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OPINION
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Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Get set as new law
on pot kicks in
weekend or vacation could still land
The 2014 vote to legalize
you in trouble with your boss.
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Oregon divided residents, but
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was legalized by a ballot measure in
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1998.
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been made legal, the commendable
awareness campaign about personal
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possession and
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use, the OLCC
Commission is
to try to answer
Smoking marijuana is drawing up
to
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in public remains regulations
tax and license
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illegal.
commercially.
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to schools, local governments, police
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and drug services.
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The OLCC will begin accepting
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residents aged 21 and older to grow
wholesalers and processors on
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their property. Adults may possess
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Public input is still being sought on
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these rules and now is the time to
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comment.
occupants in the home. It does not
The way the new law was written,
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to regulate or restrict the potential
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remains illegal. The OLCC has
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and local leaders would do well to
• Minors cannot possess or use
accept the inevitability that Oregon’s
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• Measure 91 did not make
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any changes to employment law.
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As a result, your employer could
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oregon.gov
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
Too worried about
minutiae instead of the
planet’s health
It shocks me how gross people
can be.
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the McKay Reservoir daily, and
every day we pick up trash, glass
and things that appear overnight.
We have caught eight diapers in
one hole (they call the second boat
launch), glass all over, nails, plastic
and other things.
Why can’t people take out
what they carry in? Diapers are in
a place where people swim and
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someone walking into your kitchen
and taking a dump on your table.
What happened to this country?
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so everyone can see who is doing
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dump in their homes, trash things
and whatever. People are killing
the animals with trash and who
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reservoir.
In Pendleton they worry about
odor laws, but trashing the planet is
OTHER VIEWS
Democrats being Democrats
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n Friday, House Democrats
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shocked almost everyone
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meetings where they assure each other
Partnership, an agreement the
that prosperity is all about competing
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in the global economy, and that this
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means supporting trade agreements
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Paul
observers with an unapologetically
Krugman their campaign contributions, but also
liberal and populist speech.
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Comment
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know how the world works.
related events. The
As it turns out, however,
Democratic Party is
they don’t. In the 1990s
becoming more assertive
the purported wise men
about its traditional values,
blithely assured us that we
a point driven home by
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Clinton’s decision to speak
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on Roosevelt Island. You
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could say that Democrats are
thanks in large part to that
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very deregulation, they
is more complicated and
warned us that we should
interesting than this simple
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statement can convey.
investors, who would punish
You see, ever since
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Ronald Reagan’s election in
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1980, Democrats have been
believe them when they
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insist that we must approve
Even when they won
an unpopular trade deal?
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progressive positions, eager to demonstrate
Clinton makes it to the White House she’ll
their centrism by supporting policies like cuts
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husband did in the 1990s.
that era appears to be over. Why?
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the Republican move right. Democrats are
political wind is at their backs. Growing
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ethnic diversity is producing what should be a that don’t, whereas Republicans are doing the
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opposite.
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Republican strength, into a Democratic
which was once a conservative idea,
advantage instead. Reagan was elected
is working better than even supporters
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support same-sex marriage.
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higher taxes on the wealthy haven’t hurt
to have taken on board something political
the economy, while promises that tax cuts
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adopting “centrist” positions in an attempt to
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attract swing voters is a mug’s game, because
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such voters don’t exist. Most supposed
tax-and-spend agenda, while Republicans
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cranks than ever. And so on down the line.
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politics, it’s also about policy.
Clinton, and Democrats could retake the
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substantially less than expected, surprisingly
Party may take a while to change America as a
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whole. But something important is happening,
helped to inoculate the party against blanket
and in the long run it will matter a great deal.
assertions that government programs never
Ŷ
work. And on the other side, the Davos
Paul Krugman joined The New York Times
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in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page
arguing against progressive policies have lost
and continues as professor of Economics and
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International Affairs at Princeton University.
Ever since
Ronald Reagan’s
election
in 1980,
Democrats
have been on
the ideological
defensive.
YOUR VIEWS
OK? I see a problem with what is
important to those in charge. No, I
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not about that anyhow, it’s about
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locked away.
Tim Z. Ziegler
Pendleton
Death penalty should
not so quickly be off
the table
We should give considerable
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serious tragic murders and senseless
killings. It is a national concern
and most people are opposed to it.
Yet, it seems to me there are cases
where such violence should carry
the death penalty.
In a recent news story (Time
June, 15, 2015), George Mason
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agreed. He wrote: “To see
individuals like Charles Manson
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the real victims.”
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retired NYPD lieutenant Michael
German, who wrote, “It shocks
and angers me when I see
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whom are allowed to plead to
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their original sentences. I would
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killers would have to serve out
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killers.”
Locally, we have a tragic killing
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2014. A Umatilla man, Francisco
J. Resendez Miranda, is 24 and
has been charged with three counts
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although prosecutors allege he
killed Abigail Torres-Renteria,
23, Victoria Torres, 19, and
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charges include the aggravating
circumstance that Torres-Renteria
was almost nine months pregnant
when she was killed.
Miranda is being held in the
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without bail because the charges
are aggravated murder. According
to court documents, he has
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a case where the public should be
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Think about how much more
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to education, child care, or care
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Dorys C. Grover
Pendleton
Wolf pack looking for
cut of state funds
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to a rope. We use it to locate the
area where sheep or cattle can be
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and tick collars, we will relocate
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application is approved, please
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master
As told to Mike Mehren, wolf listener
Hermiston
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Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton,
OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.