Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2020)
4A | APRIL 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 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: Finding strength during the coronavirus pandemic (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) I t seems like life is changing so fast and the way we used to live is far from coming back. Our old way of living feels like a mirage that we may never quite get to again. My parents had difficult times to deal with; they had to face World War II. They made it through that ordeal. I have ancestors that made it through the Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Civil War. They made it through ship rides from England and Australia to the US. They crossed our country in covered wagons from east to west from north to south. They lived through wars, death, and severe financial hardships. I can learn from those who went before me. They were extremely strong and persevered through the darkest fears that must’ve felt over- Guest Viewpoint By Diane Knee, MSW, LCSW Owner, counselor Gateways Counseling Center whelming. I can do this. They are in me. My dad drew on every ounce of strength he must have had to walk through a concentration camp that had just been liberated. He rare- ly spoke of it, tears always running down his face. When he did speak of it, he talked of piles of shoes, men as thin as the side rails of their bunks, he spoke of the horrifying and unimaginable cruelty. He grieved, he prayed, he perse- vered. This pandemic is horrific and terrifying, but we have a depth of strength from our ancestors to draw on. Their DNA is in us, their heroic stories can guide us, their strength is deep within our hearts and souls. Let us follow their lead; lean on our faith, family and friends. We are strong. We are unstoppable. We are not alone. —Diana Knee, MSW, LCSW is the owner and counselor at Gateways Coun- seling and Consulting Center in Cottage Grove, 541-942-0040. LETTERS ‘Temporary’ LCC staff in CG committed full-time to student success The article in the April 9 edition of The Sentinel (“LCC’s CG campus adjusts to lay-offs”) held a number of surprising statements by Lane Community College. As the only remaining staff member at the Cottage Grove cen- ter, I was taken aback by the lack of awareness of what is happening at the center. The most offensive was that the two staff terminated were “two temporary employees.” I worked closely with these two employees for over five years and can attest with no equivocation that these two staff members were vital in the operations and services offered through our center. They worked to support credit students in a variety of ways and were instrumental in the successful development and operations of our community education program- ming. We have been a staff of three for the last two and a half years and yet we continued to support lo- cal credit students, build and offer community education classes, and assist a variety of local business and nonprofits with meeting space and resources. The two staff we lost were ded- icated to serving our community and supporting the educational pursuits of our residents. Without hesitation they did what was need- ed, from recruiting and supporting community education instructors to cleaning bathrooms, if it needed done, it got done. The statement that “…the layoffs don’t really impact those activities because we were already looking at suspending them” stunned me as well. While I am aware of discussions around a health care clinic taking over the majority of the building space at the center, we were assured by many in management that we would still be operating activities at the center. We were never informed that staff would be terminated due to the downsizing of the center. We had not put operations on hold, as indicated, and I have con- tinued to work toward offering summer classes and services to this community. I would like to leave you with one piece of knowledge: the two terminated staff members served both the college and the communi- ty with dedication, hard work and an honest desire to improve educa- tional opportunities for credit and community education students in the Cottage Grove area. Their work contributed greatly to our goals, and in no way should their contributions be minimized and reduced to non-essential. They should be proud of the work they did and the community should be proud of them. I know I was proud to work with them. —Holli Turpin 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 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... Ext. 1204 nsnyder@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 Senior 62+ ...................................................................................33.00 e-Edition year ............................................................................$35.00 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 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
