$1.00
S entinel
C ottage G rove
3
PERSONAL | COMMERCIAL
BENEFITS | SURETY
(541) 942-0555
PayneWest.com/Cottage-Grove
SPORTS
Lady Lions bounced from playoffs
Est. 1889
Page B1
FRIDAY
46º/28º
Serving the communities of Cottage Grove, Creswell, Dorena, Drain, Elkton, Lorane and Yoncalla.
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2019
FACEBOOK.COM/CGSENTINEL • TWITTER.COM/CGSENTINEL
CGSENTINEL.COM
Ron Wyden holds town hall in Cottage Grove
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Sen. Ron Wyden addresses a crowd of community members and
high school students in the Cottage Grove High School gymnasi-
um during a Feb. 19 town hall meeting.
Oregon’s senior U.S. senator Ron
Wyden visited Cottage Grove Feb. 19 to
hold his second in a series of town halls
throughout the state.
As part of his six-county tour, Wyden
stopped by the Cottage Grove High
School gymnasium to hold his Lane
County event. The assembly made it his
928th since promising Oregonians that
he would hold at least one annual town
hall in each of the state’s 36 counties.
Wyden began the town hall by ap-
plauding attendees for coming out. “As
far as I’m concerned, you all are the fac-
es of democracy in America,” he said.
“This is what the Founding Fathers
wanted it to look like.”
The gathering, which included a mix-
ture of students and residents, followed
a basic question-and-answer format.
Over the course of an hour, 17 questions
covering a variety of issues both local
and national came from a broadly ap-
proving audience.
The Gray Wolf
The first question came from a stu-
dent in regard to holding accountable
hunters who violate law by killing the
Gray Wolf, a protected species.
“We have a quaint idea that if you
break the law, you have to face conse-
quences,” Wyden responded.
The law has been the subject of con-
troversy regarding state and federal laws
See WYDEN 6A
Winter storm puts The Grove into deep freeze
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
C
ottage Grove was inundated
last Sunday night by a winter
storm which stretched across
the Pacific Northwest, shutting down
highways and causing sweeping pow-
er outages. Dumping more than a
foot of snow in some areas, the storm
crippled traffic in and around Cottage
Grove, downing trees and power lines
throughout the city.
As early as 8 p.m. Sunday night, the
city experienced a reported 8 inches
of snow and its first string of power
outages as reports of sporadic pow-
er surges and photos of fallen trees
spread across social media.
By Monday morning, Cottage
Grove was completely without pow-
er save for those with generators.
Downed poles and fallen trees tan-
gled in power, phone and cable wires
were widely reported in the area.
Expectedly, all area school districts
were closed and grocery stores and
gas stations soon followed suit as
the storm showed no signs of letting
up. All South Lane School District
schools remained closed Tuesday as
well due to power outages and unsafe
travel conditions
The city’s main electricity provid-
er, Pacific Power, reported more than
3,300 Cottage Grove customers affect-
ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The entrance to Cottage Grove’s Historic District is blanketed by snow following the winter storm that rolled
through the valley early last week, bringing the region to a standstill with power outages.
ed by the power outages and 44,000
throughout its coverage area. As of
press time on Monday, the company
had predicted electricity to return be-
tween midnight Monday and Tuesday
afternoon.
Emerald People’s Utility District,
which provides power to parts of Cot-
tage Grove proper but mostly the ru-
ral area, stated that more than 10,000
customers were without electricity on
Monday and that members should
prepare to be without power for a
See STORM 9A
Lane County Recycling Guide gets user-friendly update
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
The Lane County Waste Manage-
ment Division released its 2019 Re-
cycling Guide last week, updating its
10-year-old predecessor. The 36-page
booklet provides a comprehensive
guide to various waste disposal meth-
ods, tips to prevent waste, resources
for schools and businesses and basic
instructions for roadside recycling.
Lane County leads the state in re-
cycling recovery rates at 52.8 percent
and has a stated goal to increase that
number to 63 percent by 2025.
The recovery rate refers to the pro-
CHATTERBOX
Betty Kaiser
The Carousel Board
welcomes newest,
youngest member
The needy, the helpers and
the guards at the
US-Mexico boarder.
PAGE A5
Lack of funding,
fees could impact
water testing
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Water suppliers around the state
may be facing higher fees and while
losing the ability to meet Oregon wa-
ter testing standards following a se-
ries of legislative moves.
“There are a hundred plus cities
throughout the state that are affected
by this,” said Ray Pardee, Row River
Water Treatment Plant Superinten-
dent.
In December the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA) introduced per-
manent standards for cyanotoxin
testing, the culmination of months of
temporary rules.
Cyanotoxins are harmful bacteria
produced by blue-green algae and
can reach poisonous concentrations
when conditions allow the algae to
bloom.
Cottage Grove is among 58 public
water systems around the state listed
by OHA as susceptible to harmful
algae blooms and thus subject to the
new permanent cyanotoxin rules.
Pardee noted that the new state
standard exceeds those of the nation.
“Normally we follow all EPA reg-
ulations,” Pardee said. “The EPA has
not at this time created a regulation
on cyanotoxins, but Oregon has.”
Upon implementation of the cy-
anotoxin testing standards, funding
was included for smaller community
systems to cover the cost of the De-
partment of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) laboratory’s sampling organi-
zation, shipping costs and testing fees
through June 30, the end of the 2018-
19 fiscal year.
However, the release of the Gov-
ernor’s Budget for 2019-2021 raised
some eyebrows for its notable lack of
funding for DEQ laboratory cyano-
toxin testing.
“That means we’re still mandated
by Oregon rule to check for cyano-
toxin and that we would have to bear
the burden of that,” said Pardee.
The administrative rules on cy-
anotoxin testing state that a water
supplier may choose between using
the DEQ laboratory or an accredited
laboratory approved through the Or-
egon Environmental Laboratory Ac-
creditation Program.
“The problem is, there are no labs
that are approved for the Oregon reg-
ulations to do the testing,” said Pard-
ee.
The mandatory testing is set to be-
gin May 1, giving cities two months
of state-funded testing before they
must come up with the funding
themselves.
In addition, OHA has eliminated
funding for some of its regulatory
drinking water services — services
which benefit smaller cities by cover-
ing regulatory performances such as
water systems surveys.
In their place, a new fee structure
has been introduced in the form of
SB 27, a bill working its way through
the Oregon legislature that allows the
OHA to impose fees on water suppli-
ers to recover the costs of its periodic
See RECYCLE 8A
INDEX
COMMUNITY
Carousel Board
PAGE A3
flow of foreign plastics for recycling,
communities around the state have
been left struggling with how to man-
age an influx of plastic waste which
often simply ends up in landfills.
For Cottage Grove’s part, of all solid
waste, about 12 percent is processed
for recycling. One reason plastics do
not find their way into that percent-
age is the high volume of “soiled”
material, which includes food and oil
contaminants.
“If there’s a bunch of contamination
in there with it, that contamination
has to come out of the system some
portion of waste recycled among all
materials in the waste stream.
“The numbers highlight our com-
munity’s understanding of the bene-
fits of recycling,” said Waste Manage-
ment Division manager Jeff Orlandini
in a press release. “This includes re-
ducing greenhouse gas emissions and
conserving water and forests – all
things that protect our beautiful en-
vironment and what residents value.”
According to an Oregon Depart-
ment of Environmental Quality re-
port, in 2016 Oregonians generated
about 5.3 million tons of waste, re-
covering 42.6 percent. However, since
China’s 2017 decision to stop the in-
Quality Vision Care for You
Comprehensive family, medical eyecare and optical services
We provide exams for Cataracts, Glaucoma, Diabetic and Lasik
Serving Cottage Grove since 2006
Calendar ...................................... B12
Channel Guide ............................... B5
Classifieds ...................................... B7
Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
For a complete six-
day forecast please
see page A5.
See WATER 8A
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 09
Marriage & Family Counseling
Learn to positively overcome confl icts
and create stronger relationships for life.
Alan D. Walker
A Masters Level Christian Counselor
Offi ces in Cottage Grove, Yoncalla, and Roseburg
Mon-Thurs 9M-5PM FRI 9AM-4PM
257 N. 8th St 541-942-5000 | www.PCVI.com
541-817-6271
AlanWalkerPACO@gmail.com • AlanDWalkerCounselor.com