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SPORTS
Lions' track teams take home back-
to-back championships
SOUTH LANE AND DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017
FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL
BACKSTAGE LEGACY
WED For a complete six-day
62º/41º forecast turn to page 5.
CGSENTINEL.COM
Pool fi nances
dominate city
budget talks
"It'd be nice to bring in some federal
people
and say, 'Watch this, this is how
cmay@cgsentinel.com
you do it,'" Cottage Grove City Manager
Richard Meyers said in opening the 2017-
2018 budget meeting on May 9. The city of Cottage Grove's budget
committee approved a balanced after a marathon three-hour meet-
ing but it wasn't without input from the community on the fi nancial
state and future of the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center.
The city routinely submits $50,000 to the operation of the pool
but after the facility's manager Carrie McCasline addressed the city
council earlier this month, residents learned that the pool has been
depleting its reserve funds to continue paying the bills.
However, councilman Jake Boone noted that the $50,000 the city
gave to the pool had initially began as a "temporary" funding and
while he understood the pool's purpose in the community, said the
city may need to look into rolling back the payment in the future
after receiving nearly one-quarter of a million dollars from the city
over the years.
The notion came after McCasline informed present residents and
the budget committee that if the city were to halt the $50,000 pay-
By Caitlyn May
Please see POOL PG A9
UO's tuition hike
rejected by state
The University of Oregon's Board of
Trustees voted in favor of increasing in-
state tuition by 10.6 percent at the start of
2017. This week, the Oregon Higher Edu-
cation Coordinating Commission said not so fast.
The commission rejected the hike as well as Portland State Uni-
versity's plan to hike its student tuition as well.
Prior to the denial, the University of Oregon had announced its
intention to cut $8.5 million from the budget. The latest denial of
funds could lead to more serious cuts for the university.
University of Oregon President Michael Schill released a state-
ment to the university community on the decision to deny UO's
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Please see TUITION PG A8
Kennedy
seniors prep for
graduation
On April 23, pa-
trons
of Backstage
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Bakery who ar-
rived to sip coffee
over conversation, chat with the regulars
who buoy between ambassadors and food
critics, and stop by the neighboring book
nook had a change of plans. A sign greet-
ed anyone tugging on the normally wide-
open screen door. “Backstage Bakery will
be closed.” Alex and his younger brother
couldn’t report to work to open the door by
6 a.m. per usual. They were saying goodbye
to their mother.
“She ended up getting a blood infection
and they wanted her to get this crazy heart
surgery,” Alex said of his mother’s illness.
“She ended up refusing the surgery and she
came home.”
Alex and his siblings got three days with
By Caitlyn May
their mother that he describes as “amazing”
and now, he’ll fi ll the rest of the days by
honoring her memory.
Nancy Affi nito-Semenov came to Cot-
tage Grove in 2006. When she fi rst started
cooking, the smell of her cinnamon rolls
would fi ll the PeaceHealth medical center in
town. It was just a hole in the wall cafe but
it had Grovers turning out in crowds.
“People were coming to the hospital for
breakfast and lunch, it was crazy,” Alex
said.
Nancy was making a profi t at the hospital
but when the opportunity to partner with an-
other resident sprang up, she took it.
“Our family moved down here and she
taught us how to cook,” Alex said. “And this
space, we’re so lucky to have this space.”
The space sits just around the corner of
Main St. and 7th. Nancy’s bakery made its
home in the shadow of the Axe and Fiddle
and to the side of Kalapuya Books. The
breakfast crowd mingles with early book
browsers and by lunch, streams of people
fl ow between the shared hallway grabbing
water, menus, books and conversation be-
fore settling at one of the booths or tables
that are almost constantly full.
It’s been that way since Nancy fi rst
opened the doors. Partly, Alex says, because
of who his mother was. She moved from
state to state. After marrying her second
husband, she one day just started speaking
Russian as if fully taking on her new Se-
menov name. She cooked and taught and
laughed and loved Cottage Grove.
And on April 25, Alex realized the culmi-
nation of all of those hours and years Nancy
put into teaching him how to make the cin-
namon rolls fi ll the bakery like they fi lled
Hayden Walker details future
plans
Please see BAKERY PG A9
COMMUNITY
Helmets for kids
Drain welcomes the 1958
Black Sox back to town.
The Rotary Club donates
helmets to Lincoln Middle
School. PAGE A3
PAGE A10
INDEX
COMMUNITY
Drain baseball
Calendar ...................................... B11
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
AD 6x2
Please see KENNEDY PG A9
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
(541) 942-3325 ph • (541) 942-3328 fax
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
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VOLUME 129 • NUMBER 44