Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, July 28, 2015 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Keeping pot away from kids takes vigorous effort OsZego, Zho cochaired the +ouse &ontinuing FonÀiFts EetZeen Senate committee on marijuana, says legal and illegal PariMuana are Zell this amEiguity reinforces the need outlined in Willamette Week’s July to Neep marijuana ² not to mention 22 story, “Deal With It: Oregon other into[icating suEstances ² out Zants to Frush ElaFNParNet Zeed of the possession of young people. sales %ut Eusiness is sPoNing´ Irrespective of Zhat adults may Medical marijuana dispensaries choose to do themselves, there in Oregon Zill Ee alloZed to Eegin is good reason selling Oct 1, Eut to Eelieve that until then ZouldEe “We protect marijuana has a consumers are in an detrimental long odd tZilight ]one them by term impact on still oI Eeing legally shrinking the developing Erains, alloZed to possess, along Zith adversely groZ use the drug black market, affecting things liNe Zhile at the same talking candidly study sNills and safe time noEody is legally permitted to to young people driving. “I Eelieve that sell it to them. As about why Ze need to protect WW’s story maNes Nids,´ /ininger said. clear, unlicensed marijuana use “And Ze protect marijuana entrepreneurs still is a bad choice them Ey shrinNing ElacN marNet, face potentially for people under the talNing candidly to stiff penalties, Eut this isn’t stopping the age of 21...” young people aEout Zhy marijuana them from going — Rep. Ann Lininger, use is a Ead choice ahead and meeting D-Lake Oswego for people under demand. the age of 21, and Marijuana users maNing policies that can also supply alloZ young people Zho have made themselYes Ey groZing it at home, oEtaining a medical marijuana a mistaNe to move on Zith their card or going across the state line lives.´ to Washington and Euying from Crushing the marijuana ElacN recreational suppliers already legally marNet is a tall order. It has survived alloZed to operate there ² though for decades despite a nationZide it remains illegal to Ering it EacN prohiEition that Zas, at times, across state lines. harshly enforced. Nor is it easy to There is signi¿cant money still Neep marijuana and alcohol out of to Ee made selling ElacN marNet the hands of youths Zho choose marijuana, WW found. Though the to imEiEe. Oregon’s version of sums cited Ey sellers interYieZed legali]ation Zill maNe this more for the story may not Ee correct dif¿cult, Ey giving every household and Zere taNen on faith Ey the the right to groZ marijuana and Neep reporter, frontline marijuana sellers relatively large Tuantities of ¿nished claimed to net 00 to 800 a ZeeN. product on hand. %ut Ze have to Customers range from high school Neep trying. students to judges. An Oregon State Ironically, perhaps the Eest Zay to University professor estimated in protect Nids in the postlegali]ation 2013 that nearly 320,000 Oregonians era is to effectively speed things Eought pot that year. on their Zay, maNing marijuana The gist of the situation: “The line availaEle to adults Eehind a retail EetZeen the ElacN marNet and the payZall and vigorously punishing e[isting legal marNet is often ha]y.´ those Zho sell or otherZise provide 5ep. Ann /ininger, D/aNe it to minors. 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. OTHER VIEWS Upfront investment only Zay to maNe electric cars go The (Medford) Mail Tribune, July 21 Of¿cial statistics indicate state installed fastcharging stations for electric vehicles have recorded 30,000 uses in three years. That might sound impressive, Eut a closer looN reveals traf¿c on the West Coast Electric +ighZay is a far cry from Eumperto Eumper. Still, the charging netZorN Zas installed to encourage more use, not in response to existing demand. 3atience is called for. The 30,000charge ¿gure looNs less imposing Zhen you reali]e that there are 44 charging stations scattered around the state, and only aEout 6,000 electric vehicles registered in Oregon so far. Over three years, that’s 10,000 charges a year, so those 6,000 vehicles used a state charging station less than tZice a year on average. Of course, some stations saZ more use than others. The top station, in 3ortland, saZ nearly 3,000 uses. The station in Ashland recorded 917, the most of any station in this region and 11th of the 44 stateZide. Electric vehicles offer emissionfree travel at a fraction of the cost of gasoline, although the purchase price is higher than gaspoZered cars. 5ange is also a concern that may Neep sales doZn. Most electric vehicles can travel only aEout 100 miles EetZeen charges, and taNe 20 to 30 minutes to recharge at the TuicNcharge stations. +ome charging models can taNe up to 12 hours for a full charge. So driving an electric car at this point means Eeing Zilling to put up Zith a certain amount of inconvenience LooNing aZay from aEortion I true enough. %ecause real NnoZledge n an essay in his 1976 collection, isn’t purely theoretical; it’s the fruit of “Mortal /essons,´ the physician experience, recognition, imagination, 5ichard Sel]er descriEes a strange life itself. suEurEan scene. 3eople go outside And the proElem these videos create in the morning in his neighEorhood, for 3lanned 3arenthood isn’t just a after the garEage trucNs have passed, generali]ed Tueasiness at surgery and and ¿nd “a foreignness upon the Elood. pavement,´ a softness underfoot. It’s a very speci¿c disgust, informed /ooNing doZn, Sel]er ¿rst thinNs Ross Ey reason and experience ² the he sees oversi]e EaEy Eirds, then Douthat reasoning that notes that it’s precisely ruEEer EaEy dolls, until the reali]ation Comment a fetus’ humanity that maNes its comes that the street is littered Zith the organs valuaEle, and the tiny, naNed, alltoohuman experience of recogni]ing Eodies of aEorted fetuses. one’s oZn children, on the Later, the local hospital ultrasound monitor and after, director speaNs to Sel]er, as something more than just trying to impose order on “products of conception´ or the grisly scene. It Zas an tissue for the Nnife. accident, of course: The tiny That’s Zhy 3lanned corpses Zere accidentally 3arenthood’s apologists have “mi[ed up Zith the other fallen EacN on complaints deEris´ instead of Eeing aEout “deceptive editing´ incinerated or interred. “It is though full videos Zere not an everyday occurrence. released in Eoth cases, or Once in a lifetime, he says.´ else simply asNed people to looN aZay. And And Sel]er tries to nod along: “NoZ you it’s Zhy many of my colleagues in the press see. It is orderly. It is sensiEle. The Zorld is seem uncomfortaEle reporting on the actual not mad. This is still a civili]ed society« content of the videos. “%ut just this once, you NnoZ it isn’t. <ou %ecause dZelling on that content gets saZ, and you NnoZ.´ you uncomfortaEly close to Sel]er’s tipping 5esolute aEortion rights supporters Zould dismiss that claim of NnoZledge. Death and point ² that moment Zhen you start viscera are never pretty, they Zould say, Eut pondering the possiEility that an institution something can Ee disgusting Zithout Eeing at the heart of respectaEle liEeral society is EarEaric. Just Eecause it’s aZful to discover dedicated to a practice that deserves to Ee fetuses underfoot doesn’t mean the unEorn called EarEarism. have a right to life. That’s a hard thing to accept. It’s part of And it’s precisely this argument that’s Zhy so many people hover in the conÀicted Eeen marshaled lately in response to a neZ Eorderlands of the proaEortion rights side. reminder of the Àeshly realities of aEortion: They don’t liNe aEortion, they thinN its critics The conversations, videotaped covertly Ey have a point « Eut to actively join our side antiaEortion activists posing as fetal organ Zould reTuire passing too comprehensive a Euyers, in Zhich of¿cials from 3lanned judgment on their coalition, their country, their 3arenthood cheerfully discuss the procedures friends, their very selves. for extracting those organs intact during an This reluctance is a human universal. It’s aEortion and the prices they command. Zhy Zhite Southerners long preferred Lost It may Ee disturEing to hear those Cause mythology to slaveholding realities. procedures descriEed: “« Ze’ve Eeen very It’s Zhy patriotic Americans rarely Zant to good at getting heart, lung, liver, Eecause Ze dZell too long on My Lai or Man]anar or NnoZ that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, NagasaNi. It’s Zhy, liNe many conservatives, I I’m gonna Easically crush EeloZ, I’m gonna Zas loath to engage Zith the reality of torture crush aEove, and I’m gonna see if I can get it in %ushera interrogation programs. all intact.´ %ut the reluctance to looN closely doesn’t It may Ee unseemly to hear a 3lanned change the truth of Zhat there is to see. Those 3arenthood of¿cial haggle over pricing for Zere dead human Eeings on 5ichard Sel]er’s those organs: “Let me just ¿gure out Zhat street 40 years ago, and these are dead human others are getting, and if this is in the EallparN, Eeings Eeing discussed on video today: then it’s ¿ne, if it’s still loZ, then Ze can Eump +uman Eeings that the nice, idealistic medical personnel at 3lanned 3arenthood have spent it up. I Zant a LamEorghini.´ their careers crushing, evacuating, and carving %ut in the end, 3lanned 3arenthood’s up for parts. defenders insist, listening to an aEortionist The antiaEortion sting Zas sZeeping; there discuss manipulating the “calvarium´ are reportedly 10 videos to go. <ou can turn that is, the dying fetus’ sNull so that it aZay. %ut there Zill Ee plenty of chances to emerges researchready from the ZomE is looN, to see, to NnoZ. fundamentally no different from listening ƒ to a doctor discuss heart surgery or organ Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as transplants. It’s unsettling, yes, Eut just an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. Previously, Eecause it’s gross doesn’t prove it’s Zrong. Which is true, Eut in this case not really he was a senior editor at the Atlantic It’s a very specific disgust, informed by reason and experience. EO file photo A Tesla superchager was installed at the Arrowhead gas station in Mis- sion earlier this year. ² rather liNe oZners of the ¿rst automoEiles, Zho had to carefully plan trips to Ee sure of ¿nding fuel Zhen they needed it. Still, cars improved steadily, and it Zasn’t long Eefore ¿lling stations sprouted nearly everyZhere. Critics Zill decry the expense ² aEout 100,000 per charging station ² as a Zaste of taxpayers’ dollars to Eene¿t an elite feZ. %ut if there are no charging stations, electric vehicles Zill never Eecome a viaEle alternative to the internal comEustion engine. And the private sector is pitching in, too, installing charging stations separate from the state netZorN. Electric cars may Ee feZ in numEer noZ, Eut that numEer is groZing rapidly, more than douEling from July 2013 to July 2014. Improvements in technology should extend the range of these vehicles, and sticNer prices Zill come doZn as used vehicles Eecome availaEle. MeanZhile, investing noZ in the infrastructure to support alternative fueled vehicles maNes sense. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
