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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 15, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Those who disagree are not enemies The murder of fi ve po- lice offi cers in downtown Dallas, Texas by a frustrated and radical former Army Reserve private is tragic. The offi cers were patrol- ling a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest after police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. Though every police offi cer takes their lives into their hands each time they don the uniform and badge there should not be a target on their back. The shooter allegedly said he wanted to kill as many white people—and white cops—as possible in retaliation for black deaths by law enforcement. More cops were killed than at any time since September 11. The killer’s rage was sparked by the shooting deaths of two men, one in Louisiana, the other in Minnesota. His rage was most likely stoked further by the deaths of other African-Americans at the hands of police offi cers. At the memorial service for the fi ve offi cers in Dallas this week President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush offered words of com- fort and condolence. Bush eloquently said: “Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples while judg- ing ourselves by our best intentions.” Those words ring true, especially in our climate of political and ideological divisiness. There are calls for people to come together, to communicate, to under- stand one another. Police are not the enemy, nor or African-Americans. Liberals are not the enemy, nor are conservatives. Supporters of Donald Trump are not the enemy, nor are the supporters of Hillary Clinton. Yet, the American people have been given permission by some pundits, orators and politicans to view their counter- parts as enemies that need to be van- quished at the ballot box and in the courts. “I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem,” Obama said at the memorial in Dallas. The presi- dent has made too many speeches after tragic deaths over the past seven years. There are words spoken at such oc- casions—especially after Dallas—that boil the blood of those in one camp or the other. Some say that Obama does not support law enforcement person- nel as strongly as he should; some on the other side sug- gest the president subtly at- tacked black communities when he said “[Y]ou know how dangerous some of the communities where these police of- fi cers serve are, and you pretend as if there’s no context. These things we know to be true.” The recent red-hot national debate about guns has morphed into a discus- sion about support for police. We were taught as children that policemen are our friends and they will always help when we need it. Unfortunately, in some communities, the reality is much different where the lesson is to not trust and run away from cops. It makes for a nice speech for po- liticans to talk about coming together, understanding and respecting one another. The important step is to un- derstand why any community feels the way it does. Society must take as valid accusations of racism and dis- crimination; it is disingenuous to say that racism and prejudice do not ex- ist. After the Philando Castile shoot- ing in Falcon Heights, Minn., Gov. Mark Dayton commented, “Would this have happened if those passengers would have been white? I don’t think it would have.” Castile had been sub- ject to 52 traffi c stops over the past few years. How is a person supposed to feel about cops after all that? All the legislation, speeches and court decisions in the world won’t make a change. It will come when in- dividuals drop their guard a bit, realize that the person they think is their en- emy wants the same things: safety and security for their family and a peace- ful existence. Want of food, shelter and happiness is universal regardless of background. There is more that unites us than divides us but at times it is hard to see that through all the trees of anger, fear and disrespect. The mightiest forest begins with but one sapling; our leaders should in- spire us to plant a little sprig of toler- ance that will muliply into a forest that can never be cut down. —LAZ Men of Keizer and Rotary volunteers organizations Jeff Cowan (and friend) and Bob Shackelford (and Tan- ya). Bob was instrumental in organizing volunteers from MAK. Many thanks to all. Pam Vorachek, Executive Director, Antique Powerland Museum Association editorial letters To the Editor: I’d like to thank several members of Keizer service groups for their volunteer help over the 4th of July weekend at Antique Powerland. Two groups assisted: Keizer Rotary and Men of Action (a Keizer Chamber of Com- merce group). Members who vol- unteered were: Betty Hart and Alex Miller (and son) from Rotary Club of Keizer, Joe Cecere (and Jasmine), Hughie Baker, Rob Miller, Mario Monteil from Men of Action in Keizer (MAK) and members of both Share your opinion Email a letter to the editor (300 words) by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS NEWS EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley news@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER Laurie Painter billing@keizertimes.com Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon RECEPTION Lori Beyeler facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes America needs smart law enforcement By JOHN TEAGUE The July 7 events in Dallas, Tex- as can’t help but evoke something. I’m not especially given to sadness or grief; I have another, rather un- defi ned emotion, and I hear other cops who share mine: it’s akin to consternation mixed with a bit of dread, and not so much for us cops as for our collective, American fu- ture. Regardless, what happened punctuated something that’s been haunting my conscience for at least the last two years. It isn’t the kill- ing of police offi cers—occupational violence is part of the job descrip- tion; it’s the random killing of them. If we’ve turned a corner where the occasional, indiscriminate killing of cops is a new normal, the conse- quences will be dismal, and I don’t mean for the cops—we’ll adjust our tactics—but for the communities we serve, and fi rstly in the poorer neighborhoods, where the mostly good people are most in need of good policing. The vast majority of peace offi - cers patrol alone, and they’re used to keeping the threats to their safety in front of them. The consequence of having to safeguard their fl anks and rear is that cops will be less willing to expose and invest themselves in recalcitrant neighborhoods. Some folks may think they’ll be unaffect- ed, but deteriorating neighborhoods have a pernicious way of metastasiz- ing whole communities. guest column By JOHN TEAGUE So, what’s to be done about it? There’s no doubt some change in policing is required because the present strategy of policing people instead of problems inevitably leads to over-policing, too much law en- forcement. That seems common- sensical now, but we didn’t under- stand it until relatively recently. For decades, arrest-and-punish- ment seemed to work and to make sense. Maybe it did in what seemed to be a relatively homogenous cul- ture; however, our culture is not ho- mogenous, except that almost every man and woman—regardless of his or her race or station in life—longs for the same things: among them are security in one’s home and person, a good job, and an optimistic future for their children. The police play a signifi cant role in securing the ability to achieve those desires, but we should play a role that is at the same time more signifi cant and less unintentionally harmful. Instead of quickly default- ing to arrests, law enforcement has been steadily, and with quickening speed, moving in the direction of fi xing root problems. It’s a moment that’s been coming for two decades. Yet at this crossroads, there are also some who profi t from the teased-out narrative that cops are inherently bad for communities and people of color, and they—wit- tingly or not—provoke angry, im- pressionable people into becoming angry, dangerous people. If this con- tinues—if there is a new normal— then high-risk and at-risk commu- nities, and ultimately all of us, will experience more crime. Two things need to happen. Peo- ple need to protest softly without letting agitators defi ne the narrative. And policy-makers must resist the urge to wrangle the police, hobbling them into the same old tried-and- failed tactics; rather, they need to let us continue on the path of change. But because they’ll be pressured to take action now, policy-makers can work with law enforcement to de- fi ne the outcomes and set bench- marks for getting there. Because the systems that right wrongs are often downstream from police work, there isn’t always im- mediate reward, but occasionally we right wrongs that only we who are in the right place at the right time are able to make right. For this rea- son, America needs cops. She needs them to police smartly and justly, and to be present and unafraid, even, like in Dallas, to protect those who protest them. (John Teague is Chief of the Keizer Police Department.) Trump has credibility on NATO remarks The world’s largest military alli- ance met in Warsaw last week. The largest agenda item was money. The North Atlantic Treaty Orga- nization (NATO) has been pushing long and hard for more spending by its members. Just last year, the alli- ance increased defense spending for the fi rst time in 20 years. However, the fl y in the organization’s machin- ery is that most NATO countries do not pay their recommended share. If this matter rings a bell for the read- er, then it is timely to remind that one of Donald Trump’s pet peeves and one about which he has harped and harped, and may be serious, is that the U.S. should rethink its involvement in the military alliance because it is “obsolete” while oth- er member nations don’t pay a fair share. Yet, those involved in NATO’s leadership, as anyone who knows how much having a job with lon- gevity is valued by those in it, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a Norwegian politi- cian, said, “The world is a more dan- gerous place than just a few years ago.” That statement was likely in- spired by the fact that the former Soviet Union is Russia again, and al- lows Vladimir Putin too much access to the steroid storage. We’re all aware that Putin, at the very least, has taken back the Crimea and wants back all of the Ukraine as well as those that have been free of the Soviet yoke for years, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithu- ania and Poland. Of course, oth- er nations are worried, too. But back to the subject of mon- ey. NATO statistics report that the U.S. spent an estimated $650 bil- lion last year. It turns out that our amount is more than double that amount of all the other member nations combined so we’re mainly protecting them: This fact grinds on many Americans because the other member states enjoy a com- bined GDP that tops that of the U.S. N A T O publicly ac- k n ow l e d g e s it has an “over-reliance” on the U.S. and reports also that one of the most economically weak mem- ber nations, Greece, is the second biggest NATO spender in propor- tional terms at 2.38 percent. Hillary Clinton has been soft on skinfl int NATO members, imploring those folks to please, please, please do their part. Donald Trump has gone a lot further in what he promises to de- mand from the other members and, if elected, he’ll put feet to a pro- verbial fi re, and, whether Russia is just playing boogeyman beyond the Ukraine or not, get those people off their nearly total defense depen- dence-on-America ways. The repeated fact here is that our contribution in dollars to NATO is $650 billion, with the U.K. at $60 billion, France at $44 billion and gene h. mcintyre Germany at $40 billion with most of the others in the category of small change. Canada, with a fairly large economy, comparably contributes nearly nothing. An impression of President Barack Obama is that he’s been weak-to-totally passive at getting the NATO members to do their part as his best asset comes across as pontifi cating policy which adds up to nothing more than a long list of impressive words found only in academia. Hillary Clinton tells us she wants to wear his shoes which are apparently just her size as they share a seat on Air Force One and campaign and are campaigning for her in a modern day Astaire- Rogers routine. If Donald Trump’s elected, this is an issue it’s hoped he will stand by his word, pinning the cheapskates on the NATO mat and thereby correcting the huge imbal- ance in payments far too many years overdue or demand the freeloaders cough it up or the U.S. will exit NATO. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)