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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2020)
4A | DECEMBER 10, 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published.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: LETTERS Christmas tree, not holiday tree This is to answer the question of whether we recently lit a Christmas tree or a holiday tree. The Christmas tree was brought to America in the 1800s by German settlers and was not widely accept- ed at first. Over the years, trees dec- orated with ornaments and lights associated with Christmas have thus referred to the tree as Christ- mas trees. A holiday tree is used to stay up year-round with changing decora- tions for the appropriate season, such as St. Patrick’s Day, birthdays, and so on (per Google site). To further clarify, the tree for the lighting ceremony did not come from holiday tree farms located in Corvallis, Salem or Dallas. This tree came from right here in the Cottage Grove area. It grew 12 feet from last year’s tree and, since last year’s tree was considered a Christmas tree, it stands to reason that this year’s tree was as well. I’m sure this was just an over- sight by Shauna Neigh and I would like to thank George Zajic for bri- gning this to our attention. —Stewart Stevenson Cottage Grove Tired of funky tap water Once again, I find myself throw- ing away a recently replaced water filter because of brown water in my water filter and my humidifier. The city of Cottage Grove has ex- plained that this brown stuff in our tap water is “turbidity” (particulate matter). I know that these particles are not from my plumbing because I had my entire plumbing system — from the meter in — replaced within the past 5 years. Now, after two days (11/30 and 12/1), I feel it is safe to replace the water filter, clean the brown slime out of the pitcher and humidifier, and to drink and cook with city water again. A few years, ago a plumber told me that this turbidity — particles put into my home plumbing — can make gaskets and valves dysfunc- tional and shorten the lives of wa- ter heaters, dishwashers, washing machines, sprinkler systems and certain features of modern refrig- erators. I know I should be grateful for indoor, running water and a mu- nicipal water supply, but I am tired of paying top dollar for this water. If the city can not improve this situation (better filtration?), I feel that they owe their customers some kind of compensation for the dam- age being done and for the cost of decent drinking water during these “episodes.” I won’t get started on the poison- ous element chlorine and the smell of it when turning on our city wa- ter (ruins my coffee), which is why I have a filter. I had to get this out, not only for me but probably for a lot of others also. —Katy Owens 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 In the end, we all need each other to end COVID spread (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.) This is in response to the Dec. 3 Guest Viewpoint “When is enough Going To Be Enough?” by Chad Morely. America is in a catastrophic hu- manitarian health crisis. Mr. More- ly’s Guest Viewpoint missed the main point of our current annoying restrictions. When hospitals need refrigerated trucks to hold their dead as hospital beds become lim- ited, there is a big problem for you and me. You cannot run a business if you or your customers become sick or die. Maybe you don’t know anyone personally impacted, but please ask doctors caring for COVID patients or family members who have lost their loved ones how they feel. Restrictions are not a “power play” but rather the needed response to a serious epidemic. Guest Viewpoint By Linda Yellin Cottage Grove We Oregonians can help our healthcare workers by following the guidelines. It’s uncomfortable, it’s sad and, yes, it’s hurting our econ- omy. But it’s not Governor Brown who caused this. She is merely the mes- senger; her job is to protect Oregon citizens. The governor’s job is to communicate healthcare officials’ requests to prevent disease spread. Other countries where people were compliant to government re- strictions to stop the disease are now back to business as usual. In New Zealand (my nephew has re- turned to school there), Nova Scotia and even Wuhan China have all re- turned to regular activities. Failure to face the disease where it lives, name calling or ignoring what our officials ask will not solve COVID’s spread. If we can simply honor each other and the restric- tions, it will help us now as well as the many other problems left after COVID is gone. I want to celebrate the holidays with my community, friends and family, but we still have a ways to go. Please be patient, civil and caring because, in the end, we all need each other to cooperate in order to make it through this 2020 together. 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... 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