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The Year in Review 2018
A recap of the Top 10 stories from the past year
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL FILE PHOTOS
From left: New interim superintendent Dr. Larry Sullivan shakes hands with school board chair Alan Baas after being appointed to the position; After a February fire at an abandoned
house, the city began exploring options for dealing with zombie houses; Greg Howe emerges from a sea of blackberry bushes with Anna the dog who had gone missing for 18 days.
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
A
s the community settles into 2019,
The Sentinel staff has looked back at
the past year and compiled the big-
gest stories of 2018. Here are the top 10 stories
(and honorable mentions) in no particular
order.
Latham Elementary
The decision to close Latham Elementary
or allow it to remain operational for anoth-
er five years is set for the January meeting of
the South Lane School Board but the process
started back in January of 2018.
Conversations began revolving around
how much the district could save if it closed
the 165-year-old school but quickly centered
around how passionate the Latham commu-
nity was about retaining one of the few small
schools in the community.
In January of last year, a report to the school
board noted that Latham had 94 students en-
rolled (down from 111 students the year be-
fore) and that number has since dropped to
around 80 but parents turned out in force to
information sessions and school board meet-
ings to advocate for their small school.
At the time, the district reported it could
save $187,397 in staffing costs and approxi-
mately $50,000 in electricity and other utili-
ties if it closed the school. Moreover, it warned
that Latham would need substantial repairs in
the coming years, including a new boiler that
came with a large price tag.
In total, repairs and upgrades to the school
are expected to run approximately $775,000.
On Dec. 18 of this year, the school board
reviewed the “Latham School Report” com-
piled by district staff that outlined student en-
rollment, transportation options, budget and
other factors in keeping Latham School open.
“I guess, there’s nothing good to say about
facilities and maintenance. And the commit-
ment this district would have to make for the
students and staff and the school to continue,
it just does not — I don’t know of any person
who would say that would be a good invest-
ment,” said board member Jerry Settelmeyer
during the meeting.
Latham parent Andrea Griffith who has a
third grader at the school also attended the
Dec. 18 meeting. Griffith chose Latham for
the size of the school in addition to the com-
munity it provides and noted that if the dis-
trict closes the school, she plans to take her
child out of the district.
“It sounds to me, as a parent, that they’ve
already made their decision. And my kid is
going to lose out because they didn’t do their
jobs and put the money where it should have
been and it makes me mad,” said Griffith.
“And very sad because there are a lot of kids
who are going to miss out on a lot of stuff at
Latham.”
The school board was expected to make a
decision about Latham’s future at its January
2019 meeting.
Wolfclan Armory
In March, a sign appeared on Main Street
announcing the coming of a new business:
Wolfclan Armory. The store — which sells
Protestors gather outside the Wolfclan
Armory after reports of the owners’ ties
to white supremacy emerged.
survival gear, swords, knives and apparel —
drew protests shortly after the sign appeared.
Protestors cited the owners’ son Jacob Las-
key who served 11 years in federal prison for
a hate crime after throwing rocks with swasti-
North Douglas raises $10,000 for kindergartener with rare cancer
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Syra Barklow loves the cartoon
"PJ Masks." She spent Halloween as
one of the main characters, Owlette,
running around her neighborhood
just like every other six-year-old.
The next day, the headaches
started.
“I thought she had some kind of
virus going around,” said her moth-
er, Danielle Barklow. But by Nov.
19, the headaches hadn’t gone away
and Syra became lethargic; she was
losing weight and refused to eat or
drink.
“They drew her blood and noth-
ing was wrong,” Barklow said. Syra
underwent her first CAT scan.
“The doctor came into the room
and said there’s nothing wrong with
her body, there’s something wrong
with her head,” Barklow said. “I
thought he was going to say she
was depressed or something but he
said they found a large tumor and
she had to be rushed to Portland. I
thought he was going to say he was
kidding.”
The November night’s weather
didn’t allow for Life Flight so Syra
was loaded into an ambulance with
her mother and bussed to Portland
See BARKLOW 6A
FEATURE
School grants
Offbeat Oregon
Four local schools receive
grants from Northwest
Credit Union program
The tale of how a 1930
summer shipwreck could
never happen today
PAGE A9
PAGE A5
INDEX
EDUCATION
where she underwent her first MRI.
“They said she needed emer-
gency surgery at 7 a.m. They cut a
huge horseshoe shape in her head
and they said they got it all,” Barlow
said.
An analysis of the tumor revealed
a devastating diagnosis: ependymo-
ma. The cancer is rare and affects
the brain and spinal cord. It’s ag-
gressive and is often found in young
children.
Syra started radiation four days
before Christmas.
“With the radiation, they say it’s
Michele Monroe, LCSW
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kas drawn on them through the windows of a
synagogue in Eugene.
The Laskeys denied claims of racism and
appeared at a March city council meeting in-
forming the board that their son had made
mistakes in his life and had served his sen-
tence. They also informed the board that they
were Christians.
Laskey was arrested again in January of
2018 for a stabbing incident. Racist posts re-
mained on the Wolfclan Armory Facebook
page with Laskey’s family telling local media
they did not know how to access the page. A
post inviting residents to the store’s Cottage
Grove opening was posted after Laskey was
arrested.
By April, signs began appearing around
Main Street on business windows that read
“Cottage Grove United Against Hate” with
business owners citing the uproar over Wolf-
clan Armory.
In June, Laura Rose broke the windows at
Wolfclan Armory with the pole of an Amer-
ican flag, walked across the street, sat on a
bench and waited for police. The 31-year-old
was arrested and charged. She was given a
plea deal in November of 2018.
Superintendents
The allegations against Dr. Krista Parent
See REVIEW 3A
Looking back at Latham
Before a decision on the future
of the school is made, a look
at the history of the 165-year-
old school
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
B
efore Cottage Grove became
a city (1887), before Abraham
Lincoln was sworn in as president
(1861) and before Oregon became a
state (1859) there was a small school
that opened in the Territory of Oregon.
The first school in the area estab-
lished by settlers, and what would soon
Calendar ...................................... B11
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
become known as Latham School,
opened its doors in 1853. With the
exception of when a Missouri fam-
ily moved into the schoolhouse and
refused to leave thus cancelling the
school year, the school has been a con-
stant presence for the past 165 years.
More than 40 schools have come and
gone in that time but Latham has al-
ways found a way to survive.
But the ultimate fate of the school
– whether it will stay open for at least
another five years or close at the end
of the school year – looks bleak. A de-
See LATHAM 6A
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