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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2017)
$1.00 Early deadline C ottage G rove S entinel Due to the 4th of July holiday, the deadline for ad copy for the July 5 edition of the Sentinel is June 29 at 12 p.m. noon. Please call (541) 942-3325 with questions. SOUTH LANE AND DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017 FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL Kickin' it with Cops has successful debut PERSONAL i BUSINESS i BENEFITS i SURETY (541) 942-0555 PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove WED 79º/51º For a complete six- day forecast please see page A5. CGSENTINEL.COM SLSD spends $8,000 on Parent investigation According to assistant superinten- dent of the South Lane School District cmay@cgsentinel.com Kyle Tucker, the district spent approxi- mately $8,000 to conduct the investiga- tion into a complaint fi led against South Lane School District Su- perintendent Krista Parent which concluded the head administrator did not violate state law or non-existent district policy regarding fraternization. “It’s a ballpark fi gure,” Tucker said. A fi nal cost is expected to be forthcoming. A complaint was fi led on May 1 of this year by Cottage Grove residents who alleged Parent was using district time inappropriately by spending time with a district employee in a personal manner. The investigation was conducted by Susan Nesbit, a former inves- tigator for the Teachers Standards Practices Commission who was hired by the school district’s attorney. A document summarizing Nesbit’s fi ndings state the investiga- tion revolved around two questions. One asked if the allegations made in the complaint asserted a potential violation of board poli- cy, district rules or other legal or professional standards under the board’s jurisdiction. The other inquired as to whether or not evi- dence supported a conclusion that Parent engaged in behavior in violation of board policy, district rules or other established expec- tations for her position. “Ms. Nesbit concluded that many, if not most, of the allegations contained in the complaint did not rise to the level of alleging a violation of any policy or rule under the board’s jurisdiction,” the summary of the investigation stated. It went on to note the allega- tions “primarily involved matters related to Parent’s personal life.” The fi nal conclusion stated, “Interviews, research and documenta- tion did not indicate Krista Parent used district staff time, district equipment, or district funds nor made any offer of enticement or accessed any district resource in the course of a personal relation- ship with a district employee.” South Lane School District does not currently have a policy pro- By Caitlyn May PHOTO BY CAITLYN MAY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Police Chief Scott Shepherd hits the water after being dunked for the Kickin' it with Cops event held on Friday, June 23. It’s just a parking lot most cmay@cgsentinel.com of the time. One of the few on Main St. and between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. it’s always full. But on the af- ternoon of Friday, June 23, the cars were gone. A dunk tank sat in their place with a By Caitlyn May line stretching the asphalt. The mayor chat- ted in between his grilling duties handing out hot dogs and handshakes while beach balls fl oated through the air and the sound of city councilors and police offi cers hitting the water with a sizzle on the 87-degree day carried over music and laughter. Kickin’ it with Cops is the latest event to shoulder in to Cottage Grove’s packed sum- mer schedule, hosted in the police station’s parking lot and designed to give the com- munity the opportunity to meet its police force. “It’s about getting the community here with no agenda,” said city councilor Amy Slay, the brains behind the operation. The Please see KICKIN' WITH COPS PG. 10 Douglas libraries cope with closure Community group says it will try for tax levy to save library Please see $8,000 PG. 10 Governor signs HB 3030 By Caitlyn May In November of 2016, Douglas County By Caitlyn May said no to creating a tax district that would cmay@cgsentinel.com save its libraries. Community members lined up at county commission meeting decrying the effort to squeeze more money from tight paychecks while others begged for the chance to keep their libraries open. The county voted overwhelmingly against saving the library system in Douglas County but in Drain, the vote was much closer. Voters ap- proved the tax district, by a handful of votes, and now they're ban- ning together to try again. "We just had our meeting this morning and we decided to go for a tax levy in the city of Drain," said Valerie Johns, of Friends of the Mildred Whipple Library group. At the time the county commis- sion opted to shut down the Douglas County Library System, Johns said the group had fi ve members. Now, it's grown to 20. Monday's meeting was designed to review the results of approx- imately 60 surveys left at the city hall and sent home with school children asking residents what should be done about the library clo- sure. Cities and towns around Douglas have been forming various groups and efforts to deal with the library closures and their solu- tions are varied. Some have transformed their libraries into reading rooms while others have left their former community hubs shut- tered. "We're lucky in Drain that we're close enough to Cottage Grove that some people have gone and gotten a Cottage Grove Library card just to get through," Johns said. Traveling to Cottage Grove will have to do for the residents of Drain who rely on the library to home school, entertain children, research and borrow books. Even with the new effort by the friends of the library group, Drain will not see its library doors open for months. "We agreed we want to do a tax levy that won't affect compres- sion but none of us know how to do that," Johns said. "So we're going to fi nd out this week." We take a hike during Walk the Land Day. PAGE B2 "Hatchet" victim released, stable Cody Bradshaw, 28, has been re- leased from PeaceHealth Medical Center in Cottage Grove after sus- taining injuries in relation to a re- ported hatchet attack on Tuesday, June 20. According to Bradshaw, he was struck in the left eyebrow with the hammer side of what was described Cody Bradshaw as a hatchet. He was taken to the hos- pital with swelling above his left eye, a scratch on the left side of his jaw and complaints of rib pain. His companion dog was transported to his home by Cottage Grove Police. Authorities noted in a press release on Wednesday, "In spite of an exhaustive search by multiple offi cers and numerous witness inter- views, the suspects were not located. They were last seen headed toward nearby Interstate 5." The suspects are described as one white female with long hair worn in dreadlocks, and two white males also with long hair, but unknown if worn in dreadlocks. All three suspects were reportedly wearing multi-colored clothing and they had a dog with them. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Cottage Grove Police Department at 541-942-9145. COMMUNITY Airport welcome center Plans for the CG airport welcome center come together. PAGE A3 INDEX OUTDOORS 7 a.m. hikes Douglas County libraries closed on June 1 for good after three months of preparation and services that tapered off after a county commission vote at the start of the year. For more information on the effort, email mildred.whipple.li- brary.fol@gmail.com. Calendar ...................................... B11 Channel Guide ............................... B5 Classifieds ...................................... B7 Obituaries ...................................... A2 Opinion ......................................... A4 Sports ............................................ B1 AD 6x2 cmay@cgsentinel.com Governor Kate Brown signed legislation on Tuesday, June 20 making it illegal for retail businesses to sell nitrous oxide can- nisters to individuals under the age of 18. House Bill 3030 garnered both attention and controversy, earning the nickname, Governor Kate Brown “whipped cream bill” after Representative Cedric Hayden introduced the bill in Febru- ary of this year. The legislation calls for tighter restrictions on the sale of the cannisters commonly known as “whip-its” noting a trend in youth using the merchandise to get high. Convenience stores and smoke shops are permitted to sell the cannisters and in some cases, distributors market paraphernalia used to inhale the nitrous oxide side-by-side with the product. “It’s called a cracker and they use it to open the canister, they fi ll a balloon with the nitrous and then they inhale it. It’s cheap and it’s a quick high,” Cottage Grove City Manager Richard Meyers previously told The Sentinel. Meyers was instrumental in guiding the legislation to the state on behalf of the city’s youth advisory council. Made up of civic-minded high school students, the youth advi- sory council took up the issue of the misuse of nitrous oxide after hearing from local resident Karen Munsell at a city council meet- ing. Munsell informed the council that her child had been negative- ly affected by the use of nitrous oxide and she began a crusade to rid the city of the product and push forth legislation restricting its sale. The law prohibits the sale of nitrous oxide cannisters to anyone under the age of 18 and carries a consequence of one year in prison and a $6,250 fi ne. Munsell and Meyers say they’re happy with the legislature’s de- Please see HB3030 PG. 3 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 _______________ VOLUME 129 • NUMBER 50