4A | WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Cottage Grove Sentinel
116 N. Sixth St.
Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424
NED HICKSON , MANAGING EDITOR |
Opinion
541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ CGSENTINEL . COM
The First Amendment
C
ongress shall make no law respect-
ing an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Govern-
ment for a redress of grievances.
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800)
USPS#133880
Copyright 2019 © COTTAGE GROVE SENTINAL
Letters to the Editor Policy
The 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documentation will not be published.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 The Sentinel
readership area will only be published at the discretion of the
editor.
Political/Election Letters:
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.
Help First Step stay open until school year ends
(Editor’s Note: View-
point submissions on this
and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal
to encourage community
discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
For more than 30 years,
First Steps Child Care
Center has been the place
where local babies and
infants have been rocked,
fed, diapered, learned new
words, taken their first
crawling or walking steps,
and been cared for by an
amazing staff of caregiv-
ers.
It’s been the cornerstone
program of Parent Part-
nership since it was incor-
porated in 1989.
Over the past 16 years,
budgets have gradually
declined and twice Parent
Partnership nearly closed
its doors; running a child-
care center for infants and
toddlers is expensive.
The Executive Director,
Karol Kuhn, has been vol-
unteering her time for the
past five years and, along
Its closing will leave a
tremendous void in the
community and create
an unimaginable burden
on community families
with infants and toddlers
Guest Viewpoint
By Karol Kuhn Simons
Executive Director, Parent Partnership
with the Board of Direc-
tors, has done everything
possible to cut costs so
that all revenue go directly
to its programs.
In spite of their efforts,
Parent Partnership will
be closing its doors this
summer along with First
Steps. This decision was
not made lightly, knowing
the program provides the
only state-certified child
care for children less than
three years of age in South
Lane County.
— especially teen parents
attending school and ded-
icated school staff who
need quality child care
for their babies while they
educate our community’s
children.
Parent Partnership is
reaching out to the com-
munity to at least keep
First Steps open until the
end of this school year. To
do so, they need to raise
$10,000.
Knowing that everyone
is being asked for dona-
tions from every corner
of our community, Parent
Partnership asks that you
remember how much it
has given and provided to
the community for over
30 years.
If every person who was
impacted by Parent Part-
nership and its programs
could donate just $10 to
$20 each, they would be
well on their way to meet-
ing their goal.
Thank you for your
support!
(Editor’s Note: Do-
nations can be made
at
www.facebook.com/
Parentpartnershipcg/ or
by sending donation to
Parent Partnership, PO
Box 1529, Cottage Grove,
Ore. 97424. First Steps is
a 501(c)3, so and all do-
nations are tax deductible
(EIN# 93-0986640).
LETTERS
Thanks for community
support, chorus and
volunteers
We wish to thank all the fine cit-
izens of South Lane county who
came out to support the Friends of
the Cottage Grove Carousel project
and enjoy a beautiful musical pro-
duction by the Cascade Chorus.
Some time ago, the chorus of-
fered to do a benefit to support the
building fund for the carousel.
We are so fortunate to have Eu-
gene’s own Fred Craft, of Radio Re-
dux and past TV and RG entertain-
ment critic, as emcee.
The chorus was accompanied by
two barbershop quartets.
The comments and reviews of
individuals after the show were ex-
tremely positive. Many in the au-
dience had never seen the chorus
before and commented it was one
of the best musical shows they had
ever.
Volunteers who have made the
carousel project come alive, with
donations of upwards of 5,000
hours. The Board of Directors and
myself thank Calvary Chapel for
opening its sanctuary for the ben-
efit, Fred Crafts for his talents as
emcee and, of course, the Cascade
Chorus.
—Don Williams
President of the Friends of the
Cottage Grove Carousel
Community spirit,
support is impressive
I recently attended a concert
sponsored by Friends of the Cot-
tage Grove Carousel featuring the
Cascade Chorus. The talent and
humor were outstanding — a truly
“not to be missed” event.
The community spirit support-
ing this carousel project is impres-
sive. As someone new to the area,
I look forward to more events and
opportunities to participate in the
success of this exciting effort.
Thanks to all concerned for a
wonderfully entertaining experi-
ence.
—Dorothy Brandt
New CG resident
Send letters to:
nhickson@cgsentinel.com
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
Oregon state
representatives
Oregon federal
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: defazio.house.gov/
contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• 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
• 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
S entinel
C ottage G rove
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, Lead Reporter... Ext. 1212
dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
Zach Silva, Sports Editor... Ext. 1204
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Customer Service
Meg Fringer, Office Manager, Legals, Classifieds... Ext. 1200
mfringer@cgsentinel.com
Production
Ron Annis, Production Supervisor... Ext.1215
graphics@cgsentinel.com
Subscription Mail Rates in Lane and Portions of Douglas Counties:
10 Weeks ....................................................................................$11.50
One year .....................................................................................$43.50
e-Edition year .................................................................................$35
Rates in all other areas of United States: 10 weeks, $16; 1 year, $56.50; e-Edition $35.
In foreign countries, postage extra.
No subscription for less than 10 weeks. Subscription rates are subject to change upon 30
days’ notice. All subscritptions must be paid prior to beginning the subscription and are
non-refundable.
Periodicals postage paid at Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Postmaster: Send address changes to P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424.
Local Mail Service:
If you don’t receive your Cottage Grove Sentinel on the Wednesday of publication,
please let us know.
Call 541-942-3325 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Advertising Ownership:
All advertising copy and illustrations prepared by the Cottage Grove Sentinel become the
property of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and may not be reproduced for any other use without
explicit written prior approval.
Copyright Notice: Entire contents ©2019 Cottage Grove Sentinel