4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JANUARY 9, 2019
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.
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without documentation will not be published.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:
‘The Grove Report’ — A new way to bring
you the news and stories of our community
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
O
n Sunday, Oct. 30,
1938, at 8 p.m.,
Orson
Welles
scared the heck out of the
world — or at least the part
of the country within the
sound of a radio — as “War
of the Worlds" came across
the airwaves.
Th e broadcast was part
of the golden age of radio
and its dramatized alien
invasion is replayed around
Halloween
each
year,
including here in Cottage
Grove.
We value the lessons
history has to teach us here
at Th e Sentinel, and so this
time, before something new
and possibly scary comes
over the airwaves at you,
we’re going to give you a fair
warning:
We’re launching a podcast.
Essentially, it’s the same
thing as “War of the Worlds,”
except it’s not technically on
the radio, it’s more than one
episode, it’s about Cottage
Grove and it’s not at all scary.
Th e Grove Report, which
will be available on our
website and for download on
our social media platforms,
will come in two fl avors:
One will be published every
Tuesday and will feature
Zach Silva and I chatting
about the news hitting the
stands the next day — a
preview, if you will.
We’ll talk about how
we found the story, the
interviews we conducted
and why something did,
or did not, make it into the
article.
Overall, it will be between
fi ve and 10 minutes or the
perfect length for a quick
jaunt into town, a school
drop off or a coff ee break.
Th e other fl avor will
come once a month in
what journalists call the
long-form story. Th ese
audio stories will focus on
a specifi c event or issue. We
may tell the story of a come-
from-behind team headed
for the playoff s, with voices
of coaches, players and
parents.
We could also venture into
Cottage Grove’s politics and
talk homelessness with the
city administration, state
lawmakers, business owners
and those who have found
themselves on our streets.
We could do a deep dive
on a hot-topic, such as in
our fi rst episode, due out
Jan. 16, that focuses on the
decision to close Latham
School.
Zach will walk you
through the narrative that
touches on the school’s
165-year-old
history,
talking with folks who
spent decades at the school
and explaining the fi nances
behind its closure.
So, you may be asking
“Why now?” or even, "Why
at all?"
Because as we started
approaching the new year,
we explored ideas of how we
could approach new ways of
telling the news and stories
of our community. Some of
those ideas I outlined my
editorial last week.
As
part
of
those
discussions, we talked
about where we wanted to
go and how to get there —
hence the podcast. It’s a new
platform that relies on the
old standards of storytelling.
To be honest, we’re pretty
excited about it.
Not only will it broaden
our skills as journalists but
it will allow our community
to connect to the stories it
shares with us on a new level
and in a new way.
Th e fi rst episode — a 90-
second example of what
you can expect — hits the
website today. Th en, on Jan.
16, we’ll launch our new
podcast with the story of
Latham and we hope you
give it a listen.
To the readers of Th e Sen-
tinel, I am wondering how
many people it will take
until they wake up and tell
a certain political party that
we need a wall to protect
our borders?
How many people must
loose their jobs to illegal im-
migrants or to environmen-
talists?
It seems a certain political
party doesn’t care about the
people of the United States.
Th ey only care about their
own pocketbook and their
own needs.
Th is political party is
in the environmental-
ists’ pocket. Th ey are the
same ones that want to im-
peach the president and kill
everything that he has done
for this country and what he
is trying to do for the United
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
S entinel
(541) 942-3325
Administration
Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher
Gary Manly, General Manager ..................................................... Ext. 1207
gmanly@cgsentinel.com
LETTERS
Build the wall, keep
illegal immigrants out
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
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Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the
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or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political
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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.
States.
I believe that this political
party should let the illegal
immigrants move into their
homes, take their jobs away
and then see what happens.
If they lost their jobs and
had to be in the unemploy-
ment line, getting little to no
Social Security check [be-
cause they] are going to ille-
gal immigrants and leaving
less of the money you are
entitled to just to support
those illegal immigrants,
[they might see things dif-
ferently.]
Th ey are also taking from
our children education and
not paying any taxes.
I say send the illegal im-
migrants home and build
the wall on our borders.
But thats is my two cents
worth.
—Russell C. Brenchley
Cottage Grove
Come help city decide on
Swinging Bridge
On behalf of the Friends
of Cottage Grove Swinging
Bridge, I would like to invite
the community to the fi rst
Cottage Grove City Council
meeting of 2019 — and it
will a big one for the Swing-
ing Bridge.
Th is meeting will be at
City Hall on Monday, Jan.
14, at 7 p.m.
Th e city issued a request
for proposals to rebuild the
Swinging Bridge back in De-
cember. Th e deadline was
Monday Jan. 6 of this year
and the submitted plans and
prices will be presented to
the City Councilors for con-
sideration next Monday.
If there is a plan and cost
fi gure that seems doable the
question will be put to a vote.
Anyone who has an in-
terest in how our dear old
Swinging Bridge should turn
out, this meeting would be
a very good one to attend.
If you can not make it, con-
tact your city councilor and
make your opinion known.
I would hope to see as
many of the Bridge Friends
in attendance as possible.
Wear a Swinging Bridge
T-shirt if you have one. If
not, I will have them at the
meeting for anyone who
needs to get one.
Aft er nearly three years of
community eff orts, it is time
to see what the next step will
be.
And thanks to everyone
who has contributed in so
many ways to help bring
back this important part of
Cottage Grove’s history.
Th ank you, Cottage Grove!
—Dana Merryday
Cottage Grove
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Editorial
Ned Hickson, Managing Editor...............................................541-902-3520
nhickson@cgsentinel.com
Caitlyn May, Editor. ....................................................................... Ext. 1212
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Zach Silva, Sport Editor ................................................................. Ext. 1204
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Customer Service
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mjacobs@cgsentinel.com
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