'We're worried this is going to kill our community'
LORANE, Ore. -- Lorane Elementary School has been an integral part of the Lorane community for decades. Community member Beth Robinson said that the bright red school building acted as a hub for community activities.
Even though it has been a fixture in the community for quite some time, the building hasn't seen kids walk up its steps in over a year. The Crow-Applegate School District closed the school in 2011 to save money.
"I don't think anyone in Lorane wants to point fingers or say anything," said Robinson. "We understand budget constraints but we don't think they understand how important this school is."
Since it's doors have closed to students, community groups like Boy Scouts and the food pantry have continued to use the empty building. Robinson said that now the district wants them out.
"What they've said is that those groups need to leave, they need to move," she said. "The food pantry has no place to go. We're worried this is going to kill our community."
It's not only the school building that community members are concerned about. They're also upset about the fact that their playground has been dismantled, the only one in Lorane.
"It saddens me that living as far out as we do, far from all of the bigger cities," said community member Marissa Cooper. "We don't have a park on every corner that we can walk to."
Cooper and Rob Herbison both live near the school and say the district tore out the playground about a month ago due to liability issues.
"On a Monday night they decided that they either had to repair it and put up signs or remove it all together," said Herbison. "We virtually had two days to figure out what to do and before we could put any input in, it was already gone."
Cooper said that the rural community on a whole had donated a lot of time and money to maintaining the playground. Many have said that their work and dedication to the school should account for something in the final decision.
'We feel like us as a community donated a lot of time and money to maintain and build the playground and that it kinda belongs to the community," said Cooper.
KVAL News tried contacting the Crow-Applegate School District on Friday for a comment on the school but have not heard back.
In the meantime, the community said that the future is uncertain. With no school and now no playground, they said they're worried more families will continue to move out of the district.
"We're gonna fight for this, we want to maintain this central hub, the heart of our community and not see it go," said Cooper.
This has been trickling down from polices over 7-8 years old... We have been fighting to keep this school open and running against funding measures 5 and 20.  We are smaller it hits harder. As for the insurance at the previous CAL school board meeting, they had an insurance person there who stated 3 options. 1. put signs up that say play @ your own risk. 2. chain it up so no one can use it. 3. Tear it out. Putting up signs would have been the easiest and cheapest thing to do. They didn't vote on it, ask for community perspective or give the PTO or community time to offer to buy signs. (Less that 4 days) They didn't have the budget money to maintain the playground/school or buy a sign but they found the money to pay 2 guys to come tear it out while children and the community watched. Lorane is a diverse strong community that understands how important their neighbors and working together are. We will rebound like we have in the past. Please take your Apocalyptic themes, your fend for yourself ideals (you should be doing that already. live by the example you leave in the world), blame the govt (but not wall street) somewhere else. We (the amazingly diverse, smart, strong, self sufficient and talented residence) are going to stand up for our community. You want to make a difference in Democracy join your pto or local community groups... that is where the change really happens.
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 @Bess Wow, Bess, sounds like you are taking your frustration and anger about what happened and pointing it in the WRONG direction! Weâre on your side!
We, too, are upset and angry that schools districts among others are not reaching out to the people that it affects and doing things that have tremendous negative impact on the communities it supposedly represents. We are hopeful and positive that you can and will get beyond this and find other ways to create what has been destroyed.Â
Unfortunately, we also see that this is an increasing trend in governmental thinking, and are just trying, via this article, to urge others to become more active in preparation and self-preservation of all kinds.
Communities need to stick together, something not easily done in this age of separatism and neighbors living 5 feet from each other being more than miles away emotionally.Â
I, personally, envy the closeness with which people in very small communities like Lorane live and work together. We all need to take note and attempt to try to get our own neighborhoods to do likewise.
But donât take your anger out on US, we arenât the ones responsible for your predicament.Â
 @angelgabe I sorry angelgabe if you read my direct words with a tone of anger at you as that is not the case in anyway. I was writing more of the facts. I would say it is more of a " I think people are to easily pushed into apathy by saying the powers that be... the govt. etc... rather than continuing to work for something they care about. Or use their personal rights to stop something that is not right. "The powers that be" are huge. That is overwhelming and makes you less willing to try. But the school board are people from our own towns. person to person. This is where you can make a positive change easily and effectively. ;o) start small. states rights can make sweeping changes in government policy. We the people can make these changes...
 @souptonuts I couldnât agree more. Not wishing to be a fear-monger, but the time is coming soon when we all will need to be as self-sufficient as we possibly can. Gardens, raising small livestock, having items or skills to barter, we will all need these, and more likely, sooner than we want. The government is slowly removing all the freedoms we have become accustomed to, and wonât stop until we have nothing except what they give us. We need to begin now to help ourselves so that when that time comes, we will still have what we need without the controls put on us by them.
@angelgabe The left, the libs, and the freaks will take exception to your perspective to be sure, but I like the way you and souptonuts think.Â
@angelgabe Yes and we always hear from the Government how we need to be ready for earthquakes, and other perils of mother nature. I for one don't fear mother nature nearly as much as I fear the government and their greed. I have been self sufficient for many years, and can survive for as long as I need to if the Government totally collapses. If we all stand up and get it back into our control we will be fine. If we continue to let them run over us, they will spend us into bankruptcy and chaos. I also agree with OregonOrator, it is going to take a cultural shift in the way people think. We have to protect ourselves and our neighbors. I am prepared and ready to do that if need be.
It's going to take a real cultural paradigm shift in the way people now think. Thirty, f Fifty or 100 years ago, there would't been a concern about liability insurance for a playground in Lorane. Back then people expected to look after themselves.
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 If little Johnny broke his arm falling off the merry-go-round his parents dealt with it and then hoped the kid learned from the experience. But now, because we have slowly given the power to help ourselves over to the government, we've turned into a society looking for the quick buck through lawyers.
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When people stop hiring lawyers for every little thing, and start taking some responsibility for their actions and the actions of their family, we might start gaining a bit of sanity again, in situations like the one in Lorane.
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I don't see it happening anytime soon.
The money has to come from somewhere and playground insurance isn't cheap. If you think I' foolin' call your insurance agent and tell them you want to build a public playground in your backyard. They'll educate you real quick on how costly that would be.
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My suggestion to the community would be to pool resources and approach the school district and tell them you, as a community, would be willing to cover the cost of the liability insurance to put the playground back in - assuming the equipment is still available.
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Best of luck.
Sorry, folks, but the âPowers-that-beâ don't really care about the individual, or the community. I suggest that you find another location for your food bank and build your own playground somewhere else, because the school district most likely wonât help: they donât care! It has become apparent to me, and to many others, that organizations like school districts and other government type groups are shutting down all things like this. We need to begin providing for ourselves, things like food banks, and other services, because soon, there wonât be anything but what we have done for ourselves.
@angelgabe Very true words, and doing for ourselves is a good thing. We don't need anymore Government slave control.