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)
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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documentation will not be published.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
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Editorial
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nhickson@cgsentinel.com
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dsherwood@cgsentinel.com
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Customer Service
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