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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2019)
$1.00 S entinel C ottage G rove 3 PERSONAL | COMMERCIAL BENEFITS | SURETY (541) 942-0555 PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove SPORTS Warriors win league tournament B1 Est. 1889 Serving the communities of Cottage Grove, Dorena, Drain, Elkton, Lorane and Yoncalla. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2019 FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Damien Sherwood DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL A truck passes Linda Raade-Vaught’s tree on Sears Road, one of 61 trees targeted by the county for removal due to safety concerns regarding fi xed objects. analysis when distributing the grant. At the hearing, Lane County Traffi c Engineer Steve Gallup presented data that counted six crashes with fi xed objects be- tween 2010 and 2016. One of the crashes resulted in a fatality and the other fi ve in injuries. As part of its goal to reduce fatal and severe-injury colli- sions, the Lane County Board of Commissioners adopted a Transportation Safety Action Plan (TSAP) in 2017 to iden- tify and address the greatest risks in the county. As part of this approach, fi xed objects are identifi ed as risk factors when they are within what is a con- sidered a “clear zone,” an oth- erwise unobstructed roadside area that drivers may use to pull to the side of the road or “I really see writing as a part of something bigger, which is one’s calling in the world,” said Kim Staff ord, refl ecting on the importance of his craft . “Th at calling will be active, but those words and stories can enrich that action.” Staff ord, Oregon’s Poet Lau- reate and a teacher at Lewis & Clark College, is due to stop by Cottage Grove Monday, Feb. 25, to meet students, local writ- ers and read from his works at the library. Staff ord was born and grew up in Oregon. Th ough his fa- ther, William Staff ord, was a well-known and accomplished poet, his renown came notably late in the poet’s life and Kim remembers much of his early inspiration for writing stem- ming from his own self-refl ec- tion. “It was the internal world of dreams and imagination and being in nature coupled with being extremely shy when I was young,” he said. “Teachers in school taught me how to bring that forth in words.” Staff ord can still name the teachers up through high school that had a profound im- pact on his mode of expression, and he credits them with evolv- ing his craft . “I think it made writing a personal friend,” Staff ord said. “Not a school task so much as a school companion.” Henry David Th oreau and Emily Dickinson were among his fi rst literary infl uencers. Th oreau, who famously wrote Walden and Civil Dis- obedience, appealed to Staff ord for his independence and life as “a self-appointed student of the world.” Dickinson’s writing, which Staff ord categorized as “fi erce and original,” and her lack of need for validation through publishing evoked in Staff ord the image of the courageous writer. “For both them, there was an ambition to write wonderful things, but not an ambition to have others say, ‘Th at’s wonder- ful,’” Staff ord said. “It’s a self-di See Poet A10 See Sears Road A6 See Upgrade A9 dsherwood@cgsentinel.com While covered bridges receive plenty of attention in Cottage Grove, it’s the city’s uncovered bridges now under the eye of the city. In a Feb. 11 City Council meet- ing, councilors voted to award a contract to Delta Construction Co. from Eugene to begin work on three city bridges: Th e Main Street bridge crossing the Coast Fork Willamette River, its down- stream counterpart on Harrison Avenue and the bridge crossing Silk Creek on South River Road. At an estimated cost of $534,179, Delta Construction won out over rival bidder HP Civil Inc, which submitted a bid of $647,278. “I’m glad to get Delta in,” said the Cottage Grove Civil Engi- neer Ryan Sisson. “Th ey have a lot of experience with this kind of work.” Th e city had previously bud- geted the project at $511,500 based on an Engineer’s Estimate of Construction Costs last No- vember by OBEC Consulting Engineers. Th e engineer’s es- timate had placed the cost at $438,426, nearly $100,000 lower than Delta’s winning bid. Th e HOUSE FIRE COMMUNITY Adopt a carousel horse SLCFR quickly put out an upstairs fi re on Grant Avenue last week A local woman adopts a carousel horse in memory of loved ones. PAGE A5 www.homesteadcg.com Th e Project To achieve this goal, the Sears Road project states the need to cut 61 trees from the road at the cost of the grant amount, $150,000. A second phase of the project would widen the road with two 11-foot travel By Damien Sherwood Firefi ghters end blaze PAGE A3 safely navigate and return from if they leave the roadway. “By creating clear zones, roadway agencies can increase the likelihood that a roadway departure results in a safe re- covery rather than a crash, and mitigate the severity of crashes that do occur,” read the sum- mary of the agenda item. Safer routes to Cottage Grove schools are on the way. A $1,272,143 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) toward the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program was approved by City Council vote Jan. 11. SRTS is a nationwide ef- fort to assist communities in identifying and reducing bar- riers and hazards to children walking or bicycling to and from school through infra- structure improvements and safety education. At an estimated cost of $1,676,512, the project will address key safety concerns on fi ve routes to Cottage Grove schools. For most of these routes, safe sidewalks are an issue. “In many cases, the major- ity of sidewalks are probably going to be replaced,” said Public Works and Develop- ment Director Faye Stewart. In the SRTS grant agree- Bridge restoration, repairs set for spring Chair Side Tables On Sale! INDEX dsherwood@cgsentinel.com School routes to get safety upgrade dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Poet laureate to visit Cottage Grove By Damien Sherwood For a complete six- day forecast please see page A5. CGSENTINEL.COM Local voices delay county project Residents of Sears Road won a small victory in Lane Coun- ty’s Courthouse Feb. 12 as the Lane County Board of Com- missioners voted to delay a tree-cutting and road-widen- ing project on the rural road. “I’m really glad the commis- sioners listened,” said Robin Mayall, a frequent cyclist of Sears Road who testifi ed at the hearing. “It’s ideally what pub- lic process should be. People come and speak from diff erent points of view and the commis- sioners listen and they don’t necessarily just rubber-stamp something – they take advise- ment on what people said and study it further.” Sears Road lies just past Cot- tage Grove city limits and is under county jurisdiction. Th e section of the road in question stretches from Molitor Ranch Road southward to Row River Road. Th e proposed Sears Road Fixed Object Removal project began with a $150,000 Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) grant as part of the All Roads Transportation Safe- ty (ARTS) fund to remove fi xed objects on the sides of Sears Road. Th e decision to use the road, according to offi cials, was data-driven, based on crash history and recommended by ODOT as part of a cost-benefi t WED 40º/31º DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL The Main Street bridge is one of three bridges due for repairs and restorations this year. discrepancy means the city must dig into its street contingency fund or possibly push other proj- ects into the next fi scal year. “It’s not that we don’t have the money,” said Sisson. “It’s about what other projects we’re not do- ing.” In a climate facing a draught of available construction person- nel to meet the high demands Calendar ...................................... B12 Channel Guide ............................... B5 Classifieds ...................................... B7 Obituaries ...................................... A2 Opinion ......................................... A4 Sports ............................................ B1 throughout the state, cities re- questing bids on projects may fi nd responses from as little as one or two contractors. Limited options can result in bidders set- ting the price, which may force cities to opt for contracts that ex- ceed their budgets. Repairs and restoration tasks on the bridges have been on the city’s radar since a 2016 report by OBEC Consulting Engineers identifi ed several items as need- ing attention. While some work will result in aesthetic improve- ments, much of it will go toward infrastructural changes that will extend the bridges’ lifespans. First among the items is rail- ing. To various degrees, each of See Bridge A7 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 131 • NUMBER 08 Emerald Valley Armory, LLC Tues. - Sat. 10-6 147 E. Oregon Ave. Creswell, OR 97426 541-895-2666
