The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current, July 01, 2015, Image 4

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Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Pot’s legal –
but still not
a good idea
A
s of Wednesday,
marijuana is legal to
possess in Oregon without
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For years now, personal
use amounts were nearly
decriminalized in this state,
a poorly-regulated medical
program was put in place, and
an omnipresent black market
allowed recreational users
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No more hiding grow rooms in
moldy basements, or grow sites
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buying from a shady dealer down
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age and on private property, you
can possess four marijuana plants
or eight ounces of the ready-to-use
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front of your mother, the mayor
and the chief of police – just not in
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Hooray?
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black market, increasing state tax
dollars and ending the wasteful,
hypocritical and often racist drug
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personal liberty supporters to put
their money where their mouth is,
and maybe open the eyes to the
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on the other side of the political
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The drug is helpful to some,
harmless to most, and a real drag
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whiskey, tobacco, video games
and motorcycles, which can be
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Those too raise issues of personal
choice and personal acceptance of
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mean a Big Mac-a-day habit is
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should become a habitual or even
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Where and if marijuana shops
can open in our area remains up
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which dragged its feet on making
important decisions on this matter
until well past the eleventh hour,
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have to put off those decisions
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go outside, bake an old-fashioned
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but be happy knowing we will no
longer be wasting public money
and energy cracking the skulls of
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Heedless people take
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N
early everyone who lives
in Eastern Oregon knows
that lightning starts most
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make the occasional human-
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most regrettable – because we
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continued drought and early heat
wave, are calling attention to the
unusually high number of early-
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have to put the causes of a bunch
of those blazes into the just-plain-
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Tom Fields, Oregon
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prevention coordinator, last
Thursday noted the trend, tallying
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related to target shooting just in
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people to think twice about any
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thoughtless behavior could put
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If the need for caution puts
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weekend plans, we suggest they
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L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Killers running amok Kudos to committee
To the Editor:
In our society, we have animals
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down to a dinner table and eat a meal
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one of those killers takes a life, our
society will leave no stone unturned
until that killer is taken out of our so-
ciety and either meted a death penal-
ty or incarcerated to where he or she
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In our society, we also have kill-
ers who sit down to a dinner table
with tooth, claw and fang, and are
allowed to keep killing on and on
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wildlife that has been a part of our
society for years and years and are a
huge economic factor in many of our
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The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife wants and needs to sell
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not much need to buy these tags if
there is nothing to hunt, and our deer
herd is to the point where it is almost
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Would it be too much to ask of
the ODFW people to use some of the
money they spend on helicopters to
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instead spend it on helicopters to
remove some of the tooth, claw and
fang diners from their dinner tables?
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an increase in the number of animals
that are necessary to sustain our deer
and elk numbers for viewing, as well
as making hunting seasons worth-
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There is absolutely no reason
to allow these killers to run amok
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way past time to do something
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Dean Elliott
Canyon City
To the Editor:
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Vernon extends its hearty apprecia-
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non Cinnabar Mountain Rendezvous
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They have painted and bright-
ened up the “MV” on the hillside
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the names of the individuals who
worked so hard to do this, but the
“MV” looks better than it has in
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The Rendezvous Committee has
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than most people hear about and re-
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These people take to heart how
much our little town means to all of
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You are appreciated more than you
UHDOL]H
Mayor Andy Anderson, Coun-
cilors Eva Dougharity, Jan Lowry,
Wayne Saul and Mike Cearns
Mt. Vernon
Stand together
against tyranny
To the Editor:
Why should a ranch family
which has been a crucial part of
Grant County history for over 100
years have to be a supplicant to an
agency whose presence has only
been here for half that time? Why
would local political subordinates,
who believe they are omnipotent in
their elected positions, obviously
support that agency against the lo-
cal citizens?
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ary in our area and they are now
being forced to justify an objection
to massive road closures instigated
by the Forest Service on the Wolf
Project in southern Grant County
C ORRECTION
'HDQ(OOLRWWZDVPLVLGHQWL¿HGLQ of the Eagle with our coverage of the
DSKRWRFDSWLRQLQWKH-XQHLVVXH June 11 meeting on the fumes situa-
Blue Mountain
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
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John Day, Oregon
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
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SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access)
Grant County
Elsewhere in Oregon
Continental U.S., Outside Oregon
Outside Continental U.S.
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RJL]HIRUWKHHUURU
W HERE TO WRITE
EAGLE
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
which will affect access to an allot-
ment they have utilized for many
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pearance of being supported by the
lower levels of the County Court
whose loyalties have been severe-
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The Forest Service has blatantly
ignored the disabilities of two mem-
bers of the Oliver family which ne-
cessitate motorized access to their
allotment, and has deliberately
proposed road closures that will ne-
gate a long established tradition in
OLYHVWRFN PDQDJHPHQW :K\ ZHUH
the access issues collaborated in
Burns by the Harney County Col-
laborative and why did the Harney
County Open Roads Coalition – a
Harney County Collaborative mem-
ber – give its approval of roads and
access issues in Grant County? Why
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jection removed from this process
when he clearly informed Steve
Beverlin of the Grant County Or-
dinance 2013-01 on Jan 20, which
affects all road and access issues in
Grant County?
The Forest Service references
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substantiated reasons for road clo-
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offer any of their referenced envi-
ronmental documents which they
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With arrogant narrow-minded de-
termination, the Forest Service is
attempting to destroy our lifestyle,
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land and it is time we stood together
against tyranny that our government
has foisted on us in the form of a
dictatorial land management agency
that has over stepped its authority
granted by the Constitution of the
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Jim Sproul
Canyon City
1 year
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etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
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