The INDEPENDENT, July 7, 2011
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
313 Hart Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem) Senate District 16
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah
Boone
(Dem) House District 32
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone
Page 3
Letters
If we really care, we
can work together
To the Editor:
To the people of Vernonia
who have taken it upon them-
selves to comment on so many
recent issues…
Everyone has differences of
opinion – It doesn’t make one
person better than another –
just different.
As far as I can tell this com-
munity is full of people who say
they care about the future of
Vernonia and it’s citizens, if this
is true then why so much ha-
tred? Why, after we have suf-
fered so much together and ac-
complished so much together
should we allow petty differ-
ences to destroy us from the in-
side out? “A house divided
against itself cannot stand.”
Now is not the time to focus
on the differences – Now is the
time to focus on the similarities
– the main one being our love
for this community.
If we are to move forward,
we must lock arms and move
toward this common goal, lest
all our hard work be in vain, we
have already lost so much
ground – Let’s not call in the
dump trucks…
Public perception is not fact,
opinions are not fact, rumors
are not fact, interpretation is
subjective. If you want to know
what someone’s intent is, ask
that person – not your neigh-
bor, not the bartender, not the
grocer, the baker, or the can-
dlestick maker – the person.
Be prepared. No one is go-
ing to be able to agree with
everyone, all the time, over
everything. If everyone agrees,
no one really cares and no one
is thinking for themselves,
everyone has to give a little bit.
Expecting everyone else to
give and only being willing to
take shows a lack of character
and maturity.
What do the banners say in
the middle school? “Be Safe”,
“Be Respectful”, “Be Kind”.
How can we expect the youth
in our community to follow
these admonitions if we aren’t
willing to do the same? What
kind of example are we setting
for future generations? If we
show our youth that focusing
on the negative is the way to
process difficulties in life, we
are ensuring that same pattern
in theirs.
It’s time to break the cycle of
hate, time to bury all respective
hatchets, let the proverbial wa-
ter run under the bridge. It’s
time to put the big girl/boy
pants on and set a better ex-
ample – It’s time to learn to
work together for the future of
Vernonia.
Esther Nicks
Vernonia
Shoot First policy is
rarely questioned
To the Editor:
Like some frothingly-mad
Zeus or Thor, the CIA wants to
spread out and greatly-widen
its “death by drone aircraft”
campaign from the tribal wilds
of Pakistan to the even-wilder
tribal regions of Yemen. Per-
haps 1100 “terrorists” in Pak-
istan have been slain by this
astonishingly-deadly method,
together with a fairly substan-
tial number of civilians. Lang-
ley’s aerial sharpshooters
would like to make sure that
Yemen’s swirling chaos in no
way hampers our cowboy-in-
the-white-hat urge to bump off
as many perceived bad guys
as we possibly can. We conse-
quently learn that a “drone
base” is being swiftly brought
on line near to Yemen. Obvi-
ously, Panetta’s “posse” is filled
to bursting with the urge to
shoot first, and never ask any
difficult subsequent questions.
Questions about the morality of
firing deadly munitions into
crowded mud brick slums on
the other side of the world.
This so-called “clandestine
program” of targeted assassi-
nations is really about as secret
as the presence of a King Co-
bra in a five-star hotel’s lobby.
Any literate American can “read
all about it” or “hear all about it”
by one means or another. Yet
we apprehend nary a protest-
ing word or vague ethical doubt
regarding it from either the dun-
derheaded masses or from the
well-connected smart set. After
all, according to our spy ser-
vice’s moral calculus, “terror-
ists” are being justly slain. Isn’t
that an undeniably good thing?
Don’t these Koran-spouting
buggers fully deserve their ex-
plosive fate?
Well, let’s see.
Those Americans who’ve
been around long enough can
easily remember how enthusi-
astic this country’s “re-
spectable” folks were when
headlines informed them that
“U.S. Planes Kill Many Cong”
and “North Viet Losses Huge”.
Only after a fairly considerable
amount of time had passed did
Americans see just how sadly
their country had lapsed into
moral/ethical folly in its quest to
“stop communism in Southeast
Asia”. What had seemed like a
good idea at the time was in-
stead finally exposed as
wretched thuggery and futility.
It may be that time’s pas-
sage will ultimately vindicate
the CIA’s “butchery by ad-
vanced buzz bomb” initiatives
in Pakistan and Yemen, but I
wouldn’t really bet too ardently
on this premise. Langley’s his-
torical record is simply too be-
strewn with instances of moral
odiousness for us to say, with
any degree of assurance, that
the “drone” program is a truly
good thing. There was a time
when the CIA’s mid-1954 over-
throw of Guatemala’s reformist
government garnered glad
headlines in our press, and
generated loud verbal expres-
sions of support from our
cravenly conformist politicians.
It is true that at present most
Americans don’t care about the
drone program’s spate of but-
Please see page 20
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be giv-
en to brief letters, 300 words
or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.
Salem Scene
By Representative Brad Witt
Oregon District 31
Most of the bills that
we deal with at the end
of session are budget
bills that have finally
worked
their
way
through the Ways and
Means process to the
floor for a vote. But some
of the bills get to us late
in the session because
they are controversial and have experienced a
fair amount of opposition. Here are a few bills
that caused a good deal of discussion on the
floor when they came up for a vote:
SB 412C grants tribal police officers the right
to enforce state law off tribal lands, even though
the crime might not have been committed on a
reservation. Currently, state law allows tribal of-
ficers to arrest off tribal lands, but only under
narrow circumstances, namely if the suspect is
attempting to elude and resisting arrest. SB
412C expands a tribal officer’s ability to provide
law enforcement off tribal lands beyond those
two categories, but it also carries with it certain
requirements, mainly with respect to training and
certification.
With the passage of SB 412C, tribal officers
will now have to complete all the training and
certification requirements imposed on all other
police officers by the Department of Public Safe-
ty Standards and Training. The tribes will also
have to waive sovereign immunity from tort lia-
bility, insure public access to records, preserve
biological evidence and adhere to the require-
ments surrounding the use of deadly force. The
bill passed 33-25, and I supported it because it
will improve the overall professionalism of tribal
forces and provide additional law enforcement
for those adjacent communities that wish to cre-
ate agreements of mutual cooperation.
Another bill that squeaked by on a 31-29 vote
was HB 2726B, which modifies the definition of
“smoke shop” for purposes of the Oregon Indoor
Clean Air Act. As you know, since 2007, smoking
has been prohibited in almost all public places
except cigar bars and smoke shops certified by
the Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education
Program (TPEP). But since December 2008,
TPEP has received close to 50 applications for a
Please see page 20