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Reward off ered for stolen Kiwanis wood splitter
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
W
hen Gene O’Neil pulled into
the lot behind Brad’s Chevy
car dealership last Tuesday,
he stopped short.
He visits the lot two or three times a
week to split wood, whuch is part of the
Kiwanis eff ort to fund scholarships and
provide wood for the community. But
last Tuesday, something was missing:
Th e wood splitter.
“Brad’s has it leaving the lot at 10:35
a.m. Monday morning,” he said. “Th ey
have video of it.”
Th e video shows a black pick-up
truck exiting the lot with the wood
splitter and has since been turned over
to the Cottage Grove Police Depart-
ment. Stills of the video have also been
posted to Facebook with a $300 reward
for information that leads to the return
SLSD hears
concerns
from Latham
parents
of the machine — funded by Walmart,
Point S Tires and O’Neil himself.
Th e machine is one of two that O’Neil
uses to split wood and he’s been doing it
for 15 years, sometimes with help and
sometimes without. Since he’s retired,
he’s been doing it more but the goal has
been the same: collect and split enough
wood to sell 40 cords to fund schol-
arships for students at Cottage Grove
High School and Kennedy High School.
It takes 12 hours of labor from col-
lection to delivery for one cord of wood
and the wood splitter — purchased for
$600 a few years ago — made that work
much easier. Now that it’s been stolen,
O’Neil said the other splitter and the
new trailer the Kiwanis purchased has
been moved from the lot behind Brad’s.
According to local law enforcement,
several tips have come in regarding the
incident.
Anyone with information about the
incident or the pickup truck seen
leaving the lot is asked to contact
the Cottage Grove Police Depart-
ment at 541-942-9145.
COURTESY SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS
Security footage taken the morning of Monday, Nov. 12 captured
these images of a truck leaving Brad's Chevrolet with the wood split-
ter owned by the Cottage Grove Kiwanis. Anyone with information
is asked to contact the Cottage Grove Police Department at 541-942-
9145.
Aquatic Center
to include
therapy pool
Lighting up
'Th e Village'
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Th e parents of Latham Ele-
mentary School showed up to
make sure their voices were
heard.
While the state of the school
is in fl ux, a group of about
20 parents gathered in the
Latham library last Tuesday
night to talk directly to the
South Lane School District
— represented by interim su-
perintendent Larry Sullivan
and communications director
Garrett Bridgens — to voice
their questions, concerns and
hopes for the school that fi rst
opened its doors in 1853.
Sullivan and Bridgens came
to Latham to get a closer
look at the parent perspec-
tive so they can share it with
the school board as they will
soon be making a decision on
whether to close the school of
86 students at the end of
PHOTOS COURTESY THE VILLAGE GREEN AND KELLI MATTHEWS
See PARENTS 9A
Xander and Braxton Graves pose during a preview event for the annual holiday celebration at the Village Green
last weekend with walk throughs of the facility's famous light displays. Christmas at Village Green will open to the
public on Nov. 23 with a $5 admission charge and visits with Santa available beginning at 5 p.m. The event, which
stretches just over a month, also features a market, carolers and live reindeer that will be featured on Dec. 8th. For
more information, visit the Village Green's website at http://villagegreenchristmas.com.
As the Warren H. Daugh-
erty Aquatic Center is cur-
rently being renovated, the
South Lane School Dis-
trict school board ensured
Th ursday this facility will
include a warm water rec-
reation and therapy pool.
Th e addition of the
therapy pool was in doubt
aft er it was seen that it
would cost an additional
$524,000. Th e district then
began fundraising around
the community to come up
with the additional funding
and at last Th ursday’s meet-
ing, interim superinten-
dent Larry Sullivan showed
the fundraising eff orts have
netted $445,094 in dona-
tions and commitments.
Th ese funds come from
individuals,
businesses
and the City of Cottage
Grove which committed
$200,000.
See POOL 8A
Locals deal with devastation from California wildfi res
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Lois Hughes lost everything in Par-
adise.
Th e Cottage Grove High School
Class of 1978 graduate had lived in
California since 2005 and had con-
tended with the state’s growing wild-
fi res before but the latest fi re to engulf
the state forced her to fl ee.
“I was working,” she said. Hughes
works as a paratransit driver and had
a bus full of clients when she fi rst saw
the smoke. “I was by a canyon so I
could see the smoke coming over the
hills,” she said.
Hughes radioed in and asked per-
mission to drop her clients off and
park her bus. But by then, she couldn’t
get back into her neighborhood and
her roommate had already been given
an evacuation order.
Th e Camp Fire is expected to be
contained by Nov. 30, but has already
burned 150,000 acres. Just under 1,000
people are still missing at 77 have been
confi rmed dead. News reports from
CRIME
Holiday fundraiser
BHO explosion
Dr. Snapp Victorian home
to host annual bazaar
A plea is reached in the
BHO explosion last
November.
PAGE A3
PAGE A6
INDEX
COMMUNITY
the area detail car tires of those fl eeing
the fi re popping and steering wheels
melting. Several deceased residents
were found in their vehicles.
“It’s true, that happened,” Hughes
said, noting that she was lucky and got
out early but, like the majority of the
residents of Paradise, lost everything.
“Th ere’s only a few houses, here and
there, everything else is gone,” Hughes
said. Both Hughes and her roommate
escaped to a family member’s house
in Chico with their dog but left every-
thing else behind including their jobs
which may no longer exist.
Hughes isn’t alone in having to re-
build from nothing. Several individ-
uals in Cottage Grove have started
gathering donations for California
residents who faced the Camp and
Woolsey fi res. Combined, the fi res
have destroyed nearly 15,000 struc-
tures, burned almost 300,000 acres
and killed 80 people.
Cottage Grove resident, Patty Night-
ingale had family in Paradise and so
making the trip with an SUV full of
supplies to her seemed a no-brainer.
Calendar ...................................... B12
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
“I was actually going to mail the
donations but I didn’t think I’d get
so many,” she said. Nightingale’s God
sister and her family lost their homes
in the fi re, escaping with just an over-
night bag that was already packed
for a preplanned trip and Christmas
presents for her grandchildren — two
advent calendars and a game. “Her
children got out aft er her,” Nightingale
said. “Th ey stopped to help their land-
lord, who’s in a wheelchair, because he
See FIRES 8A
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
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P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
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VOLUME 130 • NUMBER 57
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