Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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MIKE FORRESTER
STEVE FORRESTER
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
Astoria
President
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
CORY BOLLINGER
JEFF ROGERS
Aberdeen, S.D.
Director
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
OTHER VIEWS
Lady Gaga and the life of passion
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Briana Sanchez/St. Cloud Times via AP
In this photo taken Sept. 25, owner of Sand Pine Pheasants Keith Sand goes
pheasant hunting while wearing hunter orange, near St. Joseph, Minnesota.
Don’t need a law
to do the right thing
A tragedy occurred in the hills
outside Meacham earlier this hunting
season: A 76-year-old man shot and
killed his own son in the dwindling
evening light, probably mistaking
him for a game animal.
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry
Rowan said the victim had some
blaze orange clothing with him, but
did not appear to be wearing any. The
investigation continues.
But what’s not up for debate is the
fact that it’s dangerous to be trekking
in the woods — especially during
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hunter orange. It’s not, however,
against the law in Oregon. Here, only
hunters younger than 18 are required
to wear it.
“We are one of the last holdout
states that haven’t made it
mandatory,” said James Read, hunter
education coordinator for the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
It has made Oregon a more
dangerous place to do what many of
us love — track and take the state’s
bountiful game.
Oregon averages roughly one fatal
hunting accident a year, outpacing
most of our Western neighbors. The
majority of fatalities in the last 20
years resulted from misidentifying
targets — hunters killed accidentally
by someone else in their party, or by
a stranger a ridge and a half away.
Twice as many are injured than killed
from the same cause, according to
ODFW records.
There is something we could do to
reduce that number.
“The research is proven that hunter
orange does save lives,” said Read.
But Oregon hunters don’t want
the government forcing them to do
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Read noted ODFW last tried to
go down that road in 2012 and
encountered plenty of pushback.
“It took a year — a whole year of
meetings around the state and input
from the public — and a pretty big
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the hunting community is against
anything for adults.”
Many hunters take to the hills to
get away from the endless laws that
society has come to rely on. But there
are simple ways to keep our freedom,
and keep another government
regulation out of the conversation.
First: remember the four rules of
gun safety you learned from an older
family member, or in your hunter
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are loaded. Control the muzzle. Keep
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the target, then what is in front and
behind it.
“Of the four basic safety rules,
that last one is being violated the
most, and it’s getting people killed or
injured,” Read said.
If that person on the next ridge
is violating that fourth rule, make
yourself safer by slipping on a blaze
orange cap or vest each time you go
out hunting. And do the same too, if
you are just out hiking or foraging in
the late summer or fall.
It’s simple to do — easier than
buckling your seat belt — and it too
can save your life.
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.
arlier this week I watched some
emotional is to attach yourself to
young musicians perform Lady
something you value supremely but
Gaga songs in front of Lady
don’t fully control. To be passionate is
Gaga. As India Carney’s voice rose
to put yourself in danger.
and swooped during the incredible
Living with this danger requires a
anthemic versions of her dance
courage that takes two forms. First,
hits, Gaga sat enraptured. Her eyes
people with passion have the courage
moistened. Occasionally her arms
to dig down and play with their issues.
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We all have certain core concerns
David
she just stood up and cheered.
Brooks and tender spots that preoccupy us
It was at a dinner hosted by
through life. Writers and artists may
Comment
Americans for the Arts, a leading
change styles over the course of their
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careers, but most of them are turning
the arts and arts education. Gaga received
over the same few preoccupations in different
an award, along with Sophia Loren, Herbie
ways. For Lady Gaga fame and body issues
Hancock and others. Her acceptance speech
predominate — images of mutilation recur
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throughout her videos. She is always being
she said that this blessing of respectability was hurt or thrown off balconies.
“the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
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And she remembered her childhood dreams
themselves through play. Whether scientists,
this way: “I suppose that I
entrepreneurs, cooks or
didn’t know what I would
artists, they explore their
become, but I always wanted
issues the way children
to be extremely brave and
explore the possibilities
I wanted to be a constant
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reminder to the universe of
imagination to open up
what passion looks like. What
possibilities and understand
it sounds like. What it feels
their emotional histories.
like.”
They delight in new ways to
That passage stuck in the
express themselves, expand
head and got me thinking.
their personalities and move
When we talk about living
toward their goals. Gaga,
with passion, which is sort of
to continue with today’s
a cliché, what exactly do we mean?
example, has always had a sense of humor
I suppose that people who live with passion about her projects, about the things that
start out with an especially intense desire to
frighten and delight her.
complete themselves. We are the only animals
Second, people with passion have the
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coherence.
with passion are just less willing to be ruled by
Some people are seized by this task with a
the tyranny of public opinion.
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As the saying goes, they somehow get on
wounds that need urgent healing or by a fear
the other side of fear. They get beyond that
of loneliness or fragmentation. Maybe they
fog that is scary to approach. Once through
are driven by some glorious fantasy to make
it they have more freedom to navigate. They
a mark on the world. But they often have a
opt out of things that are repetitive, routine
fervent curiosity about their inner natures and
and deadening. There’s even sometimes a
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certain recklessness there, a willingness to
that they can pursue wholeheartedly, without
throw their imperfect selves out into public
reservation.
view while not really thinking beforehand
They construct themselves inwardly by
how people might react. Gaga is nothing if not
expressing themselves outwardly. Members
permanently out there; the rare celebrity who
of the clergy sometimes say they convert
is willing to portray herself as a monster, a
themselves from the pulpit. By speaking out
witch or disturbing cyborg — someone prone
their faith, they make themselves faithful.
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Lady Gaga is her own unique creature,
teaching or singing or writing or nursing or
whom no one could copy. But she is
parenting they bring coherence to the scattered LQGLVSXWDEO\DSHUVRQZKROLYHVDQDPSOL¿HG
impulses we are all born with inside. By doing life, who throws her contradictions out there,
some outward activity they understand and
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that confront the rest of us with the question a
when an emotional nature meets a consuming
friend of mine perpetually asks: Who would
vocation.
be you and what would you do if you weren’t
Another trait that marks them is that they
afraid?
have high levels of both vulnerability and
Ŷ
courage. As Martha Nussbaum wrote in her
David Brooks became a New York Times
great book “Upheavals of Thought,” to be
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
Who would
you be and
what would
you do if you
weren’t afraid?
OTHER VIEWS
Guns on community college campuses?
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
YOUR VIEWS
Other cities struggle with
gas tax dollars, too
In the interest of providing factual
information to our residents and in
response to the comment in the editorial
“Gas tax the best of bad options” (East
Oregonian, Oct. 16): “But the fact that
almost two of every three tax dollars
earmarked for local roads don’t make
their way into pavement shows how
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be.”
In a few minutes of research a person
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smaller portion of their state and federal
street tax revenue actually goes into
asphalt maintenance because cities
are required to provide street lighting,
painting, sweeping, sanding, patching,
signage, curbs and sidewalks.
“This year, the city of Coos Bay
budgeted to receive $880,000 in gas
tax revenue. Of that amount nearly 32
percent (more than $281,000) will be
spent just to keep the city’s street lamps
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working order.
After subtracting the cost associated
with routine street sweeping,
striping, crosswalk maintenance, sign
maintenance, vegetation maintenance,
grading gravel roads, and personnel
costs etc., Coos Bay is left with less than
$50,000 for street repair. We are left
chasing pot holes — “a Band-Aid on a
broken arm.” (Band-Aid on a Broken
Arm, Local Focus Magazine, pg. 22,
November 2014).
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share of the state gas tax was $91,869.
Expenses for personnel services alone
totaled $94,985. The state gasoline tax is
not enough to even fund our personnel
services within the street fund budget,
let alone materials and services.” (Street
Needs in John Day, Local Focus, pg. 21,
November 2014).
Robb Corbett, city manager
Pendleton
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. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR
97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
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uggestions for preventing mass shootings
such as the one at Umpqua Community
College in Roseburg on Oct. 1 fall into
two familiar categories: Some call for fewer
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more of them. Community colleges in Oregon
are legally constrained from pleasing either
group.
The Legislature needs to bring greater
clarity to the question of how far community
colleges can go in allowing or prohibiting
guns on their campuses.
The ambiguity stems from Oregon’s law
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2013, permits had been issued to 185,000
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holders’ right to carry guns in public places
apparently trumps community colleges’ right
to ban them. A 2009 decision by the state
Court of Appeals upheld school districts’, and
by extension community colleges’, authority
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but their power to require students, visitors
and others to leave their guns at home is in
doubt.
Lane Community College, for instance,
prohibits anyone — students, employees,
college patrons and vendors — from
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appearance of possessing a gun, on college
property or at college-sponsored events.
But LCC has an exception for those with
concealed- carry permits, unless the permit
holder is an employee engaged in work
activities.
So a college such as UCC can declare
itself a gun-free zone, but the declaration is
meaningless for the many people who have
permits to carry concealed weapons. The only
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college’s no-guns policy are the college’s
employees.
The situation is different on university
campuses, where the Court of Appeals
has found that administrators have broad
authority to regulate the “conduct of visitors
or members of the public on institutional
properties.” All seven of Oregon’s public
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also have campus police departments with
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community colleges to create their own police
forces, so they rely on unarmed security
guards and city or county law enforcement
agencies.
The Legislature could provide consistency
by allowing community colleges to extend
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permit holders. It might also consider allowing
police departments at community colleges,
many of which have larger enrollments than
universities. Whether one sees guns as the
problem or as the solution, the status quo
— which potentially allows everyone to be
armed except school employees and security
personnel — is illogical.