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entinel Sports
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Life in Cottage Grove
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CGHS Football Incredible Turnaround See page 8
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Wednesday October 9, 2024 | Number 39, 135 years
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City establishing mini homeless camp at 12th Street JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
Public works crews are in the process of establishing a new smaller homeless camp site at the vacant lot on 12th Street in Cottage Grove. Cottage Grove City Manager Mike Sauerwein said the city is behind its original Oct. 1 timeline is establishing the camp, following the Aug. 22 closure and cleanup of the 12th Street and Douglas Street homeless camps. During the transition, the adjacent Lulu Dog Park at 12th Street has been used as a homeless camp site with hours from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily. “None of us have ever managed a homeless camp before, so we knew that date was a bit aspirational,” Sauerwein said. “We are hoping that this week we will be able to make the transition. Our goal was to provide folks with a safe and secure place to spend the night and that’s what we are doing.” Sauerwein said city staff was cleaning up the Lulu Dog Park to reestablish it as a dog park. Specific costs of that cleanup and establishing the smaller homeless camp at 12th Street were not immediately available.
Crews began developing the smaller homeless camp site this week on the vacant lot at 12th Street.
JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
PHOTO JEREMY C. RUARK / COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The new mini homeless camp will include the same restrictions as the former larger camps. “The same rules will apply,” Sauwrwein said. “The camp will be available from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and the rules will be enforced through our contracting company, One Security of Eugene to help us during this transition period. They are a very experienced homeless camp management company.”
Sauerwein and other city officials have told the Sentinel, that there are no additional plans to offer any other long-term sheltering for the homeless. “Cottage Grove will follow state law as we understand it,” Sauerwein said. “That is what we are doing. To change that is up to the legislature. The city of Cottage Grove has no plans to do any kind of a shelter beyond what we are
currently doing, which is providing a location for folks to spend the night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.” Read previous coverage about the homelessness challenges in Cottage Grove and follow new developments at cgsemtinel.com and in the Wednesday print editions of The Sentinel.
See LEGACY, Page 6
See HEALTH, Page 6
Grovers gather to remember Village Green Resort In 1975, when Birdy Hoelzle and her sister Gail opened The Bookmine they were familiar with The Village Green. Their father traveled a lot and often brought its matchboxes home as keepsakes for his girls. The sisters were in their 20’s when they opened the Main Street bookstore and, to enhance their income, worked as waitresses at the resort. “It was a wonderful place to work and, being new in town, it
Nearly 50 people attended the Cottage Grove Historical Society’s “Farewell to the Village Green” at the Community Center, Saturday, Sept. 21. The internationally famous resort was created by Walter A. Woodard (W.A.) and his son, Carlton. Some members of the family attended and shared personal memories.
THROUGH THE LENS
Kris Woodard’s introductory remarks included personal memories he made through the lens of a 12-year-old who was often “in
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Behavioral Impact
the way” during the construction project. He said he was given an important job of opening the boxes delivered to the guest rooms and recalled how cool he felt driving the orange golf cart around the property for assigned errands. Years later, another special memory was seeing the famous football player, O.J. Simpson, running on one of the resort’s paths. To the delight of those gathered, Kris’ brother, Casey Woodard,
CINDY WEELDREYER / COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
helped us meet many of our future bookstore customers,” Birdy said. She shared a humorous memory they made in the formal Iron Maiden Dining Room that drew laughter from the crowd. “My sister and I were budding feminists at the time and were quite shocked by the sexism practiced in the dining room,” she said. “The menu given to a woman had no prices on it and foot pillows were provided so ladies’ uncomfortable shoes could be removed while dining. It was a very different era.”
Oregon’s wildfire season is expected to continue through this month, but the mental scares and impact of the season on the firefighters who battle blazes in Lane County and across the state, and their families, may last a lifetime, according to Jeff Dill, the founder of Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA). Dill established the FBHA in 2010 following Hurricane Katrina. He was than a Battalion Chief for a fire department in northwest Chicago. “I saw our brothers and sisters struggle from the devastation that they saw, so I went back and got my degree and became a licensed counselor,” he said. “We started tracking EMS and firefighter suicides across America.” According to Dill, firefighters often don’t recognize the behavioral impact of their work. “We become cultural brainwashed,” Dill said. “Whether it’s structural or wildland fires. So, we are meant to believe we are supposed to act strong, brave, be help, don’t ask for help, and we don’t want to look weak and not ask for help.” Dill added that while firefighters are on the front lines battling the wildfires, one of the biggest challenges they face is the unknown. “It’s how rapidly theses fires can move, and the unknown is where is it going to end? Where will this fire go to and how long will it last? And that is a struggle,” he said. “So, when you are fighting that fire, you’re trying to do your best to stop it, and yet the wind kicks up at 60 miles an hour and it drags it further and further behind them. That aspect of the unknown is very difficult in wildland fires. The firefighters have that stress and anxiety, and that struggle to protect is a very difficult challenge for the wildland firefighters.” It is often very difficult for family members of the firefighters to understand what emotions there are, and that many firefighters don’t express their emotions, according to Dill. “We ask the family members to try to understand the cultural,” he said. “Be direct. Challenge with compassion when something doesn’t look right or doesn’t sound right, and do an internal size up, which we ask the firefighters to do as well,” he said.” Internal size up means asking why am I acting this way, and why am I feeling this way? The best thing we can do is
Matchbooks from the Village Green Resort in Cottage Grove. See more photos with this story at cgsentinel.com.
CINDY WEELDREYER For The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The mental health impact facing Oregon’s wildland firefighters
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