Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Another tragedy
to overcome
It was late March when we
His co-workers remembered him as
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bigoted, racist, angry and volatile.
to tragedy,” about the terrible
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shooting in Brussels. We began
He pledged support to ISIS and
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other terrorist organizations, even
coming at us too fast to keep track:
those in combat with one another.
Brussels. Paris. Ankara, twice. San
He was clearly an awful person,
Bernardino. Umpqua Community
terribly confused and held in the
College. Newtown.
grips of a radical,
Downtown
hateful ideology.
Our ability to On top of that, he
Manhattan.”
Those events feel
an arsenal of
forget traumatic had
so long ago, don’t
weapons and was
they? Humanity’s
well-trained in the
events comes
ability to overcome
gun that allowed
with a price.
senseless tragedy
him to kill 49
and traumatic scenes
innocent people.
of violence and
Before we try to
death is admirable and necessary.
stuff this terrible event into the dark
But our ability to forget them comes hole of memory, we should take one
with a price: we can lose our focus
simple fact to heart, which will make
and our drive to make things better.
millions of people safer.
We can fall into inaction until the
Muslims must make room, as
next tragedy, when the pain and fear many Christians have, for a healthy
returns again with a temporary fury.
respect of gay rights. Perverted
We will get past this one, too.
and hateful religious views — no
Human nature is like that. But
matter the religion — cannot be
used as reason to kill, threaten
perhaps we should not do it so
and intimidate anyone. The Pulse
quickly again. This tragedy, one of
the most deadly shootings in modern nightclub was targeted because
of the people who congregated
American history, is more vicious
there, and those people are targeted
and hateful and bloody than even
daily in many Muslim countries
those other terrible attacks.
throughout the world. They are
While facts are still being
imprisoned, beaten and killed.
uncovered, it is clear that
Mateen was a radicalized person,
homophobia and Islamic radicalism
there is no doubt about that. And
are driving forces behind the killer,
his act was undoubtedly terrorism
Omar Mateen.
— violence with a political purpose.
Mateen was a regular at the gay
But it looks at this point like a hate
club that he later terrorized and for
crime leveled against a protected
years used gay hookup apps, but he
was twice married and his family has class of people that Mateen could
not square with his radical views.
spouted anti-gay views to the press.
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
Holding police accountable
The Oregonian/OregonLive
He also didn’t place the chief on
administrative leave until after Ward’s
ack in October 2014, Portland city comments about O’Dea’s misleading
account. Even then, Hales downplayed
commissioners professed their
the move as a way to help clear some
commitment to hold Portland
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Police accountable for their actions.
police bureau. Certainly, a criminal
The commissioners at the time were
investigation of a sitting police chief can
discussing police reforms mandated
cause that.
by a settlement with the federal justice
Hales’ statements show that he does
department over excessive force
not recognize how such special treatment
allegations. But the message they sent
for the police chief harms the integrity
was not limited to the parameters of the
of the police bureau as a whole. Putting
settlement.
the chief on leave is the bare minimum
Portlanders, Commissioner Amanda
of what we should expect from a leader,
Fritz noted, should look to the council
at least one who understands his loyalty
as a whole, not just Mayor Charlie
should be to the public, not his cronies.
Hales, to ensure the police bureau acted
Hales, unfortunately, is not that leader.
in conformance with the values of the
So far, the other city commissioners
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fall into that category as well. None has
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openly questioned Hales’ decision to
police accountability.”
keep the matter quiet or publicly urged
It’s telling, then, how dead silent she
Hales to place O’Dea on administrative
and the other commissioners have been
leave. None has come out to say that
for the last two weeks as the story of
the allegations of O’Dea’s misleading
Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea’s
statements or that his assistant chiefs also
accidental shooting of a friend during
knew of the shooting without alerting
a hunting trip — and Hales’ failure
investigators are troubling. By staying
to disclose it — has unfolded. Being
³UHVSRQVLEOH´IRUSROLFHDFFRXQWDELOLW\LW silent, no one is championing the public
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seems, means waiting for someone else
yet another breach of trust by the police
to say or do something, no matter the
and the leaders who oversee them.
cost to the public’s trust.
Commissioner Nick Fish told The
The need for someone in leadership
WRUDOO\WKHSXEOLF¶VFRQ¿GHQFHKDVEHHQ Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board
that he shares the public’s concerns about
obvious from the moment reporters
the failure to notify the Independent
revealed that O’Dea was under
Police Review, which started its own
investigation for a shooting. There’s the
investigation after reading about the
strange details of the shooting itself:
shooting in news reports. He said,
O’Dea, camping in Harney County
however, that he is waiting for the results
with six others, was drinking alcohol
of the investigation before commenting.
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Commissioner Amanda Fritz’s chief
accidentally shot his friend on April 21,
of staff, Tim Crail, said the commissioner
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
does not publicly comment on personnel
The injury was not life-threatening.
issues. Commissioner Dan Saltzman has
But things got stranger after
investigators arrived on the scene. O’Dea similarly not come out on the case.
City commissioners don’t need to
misled the deputy, suggesting that the
wait for the results of an investigation
victim had somehow shot himself,
to assure the community that they will
Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward told
hold the police chief accountable if he
Bernstein. O’Dea never corrected that
engaged in misconduct. They aren’t
account, Ward said, even though O’Dea
violating anyone’s privacy by criticizing
admitted to Hales four days later that he
Hales’ bad decision to keep such a matter
had shot his friend. And the chief never
of public importance secret. They can
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and should offer their support for the
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Independent Police Review division and
situations where police respond.
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Then there’s Hales’ handling of the
case. Hales chose to keep quiet about the promptly report cases.
Fritz was right when she said in
shooting for nearly a month. Not only
October 2014 that the community
did he fail to alert the public to the fact
should be able to expect the city council
that the police chief was under criminal
to hold the police bureau accountable.
investigation, but he also failed to refer
Unfortunately, she and her fellow
the matter to the Independent Police
commissioners have too easily ducked an
Review, which conducts personnel
opportunity to do so.
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Orlando and Trump’s America
O
mar Mateen, the Florida
name, Omar Saddiqui Mateen.
shooter who had pledged
This changes race.” Later, he said
allegiance to the Islamic
Trump would do this, not that he had
State, just ushered Donald Trump to
recommended it.
the White House, Britain out of the
It is, however, also dangerous
European Union, Marine Le Pen to
to ignore or belittle the potency of
the French presidency, and the world
ISIS ideology, the core role it has
into a downward spiral of escalating
played in recent violence from Paris
violence.
to California, and the link between
Roger
Aged 29, Mateen is the Gavrilo
that ideology and the broader
Cohen
Princip of the early 21st century, a
crisis of Islam. The favored phrase
Comment
young man who ripped up an old,
of the Obama administration in
decaying political order. Like the
DGGUHVVLQJWKLVVFRXUJH²³YLROHQW
19-year-old Bosnian Serb nationalist whose
extremism” — is vague to the point of evasive
bullets ignited World War I, Mateen has set a
meaninglessness. Yes, jihadi terrorists are
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³YLROHQWH[WUHPLVWV´EXWFDOOLQJWKHPWKDW
Of course, these somber
is like calling Nazism
imaginings may prove to be
a reaction to German
no more than that. Mateen
humiliation in World War I:
has not yet changed the
true but wholly inadequate.
world; he may never.
Mateen demonstrated
But there is no question
again just how potent the
that the deadliest mass
mix of ISIS and National
shooting in modern U.S.
5LÀH$VVRFLDWLRQLGHRORJ\
history comes at a time
is. America is the perfect
of particular unease. In
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both the United States
ISIS followers because
and Europe, political and
they have access to the
economic frustrations have
weapons they need to do
produced a groundswell
their worst. Despite having
against the status quo and an
been investigated twice in
apparent readiness to make a
recent years by the FBI for
leap in the dark. Washington
possible ties to terrorism,
and Brussels have become
Mateen was able to walk
bywords for paralysis.
into a Florida gun dealership
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UHFHQWO\DQGDFTXLUHD³ORQJ
represent action — any action — to shake
gun” and a pistol. This, by any reasonable
things up. They are, to their supporters, the
standard, is madness.
comeuppance smug elites deserve.
The AR-15 assault weapon used by
On top of this, and feeding this, Islam
Mateen was also the weapon used by the
is in epochal crisis. Its Sunni and Shiite
San Bernardino shooters. The former NRA
branches are mired in violent confrontation.
president, David Keene, once described it as
Its adjustment to the modern world has proved WKH³JXQOLEHUDOVORYHWRKDWH´,WLVLQIDFWWKH
faltering and agonized enough to produce a
ULÀHWKDWLOOXVWUDWHVZK\OD[86JXQODZV
metastasizing strain of violent anti-Western
make American lives cheap. The laws are an
jihadi beliefs to which Mateen — like the
aberration.
San Bernardino shooters — was apparently
President Barack Obama described the
susceptible.
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That he shot revelers in a gay club suggests hate.” He made clear his disapproval of the
once again that Islam and sexuality constitute
existing gun laws. He called for solidarity.
a particularly combustible realm. Liberal
He said nothing about ISIS, or the way the
Western sexual mores are the most troubling
Islamic State’s hold on territory in Syria and
affront to a certain strain of Islam. The
Iraq reinforces the charismatic potency of its
resultant confrontation incubates explosive
ideological appeal, disseminated from that
violence.
base through the internet.
It is 12 years since Theo van Gogh
+HDOVRVDLGWKLV³7RDFWLYHO\GRQRWKLQJLV
was murdered in Amsterdam by a Dutch-
a decision as well.”
Moroccan Muslim jihadi for making a movie
Yes, to have actively done nothing in
about the treatment of women in Islam;
6\ULDRYHUPRUHWKDQ¿YH\HDUVRIZDU²VR
and now homosexuals at the Pulse club in
allowing part of the country to become an
Orlando, Florida, are targeted by a U.S. citizen Islamic State stronghold, contributing to a
of Afghan descent who, it seems, had also
massive refugee crisis in Europe, acquiescing
found in Islamic extremism the ideological
to slaughter and displacement on a devastating
answer to his troubles.
scale, undermining America’s word in the
It is poisonous to blame all the world’s
world, and granting open season for President
1.6 billion Muslims for this crisis of their
Vladimir Putin of Russia to strut his stuff —
religion. Trump’s self-congratulatory
amounts to the greatest foreign policy failure
reiteration of his call for a temporary ban on
of the Obama administration.
non-American Muslims entering the United
It has made the world far more dangerous.
6WDWHVH[HPSOL¿HVKLVYLROHQFHWLQJHGSROLWLFV I hope for the best but fear the victory of the
of division. Michael Oren, the former Israeli
politics of anger in America and Europe.
ambassador to the United States, was quoted
Ŷ
on Twitter hours after the massacre as saying:
Roger Cohen joined The New York Times
³,I,ZHUH7UXPS,¶GHPSKDVL]HWKH0XVOLP
in 1990.
America is the
perfect setting
for “lone wolf”
ISIS followers
because they
have access to
the weapons
they need to do
their worst.
YOUR VIEWS
Playgrounds should be higher
priority than apartments
If I were a resident of Pendleton I would be
terribly upset with the city’s plan to subsidize
developer Saj Jinvanjce thousands of dollars
to help him build in the Tutuilla Creek area
when the city of Pendleton is closing three
playgrounds because of lack of funds.
Where are the priorities?
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is advertising places for rent. There really is
no housing shortage in Pendleton. Read the
newspaper advertising.
Aside from this, I am strongly opposed
to the building of apartments, as are my
neighbors, as we have stated earlier.
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present housing has been built and it will
only get worse. On Tuesday, last week, I
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it averaged a vehicle a minute at the Grecian
Heights east city limits.
It is my personal belief that playgrounds
for children and parks for adults outrank
unnecessary housing. Besides, the city ought
to consider housing at the airport as people
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QRZKHUH´DQGJDLQDWHUUL¿FYLHZZKLFK
Tutuilla Creek does not have down in that
congested hollow.
Dorys C. Grover
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
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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
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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.
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