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.