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.