6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 17, 2018
State fi nes city for contaminated water on golf course
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove will pay the Department
of Environmental Quality (DEQ) $1,575 af-
ter a sample from Middlefi eld Golf Course
tested dirty last May.
“We’re just going to pay this one,” Cot-
tage Grove City Manager Richard Meyers
said. “Our reading was just above the al-
lowed amount. If the permitted amount is
23, we tested at 24 or 25. The reading from
the river was 2,400."
The sample collected last May noted that
bacteria from human waste was present in
the golf course’s irrigation water when the
city’s sewage plant is responsible for re-
moving bacteria from the water is pumps
from the river.
“The way they test it is they put water on
a petri dish, go away, come back and count
the spots,” Meyers said. “It doesn’t say
whether the bacteria is good bacteria or bad
bacteria, just how many spots were present.
It wasn’t raw sewage,” he said.
Parent
State surveys teens' health
Sample sizes report on emotional, mental, physical help
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
High school juniors, seniors
and eigth-graders in South Lane
School District are skipping
school, being bullied and think-
ing about suicide at a higher rate
than their peers around the state.
They also think at least one
teacher cares about them more
than their peers do and believe
that if they try, they can do most
things.
This, according to the results
of the 2017 Oregon Student
Wellness Survey.
The survey, released yearly,
asks a group of students at ev-
ery school in the state, a set of
questions. The results are tallied
and compared between schools
and the state average overall.
At Cottage Grove High
School, for example, 59 per-
cent of students said they had
never skipped school in the last
year compared to the 60.9 per-
cent statewide. When asked if
they had ever seriously consid-
ered attempting suicide, CGHS
edged out the state average by
a hair coming in at 18.3 per-
cent compared to 18.2 percent.
That divide was a little bigger
at Al Kennedy High School
where 22.7 percent of students
said they considered suicide
compared to the state average.
However, when asked if they
had attempted suicide within
the last year, only fi ve percent
of Kennedy students said they
had and CGHS reported 7.7
percent. Those numbers, while
troubling, are down from the
2016 survey where 26.7 percent
of students at CGHS asked the
question answered that they had
considered suicide. 25 percent
of Kennedy kids presented with
the same question indicated
they had considered it as well.
"Suicide is one we watch,"
South Lane Superintendent
Krista Parent said during the
Jan. 8 school board meeting.
"Suicide and obviously this year
we were interested in the mari-
juana question."
Recreational marijuana is
currently legal in the state of
Oregon. However, those num-
bers have fl uctuated over the
last year. In 2016, CGHS kids
sampled said 10.8 percent of
them had tried marijuana in the
last 30 days. In 2017, that num-
ber increased to 16.8. Kennedy
students, however, saw their
number go down from 42.3 per-
cent to 38.1 percent in 2017.
The numbers also changed for
indications of home-use of mar-
ijuana. When asked if an adult
used marijuana in their home,
27.4 percent of the CGHS sam-
ple said yes while 45.5 percent
of the Kennedy sample said yes.
In 2016, that question was not
asked.
While the survey touches on
the stereotypical questions sur-
rounding teenagers, including
sex, drugs and violence, it also
asks students about their physi-
cal and mental health.
When asked to give a re-
sponse concerning the state-
ment "I am in excellent men-
tal health," 64.5 percent of the
CGHS sample said they were
while 47.7 percent of the Ken-
nedy sample said they were in
excellent mental health.
Eighth graders at Lincoln
Middle School were included
in this year's survey as well. 81
percent said they were in good
physical health, 77.2 percent
thought at least one teacher at
school cared about them, 17.8
percent had considered suicide,
21.7 percent had been bullied in
the last 30 days and 7.1 percent
had tried marijuana in the same
time frame.
A small group of students
from each school were select-
ed to participate in the survey
meaning that percentages are
based on populations of the
group and not the school. For
example, Kennedy currently
has 94 students. Only a small
portion of those students were
selected to answer the questions
leading to totals of fi ve percent
for some questions which could
indicate a single student.
This is the second time the city has been
fi ned for exceeding allowed bacteria levels
at the golf course. Last year, the DEQ levied
a $4,500 fi ne that was waived after the city
agreed to plant trees and vegetation on the
banks of the Coast Fork River.
Meyers said the city is currently in the
design phase to improve the treatment pro-
cess.
“It’s why the fi ne was only $1,500 this
time because if it was water coming from
the river it would have been much higher.
We were just above the allowed amount.”
In good mental health:
CGHS 64.5% Kennedy:
47.7% LMS 63.4%
Ever eat less because there
wasn't enough money to
buy food?
CGHS:22.8% Kennedy:
26.1% LMS:19.5%
Never tried marijuana:
CGHS:57% Kennedy:33.3%
LMS: 86.7%
Sort of or very easy to get
marijuana:
CGHS: 77.7%
Kennedy:77.3% LMS:28.8%
Been to the dentist in the
past 24 months:
CGHS:92.3% Kennedy:
78.3% LMS: 80.5%
Have you ever had sex?
CGHS:50.4% Kennedy:
45.5% LMS:7.7%
I can do most things if I
try:
CGHS:87.2% Kennedy:
76.2% LMS: 84.2%
Identifi es as "not straight":
CGHS: 23.3% Kennedy:
36.4% LMS: 27.1%
In good physical health:
CGHS: 83.9% Kennedy:
36.4% LMS: 81.1%
Bullied int he last 30 days
by someone using social
media:
CGHS:12.2% Kennedy:
18.2% LMS: 21.7%
Continued from A1
and a school district employee. The investigation determined that
the school board did not have a policy in place to prohibit the rela-
tionship.
In August, an anonymous, handwritten letter on the subject was
given to each board member citing Parent's standing in the com-
munity and suggested a resident engaged in "libel" and slander"
against the superintendent.
A handwriting analysis funded by a resident determined that it
was possible Parent wrote the letter.
“SLEA takes the allegation of the anonymous letter given to the
school board in August very seriously,” the SLEA statement read.
“The letter slanders and harasses a school district employee, and if
it is indeed from our superintendent, then this would become a very
serious legal matter.”
Diane Hicks signed the letter in her capacity as SLEA President
but is not the author of the document.
According to Hicks, the letter was written by a group of individ-
uals and placed on a web-based survey platform Survey Monkey,
available to all 153 SLEA members. 115 responses were recorded
with 110 in favor of sending the letter to the school board.
“Our priority” Baas wrote in his statement, “has been, and will
continue to be, the students and staff of South Lane School Dis-
trict.”
The issue was not discussed at the Jan. 8 school board meeting.
However, board member Jerry Settelmeyer requested the board
hold an executive session. The session was scheduled for Tuesday,
Jan. 16. The meeting fell outside of the Sentinel’s Monday evening
print deadline. Any and all information presented during an execu-
tive session is not for print unless otherwise stated by the governing
board, per Oregon state law.
For updates on this story throughout the week, please visit cgsen-
tinel.com.
DON’T WORRY
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IS
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LORANE NEWS
Lorane Grange meets this Thursday, January 18 at their regular time, 7 p.m. Their dinner and bingo eve-
nings return to the fourth Saturday of the month, January 27 at 5:30 p.m. for dinner, 6:30 p.m. for bingo.
CAL School Board meeting is also Thursday, January 18 at Applegate Elementary , 7 p.m.
Half day school this Friday, January 19. Half day art will be with Marty Byers on acting.
Just a reminder that CAL School District is a great place for children to learn in a small class setting and
get a quality education.
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