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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019
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dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Health offi cials and
hospitals brace for
potential measles
outbreak as fi rst case
surfaces in Oregon
Lane County Public
Health (LCPH) has issued a
general health alert aft er 22
cases of measles were con-
fi rmed in Southwest Wash-
ington — and one in Port-
land last Friday.
Th e department is en-
couraging the public and
medical professionals to
watch for symptoms and
take steps to reduce the vi-
rus’s spread.
Individuals with con-
fi rmed cases were reported
by LCPH to have traveled
throughout the Portland
Metro area during their
communicable
period,
prompting health offi cials
to issue a warning down the
Patrick Luedtke in a press
release.
Clark County Public
Health has so far confi rmed
at least 31 cases this year
alone. Th e county is located
directly across the Colum-
bia River from Portland,
including Vancouver, Wash.
Measles is a highly con-
tagious virus which can
cause a high fever, cough,
runny nose and red, watery
eyes. Two or three days aft er
symptoms begin, tiny white
spots may appear inside the
mouth, an early sign of in-
fection. Th is is followed by a
rash of fl at, red spots which
cover the body and are ac-
companied by a high fever.
Th e rash and fever will
COURTESY PHOTO typically run their course
aft er a few days, though in
PeaceHealth South West Medical Center in Clark County Washington is among the hospi-
rare cases it can cause en-
tals responding to an outbreak of measles, which was offi cally confi rmed in Oregon's
cephalitis (infection of the
Portland area last Friday.
brain), pneumonia, and low
happens daily between us measles, we are concerned birth weight in babies born
I-5 corridor.
“Given the proximity of and the greater Portland about the risk of exposure,” to infected women.
these cases to Lane Coun- Metro area, and the partic- said Lane County Senior
See MEASLES 6A
ty, the amount of travel that ularly contagious nature of Public Health Offi cer Dr.
City Council votes to enter IGA with LTD
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Th e City Council voted unanimously on the
direction of Cottage Grove’s transportation op-
tions Monday night.
At issue was an intergovernmental agreement
between the City of Cottage Grove and Lane
Transit District (LTD) in which LTD provides
funding to the city to cover the cost of operat-
ing a Mobility on Demand (MOD) Pilot Project.
Councilor Kenneth Roberts was absent from the
vote.
MOD, a transportation service billed as hav-
ing “an infi nite number of on-demand stops” in
Cottage Grove, launched Jan. 14 and is slated to
continue through Feb. 2, 2020. Th e service al-
lows passengers to book trips anywhere within
the city by using a mobile app, the website or
with a phone call. Passengers can schedule their
pick-up and drop-off times and locations for the
cost of $1 per ride.
As part of the project, local transportation
service South Lane Wheels has been contracted
by the city to provide the operational end of the
MOD program with two of its shuttle buses.
Th e need for the MOD project comes with a
planned reduction of trips by LTD to the Cottage
Grove area. Th e city’s Route 98 loop is scheduled
on Feb. 3 to end service of four weekday trips
and slightly alter another two, greatly reducing
LTD bus options for midday commuters.
Because failure to approve the agreement
would end the MOD Pilot Project and no more
changes to the LTD route can be made until
June, approval of the agreement was a forgone
conclusion for many.
“We’re between a rock and hard place on this
HOUSING
Saving Jimmy
CG receives grants
Mary Ellen "Angel Scribe"
shares the story rescued
dog Jimmy
Two CG housing projects
among those to receive
Housing Improvement
Grants. PAGE A3
PAGE A5
INDEX
COLUMNIST
PHOTO BY PETER MCLAUGHLIN/BUSDRAWINGS.COM
A Route 98 bus heads to Cottage Grove. Trips down the Cottage Grove loop will be reduced start-
ing Feb. 3, though the new Mobility on Demand service is expected to pick up the slack.
one,” said Mayor Jeff Gowing in an agenda ses-
sion on Friday.
“If you don’t adopt the MOD, you don’t have
the loop and you don’t have the connector route,”
explained City Manager Richard Meyers at the
same session. “If you do the MOD, you may not
have the loop, but at least you have the MOD
there.”
Entering the agreement was delayed at the
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previous City Council meeting to address mi-
nor concerns and a slightly revised contract was
presented Monday night, notably with a require-
ment that LTD obtain written consent from the
city before any contractual changes are made.
According to the agreement, LTD is provid-
ing $146,760 for the cost of operating the MOD
system with South Lane Wheels.
Calendar ...................................... B12
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
For a complete six-
day forecast please
see page A5.
CGSENTINEL.COM
Lane County on alert for measles, influenza
By Damien Sherwood
WED
55º/39º
See LTD 9A
SLSD board
set to address
Latham, new
priorities
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Sometimes no news is
good news; particularly
when talking to your au-
ditor.
In a special session Jan.
22, the South Lane School
District (SLSD) Board
heard from Albany-based
accounting fi rm Accuity,
LLC, who reported no ma-
jor fi nancial fi ndings in its
audit of the district’s previ-
ous fi scal year.
Th ough the district end-
ed the year with a negative
net position of $7.7 mil-
lion, auditor Kori Sarrett
reassured the board, “You
are very similar to other
school districts in the state
of your size. Th at negative
is coming from PERS lia-
bilities. … We expect that
the PERS liability will sta-
bilize and we will stop see-
ing it grow as much as it
has been,” Sarrett said.
“Th ere’s really nothing
we can do about it in the
short term,” said the dis-
trict’s business supervisor
Phil Scrima. “Long-term,
it’s an issue.”
A clean bill of health for
the SLSD’s fi nancial books
is more good news for a
district whose fi nancial in-
tegrity with the communi-
ty has paid off in previous
years, as with the passing
of a 2016 bond which saw
the construction of the
new Harrison Elementary
School and other projects.
And a new project may
be just on the horizon.
On Jan. 7, the board
decided in a 5-2 vote to
close Latham School aft er
months of deliberation on
the issue.
In last week’s meeting,
Interim
Superintendent
Larry Sullivan elicited
ideas from the board re-
garding the Latham School
transition.
A desire to honor the
school’s history and com-
munity was thematic to the
input.
“I think there should be
some reference to the his-
tory of Latham,” said board
member Merlene Martin.
“Th e history of Latham
is very important to our
town.”
See SCHOOL 6A
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
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VOLUME 130 • NUMBER XX
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