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WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 28, 2019 | $1.00
S entinel
C ottage G rove
Est. 1889
VOL. 131, NO. 34
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
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PERSONAL | BUSINESS
BENEFIT PLANNING | SURETY
Territorial Highway project gets green light
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
(541) 942-0555
PayneWest.com /Cottage-Grove
WEATHER
Sunny skies with a
high of 95 and a low
tonight of 62.
Full forecast on A5
COMMUNITY
The Lane County Board of Com-
missioners approved the Territorial
Highway project Aug. 20, marking
a significant step in the project’s
multi-year development.
“The success of this project has
been, and will continue to be, the
result of all of us working together
to realize these needed improve-
ments,” said the county’s Senior
Transportation Planner Becky Tay-
lor in a statement.
The highway project is a result of
many years of input and coordina-
tion with a community of residents,
bicycle riding groups, freight com-
panies and other stakeholders to
discuss ways to address safety con-
cerns on the 5.7-mile stretch of ru-
ral road.
Meetings with these groups indi-
cated a shared desire to protect the
natural environment and preserve
the rural character of the roadway
while softening sharp curves and
widening the shoulders.
The project is slated to be com-
pleted in four phases over four sum-
mers.
Phase 1 will begin in the summer
of 2020 at a midway section of the
highway, which addresses a land-
slide hazard at Stony Point and
See PROJECT 6A
AKHS mural
marks milestone
for Kennedy
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Library celebrates
Summer Reading
A3
SPORTS — B
CGHS teams take to
the field
B1
• RECORDS
Obituaries
Police Log
A2
• LORANE NEWS
A5
• CLASSIFIEDS
Listings and public
notices
B6-B7
FOLLOW US FOR THE
LATEST NEWS :
Students at Al Kennedy Alterna-
tive High School (AKHS) are enter-
ing the year with a new face on their
school.
A mural depicting the AKHS
logo and forested surroundings
now welcomes visitors at the school
entrance, marking a milestone in
the school’s transition into its rural
setting.
“It’s kind of symbolic that we have
a home now,” said Principal Kim
Scrima. “Having this, kids can start
that ownership process again.”
The mural bears significance in
light of the school’s tenuous first
two years at the location.
“It’s been kind of a rocky transi-
tion,” Scrima said.
In the last three years, the school
has not only seen three different
principals, but struggled with some
of the logistics of a new site.
When the school moved from its
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location in town to its current site in
Delight Valley, the space was initial-
ly shared with Head Start, putting
pre-school and high school youths
on the same campus, which re-
quired fencing to be put up in some
parts of the school.
Then, as part of the Harrison El-
ementary School transition, Kenne-
dy’s greenhouse at the old Harrison
site was demolished and various ob-
stacles have so far prevented a new
one from being installed on the new
site.
Additionally, well water for the
school’s garden, which requires at
least a year of monitoring before be-
ing allowed for use, had prevented
the garden program from being ful-
ly realized. However, the school has
since found ways around the issue
with water tanks and a rain catch-
ment system.
Now entering its third year at its
See MURAL 9A
Armed suspect shot, killed by LCSO deputies
Last Friday, Aug. 23, shortly
before 10 p.m., the Lane County
Sheriff’s Offi ce (LCSO) received a
report of a dispute between a male
and a female at the 37000 block of
Row River Road in Cottage Grove.
Deputies responded but were un-
able to locate the male and the fe-
male.
Saturday morning (Aug. 24) at
approximately 1 a.m., the Sheriff’s
Offi ce received two 911 calls re-
porting that the involved male and
female were back at the location in
a dispute again. Deputies respond-
ed to the location and were initially
unable to locate the involved female
but received information that the in-
volved male was in an outbuilding
on the property.
Deputies used a loudspeaker in
attempt to get the male to come out
of the outbuilding. After several
minutes the male, later identifi ed as
34-year-old Larry Leonard Lowry
Jr., exited the building and came at
deputies with a large, fi xed blade
knife.
Deputies shot Lowry as he ad-
vanced on them. Deputies per-
formed CPR for several minutes un-
til medics arrived and pronounced
Lowry deceased.
The Sheriff’s Offi ce would like to
thank the multiple law enforcement
agencies that responded to assist.
This incident is being investigated
See LCSO 6A
SVRA helps fill gaps among The Grove’s most hungry
By Sophia Edelblute
/CGS ENTINEL
PHOTO BY DAMIEN SHERWOOD
The new mural was painted over the summer by AKHS graduate
Samantha Kelsey and WIOA Transition Specialist Heather Lawson.
sedelblute@cgsentinel.com
541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax
P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
It’s a good feeling to enjoy a
fi lling meal, but some don’t have
that opportunity as often as others.
South Valley Resource Alliance
(SVRA) is looking to change that.
SVRA could be characterized as
an up-and-coming food distribution
group, having started in early 2019,
but that doesn’t mean they aren’t
doing all they can to help. Working
with donations, the group dedicates
the fi rst and third Friday of every
month to a food sharing event held
at the Cottage Grove Community
Center, which is organized by Sara
Simochko and executed through
the help of numerous volunteers.
The group is a partner agency
of Food For Lane County (FFLC),
one of 157 that distribute food. To
qualify as a partner agency, a group
must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofi t or be
umbrellaed under an agency with
that status. SVRA is still in the pro-
cess of receiving nonprofi t status
so, for the moment, it works under
Another Way Enterprises (AWE) of
Cottage Grove.
The Rotary Club
ŽƩĂŐĞ'ƌŽǀĞ
UPCOMING AT OPAL
CREATIVE CHAOS:
SOMEWHERE IN TIME
Show Times
September 13, 14, 20, 21 show at 7:00pm
September 15 and 22 show at 2:00pm
According to Karen Edmunds
with FFLC, the food the organi-
zation receives for distribution to
partner agencies comes from a vari-
ety of sources. Local businesses do-
nate about 43 percent, with 25 per-
cent contributed from Oregon Food
Bank, 27 percent coming from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture,
four percent from local food drives
and the remaining one percent com-
ing from miscellaneous sources.
SVRA collects food from Food
For Lane County and transports it
513 E. MAIN ST.
COTTAGE GROVE, OR 97424
5 41 . 6 2 3 . 0 51 3
TICKETS AVAILABLE ON-LINE OR AT THE CRAFTY MERCANTILE OPALCENTERCG.ORG
Welcomes
the Rotary Friendship
Exchange Team from
Rotary District 3850
Central Philippines
See FOOD 7A
Investigation
concludes in
Dowens fi re
By Damien Sherwood
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Offi cials at the Oregon
Department of Forestry
(ODF) have concluded that
the Dowens Road Fire,
which occurred on May
10 just outside Cottage
Grove, was not directly hu-
man-caused.
“The cause of it was a
branch coming into contact
with the power lines,” said
Michael Curran, unit forest-
er with ODF’s South Cas-
cade District. “It is import-
ant to note, though, the tree
that had the branch fall to
cause the fi re was outside of
the power line right of way.”
The 75.6-acre blaze
took four days to contain,
destroyed one residence,
threatened several others
and prompted a Level 1
Evacuation to be issued be-
tween Dowens Road and
Shoreview Drive by Lane
County Emergency Man-
agement.
Within two hours of be-
ing reported, a full comple-
ment of agencies including
ODF, South Lane Fire and
Rescue, Eugene-Springfi eld
Fire, Coburg Fire, Lowell
Fire, Lane Fire Authority,
Harrisburg Fire, Lane Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Offi ce, Lane
County Search and Rescue,
Lane County Emergen-
cy Management, Cottage
Grove Police and Oregon
State Police were on the
scene to battle the blaze and
direct residents to safety.
At least 86 emergency
response personnel were in-
volved in the event.
Meanwhile, three heli-
copters on six-hour shifts
took turns dropping water
on the fi re while two bull-
dozers helped build contain-
ment lines along the fi re’s
fl anks. By 10:30 p.m. on the
day of the fi re, the threat to
homes had been mitigated
and the sheriff’s offi ce lifted
the evacuation notice.
No deaths or injuries re-
sulted from the fi re.
Fires caused by power
lines have caused immense
devastation lately in North-
ern California. In late 2017,
power lines owned by Pa-
cifi c Gas & Electric were
blamed for 18 related deaths
and a dozen Northern Cali-
fornia wildfi res, including
the infamous Camp Fire
which burned up the town
of Paradise.
One of Oregon’s largest
power companies, Pacifi c
Power, has said it will con-
sider shutting down electric-
ity during extreme weather
events to avoid wildfi res,
though only “as a last re-
sort,” the company said in a
press release in June.