The COTTAGE GROVE
entinel
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Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Number 35 • 135 years
One year in police chief reflects, looks ahead JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
“It’s been a great first year. I think we’ve got a lot accomplished,” Cory Chase said in reflecting on his first year as Cottage Grove Police Department Chief. Chase arrived on the job Sept. 11. 2023. “I was welcomed to the community, and I still feel that today,” he said. “I told people when I got here that I was going to build strong relationships in the community. That I would be out in the community, and I think I’ve done that. I have made a lot of good connections. I am known by
my first name now in town. I walk into businesses I am not a stranger. When they see me, they know who I am. I do appreciate the support.” Cottage Grove Mayor Candace Solesbee said Chase has made a significant and professional impact on the community. “Chief Chase joined our city at a tumultuous time,” Solesbee said. “We not only had a great number of police jobs to fill, but also needed to examine general practices that led us to that position. I
POLICE CHIEF cont. on page 7
Windows broken, businesses damaged, suspect arrested JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
Local business operators in the Cottage Grove Old District were forced to repair damage to their shops following an overnight vandalism spree. Skye Felton owns PC Garage, a computer repair business on E. Main Street. Felton was repairing a broken front window at the business Wednesday morning, Aug. 21. Felton said he got a phone call early Wednesday morning from an upstairs tenant alerting him about the vandalism. “Somebody walking down Main Street just bashing in windows,” Felton said. “When I got here, I found glass everywhere.” Felton said his front window display with com-
puters was damaged and he even found broken glass deep inside his store. He estimated the damage to his store to be approximately $2,000. South Lane 9-1-1 received reports at approximately 12:30 a.m. Aug. 21, of a male in 700 block of East Main Street breaking windows out of businesses along the street. Cottage Grove Police officers were nearby and responded immediately to the area where they contacted 37-year-old Jacob J. Schott, a local resident, and attempted to take him into custody, according to Cottage Grove Police Chief Cory Chase. “During the arrest, one officer was assaulted before the officers were able
VANDALISM cont. on page 8
Homeless camp site transition underway JEREMY C. RUARK Cottage Grove Sentinel
Cleanup of the Douglas and 12 Street homeless camp sites was to begin this week following the Aug. 22 closing of the camps in Cottage Grove. Cottage Grove City Manager Mike Sauerwine said the transition is a critical step forward.
[ ] “This is going to be a work in progress.” Mike Sauerwine, Cottage Grove City Manager
TODAY’S EDITION
“The camps are unsafe,” he said. “They are unsecure. They are unsanitary. We’ve had incidents of criminal activity, and we really needed to get in and clean them up,” he said just before the Aug. 22 camp closure deadline. Our goals are fairly simple. Our first goal is to move folks out of the Douglas and 12 Street camps so that we go in and clean them up.”
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The city’s second goal is to transition from the openair, 24/7 camps to a camp at the Lulu Dog Park that opens at 7 p.m. and closes at 7 a.m. The dog p[ark is a short distance away from the two homeless camp sites. “It is just a place for people to sleep at night,” Sauerwine said. “Then they have to leave. We will transition the people from the Lulu Dog Park, a temporary facility, back to the 12 Street camp site. That will again be a 7 p.m. 7 a.m. camp and then we will turn the Lulu Dog Park back into a dog park.” Sauerwine said the main emphasis is for the city to offer a 7 p.m. 7 a.m. camp at the 12 Street site. The city provided several notices at the camp sites prior the transition, with the move-out deadline of 10 a.m. Aug. 22. During the morning of Aug. 22, Sauerwine was at 12th Street site with police to oversee the transition process. Officers strolled through the camp, checking to see if the campers were safe and advising
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those at the site that it was time to leave. “We are trying to treat all at the campers with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Sauerwine said. City crews were scheduled to assess the camp
sites Aug. 26 and begin the cleanup this week with the goal of completing the effort by the end of September. “We really don’t know what we will find ounce folks move out,” Sauer-
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wine said. “This is going to be a work in progress.” Sauerwin added that the cost of the cleanup is unknown until the city determines what is found and how extensive the cleanup will be at the two sites.
HOMELESS STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD Cottage Grove does not offer an overnight brick
HOMELESS cont. on page 8