4A | THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020 | 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
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)
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community discussion of issues on the local, state and national
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Political/Election Letters:
Women’s voices crucial to defi ning our democracy
nearly 1-to-1 ratio.
In fact, there are only
nine states where males
make up more than 50
percent of the popula-
tion: Alaska, Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana,
It was 100 years ago
this past Tuesday, Jan.
14, that Oregon ratified
the 19th Amendment in
1920, joining 35 other
states in ensuring that
the right to vote could
not be denied based on
gender.
It’s important to note
that this came some
eight years after Ore-
gon had already begun
permitting women to
vote in state elections in
1912.
Ironically, this was the
result of a narrow ap-
proval of 52-percent of
voters — all of them cast
by men — to guarantee
the right as part of Ore-
gon’s state constitution.
Today, it’s hard to
imagine our democracy
without the crucial rep-
resentation of women’s
voices in a nation where,
according to the last
census, women outnum-
bered men 161 million
to 156.1 million — for a
iway, who utilized her
Portland-based suffrag-
ist newspaper The New
Northwest to fuel the de-
bate in favor of securing
women the right to vote.
In a not-so-subtle
influence of our features
editor, Chantelle Meyer,
around.
On the homefront,
my wife Alicia, as well
our daughters Elyse
and Elizabeth, provide
valuable perespective
in family discussions
From the Editor’s Desk
and decisionmaking
that assure that we don’t
Ned Hickson
devolve into an old
episode of “King of the
Nevada, North Dakota, twist of irony, it was her Hill.”
Utah and Wyoming.
brother, Harvey Scott,
I say all of this to
In all the rest, includ- who was her biggest de- illustrate how, on just
ing here in Oregon,
tractor, thundering his
an individual level, the
women represent the
opposition in the pages value and importance
majority of individual
of The Oregonian, where of women’s perspectives
voices and perspectives he was editor from 1866 impacts my own life
that make up our deci-
to 1872.
every single day — and
sions as a state — and
Simply looking at the why I can’t imagine not
ultimately as a nation.
importance of wom-
having those influences
However, even in Or- en’s perspectives on a
and perspectives as part
egon, which was among personal level, there is
of our national discus-
the first to provide that no question that the
sion.
right, it took six ballot
wisdom and insight they
What an incredible
attempts — in 1884,
offer each day as part of loss it would have been
1900, 1906, 1908, 1910
my own life has a pro-
if not for the determina-
and finally 1912 (more
found impact that could tion of those like Abigail
times than in any other never be duplicated by a Scott Duniway to assure
state) — before women’s men-only mentality.
that we as a state — and
voices became part of
Ask any of the male
eventually a nation —
the discussion in state
reporters in my news-
benefit from the voices
decisionmaking.
room at the Siuslaw
of women in the dis-
It was a campaign that News in Florence, and
cussions that define our
began as early as 1870
they will openly admit
democracy.
as part of the Oregon
that the cumulative IQ
suffrage movement led
seems to drop con-
by Abigail Scott Dun-
siderably without the
LETTERS
Water bill increase
a shocker
It was a shock for us when we
received our last month’s water
bill with a whopping $34 in-
crease.
At first, we thought it must
be a mistake. Soon we discov-
ered that all of our neighbors
— mostly senior citizens — had
also seen an increase (on aver-
age of $32).
We understand that some
water plant improvements are
in order, but this huge increase
is just unbelievable. Just for the
sake of argument, our son’s fam-
ily living in Eugene pays only
about $75 a month for water
service —much lower than our
water bill of $143 each month.
Judging from reaction on so-
cial media, there are a lot of un-
happy Grovers.
Anytime there is a request for
water rate increase by the Public
Works Department, it appears
to us that city councilors happi-
ly “rubber stamp” the increase
without any opposition, sugges-
tions to come with an alternative
plan or less costly solution.
That’s a shame.
While we are on the subject of
city water, lots of folks lately no-
ticed the recent issues of brown
water coming out of their fau-
cets.
It’s no wonder when City Pub-
lic Works neglected — by its
own admission — the required
annual water hydrants flushing.
From what I understand, they
basically flushed the hydrants
after three years instead of doing
this preventative maintenance
every year as required.
Seems to me that Public
Works owe an explanation. The
community members/rate pay-
ers deserve better.
—George & Susan Zajic
Cottage Grove
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
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