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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 2020)
4A | JULY 23, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: Historic preservation more important than profi ts (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.) I fear that a proposed addition to a designated historic property, 522 East Main Street, is using his- toric preservation guidelines as a workaround for permitting what is essentially new construction. Not only does this proposed high-density construction threat- en the character of our historic downtown, it also forebodes a po- tentially negative impact on local businesses while raising multi- ple affordability and accessibility concerns. This proposed construction, reviewed and approved by the Historical Landmark Commis- sion on May 18, will be attached to the rear of the building by a cantilevered sky bridge spanning an alley. Particularly disturbing is the fact that this four-story resi- dential building will not feature an elevator, making it off-limits to many people with disabilities. I also think it’s a disservice to the community to build mar- ket-rate housing without any truly affordable units on offer. The pro- posed rental rate of $700 is more than half the monthly income of Guest Viewpoint By Matt Runkle H Street, Cottage Grove someone working full time for minimum wage, the traditional wisdom being that rent should be no more than a third of a person’s income. As the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus crisis continues to reveal itself, the need for actually affordable housing will become even more dire. As a taxpayer, I also resent that, due to the Multi-Unit Property Tax Ex- emption (MUPTE) program, the building’s owner may be able to avoid paying property taxes while simultaneously making a profit off of citizens by collecting rent. I live just across the river from downtown and enjoy walking down Main Street to frequent local businesses. Not everyone has this luxury and parking is very limited in our tiny down- town area. Because this proposed multi-unit residential addition will be sited on what is currently a parking lot, I fear the increased traffic will make parking even more difficult, endangering pe- destrians and making it more challenging for drivers to access local businesses. Finally, the fact that this pro- posed construction is six feet taller than the building it is sup- posedly annexing makes its con- duciveness to the historical char- acter of downtown Cottage Grove highly questionable. This goes against what makes this town special — different than most American cities and towns, which have been taken hostage by profit-driven real estate develop- ers. Once we embark on this dis- ruptive construction project, I’m worried our beautiful downtown will be blighted in a way that will be difficult to reverse. My hope is that, as a city, we can focus on keeping our most vulnerable pop- ulations housed while staying true to what is unique and mag- netic about 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 LETTERS Water bill woes When I pay my water bill, I do not want or expect to pay for some- thing that is not listed on the bill as something I agreed to. What I do not agree to my funds being spent for is the promotion of the private company “Service Line Warranties.” Specifically, I don’t agree to: The labor to design and write a complex propaganda letter for that com- pany; print the letter on Cottage Grove paper; stuff it along with the private company’s brochure in a Cottage Grove envelope; and post it with Cottage Grove postage to send it to almost everyone in Cot- tage Grove every month. I see that as misappropriation of city funds — for the benefit of who? In government at any level, spending funds for personal em- ployee interests, is socialism and has no place in the United States. Cottage Grove water bill costs are among the most expensive in all of Oregon. If you have that much extra mon- ey, please give it back to us. —Russ Bowen Cottage Grove Veneer of civilization is very thin I’m sure everyone has said some- thing — or posted something — that other people did not agree with. Someone could then take that post and spread it all over Face- book and the news media, and de- stroy someone — just because they didn’t agree with a statement. The person hadn’t done anything wrong, or hurt anyone. It was just a statement that someone else didn’t agree with. Maybe it didn’t fit in the current politically correct environment. Maybe it was taken out of con- text. But that didn’t matter, because someone wanted to smear some- one else. One of the perfect examples of something taken out of context is to make the statement — the Bible says there is no God. How can that be? Scripture is God’s word. How it can it say there is no God? Now lets put those words in the correct context: Psalms 14: 1 and 53:1 says: “The fool in his heart says, there is no God.” Quite a difference in meaning, isn’t there? The old saying: “He who is with- out sin, let him cast the first stone” is very appropriate here. The veneer of civilization is very thin, and we are seeing it disappear in the rioting, looting, destruction of property, the hateful comments, spreading of falsehoods or misin- terpretations, and the bashing of other people. Instead of pulling together in this time of crisis, we are tearing each other apart. The moral code of Holy Scrip- tures — the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments — give guide- lines on how to live with one an- other. But I suppose some think the Bible should be banned, because it isn’t ‘politically correct’ in its con- demnation of certain lifestyles that are now currently embraced. You shall not kill, commit adul- tery, steal, lie (bearing false witness against your neighbor) or covet. The Constitution gives us Free- dom of Speech — forget it — be- cause if I don’t give the current politically correct dialogue, I am condemned. Yes, horrible mistakes have been made in the past. But two or even a hundred current wrongs don’t make it right. And beating some- one over the head because he said something we think was wrong solves nothing and only makes things a lot worse. —Janetta Overholser Cottage Grove Gary Manly, General Manager... Ext. 1207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Gerald Santana, Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1216 gsantana@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... 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