Sep 28 2020 thru Oct 4 2020

I received a question this week about the romantic compatibility between a man born under the sun sign Sagittarius during the lunar Year of the Monkey and a woman born under the sun sign Taurus during the lunar Year of the Pig.

Wildfire recovery and helping people displaced by job loss are top priorities, Representative John Lively (D-12) said during the second Candidate Business Roundtable. The Sept. 21 event, co-hosted by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Government Issues and Economic Development Committees, gave local business owners the chance to ask Lively questions. The former mayor and city councilor also said that infrastructure is needed to better support commerce. The paradigm, he said, has shifted with COVID-19. Responding to a question on cultural differences in the area, Lively said the most important thing is maintaining respect despite differences.

Isolation and fear of a global pandemic, combined with social unrest across the country, natural disasters, and conflicting political ideologies clashing as election day approaches, a national day of prayer and repentance was a brief respite for hundreds on Saturday, Sept. 26. Metaphorically, a bright orange setting sun to the west illuminated the darker clouds overhead as approximately 200 people gathered in Bohemia Park at 6:30 p.m. for a local observance of the national call to prayer. Organized by several local churches, the non-denominational prayer gathering began and ended with worship music led by musicians from several area churches.

Although Oregon’s waterways are one of the state’s greatest assets, many residents might not realize that everyday behaviors can damage the water’s health. As rainwater flows over buildings, yards and streets, it washes pollutants into storm drains and into waterways where they can harm local plants, animals and humans. Springfield’s city leaders devised a program to help raise awareness, held each summer since 2016 – the UpStream Art project. There have been 21 colorful sidewalk murals painted – located primarily around storm drains in Downtown Springfield – to highlight the connection between. This year’s theme is “Keeping It Clean, From Street To Stream” and features work from Emma Baldwin, Mandy Brimmer, Tii Mariie, Uyen-thi Nguyen and Marisa Sliver.

Oregon Department of Education officials filed a temporary administrative rule with the Secretary of State called “All Students Belong” – in hopes of creating a safer and more inclusive environment, they said. “All Students Belong” would temporarily prohibit hate symbols in schools and establish requirements for anti-bias incidents at a district level. The rule went into effect Sept. 18 and districts will be asked to have policies in place by Jan. 1, 2021. A permanent rule will be introduced in several months. This effort was sparked by students as a response to the increasing number of hateful incidents.

A small artisan brewery on Territorial Highway intends to give wine a run for its money. Alesong Brewing & Blending at 80848 Territorial Highway only makes barrel-aged beer, which is a higher-end, complex beverage, said Doug Coombs, 35. He is one of three partners in the business, along with brother Brian, 31, and friend Matt Van Wyck, 48. The brothers originally hail from Tahoe and Matt is from Iowa, but they all call Eugene home.

Gossip may not be the “world’s oldest profession,” but it may be the second. I’m sure there was a source in the Garden of Eden who broke the story about Eve and the apple. I’m thinking it was the snake (#Eve). We, the public, “love us some dirt” but usually dirt about others. People have long been interested in the doings of their neighbors, but injecting one’s self into the public realm is a recent phenomenon.

Sunday was a good day. The community gathered together around a common cause and for a much-anticipated event. It reminded me of when we lived in Gainesville, Fla., and the Gators football team was celebrating its first national title in a citywide party. For the first time in days, the sun and blue skies broke through a wet winter in north central Florida. The team’s head ball coach, Steve Spurrier, the son of a preacher, stepped to the mic: “God’s smiled on the Gators.”

The city council met again Sept. 28 in a work session to discuss the process for choosing an interim mayor in more detail – and councilors made it clear the interim mayor would come from its ranks. With the majority of councilors in favor of picking an interim mayor to fill the position for the remainder of the year, interested councilors will answer questions to be inserted in the agenda packet for the Oct. 19 meeting. Councilors will then vote on the position and discuss the plan for the following term.

Our community dodged another wildfire bullet again this week. At about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, high winds developed in our area. Apparently, a tree, located on private property between south Territorial and Carpenter’s By-Pass roads, fell on power lines, which ignited a fire that quickly began to spread. Many of us were glued to the Lorane Facebook page and the various fire alert websites to get updated information as it happened. Neighbors close to the fire began loading their horses and livestock into trailers in case they needed to quickly move out of the way of the blaze, which the winds were blowing toward Territorial.

As Covid cases surged in Lane County over the past two weeks, Oregon school districts are grappling with bringing students into the schools or delaying their in-person instruction entirely. The data gathered from Sept. 20 shows that Lane County hit 64.9 cases per 100,000 after the Sept. 13 data put the county at 30.6 cases. This is a jump in test positivity from 4.6% to 7.1%, when the first of the month the county was seeing only 2.9% of test positivity. Metrics require a rate of under 30 cases in the preceding seven days and for three weeks in a row for in-person instruction at the kindergarten through third-grade level, which the county has not met for the past two weeks.

Creswell mayor Richard Zettervall resigned effective immediately on Wednesday, Sept. 30, citing negativity and backlash from the community over the equity resolution conversations. His term was to expire at the end of this year, and he announced in a Chronicle guest editorial that he would not be seeking reelection.

Cottage Grove, due to family connections, has become a place of refuge for fifth-generation Blue Riveran, Marianne Purdy. She was relaxing on the sofa after a long day when her venetian blinds told her something wasn’t right. The normally white slats were a glowing pink. Curious, she stuck her head out the door and beheld trees “burning from top to bottom.” This is her story of miraculous escape and some of the history of a community that had already changed much in her lifetime before it was reduced to ash.

May 26, 1958 - Aug. 23, 2020

Aug. 9, 1938 - Sept. 14, 2020

March 11, 1950 - Sept. 5, 2020

Nov. 2, 1970 - Sept. 24, 2020

July 20, 1948 - Sept. 20, 2020

Creswell city councilors said that when it tabled the subject of an equity resolution and committee at September’s meeting, it did not realize that it effectively killed the conversation regarding equity as a whole.