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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 2020)
4A | MARCH 12, 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 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 2020 © 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: Best defense against COVID-19? Information, common sense tion to keep our readers minimal effect on children appraised of the facts so and young adults, which is that each of us can make good news for those of us informed rather than rash with children. decisions based on specu- However, for reasons lation or rumor. epidemiologists don’t un- We have kept — and will derstand yet, those age 60 continue to keep — our re- and older are particularly porting specific to commu- susceptible to the virus, nities in Lane and Douglas and especially anyone with counties, with information underlying respiratory or Yesterday, the first case instead of rumor or opin- other health issues — re- gardless of age. of the Novel Coronavirus ion. (COVID-19) was report- ed in Multnomah Coun- ty, making it the seventh county in Oregon to record Ned Hickson a presumptive case of the virus — and the 15th con- A few folks on social me- That means, for the ma- firmed case in the state. As of this writing (March dia have accused us of fear jority of people, this virus 10), there have been no mongering, which I don’t won’t have a major impact confirmed cases of the vi- agree with but can under- on their health as long as rus in Lane County, pre- stand if I look at things they practice self-care the sumptive (meaning con- from their point of view. same way they would with firmed by state testing but However, I believe that real the flu. But the bigger respon- not yet confirmed by the fear is the result of a lack of information — not the sibility we have is to those CDC) or otherwise. who are most at risk. They Over the course of the presence of it. Yesterday, members of are the ones that health au- past week, The Sentinel has been posting daily updates the OHA explained during thorities are focusing their on our Facebook page with an afternoon press con- efforts on protecting — and information provided by ference that their focus so should the rest of us who the Oregon Health Author- has begun to shift: Instead aren’t in that high-risk cat- ity (OHA) and Lane Coun- of trying to prevent the egory. That means following ty Public Health (LCPH) spread, they are focusing as a way to keep our com- primarily on ways to pro- some basic, simple prac- munity members informed tect those who are most tices that will help reduce both becoming infected with official word from vulnerable. The truth is that healthy and — for those most at state and local health orga- individuals between ages of risk — spreading it to oth- nizations. Regardless of whether 5 and 59 who become in- ers. • Avoid close contact you believe that the media fected with COVID-19 will is blowing the severity of suffer only mild symptoms with people who are sick the virus out of proportion, similar to the common cold and stay home when you are sick. as your community news or flu. • Cover your cough or The virus seems to have a source we have an obliga- From the Editor’s Desk sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Also, frequently dis- infect touched objects and surfaces. • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water aren’t available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. While it’s true that last year’s flu season claimed more lives than COVID-19 has so far, the difference is that this is a new virus and therefore an unknown. No one is immune be- cause it has not been en- countered before. And unlike the common strain of flu, there is no vaccine yet and testing for it has required creating new tests that aren’t yet widely avail- able. However, between stay- ing informed and exercis- ing common sense for our own sake and the sake of others, together we can help reduce the impact of this new virus within our community and those who are most susceptible to it. For more information from the Oregon Health Authority, visit the OHA’s novel coronavirus website at https://www.oregon.gov/ oha/PH/DISEASESCON- DITIONS/DISEASESAZ/ Pages/emerging-respirato- ry-infections.aspx 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 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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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 THURSDAY 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 ©2020 Cottage Grove Sentinel
