Kyle Blain of Coburg, Lane County commissioner candidate for east Lane County, stumps in Oakridge

By GARY CARL/For The Herald  —  Kyle Blain is running for East Lane County Commissioner against incumbent Heather Buch.  As part of his campaign, he stopped in at the Lion Mountain Bakery last Thursday to speak and answer questions from the public.

Sarah Altemus -Pope spent some time visiting with Blain at the bakery. Sarah is the Director of South Willamette Solutions.  The Solutions project is a community-based organization focused on helping the Oakridge community grow socially, economically and ecologically.

Kyle, who grew up in Eugene, currently lives in Coburg where he is on the Coburg City Council.  His focus is on promoting job opportunities in rural communities and prioritizing public safety.

Blain heard about some successful ongoing projects in Oakridge

Kyle and Sarah discussed the successful “Oakridge Air Program” at length. They also discussed promoting ways to facilitate a biomass facility in the Oakridge Industrial Park.

 

Kyle has direct experience with the business aspects of biomass and is quite interested in the work Sarah and the Southwest Forest Collaborative have been doing in this regard. The Collaborative is another project that Sarah currently heads up in the Oakridge/Westfir area.

Candidate visits Old Mill Disc Golf Course

Then, Kyle was asked to visit one of Oakridge’s recent additions, the Old Mill Disc Golf Course, located in the Oakridge Industrial Park. While strolling around the course, he stopped for a moment at the entrance for an impromptu photo op. Kyle admired the course and the work done by Jason Nehmer and his crew of stalwart volunteers in creating this community asset.  Kyle, a novice at disc golf himself, said he will definitely be returning to play a round.

Kyle can be reached at 541-954-4664 or [email protected]