EDITORIAL Turn around and make brothels legal City-run bordellos — San Francisco has considered the idea after many complaints from merchants and res idents. City officials are considering whether to establish city-run brothels that would rent rooms to prostitutes, check their health and collect taxes on earnings. The way prostitution is handled right now is horrible. The spread of sexually transmitted diseases is running rampant through that community. The underage prosti tutes who are selling themselves to people on the streets need to be stopped. The income that is earned through prostitution is. for the most part, tintaxable. Right now the police are simply looking the other way. If prostitutes are arrested, they are usually in jail for oniy a few days before being released because of overcrowd ing. As far ns the police are concerned, prostitution is legal. If it were legalized and state—run, tnen the streets would be a safer place. Legalizing prostitution and mandating a state—run agency could potentially involve a system of registration — one where the prostitutes involved are screened for diseases, checked for a legal age and permitted a place to legally practice thoir trade, which would successfully encourage a safer environment where the use of a con dom would be positively mandated and readily avail able. This would have a drastic effect on eliminating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Not only would the prostitutes be screened, but the interested party as well. If the government is simply going to turn its back on the problem, then it should at least provide an accept able environment for prostitution. Having the city sur vey the involvement would certainly be better than a pimp with a selfish self-interest further polluting the streets. At the moment, there is no plato for prostitutes to go to promote their business, except the streets. If prostitu tion were legalized, it would ho removed from the streets and put into a state-run facility where prostitutes could meet the prospective john. No longer would prostitutes need to advertise themselves on street corners and bus slops — a first stop to cleaning up the streets rather than simply turning the other way. Right now, prostitution is spreading into neighbor hoods that are historically nicer simply because they arc safer With prostitution comes problems that exist on the streets and follow the lead of prostitution, problems like drugs and crime. If prostitution is loading the way. then it should be the first thing taken off the streets. Certain ly not first in a series of steps to legalize other things like drugs, but rather first off the streets, leaving drugs and crime with no leader to follow. Prostitution is an age-old dilemma that the police have turned their bat ks on, in a sense legalizing it. If it is going to be lognl. then it should bo done In a beneficial way. it should be done in a way that takes it off the streets, makes it safer, curbs the underage aspects and pays for all the cost incurred above with income that could be directly taxed by users of the city—run broth els. Instead of ignoring the problem, mandating state— run facilities would encourage a responsible alternative. Emerald PO BO* 3«W fuGENC 0«€GO« *?46J The Oregon Defy £mt*ak3is published dfirfy Monday through Friday during the sctwx> year and Tuesday and Thursday dunng the summer by tn© Oegon Da*iy Emerasd Pubi of Oegon £ ugene. 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