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4A | OCTOBER 7, 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) The need for communication tician and POW, once “We are losing social wrote, “As far as this skills, the human inter- business of solitary action skills, how to read confinement goes, the a person’s mood, to read most important thing their body language, for survival is commu- how to be patient until nication with someone, the moment is right to Our comfortable life even if it’s only a wave make or press a point. as we knew it changed or a wink, a tap on the Too much exclusive use wall, or to have a guy put of electronic informa- in March of 2020. Let’s remember in his thumb up. It makes a tion dehumanizes what 2019 when it was nor- mal to have in-person From the City Council's desk meetings, conferences, school, birthday parties, Ward 1 Councilor Chalice Savage dinners, and other social gatherings. This came to a stop with the spread is a very, very important of the novel coronavi- difference.” In the last 18 months part of community life rus where there was no we have learned to and living together.” gradual transition. It is through commu- We immediately be- adapt, but our morale has continued to drop. nication that we learn gan to work from home, We are surrounded by about culture and un- hold Zoom meetings, differences. our kids tried to nav- black and white state- derstand ments, this or that sug- Suddenly the black and igate online learning, gestions and suddenly white blurs to grey. The birthday parties became this way of thinking and ideas of “this” or “that” known as a drive-by and almost overnight virtually behaving has fade and the concept of both This and That is our society lost the one become normalized. Vincent Nichols, Car- understood. thing we needed: com- dinal of the Roman Imagine each of us as munication. John McCain, poli- Catholic Church said: a different instrument. We practice, prepare and fine tune our skills alone. But when we come together, we make beautiful music. We are stronger together, even though we are all differ- ent instruments. I encourage everyone to consciously commu- nicate with the folks we interact with daily. Here are some sugges- tions: Thank the ca- shier who showed up to work despite mask mandates, smile at a stranger walking by on the sidewalk because smiles are contagious. And most of all, allow yourself to see beyond the screen, beyond the written word. Let us unite through small acts of kindness which is behavioral communication that will begin to reawaken our senses, lift spirits, and make us more hu- man. When it comes to saving local newspapers, the solutions won’t be found in web metrics, ad rates or shrinking news holes. The solution, seemingly simple yet terrifying complicated, is for newspa- pers to reconnect with the people they’re supposed to be serving. That’s the purpose of The Relevance Project, a national effort intended to make lo- cal journalism so relevant to people’s lives that papers will once again become an essential pur- chase. The Newspaper Association Managers, a coalition of trade as- sociations serving daily and week- ly newspapers and new websites in North America, is coordinating the project, which was launched during National Newspaper Week last year. The focus on local newspapers was prompted in part by frustra- tion that industry leaders were too focused on the major players — the papers run by corporations and big chains. That approach overlooks the more than 8,600 local news- papers covering the parades, the school board meetings and the soc- cer games of small-town America and Canada. The problems those papers face try’s warts, from public mistrust to falling page counts, rising subscrip- tion costs and poorly functioning websites. From the newspaper association managers’ perspective, the results were a much-needed slap in the face — newspapers weren’t doing the right things by their readers. The Relevance Project is working to reassert newspapers’ relevance to their communities by building on the credibility they already have. It aims to remind peo- ple that newspapers serve as a Michelle K. Rea trusted community forum and Executive Director of New York Press as a resource. A newspaper’s Association/New York Press Service strength and future rely on its local community; fortifying that relationship will fortify ada think the public is paying so the paper. To do that, the project is coor- much attention to media compa- nies such as The New York Times, dinating efforts and supplying re- The Washington Post and Sinclair sources for newspapers across the [Broadcasting] that they’re forget- continent working to find new ways ting that there are vital, committed of building reader trust and com- newspapers in their local commu- munity engagement. The key to the nities. As a result, small papers with project’s success will be its focus on few resources have been left to fend concrete tools that even papers with for themselves as the ground shifts limited resources can adopt. The project’s superpower is the under them. The Relevance Project grew out thousands of local newspapers who of that frustration, with the News- may choose to participate. With po- paper Association Managers collec- tentially 8,600 local daily and week- tively retaining rebranding expert ly newspapers participating, there’s Andy Cunningham of the Cunning- a huge opportunity to reinvent the ham Collective to help diagnose community forum, to re-engage communities to collectively address problems and develop solutions. Working with papers from issues, and to make a substantial around the country, Cunningham’s impact both for the readers and the research took stock of all the indus- newspapers. mirror those of the bigger players: Declining revenues and rising costs that sometimes force closings. But for independent local papers with shoestring budgets, the finan- cial burdens fall proportionately harder: Cutting a position from a four-person newsroom, for exam- ple, is a lot more difficult than cut- ting one from a newsroom of 40. Newspaper association managers across the United States and Can- Guest Viewpoint LETTERS Climate Protests Ineffective I wonder if the people demon- strating against climate change have wondered about Earth being in the ice ages as recent as 11,500 years ago? Probably not; Earth has been warming ever since. Granted, a small portion of the warming may — get that? — may be caused by man. During the Eocene Epoch, start- ing about 48 million years ago, the carbon dioxide levels were so high that it had, in fact, a greenhouse effect on Earth. It was so warm, even the Antarctic was a tropical rain forest. Earth has warmed and cooled many, many times since then. The Willamette Valley was once a savanna. What these demonstrators could accomplish in Oregon, as far as re- ducing carbon is concerned, would 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: 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 The Relevance Project – and what it means for newspapers (Editor’s Note: This Guest View- point was provided as part of Nation- al Newspaper Week, a celebration and recognition of the critical role newspapers play in a healthy and en- ergetic democracy.) USPS#133880 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 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 Kendrick Murphy, Sports/Education Reporter... Ext 1204 kmurphy@cgsentinel.com Sophia Edelblute, Features Intern sedelblute@cgsentinel.com 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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