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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2019)
4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • MARCH 27, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: Preventing suicide is a collaborative eff ort In 2018, more than 800 people in Oregon killed themselves. And while sui- cide is the second leading cause of death among our young people (ages 10-24), Oregon’s highest rate of sui- cide is actually among men age 85 and older. Bottom line? Suicide is a problem that cuts a large swath through our youngest and brightest to oldest and wisest. It isn’t limited to a particular set of circumstanc- es, fi nancial status, blue col- lar or white collar, urban or rural, male or female. Th ere is, however, one common thread that runs through the sad and growing tapestry woven by victims of suicide: It’s the fact that we rarely talk about it. While we champion and openly support those bat- tling life-threatening diseases whose physical impacts are apparent to the eye, we strug- gle to discuss the less appar- ent yet equally life-threaten- ing battle that many face each day living in the shadow of depression, despair, personal loss, bullying, drug addiction and psychosis. Th at’s because talking about feelings of suicide is taboo. It’s associated with be- ing weak, overly dramatic or simply isn’t taken seriously. It’s not acceptable to discuss it openly and, as a result, peo- ple oft en suff er with thoughts of suicide silently — planning death without anyone ever knowing until it’s too late. Over the years, the media has played its own role in perpetuating those notions by not reporting on suicides except in rare circumstanc- es, such involving a public offi cial or suicide within a public place. Th e thought has been that reporting on sui- nonprofi t Line for Life. But we’ve decided to do something more. In a one-of-a-kind collab- orative, we are teaming up with three other newsrooms within our region — Newport News-Times, Sisulaw News and Th e Creswell Chronicle — in an eff ort to combine our resources in covering four specifi c areas on the topic of suicide. Th e idea behind this spe- cial collaboration is simple: From the Managing Editor’s Desk Ned Hickson cides can create a “contagion eff ect,” as well as cause addi- tional trauma to surviving family members. Good reasons to be sure, except that current research indicates that thoughtful reporting can actually help prevent suicides by creating an atmosphere supportive of the kind of dialogue needed to end suicide’s deafening si- lence. During the week of April 7-14, all Oregon newsrooms have been invited to join in covering this issue through a statewide reporting project called Breaking the Silence: Shining a Light on Oregon’s Suicide Crisis. During that week, media outlets through- out Oregon will be contribut- ing stories, data and insights to this project, which will be shared and made available through the Portland-based As smaller community news- papers, we can accomplish more together than we could ever hope to accomplish alone. Not just in terms of the scope of our reporting but also in the number of readers who can benefi t from that re- porting. Sometimes the competi- tiveness of journalism should take a back seat to the true purpose of journalism: To inform, educate and inspire thoughtful discussion. To that end, each Wednes- day in April, our newsrooms will each contribute a diff er- ent piece that will be shared among the four community newspapers in our collabora- tion for that week. Topics will include: • April 3: Suicide among school-aged children and teens (Contributed by Th e Cottage Grove Sentinel) • April 10: Suicides among the homelessness and men- tally ill (Contributed by the Newport News-Times) • April 17: Suicide among senior citizens and veterans (Contributed by the Siuslaw News) • April 24: Th ose left be- hind: Parents, children and spouses of suicide victims (Contributed by Th e Creswell Chronicle) Experts say the best way to prevent suicide is by being aware of the warning signs and encouraging someone we suspect might be contem- plating suicide to talk about it. And contrary to past prac- tices within the media, stud- ies show that people do not start thinking about suicide just because someone asks them about it. Our hope is that this unique collaboration will send a diff erent message than we have in the past, opening a discussion within each of our communities that will turn the perpetual silence of suicide into the sound of hopeful and helpful dialogue. —Ned Hickson, editor at Siuslaw News and Cottage Grove Sentinel —Bret Yager, managing editor at Newport News-Times —Erin Tierney, editor at Th e Creswell Chronicle 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 Consultant ........................... Ext. 1213 amiller@cgsentinel.com Gerald Santana, Multi-Media Sales Consultant ......................... Ext. 1216 gsantana@cgsentinel.com Gina Nauman, Inside Multi-Media Sales Consultant ................ Ext. 1203 gnauman@cgsentinel.com Editorial Ned Hickson, Managing Editor...............................................541-902-3520 nhickson@cgsentinel.com Damien Sherwood, Staff Reporter. .............................................. Ext. 1212 dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Zach Silva, Sports Editor ............................................................... Ext. 1204 zsilva@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Meg Fringer, Offi ce Manager, Legals, Classifi eds ....................... Ext. 1200 mfringer@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ............................................... 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