brary-Human Origins Exhibits
from the Smithsonian
WEATHER
www.cgsentinel.com
On the Internet
(541) 942-3325
By telephone
(541) 942-3328
By fax
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
By e-mail
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
By mail
Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
In person
Cottage Grove High School’s
goal is reasonable for the size of
the town.
The auction will consist of a
live auction and a silent auction,
along with a raffl e drawing ev-
ery 15-20 minutes. The raffl e
tickets come as part of the $35
ticket to attend, which includes
dinner and a non-alcoholic bev-
erage.
The auction items will include
things such as guided hunting
and fi shing trips, cabin trips in
McKenzie and Sun River and
outdoor equipment including
rifl e accessories and perhaps a
rifl e itself. Jim’s Tire Point Ser-
vices has also donated a $1,000
gift card for tire services at their
shop.
Roberts says there will be
around 30 items to be auctioned,
though items are still being add-
ed to the list.
Roberts reports that around
100 people have confi rmed at-
tendance to the auction, but the
athletic department is still trying
to spread the word and get as
many people into the 225-per-
son seating they will have set
up.
“About 225 tickets sold
would put us at about a quarter
of the way to our goal, which
would be fantastic,” he said.
Tickets can be purchased at
Cottage Grove High School or
at the following local busi-
nesses: Valley Coffee, Buster’s
Main Street Café, and Jim’s
Point S. Tire Service.
BY SAM WRIGHT
swright@cgsentinel.com
On Jan. 9 Mayor Jeff Gowing gave his state of the city address. Here, the Sentinel provides
the speech in its entirety.
put his heart and soul into the
success of Cottage Grove.
We’ve had several accom-
plishments in the past year, yet
we still face many challenges.
Our most notable accomplish-
ments include:
Two annexations- one that in-
cluded properties on west main
and brought the rest of Pam’s
Sunnyside into the city lim-
its. The other was the Cottage
Grove Airport. The City and
State Aviation Department have
been working on that annex-
ation for a while and hope that
The Cottage Grove High
School Athletic Department
hosting a fundraising event
to help bring more money to
athletic programs at the high
school. Thedepartment is host-
ing a dinner and auction on Feb.
18 at Our Lady of Perpetual
Help Catholic Church from 5
p.m. to 9 p.m.
The idea came to Athletic
Director Gary Roberts when he
spoke with other athletic direc-
tors.
“I was at an ‘athletic directors
golf tournament’ and some of
the other athletic directors were
talking about how they were
doing it and how well it helped
their programs,” Roberts said.
Roberts says that there are a
lot of things each athletic pro-
gram needs such as new softball
dugouts or renovations of the
baseball fi eld. He has already
bought new soccer goal nets
from the athletic budget funds.
The athletic department has
taken recent budget cuts in the
past years, but Roberts says it
isn’t really a response to that.
“We don’t really want it to be
a Band-Aid for the those cuts,”
he said, “Krista Parent and the
school district has done an awe-
some job to keep athletics going
and to keep participation fees
down.”
The athletic department
has set a goal to raise around
$20,000 on the night. One
larger 5A school raised around
$100,000, but Roberts believes
Local theatre readies
for new season
State of the City: A word from the Mayor
I’d like to start by thanking
the citizens of Cottage Grove
for giving me the opportunity
to serve as your Mayor. It has
been a long time goal of mine
and I am honored to have been
selected.
I’d like to thank Mayor Tom
Monroe for his years of service
to the city and the guidance he
has given me.
I’d also like to welcome Bob
Ehler to the council, he has been
involved with community ser-
vice here in town for almost 30
years and I’m confi dent he’ll
BY SAM WRIGHT
swright@cgsentinel.com
See State of the City pg.10
The Cottage Theatre is now
entering its 2017 season which
will boast six new plays, includ-
ing several musicals.
All of the plays bare no fa-
miliarity with the theatre except
for one, The Importance of Be-
ing Earnest, which the Cottage
Theatre presented once before
in 1994.
The theatre will kick off its
fi rst production in early Feb-
ruary with Peter and the Star
Catcher, which will run from
Feb. 3 to Feb. 19. The play is
based off of a series of novels
which document the fantasti-
cal backstory of Peter Pan. The
play revolves around a name-
less boy (guess who), who is
shipped off from England to a
distant island. Upon the ship,
the boy befriends a girl who is
a Starcatcher-in-training and
fi nds a mysterious and celestial
substance within a trunk in the
Captain’s cabin. The journey
takes a turn when the ship is tak-
en over by the fearsome “Black
Stache” (Hook?).
In April, the theatre will move
on to Curtains, a musical set in
Boston in the late 1950s.
A poorly talented leading
lady mysteriously dies on stage
during the opening night curtain
call and a detective is brought
in to solve the murder and save
the musical. Expect a variety of
exciting numbers from this play
in the spring.
In June comes The Impor-
tance of Being Earnest, a local
adaptation of the Oscar Wil-
de comedy. There are few that
could be called more masterful
in language arts and theatre arts
than Mr. Wilde.
In the play, a spry young man
from rural England invents a fi c-
titious brother, Earnest, which
provides him an excuse to take
wile trips to London. Comedy,
drama and a love story ensues in
this theatrical classic.
In August, The Good Doc-
tor comes to the stage which
is originally a Broadway play
based off of several short sto-
ries from Russian author Anton
Chekhov.
October will feature Jekyll
and Hyde, based off of the pop-
ular story by Robert Louis Ste-
venson. The good vs. evil fl ick
will be fi t for the Halloween
month.
See Play pg. 7
CONTENTS
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54 41
Calendar......................................... 3B
Channel Guide
Classified ads................................. 5B
Obituaries....................................... 2A
Opinion .......................................... 4A
Public Safety .................................. 5A
Sports ............................................ 1B
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