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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2017)
$1.00 C ottage G rove S entinel PERSONAL i BUSINESS i BENEFITS i SURETY (541) 942-0555 PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove SPORTS Lions take on Sisters and fi nally defeat longtime foe. B1 SOUTH LANE AND DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL WED 54º/44º For a complete six- day forecast please see page A5. CGSENTINEL.COM COMMUNITY Neighbors on the lookout in new observation team Community Observation Team submits plans to Cottage Grove PD, gears up to find members, train teams and keep a lookout in area neighborhoods. By Caitlyn May On September 18, the Cottage Grove Police Department (CGPD) received a report of a suspicious subject. The subject was report- edly riding a skateboard and looking into the windows of vehicles parked on 8th St. It mirrored dozens of others found weekly in the police logs; individuals riding a bike while pulling another along- side it, a car parked in a vacationing neighbor’s yard, a sound that was too loud coming from a yard that’s usually silent. CGPD says it encourages residents to report suspicious behavior in their neighborhoods and it’s happy for the help. It’s about to get a little more. Dylan Mann and Shiloh Glaspell met with Cottage Grove Police Chief Scott Lewis to put the fi nishing touches on outreach materials aimed at informing the community about a new group in town: The Community Observation Team. Not to be mistaken for a Neigh- borhood Watch, which has strict requirements and fi nancial obliga- tions, the Community Observation Team, or COT, is hoping to have operations up and running in the coming weeks and will rely on residents working in sync with the local police department to report a variety of issues within the community. “While crime prevention is part of COT, the goal of COT is for members to observe and report any kind of safety issue that may be hazardous to the community,” Mann said. “This could be crime but also fl ooding, downed powerlines, road hazards or power outages during extreme hot or cold conditions.” COT is the fi rst in a string of projects from Mann and Glaspell under what they call the Synergy Village Project. “The Synergy Village Project is working to build a stronger community through cooperation and participation of community members,” Mann said. Future programs may include disaster response teams and emer- gency relief. “The premise, I think, is sound, “Shepherd said of COT. He met with Mann and Glaspell to ensure the accuracy of the data in infor- mation the pair will soon be handing out to community members to educate them on COT and recruit members. He noted that he CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK cmay@cgsentinel.com PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Dylan Mann and Shiloh Glaspell are working with Cottage Grove Police on efforts to bring a community watch-type organization to the city and encourage residents to take part by reporting safety issues to the local police department. Please see COT PG. A9 DOUGLAS COUNTY EDUCATION State tests results show work to be done South Lane's performance tested "average" Last Th ursday the Oregon Department of Education released test results for the 2016-17 school year in English, math and science. The scores come from the Smarter Balance state tests and are used to gauge what level of profi ciency students are at. In the South Lane School District, students as a whole performed right at average in all three tests. The state average in English was 53.6 percent and SLSD was at 52.3; in math the state average is 40.8 and SLSD was at 37; and in science the state average was at 61.4 and SLSD came in at 71.1. “It’s a conversation starter,” said Garrett Bridgens the SLSD Communications Coordinator of the results. “It’s a way to look and analyze one data point of what kids are doing. Other data points we are looking at are obviously attendance, kids participating in extra curricular activities, that’s also really important. It’s one data point that we are looking at to kind of move the conversation forward with our teachers and with our students.” As a whole, the state of Oregon had lower scores than last year which seemed to go with the missed school days from snow and an increase of students joining the opt-out testing movement. Individually, the school that performed especially well was Cottage Grove High School. The school was above the average in each category and 30 percentage points ahead of the English profi ciency state average. With that information, Bridgens noted that the conversation has to then continue to high school graduation rates. “If you look at the graduation rate for us…in Lane County we were the highest of any comprehen- sive high school so you have to ask the question if the test scores are a little bit lower then how are we getting that graduation rate? What are the things we are doing if a kid is not meeting the standard at a high school level,” said Bridgens. By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Drain board approves special district request By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com The Drain City Council ap- proved a resolution supporting a library district in the city on Monday, September 11 during a regularly scheduled meeting. The request came from the Friends of the Mildred Whipple Library Group which has be- gun an effort to fund the city's library. The library was closed after the Douglas County Commis- sion made the decision to cease operations at all libraries within the county due to budget con- cerns. Diminished timber funds and other factors played a part in the commission's decision af- ter the library funds were spent in the fi rst half of the year. The second half of the fi scal year was expected to be funded by a ballot measure that asked for 44 cents per $1,000 assessed value. It would have to fund the libaries at the county level but was voted down by residents in November. However, that measure passed in Drain and the Friends of the Library group are hoping to tap into the same electorate. "We're asking for the same Please see DRAIN PG. A9 COMMUNITY One year as chief Oregon State Trooper who was shot during traffi c stop recovering. PAGE A9 CGPD's Scott Shepherd refl ects on his fi rst year as chief. PAGE A8 INDEX CRIME Trooper recovering English Profi ciency Num- bers: Bohemia 43.2 Dorena: 26.7 Harrison 47.3 Latham 52.7 Lincoln 53.3 London 48.1 CoƩ age Grove 83.8 Kenendy 46.2 SLSD Average: 52.3 State Averages: All Grades: 53.6 High School: 69.4 Calendar ...................................... B11 Channel Guide ............................... B5 Classifieds ...................................... B7 Obituaries ...................................... A2 Opinion ......................................... A4 Sports ............................................ B1 AD 6x2 Middle School: 54.0 (6-8) Elementary School: 55.5 (3-5) Math Profi ciency Num- bers: Bohemia: 37.7 Dorena: 22.2 Harrison: 41.5 Latham: 46.4 Lincoln: 34.7 London: 37.3 Kennedy: < 5.0% CoƩ age Grove High School: 43.5 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 61 SLSD Average: 37 State Averages All Grades: 40.8 High School: 33.9 Middle School: 40.9 Elementary School: 42.7 Science Profi ciency Num- bers: Bohemia: 82.2 Dorena (Grade 5): 63.6 Harrison (Grade 5): 85.1 Latham (Grade 5): 70 Please see TESTS PG. A10