6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL APRIL 19, 2017
Drain Continued from A1
take a bite out other product
revenue.
"It will be good for that side
of town," Pilley said.
WITHIN OUR
MEANS
Mayor Rance Pilley and city administrator Carl Patenode say Drain is on a steady 50 year plan to succeed.
stop funding them in the wake
of a fi nancial shortfall. Efforts
to sustain the library locally
are underway but Pilley doesn't
know what that would look like.
A group of citizens has formed
a friends of the library group
to explore funding options, but
so far they've come up empty
handed. Other options fl oating
around the county, such as turn-
ing the buildings into reading
rooms, haven't garnered much
support in Drain.
"The county pulled the rug
out from the entire library sys-
tem and we don't know what
the future will bring for the li-
braries," he said. "But the sug-
gestion of a reading room hasn't
had a lot of support."
Currently, the city of Drain
provides the maintance for the
building and the county has yet
to pull its collection of books.
However, groups are hesitant to
take over day-to-day operation
of the library without an agree-
ment in place that would free
them of any responsibility for
the books.
"We don't know what's going
to happen," Pilley said.
The closure of the library sig-
nalled a new era for the county,
and for Drain it served as a re-
minder that vital services may
be next on the chopping block.
Under Pilley's direction in
January, the city council dis-
cussed how to urge the county
to start a planning process to
"ensure we'll have sheriff ser-
vices," Pilley said.
"We want to make sure we
don't go through the same thing
as the library where it goes to
the end and then they just shut
it off."
Currently, 50 percent of
Drain's general fund goes to the
sheriff services contract with
Douglas County.
STILL
STANDING
When Dorothy Cooper was
a girl, the bridal shop was a
lumber store. Then a shoe repar
shop, a building supply store, a
donut shop and a western store.
There's still timber up in the at-
tic but down on the main fl oor,
racks and racks of bridal wear
attract customers from neigh-
boring towns. Business, though,
is still slow.
"It's been rough," she says,
noting that the recession took
out half of First St. "We got
through trembling."
She mans the counter for her
daughter, who owns the shop.
It's easier, she says, to host the
business in Drain where soccer
games and parent-teacher con-
ferences don't take her daugh-
ter away from the shop for the
hour they would if Exclusively
Bridal was located in Eugene,
as originally intended.
A sign hangs behind the
counter, citing Ephesians 5:22
and the bell on the door that sig-
nals a bride to be on the hunt for
a dress hasn't rung this morning.
Despite this, Cooper says the
shop can pay its bills and busi-
ness as slowly returned even if
the residents of First St. haven't.
"The store is in it's 23rd
year," she said. "We get people
still coming in, looking for their
wedding dress."
Terrie Cosby still has folks
stopping at her store too but
with a recent accident closing
a vital bridge, she's worried
that just when her busy season
should be starting, the Trading
Post will face a lull.
"Winter is good for classes,"
she said. "But when it starts get-
ting warm, I get a lot of tourists
stopping in."
Cosby's shop is a collection
of repurposed furniture, knick-
knacks and most recently, an
old fashioned soda shop with
ice cream and rock candy.
She rents out space to vendors
who sell everything from hand-
made fi nger puppets to western
wear to soap and rocks.
"Believe it or not, I sell a fair
amount of rocks," she said.
The building she occupies
now is one of the few still wel-
coming customers on First St.
But it's not where she started.
Cosby was originally run-
ning the Trading Post on the
outskirts of town.
"They called it the Trading
Post because that was the big
sign. People also called it the
Road Kill Grill," she said.
But that was two years ago.
The building burned down and
sent Cosby looking for a new
home.
Her new location was built in
the 1900s and she took posses-
sion of it last year.
These days, rocks are selling
but they're not the backbone of
her business.
"We're in a period of repur-
pose," she said. That's why she
sells transfers; designs that can
be mounted to furniture, walls
or windows. Some of the fur-
niture in the store already has
a transfer applied to its surface
while other pieces lay bare,
ready for customers to use any
of the available transfers Cosby
has for sale to transform.
Cooper and Cosby are mak-
ing it work in Drain's downtown
but a new arrival is set to draw
more customers and while some
are excited about its debut, oth-
ers worry.
Dollar General will be taking
the place of an old automotive
repair shop that was recently de-
molished to make room for the
chain store.
"I'm worried about Ray's,"
said Cooper. The city's only
full-fl edged grocery store has
been hosting Fantastic Fridays
and advertises rib roast for
$7.99 and pound. While Dollar
General isn't likley to encroach
on the store's meat sales, it may
Patenode hopes to leave his
desk by June. But he won't be
going far.
"I'll be taking a position with
the city as a project manager
because I don't want to see the
treatment center fail," he said.
That steady hand, however,
is what Pilley says makes the
difference between Drain and
other agencies.
"We have a small staff but the
state and federal staffs change
so much that sometimes we
have to make sure they're doing
what they're supposed to so we
can get the project done," he
said.
Residents will get the new
water treatment plant and the
city's new water and sewer
lines will keep serious repairs
at bay for years. But people will
still have to travel into Cottage
Grove and Eugene for some of
the basics.
There's no drug store in
Drain. The health clinic closed
last year. There is a doctor in
town but according to Pateno-
de, she's only open "some-
times." For emergencies,
Eugene is still the best bet
despite the hour-long drive.
The drive-thru coffee shop is
still open but for a cup of Star-
buck's or Dutch Bros., it will
mean a trip. So will buying a
new car. The two car lots have
packed it up and moved on.
"We're out of room now,"
Patenode said of the little city
that isn't looking to grow. Dol-
lar General will mark the fi rst
new construction in years and
according to Pilley and Pat-
enode, that's fi ne by them.
"All of our industrial prop-
erties are full," Patenode said.
"We're a small city and I think
people like it that way. We are
happy."
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