TWO The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Ore., Thursday, September 1, 1977
EDITORIAL LETTERS
Guest
Editorial
This letter, signed by the "Cop Down
the Street" was written by a policeman from
Molalla. We don't know who he is and, in the final
analysis, it probably doesn't matter. As he says in
the letter, he represents and is a symbol for "every
officer in every city, county and state in the U.S."
For years we have heard parents complain about
police harassment because some officer has
stopped one of their children who was "only
drinking a little beer" or smoking a little pot."
We've heard these same parents say "all the kids
are doing it now" or "kids will be kids".
We have witnessed parents who would refuse to
believe that their children would do such a thing... A
mother screaming at a police officer that her
daughter wouldn't drink while the daughter sat
there in a drunken stupor giggling "oh yes I would."
The letter that the Molalla police officer wrote
answers those parents movingly and with much
more eloquence that any editorial writer could
muster. The police officer's writing is from the
heart.
Parents in this state owe that unknown "Cop
Down the Street" a debt of gratitude for reminding
them of the responsibilities that are theirs and their
children's. They owe him a debt of gratitude of
caring.
Reprinted from
Central Oregonian
COMMENT
Yes I am Angry
This is an open letter to the parents of all young people
everywhere. I am writing in response to some of the many
questions that you ask me daily. I am not one police officer, but I
represent every officer in every city, county, and state in the
U.S.
You may only know me as the cop who gave you a ticket last
summer for doing 45 in a residential area but I am much more
than that. I am also the guy who lives down the street from you
in the yellow house with the brown trim. I am a parent of three
children and I share with you the same hope, ambition, and
dreams that you have for your children. I am faced with the
same problems you are in trying to raise my children to be
responsible citizens and leaders in an irresponsible, permissive
society. I share with you those same moments of agony and
estasy associated with a son or daughter's first big love. My
eyes brim with tears of pride as do yours when a son catches a
touchdown pass that wins that big game. I share with you the
feeling of shame, guilt and disappointment when my boy or girl
gets into trouble.
You ask me why do I harass your kids for speeding down city
streets. Why do I make such a fuss about kids drinking a little
beer? What is the big deal over smoking a little pot? Curfew
violation ! ! Big deal ! ! These are only a few of your complaints
but they deserve an answer so I will try.
Each of these complaints, although they might be minor, have
something important in common. They are violations of the law.
The real harm done in each case is that the law has been
violated and respect for those rules and principles that regulate
and great society are disregarded. To show contempt for these
minor laws may eventually lead to a disregard for all law. When
that happens, everyone is a loser. I am in no position to teach
respect for the law. That is your job as a parent. You are
morally responsible for teaching your young people proper
principles. Your failure to do so will invariably result in bitter
disappointment, grief and feelings of guilt. You say you are too
busy; you don't have time, because you are struggling to make
ends meet in an inflated, runaway life style. I would remind you
that there is no achievement or worldy success that can
compensate for your failure as a parent. You are angry with me
because I called you down to the station at 3:00 in the morning
and all he was doing was drinking a little beer. Sure he is a little
drunk now but he'll be O.K. in the morning. Besides that,
everybody does it so what's the big deal! Well I am a little
angry, and sick inside when I am called out to an accident scene
involving liquor. Let me tell you about one I covered.
The scene is a long stretch of highway with a sharp curve at
one end. It had been raining and the roads were slick. A car
traveling in excess of 80 mph missed the curve and plowed into
an embankment where the car then became airborn and struck
a tree. At this point, two young people were hurled from the
vehicle; one into the tree, the other onto the roadway where the
car landed on him, snuffing out his life like a discarded cigarette
on the rough asphalt. He is killed instantly and is the lucky one.
The girl thrown into the tree has her neck broken, and although
she was voted queen of the senior prom, and most likely to
succeed, she will now spend the next 60 years of her life in a
wheelchair. Her white satin formal, blood spattered and
crumpled, could have been a wedding gown, but there will be no
wedding bells in her future now.
Unable to do anything else, she will live and relive that
terrible moment over again many times. When I arrive, the car
has come to rest on its top, the broken wheels have stopped
spinning. Smoke and steam pour out of an engine ripped from its
countings by terrible forces. An eerie calm has settled over the
scene and it is deserted except for the lone traveler who called it
in. He is sick to his stomach and leaning against his car for
support. He is retching weakly and unable to be of any help. The
driver is conscious but in shock and unable to free himself from
under the bent, twisted steering column. His face will be forever
scarred by deep cuts from broken glass and jagged metal. Those
cuts will heal but the ones inside cannot be touched by the skilled
surgeon's scalpel. The passenger has almost stopped bleeding;
the seat and his clothing are covered with blood from an artery
cut in his arm by the broken bone end that protrudes from his
forearm just below the elbow. His breath comes in gasps as he
tries desperately to suck air past his blood-filled airway. He is
unable to speak and his eyes, blue and fixed on me pleadingly,
are the only communication that he is terrified and wants my
help. I feel a pang of guilt and recognize him as the boy I let off
with a warning the other night for an open container of alcohol in
a motor vehicle. Maybe if I had cited him then, he wouldn't be
here now. Who knows? I don't. He dies soundlessly in my arms,
his pale blue eyes staring vacantly as if trying to see into the
future he will never have. I remember watching him play
basketball and wonder what will happen to the scholarship he
will never use. Dully my mind focuses on a loud screaming and I
identify it as the girl who was thrown from the vehicle. I race to
her with a blanket but am afraid to move her. Her head is tilted
at an exaggerated angle. She seems unaware of my presence
there and whimpers for her mother like a small child.
In the distance I hear the mournful wail of the ambulance
Letters to the Editor
winding its way through the rainy night. I am filled with an
incredible grief at the waste of so valuable a resource: our
youth.
I am sick with anger and frustration with parents and leaders
who think that a little bit of alcohol won't hurt anything. I am
filled with contempt for lawmakers who propose lowering the
drinking age because they will get booze anyway, so why not
make it legal. I am frustrated with laws, court rulings and other
legal maneuvering that restrict my ability to do my job in
preventing this kind of tragedy. The ambulance begins the job of
scraping up and removing the dead and injured. I stand by
watching as hot tears mingle with the rain and drip off my face.
I would give anything to know who furnished those young people
that lethal portion of booze. As I clear the scene, I will spend
several hours in reports and several months trying to erase
from my memory the details of that night. I will not be
alone the driver will recover and spend a lifetime trying to
forget. I know that eventually the memory of this fatal accident
will be diluted and mixed with other similar accidents I will be
called upon to cover.
Yes, I am angry and sick at heart with trying to do my job and
being tagged as the bad guy. I pray to God that I might never
have to face another parent in the middle of the night and say
your son, Bill, or your daughter, Susan, has just been killed in an
auto accident involving liquor, or pot, or drugs, or whatever
symptom of social disease they were in possession of.
You ask why did this happen? It happened because a young
person stoned out of his mind thought he could handle two tons of
hurtling death at 80 mph. It happened because an adult trying to
be a 'good guy' bought for or sold to some minor a case of beer.
It happened because a powerful alcohol lobby can buy votes in
the legislature by approaching those certain lawmakers whose
moral intensity is so low, that they are easy prey for special
interest groups. It happened because you as parents weren't
concerned enough about your child to know where he was and
what he was doing ; and you were unconcerned about minors and
alcohol abuse and would rather blame me for harassing them
when I was only trying to prevent this kind of tragedy. It
happened because, as people always say, you believe this sort of
thing only happens to someone else. For your sake, I hope it
doesn't happen to you, but if you continue to permit bad
legislation, continue to regard alcohol abuse as a part of
growing up, then please keep your porch light on, because some
cold rainy night, you may find me at your doorstep; eyes
downcast, staring at my feet with a message of death for you.
The Cop Down The Street
Deadline
Rountree
promoted
Kevin Rountree, a salesman
at the Heppner Les Schwab
Tire Center, has been pro
moted to assistant manager of
the local store, it was an
nounced this week.
An employee of Les Schwab
Tire Centers for the past five
years, Rountree came to
Heppner earlier this year
from Ontario when the
Schwab organization pur
chased Miles Tire Center.
Rountree and his family,
wife Ramona and son Bran
don, reside in Heppner.
Farley
Editor:
I am writing this letter in response to the pamphlets I and
others have been receiving about our pets.
We would appreciate a public response to the accusations
aimed at us through this mail !
Thank you
I and other dog owners thank you, Mrs. Winchester, for the
literature on proper dog care we have been receiving!
I'm sure each pamphlet is of great importance toward
proper care and exercise of our pets.
"So why dont you read any of them?"
These pamphlets deal mainly with shelter, feeding,
watering and exercise of dogs.
When I exercise my dog two or three times daily, with the
same amount each of food and water, and have it considered
by you to be not enough, I say come up and help me. You will
of course supply your own dog food. Or better yet, steaks, if
that is the main staple of your pets. I'm sure my pet would
love it. After all, my 10-month old Lab only weighs 96 pounds.
Now that's really underfed!
Not having an air-conditioned car, my dog would rather
run to his favorite watering hole, which I'm sure your pets
wouldn't visualize even in their worst dreams.
My dog is very contented just to learn the dogly manners of
heeling, sitting, fetching, or holding.
Have your dogs learned even the first? Or have you been to
busy teaching them to be people?
If you Lois Winchester, truly be the guardian angel of the
underpriviledged creatures on this earth, then please come
care for me. Your dogs have it better than IT
William D. Baker
Editor:
receives
award
James J. Farley, owner of
Farley Motor Company, was
the recipient of a 25-year
award from the Buick Motor
Division of General Motors
recently.
A sterling silver engraved
plate was given to Farley by
Zino DeZan, district manager
for Buick, at teh dealership
office in Heppner.
Wagon Wheel
CAFE & LOUNGE
OPEN
AND
OPEN SUNDAY, SEPT. 4
CLOSED
SATURDAY, SEPT. 3
In view of the decision of the Heppner City Council to
eliminate funding of the Heppner Public Library for fiscal
year 1977-78, the Library Board has been researching
alternatives for permanent financing.
Of the four choices of public funding available, i.e., city
budget, city serial levy, county library and library service
" district, the fourth choice is thmost(equitable and by far the
if most complicated.
The Board envisions a library service district that would
.encompass the geographical territory included in the
Hardman, Heppner and Lexington precincts as designated
for general elections. This is basically the area now served
by the Heppner Public Library that has been funded
primarily by the city of Heppner. A broader base, as this
area would provide, would equalize the tax rate for library
support among all those currently being served by the
library.
The Library Board is presently conducting a random
survey to obtain the thoughts of residents of the proposed
district. A member of the Board may be contacting you by
phone within the next few days to visit further with you about
a library service district. We hope that you will respond with
a few minutes of your time.
EXPERIENCED
TRAVELERS
Anyone who does not happen to be reached by telephone
and has an opinion they wish to express, is invited to contact
any of the Board members as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Heppner Public Library Board :
Myrna Johnson
Pauline Winter
Mary Pat Lande
Bill Rawlins
Bill Kuhn
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THE
HEPPNER
GAZETTE-TIMES
Published every Thursday and entered as a second-class matter at the
Post Office at Heppner, Oregon, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Second-class postage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
The official newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow.
G.M. Reed, Publisher
Dolores Reed, Co-publisher
Terry M. Hager, Business Manager
Jim Summers, Editor
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