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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, August 28, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat, kick in the pants A tip of the hat to Hermiston councilman John Kirwan for raising his voice to allow democracy to guide the city’s decision on whether or not to ban marijuana dispensaries. It’s not a stance we’ve seen from many local elected of¿cials, but are glad to see Kirwan lead the way. Cities and counties in rural Oregon where a majority of voters were against legalized marijuana in November 2014 have been lining up to keep businesses from selling the drug for either medical or recreational purposes. Each entity has the choice of putting it to a vote or enacting a ban without input. Many local elected leaders have taken the shortcut built into Measure 91 — banning the businesses outright without asking for the public’s support. While written into the law, opt-out democracy isn’t a good path to go down. At very least we prefer the other route, giving voters the bene¿t of the doubt and the ability to respond to a new situation. In November of 2014 about 63 percent of voters in the county said marijuana should remain illegal. That’s about the same percentage of U.S. citizens who believed the drug should be illegal in a 2000 poll by Pew Research. The same Pew poll shows that only 44 percent of Americans now think the drug should be banned. By the time the November 2016 ballot comes around, marijuana will have been legal in Oregon for nearly 18 months and in neighboring Washington for three years. And as time moves on, people are changing their minds about the dangers of pot and the effectiveness of a sales ban. We think asking them for input is worth the effort. We’ve tipped our hat to the ¿re¿ghters on the burning front lines of the northwest ¿res. Now we’ll extend a tip of the hat to everyone else supporting the residents of the ¿re threatened communities. When tragedy strikes, neighbors often are at their best. That’s been the case in Grant County, where donations have poured into a makeshift relief center at the county fairgrounds. Stories have emerged of people in Umatilla and Morrow counties donating money, supplies, even animal feed to those who are in danger of losing everything. Or have already lost everything. We can’t kick a wild¿re — it’s just not practical. It’s a force of nature and science and will only singe the boot. But in the face of such a hellish reality, it’s good to see people taking care of one another. 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. Everyone should be able to live out faith YOUR VIEWS Years ago a carpet cleaner who was a Jehovah’s Witness refused to clean the carpets of our church in Oregon City because of his beliefs. Although I disagreed with him, I support his right to live and conduct his business by his conscience. One of our basic human rights is the right to live our lives, including our business practices, according to the dictates of our conscience. We are now being denied that right. Whether a baNer in Oregon, a Àorist in Washington, or a photographer in New Mexico, a businessperson who cannot in good conscience participate in a homosexual event is maligned, prosecuted, and severely punished. How much hate must some people have toward their fellow human beings to bring down the police power of the state to destroy them economically over a cake, and be richly rewarded for doing so. Where is the common courtesy of saying, “We respect your beliefs; we’ll go to another bakery.” If a white supremacist ordered a cake with racist words on it, the bakers would be honored for refusing. Using a false premise to establish laws and penalties that require good people to violate their conscience and then criminalize them for maintaining their moral integrity is tyranny. Forcing them into violating their conscience is nothing less than the rape of their souls. The current radical sexual revolution is viciously intolerant. It is a judgmental juggernaut that assaults the First Amendment and crushes all who stand in its way. America has lost its way. Only a genuine spiritual and moral awakening will save us. Dr. J. W. Jepson The Dalles Gas prices still a head scratcher I wrote one other time asking a simple question and was hoping that one, or more, fuel distributors would respond with an honest reply. But again I was wrong. My question, using yesterday’s prices: I observed what is an unbelievable difference in the price of unleaded fuel between Pendleton, 6tan¿eld and Hermiston. Pendleton fuel was 2., 6tan¿eld Pilot Truck 6top was $2.79, and the real shocker was in Hermiston it was $2.99. Fuel distributors used to claim the reason Pendleton was the highest was “transportation costs” getting the fuel there. To my knowledge Pendleton hasn’t moved, but fuel there is $0.16 less than 6tan¿eld, and a whopping $0.36 cents cheaper than Hermiston. Apparently it costs more to deliver a shorter distance. John Harvey 6tan¿eld OTHER VIEWS With eyes on Trump, Cruz rises in GOP race T ed Cruz got a big boost in Iowa “You can credit much of his recently when the inÀuential steady gain in the polls to his strong social conservative activist and performance in the debate, where radio host Steve Deace endorsed him. many of the 24 million Americans To call it a sought-after watching got their ¿rst extended look endorsement would be an at him,” says a Cruz campaign aide. understatement. Deace says Team Cruz saw a signi¿cant prospective 2016 GOP campaigns increase in support after the began contacting him well before the showdown. Cruz did a 21-stop Byron 2012 election. All just assumed that post-debate bus tour in South Carolina, York Mitt Romney was going to lose. The Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Comment recruitment efforts picked up in 2013 Arkansas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and 2014. and saw growing audiences in each. When few people were paying any “He was drawing crowds of up to 2,500,” says attention to the still-forming Republican race, another aide. “We saw our RSVPs at every Deace was hard at work. event go up by no less than 50 percent after “For me, this vetting process has been the debate.” going on for a couple of years,” he says. “In But Cruz aides believe his recent uptick our world, as activists on the ground, it’s is about more than the debate. Cruz seems actually kind of late in the game. You want to to be the Republican most bene¿ting from be winning the activist caucus now so you can taking on other Republicans — not so much win the actual caucus later.” his GOP rivals in the presidential race but Now Cruz has won the Deace Caucus. the party leadership in Washington. At the Deace explains that he was looking for a recent RedState Gathering of conservatives candidate who can win the support of social in Atlanta, Cruz won a huge ovation when he conservatives like himself, and also of was asked what it means to lead from behind. business-oriented establishment conservatives “Well, sure,” Cruz replied. “Republican as well. congressional leadership does it every day.” “We need a candidate who can walk All the things that have made many through the front door of the American Family Republicans in Washington dislike Cruz just Association and Americans for Prosperity make a certain type of GOP voter like him and, while not changing who they are, or even more. In much the way that primary pandering, win a standing ovation from voters admire Scott Walker for standing up both,” says Deace. “I don’t know of another and taking on the unions, they admire Cruz for candidate besides Cruz that we can say that standing up and taking on Mitch McConnell about.” and John Boehner. Other campaigns would disagree, of “He should make a commercial that is a course, but the endorsement comes on top of montage of people hating him — McConnell, a good run by Cruz lately. The Texas senator Boehner, the surrender caucus,” says Deace. really connected with conservatives during the “He would close with, ‘The same people you earliest days of his campaign; for a while in hate, hate me. See you in February.’” For a April, Cruz was in third place in the GOP race, signi¿cant part of the GOP base, Cruz has the according to the RealClearPolitics average of right enemies. national polls. By July, he had fallen to eighth. In a recent Fox News poll — the one in Now, Cruz has moved up a couple of spots which Cruz jumped up to third place after the and seems headed higher. debate, ahead of Jeb Bush — Cruz did better Part of it was a well-received performance with voters under 45 years of age than any at the Aug. 6 Republican debate. The Republican candidate except Donald Trump. interesting thing about that is that Cruz spoke He’s got room to grow. No one knows how for less time, and uttered fewer words, than long his recent rise will last, but it appears that any of the other candidates except Rand Paul. Cruz’s work is ¿nally making a difference. “Man of few words” is not a phrase normally Ŷ associated with Ted Cruz. But when he opened Byron York is chief political correspondent his mouth, people listened. for The Washington Examiner. Testing optout will ultimately hurt ta[payers The Bend Bulletin, Aug. 18 Oregonians who allowed or encouraged their children to skip the Smarter Balanced assessments in the school year that just ended did their kids no favor. Moreover, if their numbers grow, they could cause problems for all school-age children in Oregon. Smarter Balanced is the new exam that Oregon chose to replace its old Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam when it adopted the Common Core curric- ulum. It was one of 17 states to use the new test last school year. The U.S. Department of Education requires the annual assessments as part of the No Child Left Behind law. At least 95 percent of students must take the tests, and at least 95 percent of individual groups — students in poverty, students with disabilities and others — must also complete the exam. While Oregon hit the overall goal, there were problems. African-American and disabled student participation both fell below 95 percent statewide, and two dozen of the state’s 197 school districts also fell below the mark. More than 100 districts came up short for at least one group of students. Those numbers matter because there’s money at stake. If participation rates drop too far, Oregon could lose some $344 million in federal education funds. That money largely goes to special education and to schools with a higher-than-average number of low-income students, arguably the very kids who most need help getting through school. Neither Common Core nor Smarter Balanced will end education as we know it nor damage our children in the process. Rather, the former is aimed at getting kids to meet higher standards than before and to learn to think critically. The latter simply allows parents, educators and others to compare Oregon student achievement with student achievement elsewhere in the United States. Yet state lawmakers bought into the negative buzz this spring and passed a bill making opting out of exams arguably easier than opting out of immunizations — pretty much for any reason a parent can come up with. They apparently did so without thinking seriously about the matter, and while they will be the ones asked to replace missing federal funds if they’re lost, it is we taxpayers who will supply them. 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. 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.
