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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2021)
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 | MAY 27, 2021 | $1.00 S entinel VOL. 132, NO. 21 • Est. 1889 Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go! Get an insurance plan —not just a policy. Sherwood named editor of the Cottage Grove Sentinel Lead reporter promoted to full leadership (541) 942-0555 By Chantelle Meyer F OR T HE S ENTINEL WEATHER The Cottage Grove Sentinel is heading into its next transition — but this time, it is to place a fa- miliar hand at the editorial helm. After two and a half years as lead reporter, Damien Sherwood assumes the title of editor on June 1. Chance of showers with a high of 62 and a low tonight of 45 Full forecast on A5 “I am excited for Damien to lead the Cottage Grove Sentinel editorial team and oversee the op- erations of our newsroom,” said Publisher Gary Manly. “Damien has a passion for the news that matters to our community and that is evident in his work. I am thrilled to have an editor with the integrity, reputation, expertise, drive and vision of Damien to lead The Sentinel forward as we continue to grow and expand.” Sherwood, who has bachelor’s degrees in jour- nalism and political science from the University of Oregon, came to The Sentinel after teaching English abroad for 10 years and a one-year in- Bringing back the art COLUMNIST Mary Ellen Pet Tips ‘N’ Tales A3 SPORTS CG Girls Basketball B1 • RECORDS Obituaries Official releases A2 • LORANE NEWS A5 • CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices B5-B6 follow us for the latest news: DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Downtown will light up with art and music on Friday as the Art Walk returns to Cottage Grove. After more than a year without the monthly event, musicians will take to the streets to set the atmosphere, such as in this photo from April 2019, while passers-by weave in and out of shops to examine or even purchase local artist’ work. (See A6 for the full story) see EDITOR on A7 Nearly $900,000 earmarked for CGHS scholarships Last month, the Cottage Grove Community Foun- dation received $894,335 from the estate of Janice Neely earmarked for schol- arships for education ma- jors for graduating seniors at Cottage Grove High School (CGHS). The foundation estab- lished The Janice Neely Memorial Scholarship En- dowment Fund, the income from which will fund the scholarships. Neely was a teacher, then counselor, at CGHS from 1952 until her retirement in 1987. She was instrumental in establishing and further- ing women’s sports. She coached field hockey, vol- leyball, basketball, softball and tennis. She was named South Lane Education Associa- tion’s Teacher of the Year for 1971-1972 and was in- ducted into the CGHS Ath- letics Hall of Fame on April 10, 2010. In April 2012, the “Coach Neely Fitness Trail,” a two- thirds-mile loops trail was developed at the high school and dedicated to honor her. Neely loved teaching her students and they loved her. South Lane School District Superintendent Yvonne Curtis expressed her appreciation for the generous investment in the community’s students. “We are grateful to the Cottage Grove Community Foundation for managing endowments that provide scholarships for our stu- dents to pursue post-grad- uation and training,” she said. “We appreciate Janice Neely for remembering our students and for her generosity. These scholar- ships will enable our stu- dents who want to become teachers to receive financial support for pursuing their college degree. With this fi- nancial support, more stu- dents will be able to teach in our schools and perhaps return to our district to be- come South Lane School District teachers. “Our goal to create a pathway for our students to become our teachers be- comes an attainable goal for the district with financial support of students.” The Cottage Grove Community Foundation partners with the Oregon Community Foundation in investing and managing endowment funds. Oregon Community Foundation distributes in- come from endowment funds annually at the cur- rent rate of 4.3 percent. The local foundation has 43 see DONATION on A10 Unofficial results provide Special Election forecast By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel. com @CGSentinel Preliminary results of the Lane County’s May 18, 2021, Special Election were released on May 20, with fi- nal vote totals due to be of- ficially certified and posted on June 7. The county’s website reports 70,011 ballots re- ceived out of 272,230 reg- istered voters, giving Lane County a 25 percent voter 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 /CGSentinel Jim Goodling - Mike Grant 330 OR-99 Suite C • Cottage Grove, OR 97424 541-942-0165 ternship at The Sentinel’s sister newspaper in Florence, the Siuslaw News. “It turned out journalism is what I really want- ed to do,” he said. Sherwood’s title change comes as Ned Hick- son, The Sentinel’s managing editor for the past three years, retires from 23 years in journalism. “Damien has been an integral part of shifting the paper back towards something that we feel is more tuned into the community,” Hickson said. “He’s one of those people that really believes in turnout rate. While the candidates of uncontested seats seem to have predictably won out against write-ins, some contested positions were neck-and-neck. The South Lane School District (SLSD) Board race, for instance, in which all three seats were contested, reported as few as 42 votes between the incumbent Sherry Duerst-Higgins and challenger Melanie Stuhl- miller. All incumbents were re- ported to have leads over their challengers with Col- leen Valley leading by 98 votes against Erik Benson and Taylor Wilhour ahead by 210 votes against Pam Duffy. On May 19, SLSD had al- ready called the election by releasing an official state- ment on its Twitter account congratulating the incum- bents on their wins. Meanwhile, the Lane Community College Board saw a three-way contest for the Zone 1 seat between Thomas Jennings, Mark Boren and newly appointed incumbent Holli Johnson, with Johnson pulling a de- cisive lead at 68 percent of the vote. Her election would make Johnson the first Black woman ever elected to LCC’s board once results are finalized. For Zone 5, results are reporting a sizeable lead as well for Steve Mital against Al King, with Mital taking in about 64 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, voters also seemed to overwhelm- ing endorse the passing of Measure 20-319, which supports 4-H and Oregon State University Extension programs in Lane County. see ELECTION on A10