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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2020)
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 THURSDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 24, 2020 | $1.00 S entinel VOL. 131, NO. 51 • Est. 1889 Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go! Get an insurance plan —not just a policy. Lane County Chambers of Commerce unite in plea to Governor CG Chamber President & CEO Shauna Neigh joined five chamber presidents seeking relief for local small businesses “They’ve done the best they can ... without support to meet mandated changes.” By Ned Hickson and Damien Sherwood (541) 942-0555 WEATHER Clouds and sun with a high of 52 and a low tonight of 37. Full forecast on A5 COLUMNIST Cottage Grove Sentinel Leaders representing many of Lane County’s small- and medi- um-sized businesses across the re- gion have sent a co-signed plea for support to Governor Kate Brown and elected representatives on be- half of their constituent businesses. Co-signers included Cottage Grove Chamber President & CEO Shauna Neigh, along with chamber presidents from Springfield (Von- nie Mikkelsen), Eugene (Brittany Quick-Warner), Florence (Betti- —Shauna Neigh, Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce na Hannigan), Oakridge Westfir (Lynda Kamerrer), as well as CEO of Travel Lane County Kari West- lund — all of whom are asking for financial and regulatory relief. “Too many of our small busi- nesses will not survive the winter. The health and welfare of our fami- lies and communities cannot thrive without them,” said Quick-Warner. “They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t vote for this. Their condi- tion is no fault of their own and the economic damage to our local The Joy of Giving businesses and families statewide is in the billions of dollars, not mil- lions.” Hannigan added that, “If a small business dies it impacts more than just the owner,” explaining that the repercussions not only impact em- ployees and their families but also business property owners and their families, and the vendors to those businesses and their families. “If this keeps up, the only take-out food will be from the state’s bread lines,” said Hannigan. “You can hear the despair in See LETTER 6A COVID-19 vaccine arrives at Lane County hospitals By Ned Hickson nhickson@cgsentinel.com As COVID-19 immuniza- tions began arriving around the state last week, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) fi nalized its recommendations for who will be the fi rst to receive doses of new COVID-19 vaccines. Oregon’s Phase 1a COVID-19 Vaccine Plan and Recommend- ed Sequencing aligns with fed- eral Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guide- lines for broad groups to be Betty Kaiser’s annual Christmas letter B1 CHRISTMAS TALE See PLAN 7A Governor gives update on results of Special Session Special holiday editorial B3 By Mark Brennan for The Sentinel • RECORDS Obituaries Official releases A2 • LORANE NEWS B1 • CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices B5-B6 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : PHOTOS BY GARY MANLY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Community Sharing and the Tree of Joy program distributed food boxes and gifts to the communi- ty on Monday at Trinity Lutheran Church. Both groups more than doubled their output from last year. In all, 484 Christmas food boxes and 538 gifts for school-age children were passed out to scores of vehicles driving by the church while some portion of the donations were even delivered to families. This year was marked by a collaboration with Be Your Best and the Rural Organizing Project. “We’re just so grateful for the help from [those groups],” said Community Sharing Executive Director Mike Fleck. “It was a great success with their help.” Tree of Joy volunteer Joyce Settelmeyer said an influx of local generosity and leftover toys donated from the Toys for Tots program helped exceed expectations. “I’m always impressed with how generous our community is,” she said. Governor Kate Brown held a news conference Tuesday after- noon to update the public on the arrival of the fi rst shipment of COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfi zer-BioNTech and plans for the distribution of those and another vaccine from Moderna, which is scheduled to arrive soon. Brown also discussed the results of a special session of the Oregon Legislature called by the governor to deal with See BROWN 8A /CGSentinel @CGSentinel Swinging Bridge recognized with merit award for engineering By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel.com 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 The J. Polk Currin Swinging Bridge received more recognition this month when it won an Award of Merit for Small Projects under $10 million from Engineering News Record (ENR) Northwest. “I was very excited to learn that our Swinging Bridge project was recognized a second time by lead- ers in the engineering field,” said Friends of the Swinging Bridge member Dana Merryday, who at- tended the virtual event. “In both cases the awarding organization recognized the innovative mix of modern and durable materials while preserving the original de- sign and feel of the original. They also noted that the community was very determined to bring back this historic bridge…” ENR is an industry publication and annually recognizes major projects. The Northwest region includes Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The bridge has been a promi- nent city landmark since the 1920s, but was closed in 2016 after being deemed unsafe by the city. WE ARE HERE TO HELP All services are completely free. LOOKING GLASS COMMUNITY SERVICES Rural Program 508 E. Whitaker Ave. Cott age Grove Monday - Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm Offi ce & 24/7 Crisis Line: (541) 767 - 3823 Performing All Phases of Automotive Repair Specializing in Gas & Diesel Engines Most Makes and Models FORD • GM • DODGE 5 41-942-2521 80408 Delight Valley School Road Cottage Grove, OR 97424 www.huddleaut omotive.com A community-led push to re- store the iconic structure result- ed in a project which enlisted the design and construction expertise of Ausland Group and Hamilton Construction. The new suspension design aimed to capture the distinctive swinging and aesthetic character See AWARD 10A