4A | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 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
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ongress shall make no law respect-
ing an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
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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)
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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
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should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to
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Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative,
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documentation will not be published.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:
Accepting what homelessness isn’t
criminals, we insulate
ourselves from the reality
of homelessness, and
how close we all are from
a life without shelter.
Truth be told, nearly half
of Americans live less
than two paychecks away
There are a lot of
from the kind of financial
things we’re proud of as
crisis that could lead to
Oregonians:
homelessness.
The scenic beauty we
That’s not the kind
From the Managing Editor’s Desk
are constantly surround-
of stereotype we want
Ned Hickson
ed by.
to think about, but one
Our generally progres-
we have to be willing to
sive thinking on import-
accept in order to affect
ant issues.
half of Oregon’s homeless faces we often avoid. The the kind of change that
Being outside of Cali-
will, in turn, change the
fact is, more often they
families (60.5 percent)
fornia.
are without shelter, either are those whose faces we lives of so many of our
Yet, amid all the things living on the street, in
homeless in Oregon.
recognize each day but
about Oregon that make cars or in tents within
While the bigger solu-
who never say a word
us proud, there’s one
that scenic beauty I men- about their homelessness. tion to solving home-
thing I find it hard to
lessness in Oregon will
They are mothers and
tioned earlier.
admit about my beloved
As much as we want to fathers, sons and daugh- require more than dona-
state. While homelessness tell ourselves that most
tions of food and cloth-
ters. They are students,
has declined around the
of the homeless are drug cooks, part-time employ- ing, our willingness to
nation, Oregon contin-
ees, unemployed veterans acknowledge the home-
addicts, criminals or
ues to have the highest
and senior citizens faced less in our community
suffering from mental
percentage of homeless
by offering support is an
disorders, the fact is more with deciding between
families with children.
important step toward
than half of the homeless medication, food or
Between 2017 and 2018, living without shelter
shelter.
achieving something else
the number of homeless
By stereotyping the
we can all be proud of as
in Oregon — more
families decreased in 41
homeless as addicts or
Oregonians.
than 7,000 — are either
states across America
while, in Oregon, we
experienced a 2.5 percent
increase — the fifth high-
est in the nation.
Right after California.
According to a report
released last November
by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban
Development, more than
school-aged or displaced
veterans.
Before we can tru-
ly address the issue of
homelessness, we must
be willing to understand
that the majority of those
who are living their lives
without a home aren’t
those on the street whose
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
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
LETTERS
Administration
Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher
Visions of the future
and historic value
I had the good fortune Saturday
evening to attend the Mayor’s Ball,
a fundraising event for the contin-
ued reconstruction and update of
the historic National Guard Ar-
mory in downtown Cottage Grove.
Th e event was opened with Th e
Jewel Tones singing the old stan-
dards from the 1930s and 1940s.
Th ey were accompanied by Blue
Sky Big Band, who aft er the fund-
raising event and dinner, continued
to play for the enjoyment of the
many people who enjoyed dancing.
Th e keynote speaker for the
event was Maj. Mary Jennings He-
gar. Maj. Hegar fl ew over 100 com-
bat and rescue missions in Afghan-
istan as a helicopter combat pilot.
In addition to her Purple Heart
that she was awarded for injuries
in combat, she is the only woman
to be awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross Air Medal, other than
Amelia Earhart.
We witnessed a historic event,
as the mortgage was shredded on
stage. Th e Armory is now solely
owned by the citizens of Cottage
Grove!
For those of us who are rural,
and the neighbors to the north and
south, in Drain and Creswell, the
Armory, in years to come, will off er
so many venues that we can all par-
ticipate and enjoy.
For instance, very shortly, roller
skating will return to the Armory.
Th e Armory brings back many
memories to me, and I’m sure to
many, young and old, in the area.
For so many years, Rotary held the
annual Christmas party at the Ar-
mory. In those years, Ivan Hoyer
and I would photograph up to 350
young ones on Santa’s lap.
Th e citizens of South Valley
have so many wonderful things to
be proud of, such as the covered
bridges, the beautiful bike trails,
recreational lakes, and soon to
open an updated rebuilt swinging
bridge, and not in the too distant
future, a beautiful 1929 restored
carousel.
Many of the above items have
been brought about through volun-
teerism, fundraising events, such as
the Mayor’s Ball, and visions of a
few people of the future, and love
of historic value.
—Don Williams,
Founder and President, Friends
of the Cottage Grove Carousel
Where’s the money?
A news item in The Sentinel
(“The Bonds to Finance Various
City Projects,” Oct. 9) indicated
that the City of Cottage Grove is
in the process of offering bonds for
sale to the public in the amount of
$6,765,000, and that of these funds
— several millions of dollars — will
be spent in various upgrades to wa-
ter projects.
My most recent billing from the
city was for a total of $146.61. The
amount for water was $59.88. The
remaining $86.73 was distributed
among five other items.
I presumed that that $86.73 was
to be deposited in various sinking
funds so that those funds would
be available when the need arose
in the future. In the 14 years that I
have resided inside the city, I have
paid several thousands of dollars
to the city for such an eventuality,
and I presume that so have at least
several other customers of the city
water department.
The sum should have amounted
to much more than the value of the
recent bond offerings.
My question to the City of Cot-
tage Grove is: What has happened
to those dollars?
—Herbert Dean Ball, PhD
Cottage Grove
Editor’s Note:
Rep. Cedric Hayden is coming
for a Community Meeting in Dore-
na on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m.,
at the Row River Christian Fellow-
ship, 37553 Row River Rd., Dorena.
Rep. Hayden was involved with
some rescue and cleanup efforts
during last winter’s snowstorm and
will be talking about an Emergency
Action Plan. I encourage commu-
nity members to attend and be a
part of this important discussion.
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Editorial
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nhickson@cgsentinel.com
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dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
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