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Drain library re-opens thanks to grassroots eff ort
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Like all good things, the
grand re-opening of the library
in Drain kept people waiting.
A car crash had waylaid the
newly-elected-first-respond-
er-mayor Justin Cobb, but the
Friends of the Mildred Whip-
ple Library had endured a
failed ballot measure, a confus-
ing maze of governmental red
tape and a campaign to con-
vince a traditionally anti-tax
community to raise its own
taxes.
Nothing was going to stop
them Saturday morning.
In 2016, Douglas County
residents voted down a bond
measure that would have levied
.44 cents per $1,000 of assessed
value to fund the 11 libraries
in the Douglas Library Sys-
tem aft er the county voted to
close the system due to a lack
of funding.
One by one, the libraries
from Reedsport to Roseburg
and Drain to Yoncalla shut
their doors. Nearly two years
later, all 11 have re-opened or
are planning to open but only
Drain, Reedsport and Rose-
burg will have a stable funding
source.
CAITLYN MAY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Community members celebrate the re-opening of the Mildred Whipple Library, which closed in 2017 following budget cuts in Douglas County.
All
three
communities
passed levies at a local lev-
el to fund their libraries; in
Drain, voters approved the
same .44-cents-per-$1,000 of
assessed value by more than
70 percent aft er a tireless cam-
paign by the Friends of the Mil-
dred Whipple Library, some
of whom were elected to the
library board during the same
May, 2018 election that saw the
levy pass.
Anne Campbell was one of
them.
Campbell opened Saturday’s
event by welcoming the more
than 50 residents who braved
the chilly November morning
to watch the doors open again
and wait in line for their new
library cards.
She reminded the crowd that
the library had been in oper-
ation for more than 80 years
before being closed on April 1,
2016, that it moved from the
Methodist Church to city hall
See LIBRARY 8A
Twin brothers celebrate Dorena searches for fi re protection
90 years in The Grove
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
T
he Yearous house is off
the beaten path but not
quite into the woods. It’s
just to the side of Latham Ele-
mentary School and sits very
comfortably on the land that
has been raising Yearous chil-
dren since 1891, rooting them
in the community.
“Can’t forget the day I was
born. A cool November aft er-
noon,” Everett Yearous jokes.
His wife reminds him to speak
up so his twin brother, Gilbert
can hear him without a signal
boost from a granddaughter
who sits close by ready to shout
the words that slip through
90-year-old hearing.
Everett and Gilbert were
born a mile down the road
from where they sat in Ever-
ett’s living room fi ve days be-
fore their 90th birthday. Th e
household would soon fi ll with
children and helpers readying
for the celebration but in the
lull, the twins recounted their
childhood, growing up in Cot-
tage Grove.
In 1891, John and Amanda
Hull moved to Oregon from
Missouri, settling in Latham.
Th ey raised their 10 children
and buried John’s father—who
served in the Civil War—in Fir
Grove Cemetery.
In 1910, their daughter Nora
married Roscoe Yearous and
on Nov. 18, 1928 they wel-
comed the last of their six chil-
dren, twin boys.
While Gilbert can’t hear as
well as Everett, he has a bit
more to say.
“Th ey ask me if I’ve lived my
whole life on Hull Rd. and I say,
not yet I haven’t,” he said. Th e
brothers live within each oth-
er’s sight and have seen Cottage
Grove evolve from a timber
town to a municipality their
grandnephew Jeff Gowing pre-
sides over as mayor.
“Th ere was a dance at the
armory every Saturday night,”
Everett said, “Our father would
park the old Model A and
when we got out of the cowboy
show, we’d go to the car and the
blues were playing at the dance
at the armory.”
Th at was when the National
Guard still owned the armory
and before the store fronts
changed, welcoming a rotation
of new owners and entrepre-
neurs; it was before a movie
cost upward of 10 times what
See TWINS 11A
COMMUNITY
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Heather Buch spent election day
with her family and election night be-
ing cautiously optimistic aft er initial
results showed her beating out Gary
Williams for the East Lane Commis-
sioner position.
With just over 26,000 votes counted,
Buch led 56.05 percent to 43.50 percent
in a race against area native Gary Wil-
liams, who arguably had a slight edge
over Buch going into the race aft er
serving as mayor of Cottage Grove for
more than a decade and being appoint-
ed to the county commission seat over
DORENA
Firefi ghters head to CA.
Special recognition
SLCFR sends fi refi ghters to
help with California fi res
Dorena Grange No. 835
receives Distinguished
Grange award
PAGE A3
PAGE A5
See DORENA 9A
COURTESY PHOTO
Dorena residents have begun exploring options, like
this 1962 Ford fi re engine, to bring fi re protection to
the area.
Buch wins E. Lane Commish seat Four measures fall
INDEX
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
On Sept. 5 of this year, smoke
fi lled the skies above Dorena, ris-
ing to meet the helicopter armed
with water that hovered above the
fl ames.
It was the second fi re in seven
days to hit the Cottage Grove area
and part of the broader string of
fi res that enveloped the west coast,
burning thousands of acres and
forcing mandatory evacuations
that required teams of local fi re
personnel and equipment to pro-
vide mutual aid to California fi re
crews.
And while South Lane Coun-
ty Fire and Rescue (SLCFR) was
dispatched to Dorena on Sept. 6
along with resources from North
Douglas Fire EMS and the Gos-
hen-Pleasant Hill Fire District,
there wasn’t much they could do.
“South Lane County Fire and
Rescue, we cover from Dillard
Road by Goshen, south to the
Douglas County Line,” said SLC-
FR Division Chief Joe Raade. “We
cover west up to mile post eight,
south out to London Road and to
Razor Road going east. Up Dore-
na, it’s basically the dam on the
south side and to the north, it’s
mile post fi ve or six. Th e fi res that
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Buch aft er former commissioner Faye
Stewart stepped down to take a job
with the City of Cottage Grove.
“I was knocking doors very early on
and getting the one-on-one interaction
with everyone within our district and
getting to know what their issues were,”
Buch said aft er delivering a speech
Tuesday night.
Th e commission will now see its fi rst
lean to the left in several years — an
issue that crept into the non-partisan
race with election material labeling
Buch as working with “extremists.”
“Th e issues that resonated when I
short at ballot box
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Voters statewide had the chance to rule
on fi ve measures last Tuesday ranging from
aff ordable housing to abortion and their
verdict was a resounding no with four of the
fi ve measures failing to pass.
Measure 102 (Passed): Local govern-
ments will be permitted to use bonds to
fi nance aff ordable housing projects with
private companies aft er 56 percent of voters
See BUCH 11A
Calendar ...................................... B11
Channel Guide ............................... B6
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
See MEASURES 8A
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VOLUME 130 • NUMBER 56
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