The Coquille Dog Park will be dedicated  on Saturday, June 6. The project committee  deserves special credit for this  accomplishment. It is a very positive statement  about the character of Coquille folks  that this project was completed in half the  time and for about 36% of the cost of a  similar project recently completed in larger  community over in the I-5 corridor. The  ingenuity exhibited by our committee (led  by Linda Short) in securing not only monetary  donations but donated materials and  labor had to be a factor in getting coquille’s  dog park completed in such an expeditious  fashion. This project is another example of  what causes visitors to comment about their  amazement over how such a small city can  accomplish so much.

On June 17 Loran Wiese and Dennis  Graham will be in Sun River to present  Coquille’s River Walk trail project proposal  to the state committee which will decide  which of 68 projects applying for funds  actually get funded this year. The project  committee hopes to pave as much of the  multi use pathway as the grant and locally  raised funds will allow. The project continues  selling honor bricks to raise funds for  the project. Purchase forms are available at  the community center, city hall and the  Sentinel office. These bricks will ultimately  become a part of the trail surface between  the parking area near Fat Tuesdays and the  trestle. Two sizes are available (4"x8" and  8"x8") at $50.00 and $75.00 respectively.  Sample bricks can be seen at the Sentinel  office and in the community center near the  entry to the large auditorium.

Hanging flower baskets are up! Seiya  Nishi says the cool weather this spring  slowed the growth of the flowers in the  baskets. He expects that the warmer weather  we have been enjoying recently will  accelerate their growth over the next few  weeks. The time for watering crews to start  their scheduled runs began last week. The  hanging flower basket project committee  says that they can still use a few more volunteers  for manning the watering truck this  summer. Watering is done on Tuesday and  Thursday each week and takes about 1 ½  hours to make the rounds. The committee  says that the more 3-person crews that are  signed up, the less frequently each crew has  to be on duty. Interested persons can sign up  at the Coquille Garden Shop on Central  between Curves and the Motel.  The Western Oregon Wind project has  transferred its prototype wind turbine production  to Reedsport

They report that production  is progressing well. The funds for  installing demonstration units for use by  Coquille and Bay area schools are still progressing  through the US Congressional  approval processes in Washington, DC.  Initial performance estimates indicate the  school installations will generate more power  than needed for school use, thereby pumping  surplus electricity into the Northwest Power  Grid. The project hopes that revenues from  sales of surplus power is enough to help the  involved school districts with their current  budget problems.

Operation Welcome provides newcomers  special bags containing information about  services and merchants in Coquille. Earlier  this year bags were going out at the rate of  about one per week. During May the rate has  dropped to none, but it is expected that activity  will pick up in the summer. Newcomers,  or those knowing of newcomers, are invited  to call the Sentinel phone number (396-3191)  and ask for Dian with their requests for these  welcoming bags. The objective of this project  is to help newcomers get situated and familiar  with where they can find locally the  goods and services they need for every day  life.  Operation Coquille Inc. needs more volunteer  members willing to help carry out  community benefit projects for improving  our quality of life. Individuals can become  members by coming into the Sentinel office  on First St., completing a membership form,  and leaving the form with a dues payment on our desk. (Dues are only $20 per year.)