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S entinel
C ottage G rove
Est. 1889
Serving the communities of Cottage Grove, Dorena, Drain, Elkton, Lorane and Yoncalla.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018
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Community newspaper returns to Drain
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Th e Community News
will pick up where the
Drain Enterprise left off .
In 1950, the Drain Enterprise was
established. It chronicled communi-
ty events, deaths, births, reported on
local issues and relayed the business
of the government to Drain residents.
But in 2015, when Drain Mayor and
Enterprise publisher Sue Anderson
grew ill, the newspaper offi ce on First
Street closed its doors, ending the only
news source within a 20-mile radius.
City explores
options on
homeless issue
The cover of this month’s fi rst
edition of the new monthly Drain
newspaper The Community News.
“We don’t do the Christmas tree
lightings anymore because no one
comes because we can’t get the word
out,” said Patti Akins.
Th at’s about to change.
Akins, who owns a real estate busi-
ness in Drain, is funding the majority
of a new community newspaper. Th e
Community News will be direct-mailed
to every household in Drain and be
made up of a combination of submis-
sions and articles written by the small
staff .
“It’s based on articles and stories
that come into us,” Akins said. “We’re
not going out and looking because we
don’t have the staff .”
Th e eight-page publication will
mark the fi rst newspaper specifi cally
for Drain since the Enterprise’s fi nal
publication some three years ago.
“I was out in the community and I
heard over and over again, ‘We don’t
know what’s going on, we don’t know
what’s going on.’” Akins said. “A lot of
elderly don’t use Facebook. Everyone
said they wanted it but no one stepped
up to the plate money-wise because we
don’t have money here. We’re poor —
it’s a poor town.”
And while Drain is on the cusp of
regaining its local newspaper, it wasn’t
alone in losing it to begin with.
A study released earlier this year
by the University of North Carolina’s
School of Media and Journalism re-
ported more than 1,300 communities
have lost all of their local news cover-
age giving way to buy-outs, close-outs
and mergers. Some, like the Enter-
prise, shut down due to lack of funds
as traditional print business models
continue to see declining revenue.
“Our sense of community and de-
mocracy at all levels suff ers when
journalism is lost or diminished,” the
study’s researchers wrote. “In an age of
fake news and divisive politics, the fate
See DRAIN 8A
‘Fantasticks’ set for CG Theater season fi nale
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Aft er the September rul-
ing by the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals that la-
beled citations for individ-
uals sleeping on the street
as cruel and unusual, the
city of Cottage Grove had
been exploring its options
to remain in compliance
with the law.
Th en, the rumors started
Th e most prevalent story
circulating town had the
See HOMELESS 11A
Local group
works to reduce
hate crimes
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
See HATE 7A
PHOTO BY EMILY BLY
Front row: El Gallo (Sam Anderson); middle row: Hucklebee (Mark Allen), Matt (Thomas Guastavino), Luisa (Ashlee Winkler) Bellomy (Larry Brown);
back row: Mortimer (Keith Kessler), The Mute (Sophie Blades) and Henry (Dale Flynn) will take to the stage in Cottage Theatre’s last show of the sea-
son, “The Fantasticks.”
“Fantasticks” director Korey
Weimer sits down for a Q&A
with Th e Sentinel.
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
“The Fantasticks” ran originally for more than
40 years. Did taking on such a long-running
show present any issues creatively?
Th e temptation to do the show as it has been done
for the sake of familiarity is always there. When you
are dealing with such a well-known property, which
has been seen so many times across the world, you
want the audience to have something familiar to latch
onto, something that will bring them into the world.
But at the same time, you don't want to limit yourself.
You don't want to just do a carbon copy of the Broad-
way version, same blocking, same costumes, same
set. It was an interesting balancing act in designing
VFW
The Cottage Theatre creates its season by
having directors pitch shows in the off -season.
What was your pitch for “Fantasticks” and did
you know there were other musicals being con-
sidered?
My pitch for “Th e Fantasticks” was quite simple.
I wanted to do a small cast, well known show, but
dress it in a sort of carnival / traveling caravan kind
of way. Th is group of performers moving from town-
to-town, performing this show, and moving onto the
next. I wanted to capture the simple magic that makes
this show work so very well, no matter what size the-
atre you put it in. I knew of some other musicals that
were being submitted via chats with other directors.
All of them had amazing ideas, and were submitting
very strong shows.
Heritage Awards
VFW recognizes student
writers, teacher
Oregon Heritage Awards
now accepting nominations.
PAGE A5
Emerald Valley Armory, LLC
Handguns • Long Rifles
Concealed carry classes
Calendar ...................................... B11
Channel Guide ............................... B6
Classifieds ...................................... B8
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
Bring us through the plot of “The Fantasticks.”
It starts off as a standard love story really. Boy and
girl fall in love against their father’s wishes. A ban-
dit comes and abducts the girl, the boy saves her, and
"happy ending.” Little do they know that the fathers
arranged the entire thing, including the abduction, to
See THEATER 6A
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 130 • NUMBER 58
Rain Country Realty Inc.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
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147 E. Oregon Ave. Creswell, OR 97426
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atre?
I became involved about eight years ago, with a
show called “Sly Fox.” I was working on a fi lm in Eu-
gene at the time, and the director for that show asked
me to come audition for her play in Cottage Grove.
I managed to get the part, and the fi rst day I walked
into rehearsal at CT, I was treated like a long-lost
friend who had fi nally came home. It was such a pos-
itive experience, that I started to do more and more
shows at CT, as well as volunteer behind the scenes. It
is such an amazing company, and I feel honored to be
a small part of it.
How did you become involved at Cottage The-
HISTORY
Voices of Democracy
PAGE A3
and rehearsing this show, but I feel we achieved a
good balance in our version.
INDEX
Over the course of a few
days in the summer of this
year, community members
kept running into each oth-
er at a Main Street business
in Cottage Grove, all with
something on their mind:
Another Main Street busi-
ness.
Wolfclan Armory, a sur-
vival store with family ties
to white supremacy, had
moved to Main Street and
triggered protests, discus-
sions at city council meet-
ings and conversations at
the Bookmine.
“It was a place to talk,”
said resident Tammy Hod-
gkinson. “Th at fi rst meet-
ing we were expecting
10 people and 40 people
showed up.”
“At that fi rst meeting,”
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