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Page 6A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, June 7, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Ready or not, the next wave of pot Oregon’s latest incremental step comparatively innocuous intoxicant expressed worry about how toward full-out normalization of marijuana would add to existing marijuana and its active ingredient problems with impaired driving, THC comes at a time when there along with less quantifi able societal are indications legalization is impacts like loss of mental acuity having a detrimental effect on and increasing driving safety in access to Washington state. The biggest bonus minors’ drugs. Even fi ve or 10 is further pushing In Washington years ago, it would state, there has been have strained the illegal dealers out an upswing in the imagination to of the market, and proportion of fatal envision Thursday’s launch of sales of along with them the vehicular accidents in which marijuana edible marijuana/ THC candy and other crime and violence was found present in products. Although that come with such drivers. Between the legalization approval Oregon has a deeper operations. in November 2012 experience than most and 2014, there was a states with medical doubling in the number of fatals in marijuana, the cultural and legal which marijuana may have played a changes we’re experiencing now role. Researchers with AAA found are unique in living memory. Such that before legalization, 8.3 percent novelty is exciting to those who of drivers in fatal crashes had THC enjoy marijuana. Even many of those who don’t imbibe are content in their blood, compared to 17 percent after legalization — many with an end to one destructive of whom also had alcohol or other aspect of the “War on Drugs.” There are indications, particularly drugs present. Law enforcement is still in Washington state and Colorado, that the price of marijuana is rapidly playing catch-up with the issue. In Washington and Colorado, declining. This is likely to also be prosecution for driving under true in Oregon. This has positive the infl uence relies on a test implications that go beyond being fi nding more than 5 nanograms easy on the budgets of marijuana per milliliter of THC in drivers’ consumers. blood. Oregon relies on offi cer The biggest bonus is further observations to determine whether a pushing illegal dealers out of the driver is impaired. market, and along with them the All this clearly demands close crime and violence that come with scrutiny by lawmakers, police and such operations. the public. Legalization won’t However, the growing ubiquity be rolled back, but refi nements of marijuana in the Pacifi c in enforcement and personal Northwest has downsides. Even those who had become discouraged responsibility on the part of drivers will be essential. with criminal penalties for a 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. Culture Corner If you’ve ever wondered what perfect at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland from July 1 to October 9. The foresight and planning looks like, or handwritten document brought the many serendipity at the very least, look no baseball clubs of the time onto the same further than the baseball diamond. page, so to speak. When the rules Some were playing of the game were to 21 runs instead drafted in 1857, of nine innings, Daniel “Doc” some had as many Adams specifi ed as 11 players on the that the bases were fi eld instead of nine, to be set 90 feet and there was no apart. In the 160 set standard for the years that have basepaths. followed, athletes From that have gotten faster document leagues and the sport has were formed, new become both clubs emerged and an industry and the sport entered pastime, but the into the American distance remains at consciousness. 90 feet. The Pioneer And with that Baseball Club of East perfect, magical Portland was formed distance, nearly in 1866, and was the every routine fi rst baseball club play at fi rst base Contributed by Oregon Historical Society is decided by a split The Pioneer Baseball Club of in the Northwest. second and every East Portland was the fi rst orga- Portland has never nized team in the Pacifi c North- been home to a major stolen base attempt west, founded on May 28, 1866. league club, but if is a hold-your-breath you’re interested in moment. If the bases the city’s history with the sport there’s were set at 100 feet, no player could a Netfl ix documentary called “The leg out a grounder to fi rst base. At 80 Battered Bastards of Baseball” about the feet even the average baserunner would Portland Mavericks of the 1970s, who look like Rickey Henderson, and the were shunned by organized baseball but stolen base would be ho-hum instead of developed a rabid following thanks to a thrilling. roster of colorful characters. That distance, among other rules and The Oregon Historical Society’s regulations, is in a recently unearthed museum at 1200 SW Park Ave. is open document known as the “Magna Carta Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. of America’s national pastime,” which and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. will be on display for the fi rst time OTHER VIEWS The Madness of America he candidacy of Donald Trump, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos the fervor of those who support or Community?,” and he is worthy of it, and the fi erce opposition of quoting here at length: those who don’t is making America “The ultimate weakness of violence mad — both angry and insane, as the is that it is a descending spiral, begetting dual defi nitions of the word implies. the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead One of the most disturbing displays of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. of this madness is the violence Trump Through violence you may murder the has incited in his supporters, and the Charles liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor violent ways in which opposition establish the truth. Through violence Blow forces have responded, like the you may murder the hater, but you do Comment not murder hate. In fact, violence merely exchange we saw last week in San increases hate. So it goes. Returning Jose, California. violence for violence multiplies violence, adding Both forms of violence are unequivocally deeper darkness to a night already devoid of wrong, but speak to a base level of hostility stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only that hovers around the man like the stench light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: from rotting fl esh. only love can do that.” What is particularly disturbing is to see You may feel activated by the cause of anti-Trump forces lashing out at Trump’s righteousness, but violence is most often supporters, seemingly provoked simply by a a poor instrument for its implementation. difference in political position. Indeed, violence corrodes righteousness. It This cannot be. It’s self-defeating and robs it of its essence. narrows the space between the thing you The best way to direct passions is not only despise and the thing you become. with the bullhorn, but also at the ballot box. Listen, I understand how unsettling this In a democracy, the vote is the voice. The man is for many. best way to reduce the threat Trump poses I understand that he is elevating and is to register and motivate people who share normalizing a particular stance of racism and your view of the threat. sexism that many view as a spiritual attack, It is easy to look at the throngs who support a kind of psychic violence from which they and exalt this man and be discouraged, but cannot escape. Furthermore, the election cycle promises at don’t be. It is easy to look at Republicans like Paul Ryan abandoning their principles and least fi ve more months of this, until Election selling their souls to fall in line behind this Day, and even more if by some tragic twist of man and be discouraged, but don’t be. It is fate Trump is actually elected. And, if elected, the threat could move from easy to see the media fail miserably to counter Trump and his surrogates’ Gish-gallop and be the rhetoric to the real, wreaking havoc on discouraged, but don’t be. millions of lives. These are the moments in which the I understand the frightful, mind-numbing, nation’s mettle — and ideals — are tested. hair-raising disbelief that can descend when I have a fundamental belief that although one realizes that this is indeed plausible. America was born and grew by violence and Recent polls have only added to this racial subjugation, that although it has often anxiety as some have shown an increasingly stumbled and even regressed, that its ultimate tight race between him and Hillary Clinton, bearing is toward the better. the likely Democratic nominee; some even Folks must be reminded that one have him beating her. demagogue cannot lead to a detour or a (Now of course, these polls must be taken dismantling. There is an elevated plane of with a grain of salt. Trump and Clinton are truth that fl oats a mile above Trump’s trough in different phases of the fi ght: Trump is the of putrescence. presumptive Republican nominee with no Trump and his millions of minions have remaining opponents and with Republicans replaced what they call “political correctness” coalescing around his candidacy; Clinton is with “ambient viciousness.” still in a heated contest with Bernie Sanders, This won’t “make America great again,” who has given no indication of giving up.) because the “again” they imagine harkens I understand that Trump represents a clear back to America’s darkness. We are the new and present danger, and having a passionate America — more diverse, more inclusive, response that encompasses rage and fear is more than our ancestors could ever have reasonable. imagined. It is understandable to want to make one’s Don’t invalidate that by allowing displeasure known. yourselves to be baited into brutishness. But there is a line one dares not cross, and ■ that is the one of responding to violent rhetoric Charles M. Blow is The New York Times’s with violent actions. visual Op-Ed columnist. His column appears As I have said before, the Rev. Dr. Martin in The Times on Saturday. Luther King Jr. said it best in his 1967 book T YOUR VIEWS A slaughter solution to BLM’s wild horse problem As I read your article about the mobile slaughter trailer I couldn’t help but think this might be the answer to the surplus wild (feral) horse problem faced by the Bureau of Land Management. They are presently holding 47,000 horses in corrals and feeding them at a cost to taxpayers of $50 million per year. I have long advocated that these surplus animals be slaughtered and fed to the poor. After visiting Iceland and rediscovering how savory horse meat can be and learning how nutritional it is, I propose it be marketed as a health food. These horses exist because of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. The BLM is charged with maintaining an Appropriate Management Level, which presently is 26,715 animals. Currently it is estimated there are over 67,000 roaming the land, and they are increasing at 15-20 percent per year. These numbers are damaging the range, waterways, grouse habitat and are fouling remote wildlife water holes. Those animals found to be exceeding the AML should be removed, but holding them in corrals would seemingly violate the spirit of the Wild Free-Roaming Act. Slaughter is the only logical solution and these mobile units might be the answer. Inasmuch as the BLM is spending over $1,000 per horse per year it would seem they would see the value of spending $70,000 per unit with all “the bells and whistles.” I could see the BLM leasing these units to enterprising individuals, such as the individuals in your article. I can see the Oregon Food Bank utilizing one or more of these units since they are always short of meat. Doing the math, it is obvious that it will take a number of these units. Since these animals do not receive medications they would be an excellent source of an organic health food. In a recent survey 64 percent of respondents say they would not eat horse meat, but this would indicate that 36 percent might. Winners would be the local fabricators who would build the units and the butcher/operators who would gain steady employment. People who would like to obtain a tasty source of a nutritionally superior meat free of additives could do so. Those who might oppose a slaughterhouse in their back yard might favor horse slaughter if it was removed from their neighborhood. These units might also give the wimps in the BLM and Congress the courage to do the right thing. Carlisle Harrison Hermiston 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.