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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, November 17, 2016 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Marijuana deserves chance to succeed in Pendleton You may have missed it. Lost to help marijuana businesses succeed amid electing a new president in and benefit Pendleton. That of the free world and deciding begins with enacting a marijuana- the fate of the most important specific business license, creating fiscal measure in Oregon history, straightforward and stringent (but marijuana businesses became legal not onerous) requirements, and in Pendleton. Heck, it has been allowing marijuana retail businesses more than a week since the election safe and affordable places to operate. and we’re finally getting around to And this should be done in the next writing about it in this space. few meetings, so businesses can Pendleton know what to voters easily expect and begin passed the forward Pendleton voters moving measure, with 55 come the first of have tasked the the year. percent in support of allowing The current city with putting rules recreational and zoning forth a good faith requirements marijuana businesses and 44 effort to make a in are Pendleton percent opposed. not ideal, That’s almost a flip go with marijuana but they offer from the results to start. business in the city. a No place of Measure 91, marijuana which legalized business can open recreational in the downtown marijuana statewide just two years core, where it would make the most ago. Medical marijuana passed in sense, but can in the out-of-the-way Pendleton by an even wider margin, parts of the city. That includes off with 60 percent of voters in favor of Interstate 84 near the Red Lion, the overturning the ban. And just about southernmost edge of Southgate, everybody was in favor of adding and parts of Riverside where an extra 3 percent tax to it — 83 commercial buildings are lacking. percent. But the most likely place — where professional space is available The city may do better because and traffic is considerable — is the other two nearby municipalities near the intersection of 20th Street with pot on the ballot did not overturn their bans. Bans in Milton- and Court Avenue, near Wal-Mart and Walgreens. That would be a Freewater held by the slimmest of useful place to site Pendleton’s first margins (51 percent to 48 percent) while in Hermiston it was wider (54 dispensary, should landlords be willing to collect rent from a new percent to 45 percent). type of business. Those results benefit Pendleton. There are still plenty of It will soon be the only place in questions to be answered. Are there Umatilla County — and the only entrepreneurs willing to make a place in Oregon for hundreds of miles — where both recreational and go of it here? Will such businesses thrive? Will they play by the rules medical users can shop for, sell and and become good neighbors and commercially grow marijuana. And Chamber of Commerce members? slices of the statewide pie increase for participating municipalities every Will they require more public safety presence and strain local law time someone opts out. enforcement agencies? Yet success is not assured. It is not yet known. What is Pendleton City Council — a known is that Pendleton voters have body that has been openly tasked the city with finding answers and aggressively opposed to to those questions and putting forth a implementation, and only narrowly agreed to let voters have a say in the good faith effort to make a go of it. The marijuana experiment — matter — still has plenty of control which has been an unmitigated over its future in the city. So, too, success in Colorado, Washington does the planning department and and much of Oregon — now arrives the mayor. in Pendleton. We wish it luck and We believe each should respect the support of the city. the will of the voters and do its best 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. Obama in Trumpland I f Election Day seemed to be a about the direction in which a Trump dream (or, rather, nightmare) administration might — but mustn’t devoid of logic, the week since has — turn. done little to render the world more “We are going to have to guard coherent. against a rise in a crude sort of Let’s review: nationalism,” he said. That’s hardly Donald Trump, exulting in his big the extent of the vigil. Trump is win, addressed the question of The reportedly seeking security clearances Wall. You know, the central pledge of for his children, who will be Frank his candidacy, reiterated at every rally. running his business, and a former Bruni A mighty barrier between the U.S. State Department official watching Comment and Mexico that only he was potent an increasingly messy transition enough to erect. process took to Twitter to warn other And what did he have to say? Republicans to “stay away” from Trump’s That it might be a mere fence in spots. “angry, arrogant” team. A fence! Just three days after his victory, Obama is partly trying to save face he was downscaling, after Hillary Clinton’s backtracking. At this devastating loss. In the rate, he’ll be talking at weeks before the election, his inauguration about a he implored Americans: glorious hedge along the Honor me by choosing border. By April it’ll be her. Not enough of them flowering shrubs, with did, and at Monday’s news blossoms that spell out conference, he seemed to “Welcome to America.” steal a page from Trump’s And by June? Some sort playbook and take issue of new Christo installation, with her stamina. maybe the world’s largest- He never said her name ever topiary display. but noted, pointedly, how As for Obamacare, it’s he had trudged through apparently not so awful “every small town and fair after all. Trump said he and fish fry” in Iowa, a liked the part that lets state that he won in 2008 kids stay on their parents’ and 2012 and that she, with insurance plans, which is, less trudging, lost. if you think about it, sort of what Donald Jr., He also repeatedly recited a litany of Ivanka and Eric have been doing all along. yardsticks by which he was leaving the He also liked the part that prevents insurers country in fantastic fettle. Was he reassuring from disqualifying people for pre-existing us — or himself? conditions. From his electrifying address at the 2004 My hunch? If some crafty Democrat drafts Democratic convention through his stirring legislation to keep the Affordable Care Act as 2008 presidential campaign, he spoke of is but rechristen it Trumpcare, he’ll sign the transcending blue and red, uniting black and bill in a nanosecond. He’s a man in thrall to white, healing. ego, not policy. And here we are. It has to gall him. It President Barack Obama is betting on that. definitely gives him incentive to use whatever He’s suddenly professing faith in Trump — or, psychological jujitsu necessary to nudge and rather, playing a fascinating mind game in manipulate Trump. He doesn’t want historians which he endeavors to save his legacy by to write that he opened the door to a monster. complimenting Trump into compliance. So he’s pressing for a sunnier tale: the monster That was some through-the-looking-glass defanged, the nation safe and sound. news conference Monday, when Obama, who And he’s a patriot, always has been, had previously warned that Trump was all four which is what’s so rich here. Trump bangs on horsemen of the apocalypse rolled into one about putting America first, when he really shocking jockey, spoke of Trump’s “gifts” and puts himself before all else. That shriveled, how “gregarious” he could be. unhinged hood ornament of his, Rudy “I don’t think he is ideological,” Obama Giuliani, is on the record questioning Obama’s said. “Ultimately, he is pragmatic.” From your love for America. lips, Mr. President, to God’s ear. But Obama loves this country enough to He said that their initial meeting had gone summon the same grace for his successor that so well that he could, on this last foreign trip other presidents did for theirs, although his is a of his presidency, allay our allies’ anxieties. nasty, juvenile breed apart. Never mind that Trump and Vladimir Putin And he loves this country enough to try to were already whispering sweet nothings to calm it when it most needs calming, even if each other over the phone. (“You’re the man.” that means a willed optimism about Trump “No, you’re the man.”) Or that Steve Bannon that’s oh so difficult to share. was en route to the West Wing. ■ Perhaps the Bannon appointment didn’t Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The sink in fully until Tuesday, when Obama, New York Times since 2011. He has been chief in Greece, had chillier words of warning restaurant critic and Rome bureau chief. If some crafty Democrat drafts legislation to keep the Affordable Care Act but rechristen it Trumpcare, he’ll sign the bill in a nanosecond. OTHER VIEWS Unmasking the faceless thugs who exploit public protests The Oregonian P ortland’s descent into civil disorder occurred sometime after 8 p.m. last week as otherwise peaceful, if roadway- blocking, protesters snaked their way through town. Things got ugly in Northeast Portland, where 19 new cars at a Toyota dealership were trashed by brick-throwers, and then worse when thousands of folks walked across the Broadway Bridge and into the Pearl District. There, the vandalism metastasized. It became athletic, wantonly opportunistic and expansive. Power sources mounted to structures were battered, sparks flying. Large plate glass windows were shattered, shards of glass raining down. Walls and store entrances were sprayed with graffiti, leaving strange signatures and symbols. Frightened onlookers asked: Where are the police? By Friday, police estimated total damages at more than $1 million. The rampage was conducted, protesters and police said, by a comparatively small number of infiltrating anarchists. It seemed plausible, given that KGW-TV’s courageous live footage of the spectacle showed young men, mostly, with bandanas or other forms of face coverings, and wearing knit hats — the better to go unrecognized. Overheard were cries from marchers to stop the violence. But one man, if unrecognizable, was the poster boy of the night. Tall and lean, he repeatedly left- footed a large plate glass window, caving it in to applause from his cohorts before bouncing back on his feet and clapping his hands twice — as if he’d finally found his rhythm and sunk a rimless basket from an invisible 3-point line. Except this was no game. This was real life, real property, real violence against unseen others. And it was a proud city’s tattered spirit circling the drain. Portland should have no room for hooligans, thugs and those who sully the efforts of others. The young man bent on violence, along with his expletive-shouting comrades, had no apparent connection to any of the myriad causes that brought LGBT, ethnic, global warming and other groups beneath a unifying anti-Trump banner. He was, and is, a common criminal. And he was likely getting away with his marauding deeds while becoming a star among comrades. A police spokesman explained to a reporter that entering a crowd of thousands to conduct criminal enforcement against a few could backfire, creating a massive eruption fueled by fear, confusion and anger. No doubt. So events had to reach a certain threshold before police in riot gear showed up, after 9 p.m., to establish a commanding line, sending marchers on their way and ultimately arresting 26. Many of their mugshots appeared at OregonLive.com Friday, and it will be some time before charges, if any, can be attached to them. But protesters already angering folks for thwarting movement about the city must take a hard and new lesson from last week’s carnage: The rules just changed. Protesters, when assembled in the hundreds and thousands, must now accept full responsibility for hosting anarchists who find cover within their ranks and wreak havoc. That means stopping the event cold and retreating the minute violence erupts. That means defanging the parasites and possibly exposing them. That means clearly establishing the terms of demonstration to include the willingness to quickly disband if violence erupts. It was heartening to learn that protest sponsors had created a fund to pay for repair work in the Pearl. But cleanup that covers for the criminals enables and encourages. What’s to stop the next batch of fools from delivering to Portland harrowing moments of civil disorder when there’s no real price to pay? LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about indi- vidual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the au- thor and include the city of resi- dence and phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
