A4 • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JULY 18, 2018
The First Amendment
O PINION
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg-
ing the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition their
Government for a redress of greivences.
Who benefi ts most from more prisons?
Karnes Detention Center in
Texas, which recently broke
ground at that site in order
to double its capacity.
Another detention center
was opened by Correction
Corporation of America
(CCA) in 2015 that holds
n a May interview
819 mothers and 1,000
on NPR, Homeland
children in a lock-down
Security Secretary
style facility.
Kirstjen Nielsen compared
Both GEO Group and
the Trump administration’s
From the Managing Editor’s Desk CCA have had facilities
“Zero Tolerance” policy
closed in the past (Arte-
to the same policy expe-
Ned Hickson
sia Detention Center and
rienced by incarcerated
Hutto Detention center,
Americans every day in
respectively) due to alle-
this country who are sepa- non-violent crimes, losing mind that more than half
of all the children who en- gations of abuse and poor
their jobs, homes and
rated from their children.
tered into family detention living conditions — only
“If you break the law, you custody of their children
to re-open somewhere else
facilities in that time were
before they've even had a
will be prosecuted. It’s no
with a government con-
chance to plead their case. six years old or younger.
diff erent than what we do
tract.
And that was before the
Th e fact is, the current
every day in every part of
While I think we all agree
“Zero Tolerance” posture
“law and order” approach
the United States when an
taken by Attorney General that our borders should
isn’t new either. It was
adult commits a crime,”
never be a revolving door,
Nielsen said. “We’re follow- echoed by President Nixon Jeff Sessions, which has
compounded the problem particularly in an era with
ing that same policy at our in the late 1960s, as well
by demanding enforcement the constant threats of
as Presidents Reagan and
borders.”
global terrorism and illegal
And she’s absolutely cor- Clinton and their attempts without the necessary re-
rect. In fact, we have a long to combat the drug war by sources to do so humanely. drugs, one must ask who
But this is not a problem stands to benefi t most from
history of state-sanctioned creating massive prison
expansions to keep up with that is unique to the Trump an ever-expanding system
family separation that
of prisons and detention
administration, although
the demands of higher
continues as a widespread
centers.
its poor handling of it has
incarceration rates.
practice today — particu-
And whether tax dollars
In addition to prisons, in made it uniquely terrible.
larly in our justice system,
given to corporate prisons
When the Obama
2014 the U.S. government
where approximately 2.7
and detention centers is
administration began
massively expanded its
million children have a
money well spent, or mon-
detention centers for immi- detaining families in large
parent behind bars.
ey spent to pretend that all
facilities back in 2014,
grant families.
And the fastest growing
is well.
for-profi t correctional
According to reports
group of prisoners?
corporation GEO Group
from the Lutheran Im-
Women.
answered the call with the
migration and Refugee
According to a report
I
by the Prison Fellowship,
there has been a 14-fold in-
crease of women in prison
since 1970, and 80 percent
of them are single mothers.
Whether guilty or in-
nocent, men and women
oft en spend weeks, months
and sometimes years in
prison awaiting trial for
Service (LIRS) and Wom-
en’s Refugee Commission
(WRC), between October
2013 and September 2014,
the U.S. government ap-
prehanded 68,334 children
accompanied by a parent at
the southwest border — a
361 percent increase since
the previous year. Keep in
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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
Oregon state
representatives
Oregon federal
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
• Rep. Cedric Hayden
Republican District 7 State
Representative
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301
Phone: 503-986-1407
Website: www.leg.state.or.
us/hayden
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
state.or.us
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: defazio.house.gov/
contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• Sen. Ron Wyden
405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: wyden.senate.gov
Phone: (541) 431-0229
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: merkley.senate.gov
Phone: 541-465-6750
C ottage G rove
S entinel
(541) 942-3325
Administration
Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher
Gary Manly, General Manager ........................................................Ext. 207
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LETTERS
A word on the
Refi nement Plan
Last night (July 16) the
City Council voted to ap-
ply for a BUILD grant to
implement the Main Street
Refi nement Plan, with only
Councilman Kenneth Rob-
erts voting against it.
Th ough Mayor Jeff Gow-
ing voted in favor of apply-
ing for the BUILD grant,
he stated his ongoing op-
position to the Main Street
Refi nement Plan as it is cur-
rently written (he was the
sole City Council member
to vote against it in 2016).
He said he would contin-
ue to oppose making major
changes to downtown Cot-
tage Grove.
According to City Coun-
cilman, Jake Boone, the only
portion of the plan to be fo-
cused on at this time is page
three — Project Objectives
and Considerations.
Jakelen Eckstine, Marketing Specialist ...........................................Ext. 213
jeckstine@cgsentinel.com
However, the
entire plan will
be fi led with the
grant applica-
tion. Many of
the members
stated that the
plan could still
be “tweaked” if
the city receives
the
BUILD
grant and set-
ting up an advi-
sory committee
was discussed
along
with
more
public
comment peri-
ods though no
details were provided at this
time.
Just so everyone is up-to-
date on what the Main Street
Refi nement Plan includes,
here is a link to it: www.
cottagegrove.org/sites/de-
fault/files/fileattachments/
community_develop-
ment/page/4031/ cottage_
Park Nelson, Marketing Specialist .................................................Ext. 203
pnelson@cgsentinel.com
Editorial
Ned Hickson, Managing Editor........................................541-902-3520 .....
nhickson@cgsentinel.com
Caitlyn May, Editor. ..........................................................................Ext. 212
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Zach Silva, Sport Editor ....................................................................Ext. 204
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Customer Service
Mandi Jacobs, Offi ce Manager .........................................................Ext. 200
Legals, Classifi eds ...................................................Ext. 200
mjacobs@cgsentinel.com
Production
Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ..................................................Ext.215
graphics@cgsentinel.com
(USP 133880)
Subscription Mail Rates in Lane and Portions of Douglas Counties:
grove_main_street_adopt-
ed_2015_fi nal.pdf
—Friends of Main Street
Cottage Grove
Thanks after
accident
A big heartfelt thank you
to the residents at the inter-
section of Main Street and
R St. for your concern and
support on the night of Fri-
day the 13 in the aft ermath
of our accident. Kudos to
Cottage Grove caring.
— Ray Kinkade
and Roseann Ruga
Cottage Grove
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