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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.