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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2020)
4A | AUGUST 20, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: nhickson@cgsentinel.com LETTERS Weakness of strong men stripped bare As I greet my 70th birthday, I can attest to the sorry fact that more often than not — on both the personal and the social scale — that deeds of ethical horror have become more and more common over the last two de- cades. On the personal scale, I have borne uncomfortable witness to an increasing normalization of the public denigration of hu- man dignity by surveillance and physical and verbal disrespect on the part of law enforcement. This human ugliness has gone hand-in-hand with a program of incrementally diminishing Civil Rights in Media rhetoric, and in legislation against — and toleration of abuse towards — targeted minority populations. To what purpose? I can see but one. Both trajectories serve to but- tress the confidence of bully leaders who are painfully aware of their shortcomings as lead- ers, and who are insecure in the public perception of their de- gree of social control. Is all this by design? I am of a generation that such a thing can not be believed to be on purpose and by design in our America. —Leo Rivers Cottage Grove Why slow down the USPS? The USPS has been a vital part of our nation since 1775, when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general by the Second Conti- nental Congress. I don’t understand our presi- dent’s promotion of deliberate- ly trying to cripple the Postal Service — especially prior to an election — when mail-in voting appears to be critical for safe balloting. I have heard the theory that the current postmaster gener- al is the sole architect of these policies. If that is so, then the president has the full authority to get involved since — as we have heard repeatedly — federal employees serve at his pleasure. HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS The buck stops with the pres- ident on this issue, but he ap- parently has chosen not to get involved. We in Oregon are fortunate to have a decades-long history of successful mail-in balloting. Ac- cording to Wikipedia, Oregon established vote-by-mail after the passing of a citizen’s initia- tive in 1998 by a margin of 69.4 percent to 30.6 percent. However, it appears that even here, the sabotage of the USPS may already be resulting in a slow-down of mail delivery. Have your magazines and oth- er bulk mail begun showing up late? Mine have. I don’t look forward to wor- rying about the delivery of my ballot or prescriptions. Whatever your political dis- position, if you want your vote to count this fall, you may want to vote as early as you feel com- fortable doing so — and strong- ly consider utilizing Lane Coun- ty’s election drop boxes. —Craig Barns Cottage Grove 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 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
