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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2019)
CGSENTINEL.COM 3 Est. 1889 WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 7, 2019 | $1.00 S entinel C ottage G rove VOL. 131, NO. 31 P OSTAL C USTOMER C OTTAGE G ROVE , O RE . 97424 S ERVING C OTTAGE G ROVE , D ORENA , D RAIN , E LKTON , L ORANE AND Y ONCALLA Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go! PERSONAL | BUSINESS BENEFIT PLANNING | SURETY ‘Are We Ready?’ Part I — Cottage Grove’s Grade Report In recent months, residents have contended with a 100-year snowstorm, fl ooding and fi res. What do they tell us about our area’s readiness in the event of a major disaster? (541) 942-0555 By Damien Sherwood PayneWest.com /Cottage-Grove dsherwood@cgsentinel.com WEATHER Partly cloudy with a high of 80 and a low tonight of 59. Full forecast on A5 Editor’s Note: This is Part I of a three-part series that will look at the state of emergency prepared- ness in the Cottage Grove area, examine solutions and identify possible future threats. T his year has been a trial by fire — and water — for the Cottage Grove area. In a three-month span, locals found themselves subject to a diversity of disasters which tested the resolve and readiness of not just individ- uals, but the systems in place to guard against such onslaughts of nature. Beginning with a once-in-a-cen- tury snowstorm at the end of February, heavy rain and flooding followed in April only to be topped off with a massive hillside fire outside the city on Dowens Road a month later. While many viewed the or- deal as a wake-up call, coor- dinators of some response ef- forts saw the events as proof, to a degree, of readiness. Lane County Emergency Man- ager Patence Winningham, who had freshly accepted the position only four days before the snow- storm, found Cottage Grove to be a relatively unassuming hum among the cries for county assis- tance during the incident. “I actually didn’t hear a whole lot from Cottage Grove based on wants and needs, which is out- standing,” she said. Cottage Grove city officials chalk that up to a level of self-re- liance that fortified the city against the storm’s severity. “For the snowstorm, we were independent and successfully See READY 7A COMMUNITY ‘Swing shift’ Residents weigh in on Sears Road Residents, fi rst responders and county administrators exchange thoughts on improving safety along Sears Road Carousel steps closer to completion A5 SPORTS — B By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel.com SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Antique planes dazzle at OAHS B1 Cottage Grove’s Swinging Bridge is moving towards completion. As of Friday, Aug. 2, 15 cubic yards of concrete was poured on each side of the bridge, amounting to 30 cubic yards in total. The concrete will aid in ensuring the bridge can support heavier loads and will cure over sev- eral days from Aug. 5 to Aug. 8. Steel columns are scheduled to be installed early September and the entire project is set to be completed in early November. • RECORDS Obituaries Official reports Births A2 • LORANE NEWS A5 • CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices B6-B7 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /CGS ENTINEL @CGS ENTINEL CGS ENTINEL . COM Sounds of symphony echo in The Grove By Sophia Edelblute Cottage Grove Sentinel Intern 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 The sun set over Bohemia Park on Monday, July 29, to the sound of music. The Eu- gene Symphony, conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, played through a number of pieces — from John Williams’ “Harry’s Wondrous World” to Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” Mayor Jeff Gowing even con- ducted a piece called “Tritsch- Tratch Polka” by Strauss Jr. The music may have started at 7:30 p.m. but the event prepara- tion started far earlier. The back was put on the amphitheater’s dome about a week in advance. The day of the event, set up of chairs, tables and equipment started at 8 a.m. The sympho- ny’s own equipment — music stands, stand lights, instruments and their own chairs — arrived in rental trucks later in the after- noon. SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL The amphitheater at Bohemia Park was packed as residents gathered to hear the Eugene Symphony Orchestra July 29. The overall cost of the event was about $24,000, down from just over $30,000 in past years, according to Cottage Grove City Manager Richard Meyers. “We’re not renting the lights anymore, we’ve whittled down Emerald Valley Armory, LLC Handguns • Long Rifles Concealed Carry Classes the number of port-a-potties we rent so we’ve just been able to whittle those costs away,” Meyers said. The costs are covered by the City of Cottage Grove and the Consensus on how best to ad- dress safety issues and whether or not to cut trees on Sears Road was hard to reach at a community input meeting July 29. Nineteen residents of Sears Road assem- bled in the Cottage Grove Com- munity Center to brainstorm solu- tions with fi ve county and two Oregon Department of Transpor- tation (ODOT) representatives. “I was really happy with the meeting, especially having about 20 area residents show up,” said Lane County Senior Transporta- tion Planner Becky Taylor. “I felt that was a pretty good turnout.” Community preferences were collected during a break-out ses- sion which asked residents what their specifi c concerns were with the county’s proposed tree re- moval, if there was community support for other roadway depar- ture countermeasures, if the com- munity would support widening the shoulder to four feet and if there was community support for making other physical changes to Sears Road to improve safety. Though residents and offi cials were largely pleased with the input process, residents in atten- dance were, for the most part, not agreeable to proposed tree re- moval in front of their properties, a key element to the grant funding behind the project. Last week’s community input meeting was held in response to a Feb. 12 Lane County Board of Commissioners meeting in which residents of the rural road testifi ed in opposition to the plan, con- vincing commissioners to vote to delay the project until a suitable compromise could be found. The proposed Sears Road Fixed See MUSIC 6A See SEARS 10A & Tues. - Sat. 10-6 147 E. Oregon Ave. Creswell, OR 97426 12 pk. Only $ $ 15.99 541-895-2666 911 E. Main • Cottage Grove • OPEN 24 HRS.