Posted: Sunday, September 23, 2007 12:00 am
Here are some local issues that have been covered recently in the Gazette-Times and the status of those stories:
Riverfront park plans move forward
THE ISSUE: Plans for a northern extension of Riverfront Commemorative Park are in development for a three-block stretch of undeveloped land north of Tyler Avenue along the Willamette River.
WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR: The Corvallis City Council last week endorsed plans for the park, despite the fact that the Oregon Department of Transportation controls the extreme northern portion of the site for a potential highway bypass.
WHAT'S NEXT: The council will see the park plans again sometime in October or November. The city must apply for a state permit to build near the river. Construction on the park, if it moves ahead, is not likely for three to five years. ODOT says there are no plans in the work at present for a bypass.
Man sentenced for shooting transient
THE ISSUE: Joshua Grimes, 20, shot Dennis Sanderson, a homeless man, in the leg with a .22-caliber rifle last October while Sanderson was looking for cans in garbage bins behind Grimes' then-fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho.
WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR: Grimes pleaded guilty to assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Judge David Connell sentenced Grimes to 150 days of jail, three years of probation, 400 hours of community service in a homeless shelter and $3,000 in fines, a sentence that triggered a community debate about whether it was too lenient. Last week, Sanderson filed a civil lawsuit against Grimes and the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house; Sanderson seeks medical expenses of $5,500 and unspecified punitive damages.
WHAT'S NEXT: The defendants have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Reading program crowded out
THE ISSUE: A program aimed at helping struggling students at low-income schools is being canceled at Lincoln and Garfield schools this year, primarily for lack of space.
WHAT'S HAPPENED SO FAR: The program, Start Making a Reader Today (SMART), targets Title 1 schools, in which 40 percent of more of the students are identified as living in poverty. But Corvallis School District officials said they could not find space to continue the program at Lincoln and Garfield, citing smaller class sizes, schools filled to capacity and the implementation of 90-minute blocks of time devoted to literacy instruction. The program will continue at Mountain View Elementary.
WHAT'S NEXT: Volunteers for SMART say they are working with the school district to see if the program can be worked back into schedules next year at Lincoln and Garfield.
- Gazette-Times