4A | JULY 8, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Cottage Grove Sentinel
116 N. Sixth St.
Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424
damien Sherwood, editor | 541-305-1409 | dsherwood@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)
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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documentation will not be published.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:
Taking note of the positive
in our community
In today’s world, we
see and hear so much
negativity from social
media; new stations;
politicians and their
agendas – to name a
few.
All of this negativity
sometimes overshad-
ows the kindness ex-
hibited by so many in
this community.
Cottage Grove seems
to be one if those plac-
es that rallies together
and supports each oth-
er during the difficult
times. Looking back
to the start if the pan-
demic, The Woodard
Foundation anticipat-
ed the struggles our
local nonprofits would
encounter and donated
$100,000 through the
Community Founda-
tion for the purposes of
helping our nonprofit
organizations through
this difficult time.
As high school grad-
uation approached and
graduation was not
going to be the cele-
bratory event that it
normally is, parents,
Community members
and teachers came to-
gether to give gradu-
ating seniors the best
celebration they could
under social gathering
restrictions.
As summer 2020 ap-
proached, all of our
events that make us
unique were canceled.
However, people still
found ways to support
each other.
Shopping locally and
outdoor dining became
more popular. Many
restaurants were able to
regroup and offer to-go
their doors to provide
respite for those effect-
ed.
As a community,
we also came together
and collected supplies
to be distributed to
those who were direct-
ly affected by the fires.
Those who had space
offered to house live-
stock and other ani-
mals displaced by the
fires as well.
During the holi-
days, people stepped
up and donated goods
and money to ensure
local agencies had the
From your City Council's desk
Mayor Jeff Gowing
meals, which allowed
many to enjoy their fa-
vorite restaurants’ food
while helping them
keep their doors open.
As summer came
to a close, we saw the
worst fire season ever.
Although the fires were
not a direct threat to
Cottage Grove, the
smoke caused breath-
ing issues for many. Lo-
cal businesses opened
resources they needed
to continue providing
much needed services
to those in need of a lit-
tle extra help.
Because of social dis-
tancing
restrictions,
providing shelter for
homeless people on
freezing nights need-
ed creative thinking.
Thanks to many vol-
unteers, safe and warm
accommodations were
made available for peo-
ple and their pets.
As spring approached
and an end to restric-
tions could be seen, the
community responded
with positive plans to
move forward. Those
who could help others
continued to be very
generous.
I’ve heard and wit-
nessed acts of kind-
ness including buying a
happy meal for a child;
paying for someone’s
groceries; giving cash
donations to our non-
profits; helping people
carry groceries home;
and many other small
but meaningful ges-
tures of kindness and
helpfulness.
We need to highlight,
recognize and remem-
ber all of these acts of
kindness and human-
ity. As an individual
and as a community,
let’s continue to focus
on the positive and all
of the things we have in
common.
We won’t always
agree; but we can con-
tinue to make Cottage
Grove a great place to
live if we all practice
kindness and focus on
the positive.
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:
dsherwood@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.fl oydprozanski@
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
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