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4A | JULY 29, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Sentinel 116 N. Sixth St. Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424 damien Sherwood, editor | 541-942-3325 | 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) USPS#133880 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anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or without documentation will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside The Sentinel readership area will only be published at the discretion of the editor. Political/Election Letters: LETTERS Oath Breakers Among Elected Officials Our founding fathers’ biggest priority, before any other, was to pass the Oath Act. The Oath Act was the first act signed into law by President-elect George Washington. The Oath Act as written in Article VI, Clause 3, of our Constitution, states that those who are elected “Shall be bound by Oath.” The sworn oath is tak- en on Jan. 3. The elected officials do “sol- emnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all en- emies, foreign and domestic.” On Jan. 6 of this year, our elected officials gathered under congressional law to count the electoral votes. The vote was delayed because of objections from members of the Republi- can Party. While the vote was delayed, the halls of Congress were at- tacked by a mob of Trump supporters. After the mob was pushed out, the vote was tak- en, and Biden was declared the winner. On Jan. 20, Biden took the sworn Oath of Office and be- came our official constitution- ally elected president. Today, there are many Repub- lican elected officials who pro- mulgated the “lie” that the elec- tion was stolen. All those sworn officials who deny that Biden is the duly elected president have broken their oath, and should be considered guilty under the Sedition Act, for opposing or resisting the US Constitutional Law. When somebody breaks their oath, there should be conse- quences. Otherwise, we become a lawless nation with no consti- tutional laws to govern us. —Michael T. Hinojosa Drain EPUD Not Telling the People Dear Reader, I just discovered that our won- derful electricity supplier, Em- erald People’s Utility District, is planning to borrow $35,000,000 of cash to hold and use for vari- ous projects. On July 20, the Board of Di- rectors voted 4-1 to accept the recommendation of the execu- tive team. Director Ron Davis is the only one who voted to be debt-free. For years as I served on their Finance Committee, we worked to pay down the long-term debt early to free up cash that would be available to make needed improvements and keep rates competitive. That debt is nearly paid in full, but the Board of Directors and Executive team voted to borrow again without a clear disclosure to the people or for what pur- poses. We the ratepayers did not directly receive any notice in their newsletter or newspapers of this scheme. They already hold cash re- serves of $13m as of their Dec. 31, 2020, audited statements with an additional $4m per year when the last of the existing debt will be paid next year plus $6.4m average net income over the past seven years available. That is surely enough to work the planned capital improve- ments as we go. They are seeing the low 2.09 percent interest cost as an op- portunity to get cheap money. But borrowing always has hid- den costs: investment fees, fidel- ity bonding, staff salaries to play banker, and the interest cost of $731,000 per year which could be directly used for the project- ed capital improvements. We currently have a govern- ment at all levels which is a poor example of fiscal management. Do we have anyone serving us with the sense to pay cash for what we need without borrow- ing from tomorrow? Contact your EPUD Director at epud.org and the finance of- fice at 541-746-1583. Ask them to live within their cash flow budget for the benefit of the people. Do not presume upon the future. —Larry Bottemiller 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: 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 S entinel C ottage G rove 541-942-3325 Administration Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager... Ext. 1207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com Advertising Gerald Santana, Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1216 gsantana@cgsentinel.com Carla Skeel, Inside Multi-Media Sales Consultant... Ext. 1203 csummers@cgsentinel.com Editorial Damien Sherwood, Editor... Ext. 1212 dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Sophia Edelblute, Features Intern sedelblute@cgsentinel.com Daniel Friis, Sports Intern Kendrick Murphy, Sports Intern Customer Service Office Manager, Legals, Classifieds... Ext. 1200 mfringer@cgsentinel.com Kurt Krueger, Circulation... Ext. 1213 kkrueger@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor... 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