Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, April 1, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
Tip of the hat to Oregon Potato Company, which is training all of its
HPSOR\HHVWREHSUR¿FLHQWLQ&35DQG¿UVW
aid.
2UHJRQ3RWDWR&RPSDQ\PDGHWKH
decision to have their employees brush up
RQWKHLU&35VNLOOVDIWHUDQHPSOR\HHDWWKH
Boardman-based business had a heart attack
on the job and was saved by a coworker.
The training sessions, led by Good
6KHSKHUG+HDOWK&DUH6\VWHPVKDYH
taught more than 1,000 people a year. With
thousands of potential life-savers out and
about in our communities, it means they are
safer places. And for Oregon Potato and other
companies who have taken part, their workplaces are safer too.
Kudos to everyone for taking on the responsibility and making a
difference.
Tip of the hat to Steve Myren, who is
ULGLQJRIILQWRWKHVXQVHWDV0RUURZ&RXQW\
undersheriff.
Myren is retiring after nearly 36 years
of experience in law enforcement. You can
read about him on page 3A in today’s paper.
+HLVDORQJWLPHFRPPXQLW\¿[WXUHLQWKH
Boardman area, and it’s good to know he will
keep his roots planted in the county.
Those lottery winnings might make that
sunset ride a little bit more comfortable too.
Instead of a packhorse, maybe Myren will be
ULGLQJRIILQD&DGLOODF
A tip of the hat to everyone who
appreciated our April Fools joke in today’s
paper.
We hope you took advantage of the ability
to pull off the upside-down newspaper
sight gag when your spouse or child came
down the stairs for breakfast this morning.
The possibility of the joke, in our opinion,
is worth the relatively small annoyance of
WXUQLQJWKHSDSHUDURXQGDQGÀLSSLQJWKURXJK
it backwards for just one day.
We hope you found the humor in it, and
promise to be right-side-up again tomorrow.
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
GMO labeling debate rolls on
The (Bend) Bulletin
O
regonians narrowly — by fewer
than 1,000 votes — defeated a
ballot measure
in 2014 that would
have required food
manufacturers and
retailers to label
products that included
genetically engineered
ingredients.
In the end,
however, the
measure’s supporters
appear on their way
to getting what they
want, thanks to
lawmakers in one of the smallest states
in the union.
Major food manufacturers, including
&DPSEHOO6RXSVRXS3HSSHULGJH
)DUP&RQ$JUD+XQWV3HWHU3DQ
DQG*HQHUDO0LOOVFHUHDO2OG(O3DVR
<RSODLWDOOKDYHDQQRXQFHGUHFHQWO\
that they have or will soon begin to
include genetic engineering information
on product labels.
They’re not doing so because genetic
engineering somehow makes their
products unsafe, however. It doesn’t,
and there’s more than enough science to
prove that point.
Some are doing so because
lawmakers in Vermont, which has well
under 1 million residents, approved a
measure to require the labels in that
state. It’s cheaper,
the companies say,
to make the labels
universal for products
sold in this country
than to create and
apply special labels
for use in Vermont.
And, clearly, they
KRSH&RQJUHVVZLOO
step in and either ban
state labeling laws or
require them across
the country.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Portland, thinks
that the latter is a great idea. He and
three other Senate Democrats recently
introduced a bill that would require
labeling nationwide.
5HDOLVWLFDOO\WKHELOOGRHVQ¶WVWDQG
much chance. The U.S. House did
approve a ban on such labeling last
summer.
We don’t believe a law requiring
*02ODEHOLQJLVVFLHQWL¿FDOO\QHFHVVDU\
%XWLWZRXOGEHEHWWHUIRU&RQJUHVV
to have a national law rather than
requirements that only apply in some
states.
A national
law on GMO
labeling is better
than laws on a
state-by-state
basis.
OTHER VIEWS
5HSXEOLFDQV¶JXQIUHH]RQH
L
atest in the long, long line of
No one took him literally, possibly
&RQWURYHUVLHV:H:HUHQ¶W
because no one believed that Trump
5HDOO\([SHFWLQJWKHULJKWWR
could stand in the middle of Fifth
EHDUDUPVDWWKH5HSXEOLFDQ1DWLRQDO
Avenue and actually hit anything.
&RQYHQWLRQ
While he says he owns a gun, when
A petition calling on the
asked if he ever uses it, he replied,
5HSXEOLFDQVWRDOORZSHRSOHWRFDUU\
“none of your business.” Mainly, he
their pistols when they assemble
brags that his sons are crack hunters,
this July collected more than 50,000
and you can see the proof of that if you
Gail
signatures rather speedily this week.
Collins Google Donald Trump Jr. and “dead
The Secret Service instantly turned
elephant tail.”
Comment
thumbs down. The presidential
'R\RXWKLQN+LOODU\&OLQWRQFRXOG
candidates, who are normally so
EHDW7UXPSDWD¿ULQJUDQJH"&OLQWRQ
rapturous about all things gun-related, refused actually meets the basic political standard
to get involved.
for marksmanship, which involves being
7KHDXWKRURIWKHSHWLWLRQODWHUWROG&%6
in possession of one anecdote about having
that he was just trying to
gone hunting and shot a bird.
SRLQWRXWWKDW5HSXEOLFDQV¶
Hers goes back to her days in
enthusiasm for weaponry
Arkansas when she was with
does not necessarily extend
a group of friends who didn’t
to large, potentially rancorous
believe she knew how to
gatherings at which they are
handle a gun, then watched as
personally present. This gives
VKHGRZQHGDGXFNRQWKH¿UVW
us an excellent opportunity to
try. The dead-fowl tradition is
talk about guns and politics.
sort of silly, but it does hark
There was a time when
back to the good old days
Americans seemed OK with a
when people thought about
middle-of-the-road approach
shooting in terms of sport and
to guns. The public tended
scaring off burglars.
to regard them as things you
&OLQWRQKDVEHHQWDONLQJD
used for hunting or household
lot about gun regulation lately,
defense, and favored laws that
because it’s one of the very
regulated them accordingly.
few issues on which she can
But no more. The National
attack Bernie Sanders from
5LÀH$VVRFLDWLRQLVEHJLQQLQJ
the left. Sanders, who appears
to run out of places to demand
to have no personal interest
that people be allowed to bring their pistols,
in guns whatsoever, has been historically
having already thrown down the gauntlet
weak when it comes to voting on things like
on bars, kindergartens, airports and college
background checks. Their debate would be
campuses.
much more useful if it carried on into the
The theory is that once everybody is armed general election. But it won’t. The sad truth
24/7, no matter what bad thing occurs, there
is that Democrats don’t believe gun control is
will always be good guys on hand to shoot the DZLQQLQJLVVXH$QGWKH5HSXEOLFDQVDUHVR
evildoer. In the real world, very few people — FRPSOHWHO\LQEHGZLWKWKH15$WKHPDWWUHVV
LQFOXGLQJSROLFHRI¿FHUV²DUHVNLOOHGHQRXJK is buckling.
to aim accurately during a scary emergency.
The one candidate in this year’s race
%XWLI\RXZDQWWRZLQWKH5HSXEOLFDQ
who actually has some skill as a marksman
presidential nomination, it’s important to
LV7HG&UX]+HVKRWWZRSKHDVDQWVZKLOH
pretend otherwise. After the terrorist mass
campaigning in Iowa, which is perfectly
murders in France, Donald Trump argued that reasonable. He also carried out the tradition
if only Parisian concertgoers had been packing that calls for ambitious right-wing politicians
heat, the outcome would have been much
WRSXWRQFDPRXÀDJHDQGIDFHSDLQWDQGJR
different.
hunting with someone from “Duck Dynasty,”
“You know what? If I’m in that room and
which is really embarrassing.
OHW¶VVD\ZHKDYHWZRRU¿YHRUSHRSOHZLWK
%XWLI\RXZDQWWRNQRZZKHUH&UX]
guns, we’re going to do a lot better because
stands on a reasoned approach to handling
there’s going to be a shootout,” he said.
weapons, I suggest you take a look at the
7ZRLPSRUWDQWSRLQWVKHUH(YHQLQWKH
video in which he demonstrates how to cook
FRQ¿QHVRI6HFRQG$PHQGPHQWD¿FLRQDGRV
bacon by wrapping it around the barrel of an
you don’t normally hear the term “we’re going DVVDXOWULÀH³0PPPPDFKLQHJXQEDFRQ´
to do a lot better because there’s going to be
The mantra is pretty straightforward. Nobody
a shootout.” Plus, note the suggestion that
wants to think about armed convention
people would be safer with an armed Donald
delegates. But otherwise guns belong
Trump in the building.
everywhere. Tomorrow morning, brew the
Trump does not appear to know anything
coffee and shoot the breakfast.
PXFKDERXW¿UHDUPV'R\RXUHPHPEHUEDFN
Ŷ
in January, when he boasted that he “could
Gail Collins joined The New York Times in
stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and
1995 as a member of the editorial board and
shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”?
later as an Op-Ed columnist.
The National
Rifle
Association
is running
out of places
to demand
that people
be allowed
to bring their
guns.
YOUR VIEWS
3HQGOHWRQERRNVWRUH¿UVW
casualty of wage hike
Over the years, special bookstores
have been immortalized in both stories
and movies. Pendleton has been
fortunate in its own right to have several
independently owned bookstores that
cater to a devoted audience.
Not only are they special places that
address the needs of their followers,
they serve as a reminder of the critical
importance of literacy.
With that in mind, I was saddened
to read that Armchair Books is closing
— a victim of technology and Oregon’s
decision to initiate an unrealistic
minimum wage law.
Armchair Books was the epitome
of customer service. It was possible to
VKDUHZLWKWKHPWKHQDPHVRIVSHFL¿F
authors and series and know that
whenever something new was published,
I would receive a call indicating the
book was available and should they
order it.
In my case, because I am on the road
a great deal, my book purchases are
all ones I can listen to in my car. This
actually serves a dual purpose — it
makes the trip more enjoyable, and once
I’ve listened to the book, I can donate it
to the Pendleton Public Library.
As Armchair Books begins the
process of closing, I for one would like
to applaud them for their contributions
to Pendleton and add my name to the
list of those who are sad to see them
go. Transitions like this erode the fabric
that makes rural America and local
neighborhoods special places.
George Murdock
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. 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.