Cottage Grove Sentinel
Community & Lifestyle
B1
•
THURSDAY | MAY 7, 2020
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Middlefield reopens
after five-week closure
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Governor announces
limited opening of
recreational areas
Governor Kate Brown an-
nounced Tuesday the limited
opening of some state parks, out-
door recreation facilities and areas
across Oregon for day use eff ective
May 5, with camping opportunities
becoming available as federal, state,
local and private providers are able
to prepare their facilities for vis-
itors. Ski resorts will also be able
to resume activities under a new
executive order that will be forth-
coming.
“Enjoying
Oregon’s
beauty
and bounty is one of our state’s
time-honored traditions,” said
Brown. “As we begin to slowly open
up recreation sites, state parks and
ski areas opportunities, it is critical
we ensure the health and safety of
staff , volunteers, and the public.
And that begins with each of us
taking personal responsibility to
be good stewards of our parks, and
each other.”
Under the Governor’s “Stay
Home, Save Lives” executive order,
not all outdoor recreation areas
were closed. However, as concerns
about public health and safety due
to crowding and lack of physical
distancing grew, Brown support-
ed the decisions of local, state and
federal jurisdictions to close sites
to protect the health and safety of
their communities.
Oregon’s outdoor recreation pro-
viders and the Oregon Health Au-
thority (OHA) have partnered to
create recommendations for safe-
ly and gradually off ering limited
outdoor recreation opportunities.
Th is approach means not all day-
use and camping areas will open at
once.
Reopening outdoor recreation
areas will be a phased approach as
it becomes safe for some commu-
nities and recreational providers to
do so. It will also mean a change in
the way Oregonians visit some fa-
miliar sites.
Columbia River Gorge parks and
recreation areas, as well as coast-
al areas that are not yet ready to
welcome visitors back, will remain
closed for now, while the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department
coordinates with local jurisdictions
and partners in Washington to de-
termine the appropriate timing for
reopening.
Th e Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department (OPRD) has al-
ready announced a small number
of inland state parks that will off er
limited services beginning May 6:
• Tryon Creek in Portland
• Willamette Mission north of
Keizer
• Mongold boat ramp at Detroit
Lake
• State Capitol State Park in Sa-
lem
• Th e Cove Palisades boat ramp
at Lake Billy Chinook near Culver
• Prineville Reservoir boat ramp
near Prineville
• Joseph Stewart boat ramp on
Lost Creek Lake near Shady Cove
• Pilot Butte to pedestrians (no
vehicles) in Bend
Limited day-use will slowly re-
turn to other state parks starting
the week of May 11 based on the
readiness of the community around
the park to welcome visitors, and
how prepared the park is with
staff , supplies and equipment. State
parks will open and close with lit-
tle advance notice; updates will be
See PARKS 2B
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Middlefield Golf Course reopened last Friday and local golf-
ers took advantage of the sunny weather on Monday as the
parking lot — both for cars and carts — was packed with
visitors eager to get back to hitting the links.
It may be a long and wind-
ing road back to normal, but
as of last week at least one
local institution is one step
closer to getting there.
Middlefield Golf Course,
owned and operated by the
City of Cottage Grove since
2006, reopened last Friday,
May 1 giving golfers a chance
to get back to the outdoors
just in time for warmer, sun-
nier weather.
The course had been closed
since March 23 when Gover-
nor Kate Brown issued Exec-
utive Order 20-12 which des-
ignated essential businesses
that were allowed to remain
open — hospitals, gas sta-
tions, grocery stores, etc. —
while closing a wide variety
of other outfits such as gyms,
dine-in restaurants and bars,
hair salons, movie theaters
and golf courses.
After over five weeks of
closure, the reopening is a
welcome sign for a nation
and local community that
has seen the normal course
of day-to-day life upended in
the face of a global viral pan-
See GOLF 2B
PHOTO C/O SKYE HEFNER
A collection of handsewn face masks made from donated materials by Skye Hefner, Athena Intros and a host of other local
volunteers.
Sewing the seeds of community
had joined that group that had started up
in Eugene,” Hefner said. “I started with that
and then Athena and I were talking and de-
There’s a longstanding tradition of sac- cided that, because what happens - and it
rifice and community involvement in Cot- happens very frequently - is that anything
tage Grove, something even a global pan-
demic can’t shake.
Just as Rosie the Riveters - a
group that holds a place of spe-
cial prominence in the Cottage
Grove area - took up manufac-
turing slack in the war effort over
seven decades ago, local residents
Skye Hefner and Athena Intros —
friends who work together at the
Western Oregon Expo as office
that’s based up in Eugene or Springfield
manager and secretary, respectively — have ends up basically forgetting that Cottage
headed up a local group to sew and provide Grove exists, so we decided that, instead of
face masks for Grovers in need as the coun- providing work up there, that we wanted to
try faces shortages of all manner of person- cover Cottage Grove because that’s what we
al protective equipment (PPE).
do.”
“This whole [virus] thing started and I
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Towards the beginning of the COVID-19
shutdown, Hefner and Intros posted to the
Pay It Forward Cottage Grove Facebook
page that they would be providing hand-
sewn face masks free of charge and began
making their list. Healthcare
workers, caregivers and essential
workers were given priority and
moved to the top. The list quick-
ly grew to over 400 and then kept
growing.
“The list, as of [April 25], we
hit 1,000 masks that we’ve put
together and given out,” Hefner
said. “Pretty much all of the ma-
terial we’ve used has been donated from
people in the community who have masks,
but wanted to help out. It’s been really cool.”
When asked about the idea of being
a “modern-day Rosie the Riveter”, Hef-
“I’ve been up until two, three, four
o’clock in the morning, but this hasn’t
just been me and Athena only, there’s
a whole bunch of people that have
been helping out.”
See MASKS 2B
Oregon to provide over 351,000 children
with meal replacement benefits
The Department of
Human Services (DHS)
and the Oregon De-
partment of Education
(ODE) announced today
that Oregon families with
children who are eligible
for free or reduced-price
school meals will get cash
benefits for the meals
they would have received
at school even if they have
been accessing meals
from schools during the
closure.
The USDA Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS)
authorized DHS to pro-
vide Oregon P-EBT
(Pandemic School Meal
Replacement Benefits)
to more than 351,000
students receiving free
or reduced-price school
meals in Oregon, in-
cluding almost 147,000
students already receiv-
ing Nutrition Assistance.
Households will receive
benefits equivalent to one
free lunch and one free
breakfast for each eligible
child – $5.70 per normal
school day for the months
of March, April, May and
June.
“Together, DHS and
ODE are working to en-
sure no child in Oregon
goes hungry during the
COVID-19 pandemic,”
said Dan Haun, DHS
Self-Sufficiency
Pro-
grams Director. “This re-
source is the result of our
strong collaboration and
will provide additional
support for child nutri-
tion and expand families’
options for healthy food.”
“The approval of this
program highlights the
tremendous partnership
between ODE and DHS
and our shared desire
to strengthen our com-
munities,” added Dustin
Melton, Director of
ODE’s Child Nutrition
Programs. “The P-EBT
program will support stu-
dent’s nutritional needs
during a time of crisis and
uncertainty.”
Eligible Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Pro-
gram (SNAP) households
will have their March,
April and May benefits
automatically deposited
to their existing Electron-
ic Benefit Transfer (EBT)
accounts in late May. Stu-
dents who get free or re-
duced-price school meals
but do not receive SNAP
benefits will automatical-
ly receive an Oregon Trail
See MEALS 4B