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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2017)
$1.00 PERSONAL | COMMERCIAL BENEFITS | SURETY C ottage G rove SOUTH LANE AND DOUGLAS COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017 PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove SPORTS Are the Lions still undefeated? Catch up with boys' soccer and North Douglas. B1 WED 86º/55º FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL Petition challenges investigation outcome Petition requests termination of SLSD Superintendent By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com A petition to terminate South Lane Superintendent Dr. Krista Parent made headlines after it ap- peared on social media on Sep- tember 17 accusing Dr. Parent of “abuse of authority” and “misman- agement of power.” The South Lane School Board has the authority to remove Dr. Dr. Krista Parent Parent from her position but ac- cording to board president Alan Baas, that requirement is not legal- ly tied to the number of signatures a petition gains. Baas said the decision to terminate Dr. Parent would be a personnel matter and take place in an executive session after conferring with the board’s attorney and the Oregon School Board Association. The petition, initiated by Cottage Grove resident Jennifer Hol- loman, cites rumors that came before the school board earlier this year claiming Dr. Parent was accessing the locker room at the high school where male student athletes showered. It claims a subse- quent coaches’ meeting was described by some attendees as “intim- idating and bullying.” It does not specify who those meetings were described to. The school board addressed parental concerns surrounding the rumors in February after taking a tour of the locker room area. Board member Taylor Wilhour explained that the showers and locker areas were separated and an existing procedure insured a same sex staff member gave the all clear before an opposite sex staff member entered the locker rooms. A newly instituted policy required a female coach to enter the locker rooms via a storage room to bypass the locker and shower area completely. The petition also cites an alleged romantic relationship between Dr. Parent and a subordinate employee and several complaints fi led against Dr. Parent by former district employee David Presely. The school board hired independent investigator Susan Nesbit, a former investigator for the Teachers Standards Practices Commis- sion, through its attorney to look into the allegations of inappropri- ate behavior and reported romance. 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.” Presley's complaints included allegations of neoptism as well as complaints about the hiring pricess, compensation, sports fi eld maintence and drug testing for student athletes. During the fi rst school board meeting of the school year held on September 11, Holloman addressed the board, asking why it had not addressed the fi ndings of the investigation during a public board meeting. The board discussed the matter during a closed executive session For a complete six- day forecast please see page A5. CGSENTINEL.COM Council approves $267k for CGPD PD will operate with digital radios By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com “Holy crap, that’s a lot of money,” were the fi rst words from Cot- tage Grove Police Chief Scott Shepherd when he fi rst saw the pro- jected cost of a new radio system. Shepherd came before the Cottage Grove City Council on Mon- day, September 25 to request that the department be permitted to lease a new digital radio system at a cost not to exceed $267,075. “Our ability to communicate with other agencies is hampered by our current radio system,” Shepherd told the council. The Cottage Grove Police Department currently utilizes a UHF analog radio system that has been in service for 16 years. In a memo to the council, Shepherd described the current system as having obsolete equipment, frequent system failure and poor transmission quality. He also cited Cottage Grove’s rural setting as an obstacle in maintaining the current system as well as its inability to interact with outside agencies’ equipment. “An example is when we had the OSP (Oregon State Trooper) shooting,” he said. “We were one of the fi rst units on the scene be- cause of our proximity and at times we couldn’t talk to someone on the other side of the parking lot because our systems don’t mesh.” Mike Harmon of the Lane Regional Interoperability Group was also present and touted the benefi ts of the digital system to the council noting that during the shooting of the OSP Trooper earlier this month, there were 75 radios in use and 12 conversations taking place among law enforcement personnel without service disruption thanks to the county’s trunking system. The trunking system works on the basis premise that individuals who use a certain channel or frequency will not communicate on that channel at the same time therefore allowing there to be more users than channels. A coming federal law will mandate a switch from analog to digi- tal, a step Shepherd told the council the local department could take Please see RADIOS PG. A11 Please see PARENT PG. A8 Dog kennels prep for winter at CGPD Fire levy question set for Nov. 7 By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com PHOTO COURTESY KEN MICHAEL ROBERTS The Cottage Grove Brewers Guild members pose with police chief Scott Shepherd at the beneift held on Saturday, September 23 to raise money for the department's dog kennels. By Caitlyn May cmay@cgsentinel.com Saturday was for the dogs. The Cottage Grove Brewers Guild hosted a fundraising event at the BrewStation to help raise money for winter upgrades for the dog kennels housed at the city maintanence yard and utilized by the Cottage Grove Police Department. It was a night of bingo and raffl es with $1 from every pint sold going directly to the kennel fund during the event which was dubbed, "Pints for Paws." Prizes for the raffl e included a date night at the Village Green Resort dinner for two, Domino's Pizza gift cards, Empire video gift card, two tickets to any performance of Cottage Theatre's next show, "Jekyll and Hyde," gift cards to Sta- cy's Restaurant, Bochetto Spa, Yamaha, Les Schwab tire alignment, Cottage Bowl, Pinocchio's Pizza and Garden of Ink Tattoo. Cottage Grove City Councilor Ken Roberts spoke of the event during the Monday, September 25 Cottage Grove City Council meeting. Roberts has been working closely with the Brewers Guild to prep the kennels for the winter weather and was on hand Satur- day for the event. According to Roberts, the group has raised approximately $3,000 and has completed the heated dog bed installation and continues to weatherize the kennels. CITY Faye Stewart New librarian at genealogy can help trace roots. PAGE Faye Stewart has been on the job for six months. A10 PAGE A8 INDEX COMMUNITY Finding family Calendar ...................................... B11 Channel Guide ............................... B5 Classifieds ...................................... B7 Obituaries ...................................... A2 Opinion ......................................... A4 Sports ............................................ B1 AD 6x2 Measure 20-278—a renewal of a 47 cents per $1,000 of assessed value levy—is on the ballot in November and South Lane County Fire and Rescue is asking residents to vote yes. The levy, which was passed in 2012, has lowered insurance rates, increased staffi ng and garnered new equipment for the fi re district, according to Chief John Wooten who said the loss of the levy would lead to service changes in the next fi scal year. “When the levy passed in 2012, we had an out-the-door time of three minutes and 30 seconds. The national standard is 90 seconds,” Wooten said. “Now, after the levy, our time is one minute and 27 seconds.” The change is reportedly due to an increase in staffi ng and per- sonnel as well as updated equipment and an adherence to the master plan created in 2011. A third-party company completed a study that yielded the mas- ter plan which included suggestions for improving the fi re district’s Insurance Service Offi ce (ISO) rating. The rating system ranks dis- tricts from one to 10 with one being the best and 10 signaling no fi re protection in the area based on a district’s response time, training, testing, equipment, dispatch and the water system in the area the district serves. This information is then shared with insurance com- panies which use it to write policies and determine rates. “The better the fi re district’s services, the better the ISO, the bet- ter the insurance rate,” Wooten said. In 2005, the district’s rating was 5.9. “What that means is inside the city of Cottage Grove and Cre- swell you are a fi ve and outside those areas it was a nine which is one away from not having any fi re protection,” Wooten said. The current ISO rating is 2/4/10W. To achieve that rating, the district has added 36 hours per day to service as well as increased staff levels to include 21 full-time line positions. Please see FIRE LEVY PG. A11 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 62 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK S entinel (541) 942-0555
