Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Keep following
the wolf plan
For years, everyone has played
graph continues in that direction,
by the rules of the Oregon Wolf Plan wolf numbers will clearly grow
— including ranchers and hunters,
exponentially.
environmental groups and impartial
It won’t always, of course.
observers. So it makes sense that
Predator and prey numbers move
the plan itself would decide when to up and down in relation to each
play by a new set.
other. Bad winters are a debilitating
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife
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Commission voted 4-2 earlier this
human-controlled effects: hunting,
week to remove wolves from the
and the much more devastating loss
state’s endangered species list.
of habitat.
Animals west of
Oregon is a great
highways 395, 20
place to live. Its
Plain and
and 97 remain under
population centers
federal protection,
are expanding, and
simple, the
but the vote opens
its climate means
Oregon Wolf
the door to future
that humans and
controlled wolf
wolves are both
Plan worked.
hunts in Eastern
thriving within its
Oregon. That’s
There are now borders. Yet we
because of a 2011
humans are
81 animals in know
federal delisting
ill-suited to sharing
for our neck of the
space with other
the state.
woods, as well as
species.
across state lines in
But it is
Idaho.
Oregonians who welcomed the
Yet as fascinating as it is to
wolf back, and ODFW biologists
focus on the future of wolves in
who protected it for years and then
Oregon and what delisting could
recommended delisting once the
mean moving forward, we should
science — and the wolf plan —
take this moment to look back.
supported that conclusion. Each step
Plain and simple, the Oregon Wolf
denotes progress. It was admirable
Plan has worked. There are now 81
for us to try to allow a native species
animals in the state, and they are
to regain a foothold in Oregon. And
slowly expanding their territory and
now that it’s here in sustainable
numbers, we have to let wildlife
population to the south and west.
managers do their job.
Although 81 is not a number that
Certainly environmental groups
strongly suggests to biologists that
will sue, and the OFWC’s decision
wolves are completely safe from
extirpation again, it crosses the
will be argued in court. But
threshold set by the plan: Multiple
decisions on wildlife should be made
wolves having multiple offspring
by research and compromise and
over multiple years. If the population results — not judges.
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
How can we prevent
school shootings?
By (Medford) Mail Tribune
A
s Oregon and the nation debate
the best way to respond to mass
shootings in schools and other
places, most of the disagreement stems
from disputes between those who focus
on gun restrictions and those who see
those restrictions as an
infringement on their
rights that wouldn’t
prevent future violence.
But there is another
approach that everyone
ought to be able to agree
on: early intervention
with individuals who
show warning signs
associated with mass
shootings.
The FBI’s Behavorial Analysis Unit
works aggressively to head off potential
shootings, often by getting high-risk
individuals into treatment. In 2013, a
year after the Sandy Hook Elementary
School shooting in Newtown, Conn.,
the FBI’s Behavioral Threat Assessment
Center estimated it had prevented 148
potential mass shootings that year alone.
In Oregon, the Salem/Keizer School
District has a nationally recognized,
interagency program called the Mid
Valley Threat Assessment System. The
program combines a Student Threat
Assessment System with a Threat
Advisory Team focused on adults.
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of mass shooters, there are recurring
characteristics: most are male; most are
white, between 20 and 40 years old.
Many are loners from troubled families
who may exhibit a fascination with guns,
nurse grievances and have a mental
illness.
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act of violence. But in many cases when
a mass shooting has occurred, those
close to the shooter saw warning signs
they either did not recognize or did not
report. When reports are made, trained
threat assessment specialists can respond
and get the troubled individual they help
they need.
The Salem/Keizer team had one early
success that ultimately ended in tragedy.
A story in Mother Jones magazine
described the team’s efforts to provide
support for Erik Ayala, a McNary
High School student who threatened
to shoot classmates in 2000 and then
was hospitalized after
a suicide attempt. The
newly formed threat
assessment team gave
Ayala counseling,
tutoring and support from
friends. That worked,
until Ayala moved to
Portland in 2009, where
his support system lost
track of him. He became
increasingly depressed,
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The Zone, an underage nightclub, killing
two and injuring seven.
In the successful part of that case, as
in many others, the key was a classmate
who reported Ayala’s threat of violence,
setting the intervention in motion.
Last month, two Josephine County
high school students were arrested in
separate cases after each issued threats
of violence. In each case, someone
reported the teenagers to authorities. One
was released to his parents; the other,
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and stockpiled body armor and talked of
shooting police, remained in custody at
last report, charged with weapons-related
crimes.
Even before a crime is committed,
however, threats or other troubling
behavior can surface, and friends, family
members or others should not hesitate to
notify authorities. At that point, a trained
team can respond and prevent a tragedy.
Local school districts should explore
creating a team like the one in Salem.
State legislators could facilitate that by
offering grants to offset the costs.
And all of us should be ready
to speak up if a loved one or an
acquaintance exhibits troubling behavior
or makes statements about harming
others. It may save more than one life.
Many people
fit the profile,
but will never
commit an act
of violence.
OTHER VIEWS
Voters, you can have everything!
I confess, as much as I am troubled
interests, that’s his choice to make. But
by Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant,
it’s just wrong.”
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That is truly Orwellian: At a time
Donald’s campaign strategy truly
when the GOP has become a wholly
interesting. He’s not, as people say,
owned subsidiary of the oil and gas
an “anti-politician.” He’s actually
industry, Ryan accuses Obama of
caricaturing politicians. And like any
catering to special interests; he calls the
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president’s decision to block a pipeline
subject’s most salient features and then
to transport tar sands oil, one of the
Thomas
exaggerates them.
Friedman dirtiest fuels in the world, “sickening”
In Trump’s case, the feature he’s
and labels combating climate change a
Comment
identifying is the ease with which
“special interest.” This guy belongs in
career politicians look right into a
the Republican debates.
camera and lie or embellish. Since so many
Alas, though, the next president will not be
SROLWLFLDQVKDGFRPHWR7UXPS¶VRI¿FHVHHNLQJ governing in fantasy — but with some cruel
his money or endorsement when he was just
math. So the gap between this campaign and
a businessman, and told him whatever they
the morning after is likely to make for one
thought he wanted to hear, he’s obviously an
really cold shower.
Start with geopolitics. The size of the
expert in their shtick. And so Trump has just
governance hole that
taken the joke to the next
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level.
simultaneously destroy the
Indeed, if I were writing
Islamic State, or ISIS, defeat
a book about this campaign,
Syria’s dictator, Bashar
it would open with Trump’s
Assad, and rebuild Syria,
Sept. 27 CBS “60 Minutes”
Iraq, Yemen and Libya into
interview. Trump touts his
self-sustaining governments
plan for universal health
is staggering. And yet the
care, telling Scott Pelley,
cost of doing too little —
“I am going to take care
endlessly bleeding refugees
of everybody.” And when
into our allies Turkey,
Pelley asks how, Trump
Jordan, Lebanon and the
gives the greatest quote so
European Union — is
far of the 2015 campaign:
also astronomical. When
“The government’s
the cost of action and the
gonna pay for it. But we’re
cost of inaction both feel
going to save so much
unaffordable, you have a wicked problem.
money on the other side. But for the most
Not only do the tax-cutting plans offered
[part] it’s going to be a private plan and people
by the leading Republican candidates create
are going to be able to go out and negotiate
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great plans with lots of different competition
with lots of competitors, with great companies tax hike proposals don’t quite add up, either.
As the Washington Post economics columnist
— and they can have their doctors, they can
Robert Samuelson reported last week, a
have plans, they can have everything.”
Brookings Institution study found that even if
I just love that last line: “They can have
the top income tax rate were increased to 50
their doctors, they can have plans, they can
percent from 39.6 percent, it would cover less
have everything!”
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And the best part is that it was not said
year, let alone generate funds for increased
on “Saturday Night Live.” It was on “60
investment.
Minutes.” Poor Jeb Bush, he just can’t go
If we want to invest now in more
that far. He’s just a standard-issue political
infrastructure — as we should do — and make
exaggerator. (See his economic plan.) Trump
is the caricature, the industrial version. That’s
sure we don’t overburden the next generation
why you can’t tell the difference when he’s on to pay for all the retiring baby boomers,
“SNL” or on “60 Minutes.”
something will have to give, or as Samuelson
Mario Cuomo famously said: “You
put it: “If middle-class Americans need or
campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.”
want bigger government, they will have to pay
Trump says, in effect: That’s for normal hack
for it. Sooner or later, a tax increase is coming
politicians. I will campaign in fantasy and
their way. There is no tooth fairy.”
govern in prose. Why not?”
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Given how ludicrous some of the GOP
the atmosphere having just reached heights
presidential tax plans are, Trump seems to
not seen in millennia, if we want to “manage
have started a you-can-have-everything arms
the unavoidable” effects of climate change and
race. Even Bernie Sanders is promising free
“avoid the unmanageable” ones, it will surely
tuition at public colleges, more Social Security require a price on carbon — soon.
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So enjoy the fun of this campaign while it
by taxing the top 1 percent — no trade-offs
lasts, because the next president will not be
necessary for the middle class.
governing in poetry or prose or fantasy — but
And the new House speaker, Paul Ryan,
with excruciating trade-offs. The joke is on us.
who isn’t even running, has joined in. Ryan
Ŷ
described Obama’s decision to kill the
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer
Keystone XL pipeline project as “sickening,”
Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for
adding: “If the president wants to spend the
The New York Times. He became the paper’s
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foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995.
The gap
between this
campaign and
the morning
after is likely
to make for
one really cold
shower.
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 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 daytime phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.