4A | MARCH 18, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Sentinel 116 N. Sixth St. Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424 ned hickson, managing editor | 541-902-3520 | nhickson@cgsentinel.com Opinion 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) An update on our vaccination process will send you an email or call you notifying you of upcoming available dates to get your vac- cine. You simply pick the date and time best As your commission- er, I field a lot of ques- tions on the COVID-19 vaccine. Most folks want to know when they will be able to get their vac- cine and how to get it scheduled. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) de- termines who is eligible and when (which you can view online at www. covidvaccine.oregon. gov/. Many need help reg- istering for their vac- cine, which you can do through Lane County at www.cognitoforms. com/LaneCounty- COVID/COVID19Vac- cinePreregistration or by calling 541-682-1380. Ask a friend if they need help registering. After you are signed up, the second most common question is “When will I be notified to schedule an appoint- ment?” Once you are pre-reg- istered, Lane County vaccine with whomever can get you scheduled first. Once you get the vac- cine, all agencies are required to enter your From Your Commissioner’s Desk Heather Buch for you. However, the appointment times get filled up fast, so don’t delay if you see that email come through. It is important to note S afe w ay / A l b e r t s on s pharmacies, Costco pharmacies and Health- Mart pharmacies get their vaccine doses di- rectly from the federal government and not through Lane County, so they will have sepa- rate scheduling meth- ods. They generally won’t have a waiting list and will simply let you know if there are any available appointments to sign up for. If not, you have to keep checking back. I recommend pre-reg- istering for the Lane County’s waiting list, check the pharmacy websites and get your vaccine information into the central state da- tabase called “Alert.” It may take a few days for your information to get updated in the sys- tem but, once it is, any authorized entity will be able to notify you when you are ready for a sec- ond dose in the same way you were notified for your first dose. If you have pre-reg- istered, are eligible and have not yet received an invitation to schedule an appointment, please know that we will get to you. There are tens of thousands of people in Lane County who are currently eligible and we have only received a fraction of the doses necessary to vaccinate all of those people. There is, however, good news on the way. As we’ve heard for many months, vaccines have been scarce at both the state and county lev- el. That will be changing soon. Oregon expects to re- ceive up to 80,000 John- son & Johnson vaccines by March 22. Current- ly, Oregon is receiving around 80,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna (combined), so these Johnson & Johnson dos- es will effectively double the amount of vaccine coming into the state. This also means Lane County’s allocation will double. We have been preparing for an ex- panded vaccine rollout for some time and have every confidence that with the help of strate- gic partnerships with our hospitals, University of Oregon, pharmacies and local providers, we will be able to quickly and efficiently adminis- ter these doses. Stay safe. —Heather Buch Lane County Commis- sioner - District 5 LETTER FROM THE MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER Mayor Jeff Gowing and the City Manager Richard Meyers have issued the following state- ment regarding comments that were made about a local volun- teer: “It has recently come to our attention that individuals with- in the community are belittling, demeaning and attacking a vol- unteer with the City of Cottage Grove because of mental health issues. We find such behavior dis- gusting, prejudicial and entirely inappropriate. Such behaviors are based solely in hate and fear. For years, the City of Cottage Grove has supported efforts to strengthen the access to men- tal health services and fought against prejudicial or discrim- inatory actions or comments that continue to perpetuate the stigma associated with mental health challenges that our citi- zens face. Mental health issues must be treated the same as any other medical or physical condition. Statements or actions that ques- tion the abilities, belittle or dis- criminate against anyone who received treatment for mental health challenges or who are addressing mental health issues are not appropriate in a civil and respectful community. Such actions must be identi- fied for what they are, discrim- ination and prejudice. We will not be intimidated by such de- meaning and prejudicial actions or statements. We will also do all in our pow- er to identify such behaviors and protect all members of our community from such mistreat- ment. All selections of employment or volunteer service within the City of Cottage Grove are and will be based on bon-a-fide job qualifications and we will not be intimidated by prejudicial or discriminatory comments, be- haviors or accusations.” Cottage Grove and many others. Just like any other credit union or bank, they protect the confi- dential information associated with their clients. Just as anyone with a loan with a credit union doesn’t want their loan amount, payment information or financial history given out freely, the cus- tomers of a CDFI are protected the same way. You as a member of a credit union cannot demand that the credit union tell you who is borrowing money that is de- posited with them. The organizations that sup- port and work with Community LendingWorks are extensive and represent the finest and most committed businesses, financial institutions, foundations, tribes and government agencies in the region. Once again, Community Lend- ingWorks is more than just a nonprofit located in Springfield. They are a regional financial in- stitution with a proven track re- cord of thousands of grants and loans through a wide variety of programs and funding sources with the sole purpose to strength- en local communities by benefit- Copyright 2021 © 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. 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Send letters to: nhickson@cgsentinel.com HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS Oregon state representatives • Sen. Floyd Prozanski District 4 State Senator PO Box 11511 Eugene, Ore. 97440 Phone: 541-342-2447 Email : sen.floydprozanski@ state.or.us • Rep. Cedric Hayden Republican District 7 State Representative 900 Court St. NE Salem, Ore. 97301 Phone: 503-986-1407 Email: rep.cedrichayden@ state.or.us • Rep. Peter DeFazio (House of Representatives) 405 East 8th Ave. #2030 Eugene, Ore. 97401 Oregon federal representatives Email: defazio.house.gov/ contact/email-peter Phone: 541-465-6732 • 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 • Heather Buch Lane County Commissioner - District 5 Email: Heather.Buch@lane countyorg.gov 125 E. Eighth Ave. Eugene, OR 97401 Or call 541-682-4203 S entinel C ottage G rove 541-942-3325 Administration Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager... Ext. 1207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com LETTER to the EDITOR A word about Community LendingWorks The city has partnered with Community LendingWorks. Yes, they are a nonprofit, but they are more than that. They are a certified Communi- ty Development Financial Insti- tution (CDFI). That is certifica- tion that they receive through the U.S. Department of the Treasury demonstrating that they meet specific financial institution re- quirements and follow specific regulations like credit unions and banks. In fact, banks or credit unions can apply for CDFI certification. The only real difference from banks or credit unions is that CDFI is specialized in serving low-income communities with the primary mission of promot- ing community development. Community LendingWorks is the only CDFI in the region. They have provided small business loans and grants throughout the region — Lane, Linn and Benton counties to name just a few. They have served the cities of Corvallis, Albany, Eugene-Springfield, Co- burg, Creswell, Yachats, Veneta, USPS#133880 ing low income individuals and small businesses. They completely handled all loan and grant applications based on approved guidelines. The City of Cottage Grove, em- ployees or elected officials had no part in the selection of any of the grants or loans. The city is excited to be part- nering with an amazing region- ally recognized institution that has a proven track record of successfully helping people and businesses throughout the region succeed. Through Community Lend- ingWorks and with help from Lane County and State of Oregon funding, the city was able to take $25,414 and turn it into $85,000 of grant funding to help 11 of our local small businesses survive the closure and restrictions of the COVID pandemic. The loan program has also helped with low interest loans to four businesses for a total of $40,000. —Richard Meyers City Manager 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 Zeahna Young, Sports Reporter... Ext. 1204 zyoung@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Meg Fringer, Office Manager, Legals, Classifieds... Ext. 1200 mfringer@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor... 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