Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 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 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 | $1.00 S entinel VOL. 132, NO. 39 • Est. 1889 Your Local News Delivered Your Way: In Print. Online. On the Go! Get an insurance plan —not just a policy. Infusion of ARPA dollars comes to Cottage Grove By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel.com (541) 942-0555 WEATHER The City of Cottage Grove has received its first distribution of funds from the America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to the tune of $1,161,562.89, prompting the city council to set a work session to discuss how to spend the funds. “They are kind of open,” explained City Man- ager Richard Meyers to the city council on Monday. “There are some restrictions and some limitations on how they can be used, but it’s still pretty flexible.” On March 11, 2021 the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law allocating $1.9 trillion for COVID-19 relief and economic recovery. In May, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the launch of the Coro- navirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, established by ARPA, to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for eligible state, local, ter- ritorial, and tribal governments. Cities throughout Oregon will receive more than $680 million provided over two distribu- tions. The City of Cottage Grove has been allo- cated the same amount for both distributions. Mostly sunny with a high of 73 and a low tonight of 50. Full forecast on A5 SPORTS & REC DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL By Damien Sherwood • RECORDS Obituaries Official releases A2 • LORANE NEWS A5 • CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices B5-B6 see ARPA on A8 Demonstrators turned out last Friday to promote awareness around climate change. The downtown rally was held in conjunc- tion with others around the world that day. Grovers unite with global ‘Fridays for Future’ movement Elks face off against Eagles B1 Cottage Grove is a “non-entitlement” city, meaning the funds go through the state. This requires a report on expenditures to be submit- ted by Oct. 31. To determine how to spend this money, the Cottage Grove City Council is set to convene for a work session, which will be open to the public. “We could wipe out that million dollars pret- ty fast and not really have anything to show for it,” said Meyers, impressing the importance of Rallies for freedom continue on Main COLUMNIST Mary Ellen Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales A5 Special Section in this week’s edition. dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove and some Eugene residents joined activists around the world by participating in a global Fridays for Future demon- stration on Sept. 24 in downtown Cottage Grove. Fridays for Future is part of the Climate Strike movement which began in August 2018 after then- 15-year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks to pro- test against the lack of action on the climate crisis. Thunberg was in the German capital last Friday as part of a global climate protest, which has received attention for hunger strikes that be- gan on Aug. 30. Locally, the demonstration was less dramatic as activists lined side- walks of downtown Cottage Grove with signs in an effort to raise awareness around the dangers of climate change. Rosemary Foraker, a key orga- nizer with Climate Action Cot- tage Grove, hoped people passing through the demonstration would see CLIMATE on A11 DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Local resistance to vaccine mandates has found a weekly home on a Main Street corner. By Damien Sherwood dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Each Thursday for the past sever- al weeks, demonstrators have occu- pied the corner of Highway 99 and Main Street in bid to voice their disapproval with COVID-19-relat- ed mandates. Many drivers honk in support. Some stop to heckle. Others have even staged their own counter-pro- tests. Regardless, the weekly rallies seem to be growing and include committed members who have taken to the streets in other cities as well. The demonstrations average around two dozen people who, though loosely organized, have come together under common causes such as a resistance to vac- cine and mask mandates. “We’re not anti-vax, we’re an- ti-mandate,” clarified one demon- strator who asked to remain anon- ymous. Broadly, attendees also held common opinions about Gover- nor Kate Brown and President Joe Biden. “We don’t like Kate Brown, ob- viously,” the demonstrator contin- ued. “We’re fed up with Joe Biden as well.” Many in the group voiced con- cern that the vaccine mandates are part of a scheme to take away freedoms and considered actions see FREEDOM on A9 City to reimburse for mainline replacement follow us for the latest news: By Damien Sherwood dsherwood @cgsentinel.com /CGSentinel @CGSentinel 541- 942-3325 ph • 541-942-3328 fax P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 The Cottage Grove City Council voted unanimous- ly on Monday night to approve reimbursing the developer of the Harrison Village Apartments for an upcoming replacement of a city sanitary sewer main- line. During the process of constructing the apart- ments, a Hi-Valley De- velopment Corporation project, contractor Meili Construction discovered that it must replace an 8-inch city sewer mainline running through the Har- rison Village Apartments property in order to serve the new development. The property is on the southern half of the old Harrison Elementary School property, which was partitioned earlier this year. The sewer line in ques- tion was constructed be- fore 1975, states the coun- cil memorandum, and is in poor condition. It currently serves 55 homes, the old Harrison school building and the Warren Daugherty Aquat- ic Center. The owner of the Har- rison Village Apartments has offered to have Mei- li Construction replace the current 8-inch sewer mainline with a 12-inch PVC line when connect- ing the new apartment buildings to the city sewer mainline. Meili Construction has estimated the cost to re- place the sewer line with the 12-inch PVC line at $140,453. It’s assumed the replacement will take place between the existing sewer manholes at the intersec- tion of South 10th Street and Tyler Avenue extend- ing approximately 270 feet west to the western edge of the property. The paving of the intersection where the line will be replaced will then be patched, accord- ing to the preliminary es- timate. There is also a 24-inch storm line, confirmed by the city to be abandoned, which will be removed. “Even considering the payment of prevailing wages, this amount reflects a cost savings on mobi- lization costs,” states the memorandum. It’s hoped a prompt re- placing the line will keep Hi-Valley Development Corporation’s project on see CITY on A8 + 100% Contactless Service & Fully Insured Honest. Dependable. Authentic • Complete lawn care packages • Trimming, weeding & mulching • Custom/one-time service options PO Box 341, Cottage Grove, Oregon 541-731-8528 prasadalandscapes.com
