Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, August 1, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Videos continue to show body cameras carry powerful messages driver is evasive when asked to The law enforcement body produce his ID. But there seems to camera debate never seems to be no escalation from the of¿cer, cease. We wrote back in April that who calmly repeats his commands. video technology is everywhere in That has to be frustrating, and American public life, and it was police of¿cers deal with such bound to be part of policing in the people over and over again in the future. course of a shift and a career. But We still think that’s the ultimate this encounter turned deadly just route. moments later when the man tried But the Oregon Legislature put to start the car and the of¿cer shot the cart in front of the horse. Police chiefs in small cities like Hermiston him in the head, killing him. The of¿cer claimed initially that the man and Pendleton, who were already was trying to run him over with using the technology or about ready the car, but the body cam clearly to try it, have had second thoughts shows that’s not the case. The of¿cer because of the cost. Some of the was ¿red and charged with murder state regulations are unnecessarily shortly after the video was released. burdensome, but we do think it’s These videos make us cringe. important that cops have their And each one that is released should cameras on during all interactions remind us how powerful they can with the public. Serious questions about anonymity and right to privacy be to move public opinion and, we hope, improve policing. do then exist, and It bears repeating: we imagine it will be Cameras police of¿cers up and extremely rare that the video would ever see on cops are down the line are some of the best men and public eyes — maybe important women we have in this once or twice in a cop’s But even they career, if that. But if it for the public country. can bene¿t from a close should become public and police. eye on their work and concern, that video the understanding that must be public record. as employees out¿tted In Oregon right now, and armed by the government, they that might not be the case. must be held accountable for their In just the last few weeks, two more videos have surfaced that show actions. The faster bad apples are removed, the healthier the rest of the how increasingly important body bunch is. cameras are. Hermiston police chief Jason The ¿rst, in Texas, is a simple Edmiston told the East Oregonian dash cam video, common that policing is not a black-and- technology in most police white job, it’s all shades of gray. And departments across the country. But he worries that the nuance of the job what it shows is dif¿cult to watch. does not come through on just a few The of¿cer seems unnecessarily combative after pulling over a black moments of video. He and Pendleton woman for changing lanes without a chief Stuart Roberts worry about the cost and the labor needed to signal. After expressing displeasure make sure the video collection and for being pulled over, she is soon dissemination is done in accordance pulled from the car and shot with a with state laws. Taser, though she had no weapons It’s understandable. Certainly, it’s and was not violent toward the an insanely dif¿cult and complicated of¿cer. The woman, Sandra Bland, job. But video can actually cut was later found dead in her jail cell. through the complications pretty Coroner’s report: suicide. darn well. It can capture in black Another, in Cincinnati, shows a and white when police of¿cers campus cop doing his job well and screw up. The more they are in use, then making a fatal error. though, the cameras could actually He pulls over a driver for not help show that serious errors are having a license plate. He ¿nds a pint of gin at the driver’s feet. The becoming more rare. 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. 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. Trust scientists, not activists on issues There are continued articles about marijuana and GMO labeling. Both views are about products we consume. As a wheat farmer I’m very concerned about how much science is not readily known. We, as farmers, are very aware of the current science that relates to pesticides and the varieties that are developed for wheat. They have changed much over my lifetime and we as producers are very dependent upon the latest research that is being done. When we study chemistry we learn some about what scientists do. It seems that leaders of some groups look for issues that will enable them to be a spokesman for others while looking for money and power. This has resulted in political bills such as Ballot Measure 92 in Oregon, which was defeated after much money was spent in the last legislature. In the meantime, the U.S. House has just recently passed a bill called the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 (HR 1599).” This bill creates a federal standard for the voluntary labeling of foods, which can counter state and local laws. All this activism makes me nervous, as I believe that our current scientists are fully full-time working at it and know what they are doing. Just believe them. Donald Peterson Pendleton Council created crisis to get taxpayer money The ¿rst thing politicians do is create a crisis, then ask for more money. The Pendleton City Council made no effort to cut anything in this year’s budget. They knew long before they approved the budget that the city’s priorities needed to be changed. Are we to believe that we had to pay consultants to tell us that some of our water and sewer lines are 100 years old? In addition, I guess we had to pay another consultant to tell us our roads need repairs. Don’t we have two city engineers OTHER VIEWS Guns and the two Americas T he waves of mass shootings This scenario almost never continue to roll over the United happens. The logic is nonsense, the States like surf on the ship of odds of a perfectly timed counter- state’s prow. Every few weeks now killer getting the drop on the evil we get hit with a jolt of cold water. killer unlikely. And even when such a We shake and shudder, and then brace situation does happen, as in the Tucson ourselves for the next one. shooting of 2011, the armed citizen So we beat on — a nation whose who jumps into the melee can pose a people are 20 times more likely to Timothy mortal threat to others. In Tucson, an die of gun violence than those of innocent person came within seconds Egan most other developed countries. The of getting shot by an armed bystander Comment only thing extraordinary about mass who wasn’t sure whom to shoot. shootings in America is how ordinary Most gun-free zones, like the the killing grounds are — elementary schools, theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, are not high schools, colleges, military recruitment gun-free at all. They have no metal detectors centers, theaters, parks, churches. or screening — that would cost too much, the Is no place safe? Actually, several places theater owners claim. Gun-free is a suggestion, and therefore a misnomer. Eventually, the are. You want protection in a country that more prosperous theaters allows a deranged man to in better communities will get an assault weapon to pay for metal detectors, hunt down innocent people further setting apart the two in a public space? Go to the Americas in our age of mass airport — that bubble of shootings. gun-free security. Or go to a The Mall of America — major league baseball game, more than 500 stores in 4 or a stadium in the National miles of retail space, drawing Football League. 40 million annual visitors to Our big league venues a climate-controlled part of may be engaging only in Minnesota — is trying to be security theater, as critics a gun-free zone. “Guns are assert, but their owners don’t banned on these premises” is think so. They now mandate the mall’s of¿cial policy. metal detectors to snag If the mall took up Rick weapons, and most of them Perry’s suggestion, shoppers even ban off-duty cops from could roam among the chain bringing guns to the games. stores packing heat, ready for Nationwide, if you want a shootout. to lessen your chances of The owners of that vast getting shot, stay out of the operation, similar to those South. The South is the most who stage concerts and violent region in the United pro sports, think otherwise. The mall has a States and also the place with the highest rate security force of more than 100 people. Yeah of gun ownership. More guns, easily obtained — I hear the joke about the feckless mall cops. by the mentally ill, religious fanatics and But the Mall of America trusts them more than anti-government extremists, mean more gun well-armed shoppers to protect people, as they deaths. should. Better to go to a city or state with gun Surprising though it may seem, gun restrictions, at least if you’re playing the odds. ownership is declining overall in the United Most of the states with tighter gun laws have States. We are still awash with weapons — fewer gun deaths. nearly a third of all American households have That’s one America, the slightly safer one. an adult with a gun. But that’s down from It includes government gun-screened zones nearly half of all households in 1973. like airports, courthouses and many high What we’re moving toward, then, are schools. But more signi¿cantly, it also covers regions that are safer than others, and public property used by our most popular obsession, spaces that are safer than others, led by private pro football — the free market at work. enterprise, shunning the gun crazies who want The other America is an open-¿re zone, everyone armed. The new reality comes with backed by politicians who think it should the inconvenience and hassle of screening be even more crowded with average people and pat-downs similar to the routines at parading around with lethal weapons. Just after the tragedy in a Louisiana theater a week airports — enforced gun-free zones, not mere suggestions. ago — a shooting by a hate-¿lled man who As a way to make everyday life seem was able to legally obtain a gun despite a less frightening, the new reality is absurd. history of mental illness — Rick Perry called But that’s the cost, apparently, of an extreme gun-free zones a bad idea. interpretation of a constitutional amendment In his view, echoing that of the fanatics designed to fend off British tyranny, a freedom who own the Republican Party by that has become a tyranny in itself. intimidation, everyone should be armed, Ŷ everywhere. Once a shooting starts, the bad Timothy Egan worked for 18 years as a guy with the gun will be killed by the good guy with the gun, somehow able to get a draw writer for The 1ew