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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2019)
4A | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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. Send letters to: nhickson@cgsentinel.com LETTERS Don’t dress in dark clothes when walking, riding bike at night It appears that some people have a death wish. I have no- ticed during dark and twilight hours a number of people wear- ing dark clothes (and wearing a hoodies no less) walking and/or riding their bike around town with no reflectors or lights. If the people guilty of this happen to get hit by a vehicle, you can darn well bet the driver of the vehicle will be at fault in the person’s mind that was hit and probably a lawsuit will be filed against the driver. Even if the driver wins the case, they still lose because of the trauma of the accident and time spent fighting a frivolous case. A driver obeying the rules of the road does not deserve to be involved in any incident in such a way. —Dick Gilkison Cottage Grove HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS Oregon state 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 Tips for having an eco-friendly holiday season (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- cussion and exchange of perspec- tives.) When I was a kid, my grand- ma always gave me stamped, un- finished pillowcases meant to be cross-stitch embroidered and the edges finished. Every year. I hated them. But every year, I dutifully smiled and thanked her for her lovely gift. As soon as she was gone, I gave them to my mom and never saw them again. (Mom didn’t finish them, either.) According to the Environ- mental Protection Agency, the average person in the U.S. gen- erates almost six pounds of trash every day and the average has been going up each year. Much of the trash we generate is from food waste and single-use items, such as wrapping and greeting cards. Most of this trash goes to the landfill where it will sit for decades. Initial production of these items, transport to the store and hauling them away as trash gen- erates costs — financial and en- vironmental. What if this year we saved some money, time and the envi- ronment? What if we gave more thought to what we buy and what we throw away? I’m not talking about deprivation or no presents, just a more thoughtful approach. Staying organized — Use your phone for shopping lists, store coupons and keeping track of your holiday season calendar. Greeting cards — Have you tried the ecards online? Com- pose your message and give them your contact list. Big chore done! If that won’t work, there are holiday postcards that use less paper, don’t need envelopes and save on postage. Also, cards that you receive can be reused in crafts next year like gift tags or wrapping small items. Stop catalogs & junk mail — As you receive unwanted cata- logs and junk mail, go to a free online service like CatalogC- hoice.org to get off these mailing Guest Viewpoint By Brenda Howard Master Recycler lists for the future. Decorating — How about a live tree from the nursery that you can plant in your yard after the holidays? Greenery and pine cones collected from your neigh- borhood? Gifts — How about gifts for fun experiences rather than physical things? Gift certificates for local restaurants and the- aters? Also, homemade coupons for campouts, trips to outdoor des- tinations, or washing their car? Maybe some yard work or pet sitting? If you are crafty, homemade gifts can be special. Packs filled with rice and herbs to warm in the microwave, homemade and home-canned food, shopping bags made from old T-shirts, collections of family recipes, etc. If purchasing items — Shop- ping locally can save transport and packaging costs and help the community. Use your reusable shopping bags! Think how these ideas could simplify your holiday shopping. Save on shopping time, reduced packaging, no breakage and things not easily forgotten after a few uses. Gift wrap — Old maps, news- papers, magazines from foreign countries, homemade cloth bags, cloth napkins from the thrift store all make wonderful gift wrap. Thrift shop pillowcases make great gift bags for larger, odd-shaped items. Stocking stuffers — Reusable produce bags, bamboo tooth- brush, reusable bamboo eating utensils, a reusable straw are just a few options. Hosting gatherings — If you need more dishware than you own for a large gathering, con- sider taking advantage of the Master Recycler Reusable Dish- ware Program, which lends sil- verware, dishes, table linens and serving pieces for groups of up to 150. Its free! Reusing dishes and table lin- ens, even taking washing into account, uses far less energy and resources than single use, disposable items. Even com- postable ones. For info on the program, or make a reservation, call 541-590- 0506. Cooking & baking — Make time to cook from scratch, buy specialized cooking pans, small appliances and table linens at the thrift store or craigslist, send leftovers home with your guests and compost whatever is left. I hope these suggestions bring deeper meaning and thoughtful- ness to your holidays, as well as helping the environment — and that you don’t give raw pillowcas- es to your grandchildren unless they actually enjoy cross-stitch! Oregon federal representatives 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 Gerald Santana, Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1216 gsantana@cgsentinel.com Veronica Brinkley, Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1205 vbrinkley@cgsentinel.com Carla Skeel, Inside Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1203 csummers@cgsentinel.com Editorial Ned Hickson, Managing Editor... 541-902-3520 nhickson@cgsentinel.com Damien Sherwood, Lead Reporter... Ext. 1212 dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Nick Snyder, Sports/Community News Reporter... 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