4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JANUARY 2, 2019
O PINION
The First Amendment
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.
Letters to the Editor Policy
Th e Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor as part of
a community discussion of issues on the local, state
and national level.
Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed
letters must be signed. All letters need to include full
name, address and phone number; only name and
city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about
300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length,
grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not
guaranteed and depends on space available and the
volume of letters received.
Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative,
sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or
without documentation will not be published.
Letters containing poetry or from outside Th e
Sentinel readership area will only be published at the
discretion of the editor.
Political/Election Letters:
Another year gone, another year here
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
O
ver the holiday break
I was reminded
of a story my favorite
journalism professor once
told me. It was about an
editor named Alfred P.
Reck at at a California
newspaper.
Back in the day, a young
reporter was on Christmas
Eve deadline, racing to
complete a story about a
terminally ill boy whose last
wish was for fresh peaches.
Th e reporter had done
his due diligence and called
around, but it was winter
and no one had fresh
peaches. So, he started
writing the story, made
room for it on the page and
went about his deadline
until he got a call from his
editor.
He told Reck about the
boy and the peaches —
and the deadline.
Reck told him
to get the kid his
peaches and gave
him a few phone
numbers, running
him through until
the reporter said
he had to fi nish
writing the story
or he’d never make
deadline.
Reck, as legend
has it, told him, “I
didn’t say get the
story. I said get the
kid his peaches.”
In any case,
there’s been a lot of
change here at Th e
Sentinel this past
year. We broke in
our new reporter—
bringing our
grand total to two.
We continued
to dip our toe
into broader
news stories with
the encouragement and
support of a newly installed
managing editor.
We’ve embraced new
platforms for storytelling
and reporting and, as
we welcome 2019, we’ll
continue to do so. In
fact, look for an exciting
announcement in this space
next week .
At the same time, let’s be
honest; it’s been a hard year
for news.
A recent study by the
University of North
Carolina’s School of Media
to the vitality of local
journalism.”
On Dec. 19, I marked
my second year here at Th e
Sentinel. I was fresh out of
college, where professors
and administrators had
warned us hard times
were coming for the news
industry.
I invested here because
Cottage Grove was small
and Th e Sentinel was
smaller.
And I believe everything
the researchers of that
University of North
From the Editor’s desk
and Journalism reported
that more than 1,300
communities have lost all of
their local news coverage.
Radio.
Television.
Newspaper.
“Our sense of community
and democracy at all levels
suff er when journalism
is lost of diminished,” the
study’s researchers wrote.
“In an age of fake news and
divisive politics, the fate
of communities across the
country and of grassroots
democracy itself is linked
Carolina study said about
the importance of small
community newspapers
and local media.
As I ready to start my
third year and we all ready
to jump into 2019, I want to
share my resolutions.
I will resolve to be a
better editor than I was
last year as I (hopefully)
became a better editor this
year than I was the year
before.
Th e Sentinel is going to
bring you more enterprise
stories this year but we’re
not going to halt in our
coverage of the city council,
school board, high school
sports or local events. We’re
going to go all-in on our
use of technology to enrich
the community’s stories and
broaden our ability to cover
its stories.
So, what does this mean?
Readers can expect
more annotated PDFs of
board reports or council
resolutions. Th ere will be
more hyperlinks to sources
in our online stories and
the introduction of new
platforms (like I said, stay
tuned next week).
We’re going to explain
things more; we’re not just
going to tell you the school
board approved a budget
increase but also talk to
teachers, administrators
and fi nancial offi cers to fi nd
out what that new budget
amount amounts to for
students and the classroom.
Lastly, readers probably
won’t see it in the paper, but
we hope you see it in the
community —we’re going
to start getting the peaches.
In short, I think it’s going
to start looking up for news
this year.
Election-related letters must address pertinent or
timely issues of interest to our readers at-large.
Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing
campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) Ensure
any information about a candidate is accurate, fair
and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay;
and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates
based on personal experience and perspective rather
than partisanship and campaign-style rhetoric.
Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the
editor column to outline their views and platforms
or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political
advertising.
As with all letters and advertising content, the
newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher,
general manager and editor, reserves the right to
reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria.
Send letters to:
nhickson@cgsentinel.com or cmay@cgsentinel.com
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
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