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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • FEBRUARY 13, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: Addressing homelessness in our community requires addressing our own assumptions, stereotypes Th ere are a lot of things we are proud of as Oregonians: Th e scenic beauty that con- stantly surrounds us; Our generally progressive thinking and approaches to important issues; Not being California. Yet, amid all the things about Oregon that make us proud, there’s one thing I fi nd hard to admit about my beloved state. While homelessness has declined around most of the nation, Oregon continues to have the highest percentage of homeless families and chil- dren. As the number of home- less families has decreased in 41 states across America since 2016, in Oregon we have experienced a 2.5 percent increase — the fi ft h-highest in the nation. Right aft er California. According to the Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than half of Oregon’s home- less families (60.5 percent) are without shelter, living in cars or tents within areas of that scenic beauty I mentioned earlier. As much as we may want to tell ourselves that most of the homeless are drug addicts, criminals or suff ering from mental illness, the fact is that more than half of the home- less living without shelter in Oregon — over 7,000 of them — are either school-aged (64.4 percent) or displaced veterans (55 percent). up" and staying with friends or relatives until a permanent housing solution cmaes along or, as is more oft en the case, they are asked to leave. Th ose 142 homeless stu- dents with the SLSD go to class, participate in school activities and then fi nish the day with no permanent home to return to. According to a study released by the Oregon tact with as we busy ourselves past them; Th e fact is, they are also those whose faces we recog- nize each day but who never say a word about their home- lessness. Th ey are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, students, cooks, part-time employees, unemployed veterans and senior citizens faced with deciding between medication, food or shelter. Th at’s not a stereotype we want to acknowledge. But From the Managing Editor’s Desk it’s one we must be willing to Ned Hickson accept in order to aff ect the kind of change that will, in turn, change the lives of the To bring it a little closer to Department of Education in homeless in our community home, last year just over 10 November 2017, there was a and our state. percent of Oregon's home- 5.6 percent increase in student As we consider state less students — or more homelessness — continuing a measures and explore local than 2,400 — were in Lane trend in Oregon for the fourth policies aimed at addressing County’s 16 school districts. consecutive year. the issues of aff ordable and Th is includes 142 students Before we can truly address transitional housing, the within the South Lane School the issue of homelessness, we most important component District. must be willing to understand to reducing homelessness in About 9 percent, or 226, that many of those who are our communities will be our of Lane County’s homeless living their lives without a ability to acknowledge our students were counted as “un- home aren’t those who are own stereotypes about home- sheltered,” which means they readily identifi ed as homeless. lessness. were living in cars, camp- Th ey aren’t necessarily the Th at is the most import- grounds or doorways. ones we see on street corners ant step we can take toward Another 6 percent — or 115 or parking lots asking for reversing the trend of home- — were located in emergency change; lessness in our state — and shelters of some kind, with the Th ey aren’t the ones we can achieving something we can majority classifi ed as "doubled easily avoid making eye con- all be proud of as Oregonians. 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 S entinel (541) 942-3325 Administration Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager ..................................................... Ext. 1207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Allison Miller, Multi-Media Sales Consultants .......................... 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