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COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019 | 7A Bank S entinel C ottage G rove www.cgsentinel.com cgsentinel @cgsentinel #cgsentinel @ Cottage-Grove-Sentinel The Flower Basket and Gift Boutique “A Flower Shop and so much more” 20% OFF One regular priced Gift item or Boutique Clothing item Expires 4-30-19 Deliveries Locally and Worldwide Locally owned and operated since 1984 Quality and Satisfaction Guaranteed 119 South 6th Street • 541-942-0505 www.cottagegroveflowerbasket.com SOUTH LANE COUNTY FIRE & RESCUE The Only Emergency Medical Transport Service in South Lane County Call 541-942-4493 for info. FOR EMERGENCY DIAL 911 Serving South Lane County. www.southlanefi re.org Cottage Grove Sentinel Introduces... GUARANTEED GARAGE SALES from A1 the biggest, ugliest building and you renovate it.” The Bank Building seemed to fit the bill. Blackstone’s project concep- tually began when he realized there was economic energy in Cottage Grove’s downtown and began thinking of ways he could tap into its potential. He had made his career as a con- sultant identifying marketing opportunities for large compa- nies, validating new concepts for products and determining strategies for entering markets. It dawned on him that such skills could be applied toward revitalizing a city. “So I hired myself to do a consulting gig for Cottage Grove but didn’t tell anybody,” said Blackstone. “I did a deep dive,” he said, going as far as hiring a research firm to con- duct surveys. As his vision developed, Blackstone came to a simple realization that “jobs are related to business, business is related to building and building is re- lated to land,” he said. Real estate seemed to be the key, prompting him to acquire both real estate and a general contractor’s licenses along his journey to materialize his vi- sion of an economically vibrant town. Blackstone moved to Cot- tage Grove in 1985 and has wit- nessed the rise and fall of sev- eral businesses over the years, describing how he could just “feel” that some would make it and other would not. Only a year was left on his mortgage when he floated the idea of investing in the rough- ly $1.5 million Bank Building project to his wife. To his sur- prise, she agreed. “What type of woman in the world would say that?” Black- Vets from A1 deaths among soldiers was a topic of conversation last week among Florence-area veterans, spurred primarily by the visit of the traveling replica of the Viet- nam Veterans Memorial Wall, “The Wall That Heals.” Sadly, underscoring the memorial’s visit was the unex- pected death of local veteran Pete Maury, who took his life just days before the wall’s ar- rival. The night before, Maury and his wife, Bev, had spent the evening with a group of friends enjoying dinner at Elks Lodge #1858. Later that evening after returning home, Maury ended his life with a single gunshot. When “The Wall That Heals” arrived a few days later, fellow veterans of Maury’s were still mourning his loss and agreed We know how much work you put into preparing for a garage sale. Then it rains! We want to help you with our new... Public Notices Garage Sales Insurance Package! The Lowest Rates in Lane County If bad weather aff ects your Garage Sale call us within 7 days and we will re-run your ad in our paper 1x and online 5x more Guaranteed Garage Sale Package Includes: 15 Words in 8 ads ✔ 1 in paper and 7 online ✔ 2 Signs & Tip Sheet ✔ Only $15 ✔ Normal price is $12 with 2 signs, insurance is only $3 for a complete additional 8 ad run! Cottage Grove Classifi ed MARKETPLACE “Your 1 stop place to buy & sell merchandise in the region” In Print & Online Call Today cgsentinel.com S entinel C ottage G rove Blackstone sees the work- space as a financially sustain- able “incubator” for economic stimulus in the city. Given an affordable opportunity, he be- lieves ambitious small busi- nesses can find a lasting role in developing the town’s heart and soul. Creating business space is only part of the plan, though. “The key is getting tenants downtown,” Blackstone said on making his revitalization efforts successful. Until construction began, the second floor had served as low-income housing and many of the units’ facilities had not been updated in so long they appeared as relics of a bygone era. Final floor plans for upstairs will see six units refurbished for middle-income tenants, three of which will fea- ture an original ballroom-style ceiling which was uncovered during the inspection process and is slated to be restored. “I like to think of living up- stairs here as small-town living in an urban environment,” said Blackstone. “You see all the ac- tivity, the energy and the flow and you’re able to live in this mini-urban environment but in a small town. I think that’s kind of cool.” Blackstone theorizes that people with disposable income within walking distance of downtown shops are likely to become downtown consumers, stirring the pot for an energetic economy. As ambitious as the project is, it cannot claim pioneer status on the frontier of downtown re- vitalization. The Bank Building joins a cast of Main Street play- ers which have contributed to a process of breathing new life into the area. “My fantasy is that this can be a stimulation and further what efforts have already been done,” Blackstone said. “There are al- ready some real heroes down here.” Structures and businesses such as Homestead Furniture, Axe and Fiddle, Jack Sprats and the Club Building are among often-cited examples of downtown moving in the right direction, though not every project has been executed with- out criticism. Blackstone’s own building has received its share of skepticism on social media. Regardless, the building owner believes the need for progress is evident. “Main Street will never be what it was 50 years ago or 25 years ago,” said Blackstone. “So I think we as a community in a sense need to re-envision what our Main Street is.” Part of that process involves accepting the inevitability of change. “I think the message I want to send is that our town needs to grow,” Blackstone said. “Growth is not bad. We’re always in a state of dying, so if we don’t grow, we will die.” For a city facing disturbingly low rates of housing vacancy and a cost-burdened house- hold rate at nearly 50 percent, downtown economic stimulus has potential to weave into the social fabric a thread of vitality. “Buildings downtown can have a profound effect down- town and on the community,” said City Manager Richard Meyers. “So it’s exciting to see that classic old building get re- stored and put back to the con- dition it was in before.” For his part, Blackstone em- phasized he accepts his role in the process with humility and an understanding there are wid- er implications for his actions. “At the end of the day, it’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about the community and how it can help. It doesn’t mean you’re go- ing to make everybody happy, but you do your darndest.” to speak with The Siuslaw News in an honest discussion about the possible reasons for their friend’s suicide. Most were in agreement that the physical pain he was enduring, coupled with the inevitable decline in his quality of life, led him to suicide. Jerry Hernandez is the Com- mander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 23, Florence, Oregon, and a strong advocate for the needs of the local veter- an’s community. “With Pete Maury for exam- ple, you get to a certain age and all those injuries you got during the war or during your service time — they start to get more intense,” said Hernandez. “The pain gets more intense and Pete was tired of the pain. It had been going on for so long, he was just tired of the pain.” Hernandez explained that Maury had operations on his knees and his legs, and it was just going on for too long. “About five years ago, a friend of his passed away, the same way, committing suicide. So, this was on Pete’s mind, too. If you were in the military and you had friends that committed suicide, sometimes it’s contagious.” Maury was a longtime mem- ber of the Elks and his work with the Florence Municipal Airport Volunteers was well known and appreciated, greet- ing visiting pilots and travelers as recently as three weeks ago. Maury seemingly enjoyed his last night on earth, chat- ting with friends during his meal and even making an at- tempt at dancing which, with his limited mobility, was not an easy task. According to his wife and friends, there was no indi- cation from Maury’s behavior or words that would have in- dicated he had plans of suicide later that evening. After Maury and his wife returned home, he simply went to the garage and killed himself. “I think Pete just wanted it that way. He didn’t want any- body to know what he was planning. He had been thinking about it for some time. He had mentioned it one time and we all said, ‘He’s not going to do that,’” Hernandez said. The number of individuals that have served in the military and take their own lives averag- es more than 6,500 a year. This means that, each day, approximately 20 veterans kill themselves. Most of these deaths are by gunshot. Rick Shore is the Treasurer for DAV and he feels the reason that guns are used in the vast majority of veteran suicides is a simple one. “They are a tool we were trained to utilize, and we have them because of that,” he said. “That makes them easily acces- sible and we are not afraid to use them. Unfortunately, we are using them on ourselves,” Shore added with a noticeable tremor in his voice. The fact is, there has always been concern that those who serve in combat are at greater risk of depression and alien- ation when returning to civilian life. Those concerns have been voiced by family members and the loved ones of veterans, go- ing back to the Revolutionary War. There is also anecdotal evidence dating back to WWI that indicates suicide among veterans was an issue of public concern for a number of years after that war. Reports of WWII and Korean War veterans killing themselves were often either not publicized or were misidentified as “ac- cidental.” As a result, accurate statistical information on sui- cide rates among this group of veterans has been limited. W PUBLIC MEETINGS, TRUSTEE NOTICES, PROBATE, AUCTION & FORECLOSURE NOTICES, AND MORE. Published weekly in the Cottage Grove Sentinel and online at cgsentinel.com S entinel C ottage G rove 541.942.3325 stone queried gratefully. “But she did.” Since work began, Black- stone has received the $20,000 Diamonds in the Rough state grant to reconstruct the build- ing’s façade and is currently waiting to hear back on a po- tential $200,000 grant as part of the Oregon Main Street Revital- ization Grant Program. Work on the building is to be extensive and estimated to last until next May. Restorative efforts will include returning the building’s original rooftop awnings, reconstructing its western bay window, putting in large first-floor windows and installing a decorative balcony on the building’s façade. hen construction is completed, it’s hoped a symmetry and balance will be returned to the building’s streetside appearance. The ground floor will also be constructed to meet Americans with Disabilities Act require- ments. “So it’s coupling the historic aspects with current code,” said Blackstone. The ground floor, though in the process of being completely gutted, will continue to house businesses in its reimagined state. Extending 60 feet down Sixth Street, the building will divide units into thirds, giving 20 feet each for the two exist- ing businesses and potentially Blackstone’s own coffee shop on the corner. The remainder of the first floor is planned to serve as af- fordable, rentable office space that will feature individual of- fices, private desks and shared workspaces. This particular business model is meant to pro- vide a stepping stone for small businesses, startups or even larger out-of-town companies which want to maintain a pres- ence in Cottage Grove at a low cost. Contact: Meg Fringer 541-942-3325 x1200 mfringer@cgsentinel.com Serving Cottage Grove and all surrounding areas of Lane County for over 11 years. HUDDLE AUTOMOTIVE WELCOMES Matt, our new Service Writer & Jason, our new Technician. Our team will diagnose your vehicle, service and repair them. We specialize in gas and diesel engines and work on all makes and models. SPEND $500 & RECEIVE A FREE OIL CHANGE Call us today to schedule and appointment, we would love to see you! Dentistry is our profession, people are our focus. Birch Avenue Dental Dentistry is our profession, people are our focus. 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