FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2017
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion
— Editorial —
A little
compassion
goes a long
way
With the amount of snow that
has fallen in our area, tensions
are high. From the viewpoint of
the City Public Works employee,
there’s a lot of white stuff to move,
not enough time to do it in, and
nowhere to put it.
From the viewpoint of a handi-
capped person, the elderly, or
single moms who have their hands
full, seeing their car unexpectedly
buried where it sits, or a two-foot
deep ice berm packed across their
just-shoveled driveway can be the
last straw.
Citizens are repeatedly told not
to shovel their driveway snow out
into City streets. Likewise, we
would hope that City snow-remov-
al efforts would not result in snow
from City streets being pushed up
onto private property.
Common courtesy and common
sense should run both ways.
Perhaps what prompted this
editorial more than anything was
a Facebook post on a public page
jokingly showing photos of cars
buried up to their roofs by City
snowplows as a reminder to move
their vehicles off the streets.
The post garnered laughter from
younger Facebook junkies, but
horror from many others who com-
mented privately in droves—but
not on that page.
You see, compassion seemed
to be lacking. What if, instead of
posting those photos on Facebook,
the post-er had instead opted to
stop, get out a shovel instead of a
camera, and actually help?
While the City puts out snow
route maps, press releases and the
like, there is no way to let everyone
know when and where the plowing
might occur.
Imagine having been elderly
and ill, and waking to find your
only mode of transportation buried
beneath three feet of snow and ice.
This was the circumstance in more
than one case.
A public joke on Facebook just
adds insult to injury. We rank it
right up there with the truckload
of able-bodied young men in their
20s we watched yesterday drive by
laughing while a woman tried to
balance her crying toddler in one
arm while shoveling off her side-
walk with the other.
Citizens who can put themselves
in the shoes of neighbors and
strangers and lend a helping hand
are a godsend. We’d like to see
more of that.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
More disagreement with
marijuana letter
To the Editor:
In a second response to the letter
submitted Friday, December 16, 2016
concerning marijuana, I think some ad-
ditional facts need to be pointed out that
may differ from his opinions. The author,
Mr. Boyd stated:
“2. Marijuana is far more addictive than
alcohol or cocaine.”
According to this report the National
Institute on Drug Abuse estimates 9% of
people who use marijuana will become
addicted to it. For comparison’s sake,
cocaine hooks about 20% of those who
use it. (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/20/
health/marijuana-versus-alcohol/)
According to this report in The Atlantic
: “Of all the people who smoke pot about
9 percent will become dependent. But of
all the people who drink, about 16 percent
will become alcoholics.” (http://www.
theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/
is-marijuana-more-addictive-than-alco-
hol/380183/)
“3. Its use reduces critical learning
skills, memory, and the ability to focus:”
Driving: “A large case-control study
conducted by the National Highway Traf-
fic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found
no significant increased crash risk at-
tributable to cannabis after controlling for
drivers’ age, gender, race, and presence
of alcohol. (https://www.drugabuse.gov/
publications/research-reports/marijuana/
does-marijuana-use-affect-driving)
However, use of marijuana during teen
years, can have a significant impact on
brain development, including decreased
brain activity, fewer neural fibers in
certain areas and a smaller than average
hippocampus, which controls learning and
memory functions.
According to a Northwestern Medicine
study of teen marijuana users, memory-
related structures in the brain appeared to
shrink, a possible signs of a decrease in
neurons.
The National Survey on Drug Use and
Health reported in the Washington Post
(12/16/2016) that teen marijuana use has
dropped sharply in Colorado since legal-
ization.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/
wonk/wp/2016/12/21/one-of-the-greatest-
fears-about-legalizing-marijuana-has-so-
far-failed-to-happen/
Those who started using marijuana after
21 generally do not experience the same
type of brain abnormalities as those who
started using the drug earlier.
Therefore, we can say that, at this time,
it is unsafe for teenagers to use marijuana
and there are laws in place that prohibit
that use (the same as for alcohol and to-
bacco).
We need to be careful about the infor-
mation that we pass on to others. If it is
not factual it is just “opinion” and should
be treated as such. There is a difference.
People need to hear the truth about mari-
juana, not opinions.
Steve DeFord
Sumpter
Ferrioli speaks about
Richardson inauguration
Senate Republican
Leader Ted Ferrioli, of
John Day, congratulated
Oregon Secretary of State
Dennis Richardson on tak-
ing his oath of office:
"The Senate Republi-
cans welcome Secretary of
State Dennis Richardson
and congratulate him on
taking his oath of office.
“He will be a great
leader in our state and we
look forward to working
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
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to accomplish our common
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for urban and rural Orego-
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— Guest Opinion —
Looking at
2017 for 2A
in Oregon
By Kevin Starrett
Special to The Baker County Press
The 2017 legislative session will
not likely be an exercise in civility.
While the Oregon Legislature has
remained comfortably in the hands
of the left, most of the rest of the
country has moved in a decidedly
different direction. So, while most
of American gun owners are prob-
ably safe from more attacks on their
rights, Oregonians have been prom-
ised a frontal assault on the Second
Amendment.
Governor Brown has made no se-
cret of her intention to pass as many
new firearms restrictions as possible.
Before the session even started she
drafted a bill that would allow for
indefinite delays on firearms pur-
chases should the State Police simply
not complete a background check.
While to some people this could be
unnecessary aggravation, to a single
woman facing a stalker it could mean
the difference between life and death.
When the Democrats introduced this
bill in the last session they admitted
that over 90% of background check
delays were unjustified. Currently
when someone who the State Police
identify as a felon attempts a fire-
arm’s purchase they are virtually
never arrested, but under Brown’s
proposed legislation countless quali-
fied buyers could be denied a firearm
literally for years.
One wonders what other right
Brown and the Democrats would
deny the citizens of Oregon until the
State Police approved them.
While we have not yet seen all
proposed legislation, anti-gun Demo-
crats have, in the past, attempted
to ban most modern firearms and
standard capacity magazines, se-
verely limit your right to self defense,
require liability insurance for every
firearm you own, allow localities to
create a patchwork of gun control
measures and even force a person to
lose his gun rights based on secret,
anonymous accusations that are not
even investigated. Under their pro-
posal you would not even be allowed
to know who made the accusation
against you!
There is no reason to doubt they
will attempt these (and more) attacks
on rights again.
While we have been able to defeat
most of these proposals in the past,
in 2015 the Democrats, (lavishly
funded by New York billionaire Mike
Submitted Photo
Kevin Starrett is the President and
founder of Oregon Firearms
Federation.
Bloomberg) were able to outlaw the
private transfer of firearms. Under
SB 941, you are a criminal if you
safeguard a firearm for a friend or
neighbor. Want to leave a gun in
your friend’s safe while you’re out
of town? That’s a crime. Persons
protected by Oregon’s “Address
Confidentiality Program,” because of
threats to their life, are now prohib-
ited from buying guns even though
they have never done anything
wrong. Ironically, when an activist,
anti-gun priest from Lake Oswego,
bragged about violating that law, the
anti-gun Chief of Police of the same
town did nothing and the Oregon
State Police refused to investigate.
Given the blind rage the left is
experiencing over the outcome of the
Presidential election there is plenty of
reason to fear the plans of the ruling
party in Oregon. However, as bad as
things look for Oregon supporters
of the 2nd Amendment, there is still
much that can be done. The failure of
Measure 97 has left the Democrats
scrambling to find a way to fund their
failed programs and policies. That
means one thing; more taxes.
As powerful as the Democrats
are in Salem, they lack the neces-
sary super-majority to ram through
more tax measures without some
Republican buy-in. This means that
if the Republicans in both houses
stand firm, they have the potential to
block all kinds of bad legislation by
refusing to go along with the Demo-
crats certain efforts to squeeze more
money out of Oregon taxpayers. The
question is, will they?
Will any Republican member fold
in return for a promise of some spe-
cial favor from Speaker Kotek and
President Courtney? It’s happened
before.
Gun owners and supporters of the
2nd Amendment need to communi-
cate with their legislators (if the are
lucky enough to live in districts rep-
resented by Republicans) and remind
them that they still hold some cards,
and they’d better play them right.
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