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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2020)
THURSDAY EDITION | APRIL 9, 2020 | $1.00 S ERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF C OTTAGE G ROVE , C RESWELL , D ORENA , D RAIN , E LKTON , L ORANE AND Y ONCALLA C ottage G rove S entinel VOL. 131 131, NO NO. 14 • VOL Your Y our Loca Local al N News e w s Delivered D e l i v e r e d Your Y ou ur Way: W a y : In I n Print. P r i n t . Online. O n l i n e . On O n the t h e Go! G o ! Get an insurance plan —not just a policy. Protocols prevent LCPH from reporting virus locations in rural communities By Ned Hickson & Jared Anderson for The Sentinel (541) 942-0555 WEATHER Sunny skies with a high of 72 and a low tonight of 43. Full forecast on A5 TIPS N TALES A Mary Ellen favorite A5 SPORTS — B OSAA announces hold on spring sports. B1 • RECORDS Obituaries Death Notices Official releases A2 • LORANE NEWS A5 • CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices B7-B8 Est. 1889 received independent reports that This is due to a rule implement- the patient does live in the Florence ed by the county that does not area of the Siuslaw region. allow LCPH representatives to re- However, Lane County will nei- port residency of any cases living The Siuslaw region of Western Lane County may have had its first confirmed case of the novel coro- navirus COVID-19. The patient, a woman in her 50s, returned home this week after be- ing hospitalized with the illness, the first symptoms of which began in late February. Lane County Public Health — Jason Davis, Lane County Public Health (LCPH) announced Thursday that the woman lives in a “rural area outside of Eugene/Springfield,” ther confirm nor deny whether the outside of the Eugene-Springfield and reporters with Siuslaw News patient lives in Florence. area. Instead, all Lane County cit- “I think the general public is not interested in shaming people ... for getting sick, especially since we understand how contagious this illness is. It’s no fault of the individual.” NDSD extends outreach eff orts ies outside that area — including Cottage Grove and Creswell — are lumped into the designation “out- side Eugene/Springfield” or “Rural Lane County.” Because of current LCPH pro- tocol, those living in Lane County but outside Eugene/Springfield will not have official confirmation of any cases of COVID-19 despite evidence that there is at least one confirmed case already. LCPH says the reason for the current protocol is patient privacy and safety. Recent examples of dis- criminatory actions against See LCPH 3A LCC’s CG campus adjusts to lay-off s Parade for their ‘peeps’ By Nick Snyder By Nick Snyder nsnyder@cgsentinel.com nsnyder@cgsentinel.com As all corners of American life transition to a new way of oper- ating on-the-fl y, North Douglas School District (NDSD) is fi nding that the connections our insti- tutions are just as import- ant as the services they provide. Last week, NDSD be- gan using its Mid-Colum- bia bus services to deliver meals, education packets and even Chromebooks on their regular routes to the 250-plus students in the district in an effort to continue serving the community while ob- serving Oregon Depart- ment of Education and social-distancing guide- lines. It became immediately apparent to Superinten- dent Terry Bennett that providing these deliver- ies was about much more than keeping students’ noses to the educational grindstone. “This is what schools have always done,” Ben- nett said. “Traditionally, you go all the way back and [schools] refl ect your community and they meet that community’s needs.” Particularly in a small- er community like Drain, See NDSD 6A PHOTOS BY DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Harrison Elementary School teachers and staff drove through residential neighborhoods on April 3 with signs, smiles and words of encouragement for Harrison students, who waved back to the procession. In keeping with state guidelines, the district is embracing “distance learning,” and keeping school doors closed during the public health crisis. “[The idea] came from caring adults who wanted to find a way to connect with their students,” said Harrison Principal Heidi Brown. After nearly a month of COVID-19 gripping our national conscious- ness, the wider impact of the virus has now hit Lane Community Col- lege. On Wednesday, March 25, Lane Communi- ty College (LCC) and Chief Human Resourc- es Offi cer Shane Turner announced that the col- lege would be laying off about 400 employees — around 100 of whom haven’t been active since fall term — in direct re- sponse to state govern- ment orders for educa- tion to be conducted in a remote setting and in order to stem the spread of the virus. Many of the 400 jobs were part-time, tem- porary or only needed for onsite operations of classes at LCC, such as janitorial services, that have now been ren- dered unnecessary by remote-learning opera- tions. The jettisoning of jobs, however, didn’t have as big of an impact locally in Cottage Grove as the campus is small and lim- ited in the types of cours- es and services it offers. “As far as staffi ng goes, we have about two See LCC 8A FOLLOW US FOR THE New restrictions mean dealing with death from a distance dsherwood@cgsentinel.com 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 In times of mourning, people of- ten seek solace in the proximity of others. In times of a public health crisis, however, funeral homes have been forced to change the way people find that solace. “COVID-19, it really punishes those who are grieving and going through the death and dying pro- cess,” said Marc Lund, part owner See GRIEVE 8A N SURE Test Water Quality And Water Flow Rate D ON E LICENSED N I 541-942-0420 lies – if they’re going to have a me- morial service – would have more than 10 people show up,” he said. “It’s very difficult to stay under that number.” Some families have been advised to hold an intimate event present- ly and postpone holding a public event until later in the year when social gatherings are no longer prohibited. In lieu of that, Lund Install, Service, and Replace Pumps and Water Filtration Systems I Certifi ed Green people memorialize their funer- als and say goodbye,” said Lund. “You’re saying goodbye to your loved one and the life that life lived. And the need to have that ceremo- ny is really powerful.” By Lund’s estimate, his business services hundreds of cases per year and he is now playing the balanc- ing act of maintaining an essential service for the area while adhering to state directives. “In Cottage Grove, most fami- D Quality Cleaning of Smith Lund Mills Funeral Chap- el & Crematorium. On March 23, Gov. Kate Brown issued an executive order directing Oregonians to restrict gatherings to 10 people or less and to keep a distance between each other of at least six feet. In the process of grieving for a recently departed loved one, such limitations can be less than ideal. “It’s been challenging because we’re in the business of helping D By Damien Sherwood @CGSentinel B /CGSentinel D LATEST NEWS : SURE Bonded Licensed Insured CCB# 225978 Brandon Ervin (Owner) Tel: 541.649.8100 • For service after hours, Call (503)991-9159 For service after hours, Call (503)991-9159 Email: ervinfamilypumpervice@gmail.com