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documentation will not be published.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... 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 ©2021 Cottage Grove Sentinel