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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2020)
S ERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF C OTTAGE G ROVE , C RESWELL , D ORENA , D RAIN , E LKTON , L ORANE AND Y ONCALLA THURSDAY EDITION|JANUARY 9, 2020 | $1.00 S entinel C ottage G rove VOL. 132, NO. 2 • Est. 1889 Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go! SLSD chooses Harrison developer Could you be saving on home and auto policies? Call a local agent today (541) 942-0555 Local developer Blackstone will build housing on the old school site. PayneWest.com/CottageGrove WEATHER By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel. com Clouds and rain with a high of 43 and a low tonight of 36. Full forecast on A5 COMMUNITY DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL One of several homeless campsites near the public Cottage Grove Disc Golf Course underscores the issue of homelessness in the area and how the latest court decision could impact local enforcement. Heather Buch named to chair of LCBC. A3 SPORTS — B Lady Lions ready for league play. B1 • RECORDS Obituaries State & County news A2 • LORANE NEWS A5 • CLASSIFIEDS Court decision on homeless stands By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel. com A Dec. 16 Supreme Court decision to deny a petition to review Martin v. City of Boise has final- ized a significant holding by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which protects the right for homeless people to sleep in public spaces without reprisal. The Circuit Court rul- ing held that if a home- less person has no option of sleeping indoors, a city cannot cite or punish him or her for violating an or- dinance disallowing sleep- ing outside in a public space. The decision effects how cities across the West may deal with their home- less populations. “It gives us less tools to deal with perceived prob- lems,” said Cottage Grove Police Captain Conrad Gagner, though he added that the court decision is not a critical restraining factor for law enforce- ment. “It hasn’t been a real pervasive problem since the decision was made in 2018,” he said. The case began in 2009 when Robert Martin and five individuals chal- lenged Boise’s ordinances restricting public camp- ing and sleeping, alleging that enforcement of those ordinances violated the Eighth Amendment’s pro- hibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Years of legal wran- gling culminated in the 9th Circuit Court revers- ing a lower court ruling in 2018, Judge Marsha Berzon writing that “im- position of criminal pen- alties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on pub- lic property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter” amounted to the unconstitutional criminalization of home- lessness. “As long as there is no option of sleeping in- doors, the government cannot criminalize in- digent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” she wrote. Critics of the decision feel the federal court has given homeless people the ‘de facto right’ to sleep on sidewalks. The City of Boise states on its website that “the 9th Circuit’s decision ef- fectively creates a con- stitutional right to camp, holding that cities can- not prevent anyone from camping until they first provide enough shelter beds for everyone, thus exempting public en- campments from a host of public health and safety laws.” The court decision ef- fects nine Western states, Oregon among them. Thus, cities like Cottage Grove with no permanent shelters must find alterna- tive methods to solve the challenges faced by their homeless populations. The state of homeless- ness in Cottage Grove is not easy to quantify and its location next to the I-5 corridor lends to a degree of the transient presence. Even among the more rooted unhoused, true numbers are hard to come by. “I think there are a lot more homeless people than are evident,” said Gagner. Though there is a South Lane School District (SLSD) board members unanimously voted on Jan. 6 to begin negotiations with local developer Blackstone Building Community to develop housing on the old Harrison Elementary School property. Following the proper- ty’s rezoning from R1 to R2 in July last year, the district posted a request for proposal (RFP) in September and subse- quently selected three proposals for consider- ation by committee. “It was the goal of the board to meet the needs of the community while selling the property,” said Interim Assistant Superintendent Brian McCasline. “And this process of a site design concepts and develop- ment RFP fi t their needs.” Th e district laid out several goals in its search for the property’s rede- velopment plans, which included meeting com- munity housing needs, achieving long-term eco- nomic success, ensuring public interest, estab- lishing fi nancing options and considering sustain- ability. Th e board previously voted to sell the proper- ty for a fi xed amount of $400,000 under the stip- ulation that the develop- er “complete abatement, and/or removal of asbes- tos and lead paint in the building or demolition and removal of the build- ing.” Blackstone Building See SLSD 8A See COURT 8A Listings and public notices B6-B7 CGPD officer retires after 22 years dsherwood@cgsentinel. com /CGS ENTINEL @CGS ENTINEL CGS ENTINEL . COM 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 COURTESY PHOTO Officer Chris Joyce with one of his K-9 police dogs, Torq. Cottage Grove Police Officer Chris Joyce started this year on the last day of his career. After nearly 22 years with the Cottage Grove Police Depart- ment, 51-year-old Joyce retired Jan. 1, leaving behind a lasting imprint on the lives he guided as both an officer and a citizen. Originally from Nyssa, Ore., Joyce began his career there as in officer in 1994 and continued to Madras before settling in Cot- tage Grove in 1998. Joyce’s first assignment in The Grove was to conduct D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Educa- tion) classes once a week, teach- ing the dangers of drug abuse to the town’s fifth grade classes. This led Joyce to eventually add school resource officer to his duties as well. In 2004, Joyce became a K-9 officer, spending the next 13 and a half years handling police dogs JoJo and later Torq. Joyce has also spent his 22 years in Cottage Grove as a wres- tling coach, starting with middle school then moving on to high school. In addition, he regular- ly coached football through the last two decades. “Those were my two identities in this community, as police of- ficer and as a coach,” said Joyce. As a coach, Joyce developed strong relationships with staff and students. 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