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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
El EDITORIAL.
Three cheers
for OLCC's
supermarket
liquor sales
For the well-prepared partygoer, responsible or other
wise, buying alcoholic spirits might become a little easier
this year:
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is planning a
pilot program aimed to test selling hard alcohol, previously
the domain of liquor outlets, in grocery stores. And one of
the first tryout sites might be in the Eugene-Gateway area.
And for Eugene-area imbibers, lushes, tipplers, boozers,
sots and responsible drinkers, this is good news indeed.
The two-year plan calls for establishing small sections —
500 to 1500 square feet, various grocery store sources ex
plained — in existing grocery stores dedicated to liquor.
There are plenty of good reasons to support the program,
too: During last year $111 million (41.6 percent) of the
state's $267 million in liquor sales went to public agencies.
Planners expect each so-called pilot store to generate about
$ 1 million annually from sales. Just six pilot stores generat
ing state funds at the same rate would add $2.5 million for
Oregon programs. Although it's worth noting that the ac
tual increase will likely be less because much of the revenue
corresponds to liquor purchases that would be made at
liquor stores anyway, even an appreciable fraction would
add some much-needed cash to nearly barren state coffers.
There are (rightfully) some concerns about these steps
toward privatization: Some research suggests that privati
zation of alcohol sales can dramatically increase alcohol
consumption (per capita), but other research is more
skeptical of the causation. The figure that makes perhaps
the most compelling case that steps toward privatization
are socially safe is that at least 32 states already regulate
alcohol less rigorously than Oregon does. The policies of
the 18 so-called "control states" — Oregon included —
are thus the exception, not the rule. Moreover, social sci
entists Traci Toomey and Alexander Wagenaar found that
18 states "have changed some part of their beer, wine, or
distilled spirits distribution systems from state-owned
wholesale or retail systems to privatized systems in the
past 27 years."
If privatization posed any threats, they are at least ones
we've already seen.
And, while the Associated Liquor Stores of Oregon has
expressed some concerns about the pilot stores taking
their business, the OLCC has at least partly planned
around the issue: In picking sites, the commission sought
"partner stores" that were at least 1.5 miles away from ex
isting liquor stores.
At the worst, the usually draconian OLCC's plan to pri
vatize liquor sales should prove an interesting social exper
iment, if not a boon for alcohol shoppers.
If in-negotiation contracts are finalized, students going
home to Gresham, Bend or the Bethany area of Beaverton
this summer can expect to find more outlets in their area.
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters®
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commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt Travis Willse
Editor in Chief Editorial Editor
Jan Tobias Montry Jennifer Sudick
Managing Editor Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
News Editor
IRAQI PRISONER
ABUSE
VANDAL
Steve Baggs Illustrator
What a wonderful world
"You've been given a great gift, George. A
chance to see what the world would be like
without you.
— Clarence die Angel, "It's a Wonderful Life"
No Americans died in Iraq this year.
No Iraqi prisoners were beaten or tor
tured. Those pictures in The Washington
Post were never there. Donald Rumsfeld?
He and George W. Bush spent the last four
years fishing in Texas.
Al Gore is president.
You remember. In November 2000,
Florida was hit by a tsunami that wiped out
the lower half of the state. They didn't count
Florida's electoral votes in the election, and
Gore took the popular vote and the elec
toral vote in an Everest-sized landslide.
So American soldiers never invaded
Iraq. Sure, after Sept. 11 we sent a fleet of
Marines to Afghanistan's hills for Osama
bin Laden. And we thought about sending
soldiers into Iraq when a top White House
official thought there might be weapons of
mass destruction there.
But our president, exercising a wonder
ful quality called patience, waited for a
United Nations inspection team to con
clude its search in Iraq. "No WMDs, no in
vasion," Gore famously declared in his
Memorial Day speech in 2003.
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
Of course, under Gore, our environment
is more Mother Earth than Father Oil.
Instead of plundering America's re
sources like a pirate, Gore introduced for
ward-thinking initiatives so we could be
independent of other countries' oil re
sources. Gore drove to many functions in
an electric-powered limousine and intro
duced an alternative-fuel bill to congress.
By 2025, every new car will have to be a
gas-electric hybrid or all electric.
Yes, Gore is still boring. He uses big
words and his delivery is about as bland as
an unsalted cracker.
But, somehow, he commands the re
spect of our allies across the world. He fa
vors diplomacy over force. He listens to
other leaders before making dedsions. He
doesn't flash American machismo around
the world like a calling card.
I say it's better to be boring than stupid.
Al Gore didn't cut taxes for country-dub
cuties. He believes in maintaining our sur
plus, rather than creating a trillion-buck
defidt with the lethal combination of tax
cuts and military spending.
Gore spent money on education and
the economy. He believed that schools
should spend less money on national
bubble-filled Scantrons and more money
on art and extracurriculars.
Here in Oregon, we felt the effects of
Gore's emphasis on higher education. We
built a new basketball arena with extra
funds. We created more scholarships and
built a new campus in Bend. In Eugene,
the school board opened two new ele
mentary schools instead of closing them.
Sure, the grass is always greener on the
other side of the voting booth, but I think
we made the right choice electing Al Gore.
Re-elect Gore in '04.
It's a wonderful life, yes?
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Kerry would choose
Cabinet well
Things aren't well in Oregon. Things
aren't well in the United States, and things
aren't well in the world. Whether we're
speaking about the environment, civil
rights, the economy, overpopulation or war,
things are deteriorating at a rapid pace.
Not everything that's wrong in the
world is the fault of George Bush, his ad
visers and the Republican-controlled Con
gress, but their style of leadership (spitting
in our friends' and enemies' eyes, "Bring it
On," not signing the international land
mine treaty) and the direction they've cho
sen for the country do have local as well as
international impacts.
When I think of who I'll vote for this
fall, 1 focus on the 1,000 people who the
president appoints to his or her cabinet
and executive departments. I believe John
Kerry's picks would be more creative, ob
jective, compassionate and expert in ways
that Bush's picks have been partisan,
mean-spirited and fanatical. This change
alone is enough of a reason for me to back
John Kerry's campaign for president with
every fiber in my body.
Albert Kaufman
Portland
Vole for environmental
protection
An important clue for evaluating candi
dates is how they have voted in the past
years as elected officials. There is a definite
relationship between a healthy environ
ment and a healthy economy, and Bonnie
Bettman and Betty Taylor have usually 100
percent voting records for the environ
ment and have shown great fiscal respon
sibility. Nancy Nathanson and Scott Meis
ner have lower ratings, according to the
votes recorded in the April 8 issue of Eu
gene Weekly. Votes that are frowned upon
are a road through our West Eugene Wet
lands, support for a developer slush fund
in the Riverfront Urban Renewal Park,
elimination of funding for Toxic Right to
Know measure and reduced protection for
streams and trees. What kind of environ
ment do you want 20 years from now?
Ruth Duemler
Eugene
Willamette Industries
destroys forests
I grew up in Jefferson, Oregon, only a
few miles from the Willamette Industries
paper mill in Albany, Oregon. The smells
emitted made drivers plug noses, and the
way it looked took away from the scenery.
Now I realize that that paper mill did
more than obscure community members
iiwin fresh aii, it was, and still is, destroy
ing forests. 1 urge you to call on Oregon
Gov. Kulongoski to enforce the Roadless
Conservation Rule, which protects forests
from logging, road building, and other
harmful activities.
Laura Church
sophomore
sociology