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ometime in the coming months, members of the Redmond School Board will have to decide if they want to carve off a small piece of their district and allow it to join Bend-La Pine Schools. While there are clear travel advantages to allowing the change, Redmond's officials must consider a variety of things as they make up their minds. The district has faced similar re- w ould take a large transfer to make quests in the past, but the situation a real difference, however. has changed over theyears. Too, a change in district boundPerhaps most important, the way aries can require changes in transOregon's schools are financed has portation routes, school attendance shifted since the early 1990s. Today areas and a variety of other things. the state gives each school district a All can be worked out satisfactorily, set figure for every student enrolled. but doing so could take time. If a child moves or transfers to anNot that there's a major rush. other district the money goes with The subdivision in question has yet . In that respect, a decision to tobeaPProvedbyDeschutes Comt ~ f e r prope& f om one d t ct to another is fairiy straightforward ty according to Mike McIntosh, the Moreover school districts must al- Redmond schools superintendent, and that Muldtake sever~montl .' l ow ~dents m d~ g t heir ~ u ~ He believes his office and his board open enrollmentperiods. have time to move deliberately, do There's more to it than that, how- theirhomework and make a ever. School districts generally car sion that works weII for everyone. ry bonded indebtedness for school H C W 8 r ead ise l o ~ th e i m con~& o n, and the bonds are pactsuch a change might have. paid off with property taxes collectIn the end, the major question edforthatpurpose. Thepayoffrates are determined by the size of a dis- has little to do with taxes or attentrict's tax base, and if enough land dance boundaries, however. Rather, were to leave a district, it presum- the board must decide if the shift is ably could result in higher property b estforthe childreninvolved. If so, it taxes for those who remain. It likely m ust, we believe, grant the request.
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Secret Service must first examine own failures before hiking security an architectural solution. The closure of the front doors of
racy, must understand that holding
cir c umstances the Supreme Court greatly confuses should the Secret Service be the architectural experience of the allowed to encroach further building, especially the short axis on the public space of Washington. between the entrance and the courtIll-considered, unnecessary and un- room itself — a powerful enactment democraticsecurity measures have of our right to appeal unjust laws already stolen from the American to the judiciary. The closure of the people the West Terrace of the Cap- West Terrace of the Capitol denies itol, the front doors of the Supreme residents and visitors the most acCourt and the free flow of traffic on cessible and dramatic view of Pierre Pennsylvania Avenue at Lafayette L'Enfant's basic plan of the city, its Square.Now there are reportsthat axial relation between the legal and the Secret Service is considering executive branch, the monumental
taining that direct connection to the people, but also incurring some in-
Philip Kennicott The Washington Post
nder n o
new securitymeasures around the
Protect Sisters teensby rejecting pot dispensaries isters City Council put a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries this year and is now giving residents a chance to revisit that decision. It's not an easy choice, but we believe the balance tips in favor of rejecting Measure 9-101 and thereby continuing to ban dispensaries in Sisters. What tips that balance is concern about the impact on youth. Even proponents of full marijuana legalization agree that the still-developing brains of teens can suffer from consistent use of marijuana. Compounding that worry — and fully relevant to the Sisters voteis evidence that medical marijuana commercialization is linked with increased teen consumption. Data from a study in Colorado have shown that teen use of marijuana grew significantly after the spread of medical marijuana dispensaries. Although Colorado is one of the two states that has since legalized recreational marijuana, it is too soon to measure that impact, so the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area study looked back earlier to the era before and after medical marijuana dis-
S
pensaries became common starting in2009. The studyfound a 26 percent increase in monthly marijuana use by those ages 12 to 17 inthe threeyears when the number of known dispensaries went from zero to 532. At Sisters High School, a 2013-14 anonymous student survey shows 40 percent of juniors and seniors say theyhave used marijuana. For freshmen and sophomores, the number is 27 percent. Containing that number should be a critical focus for Sisters residents. Sisters' Measure 9-101 would permit the medical marijuana dispensaries but restrict location, limit signage,set hours and ban sale of items packaged "in a manner that is attractive to minors." Medical marijuana dispensaries are licensed and regulated by the state. While other Central Oregon communities joined Sisters in banning them, Bend is home to 10 dis-
pensaries, according to the Oregon Health Authority. That means Sisters residents with a medical need for marijuana will still be able to purchase it without a dispensary in their own town.
dramatization of the Civil War and
elected office means not only mainevitable measure of risk. If they do
not wish to run the risk, they should not run for office.
It is not reasonable to ask a free people to continually submit to police control; doing so becomes ingrained, and when we freely submit to unreasonable searches, we lose the all-important, reflexive distrust
of authority that helps keep us free. We must not allow the ever-increasing, ever-more-powerful security apparatus to train us in slavish behavior, or our deepest habits will
White House, including bag search- reunification, and the passion for es in nearby blocks. civil rights embodied in the MalL These potential new intrusions Now there may be plans to fur- conform to their darkest estimation on civil liberties and the free circu- ther alienate the White Houseof our worth. "We throw open our city to the lation of a democratic people are which, as the People's House, should apparently in response to a security relate to its neighborhood in a mod- world," Pericles said in his Funeral breach at the White House on Fri- est, democratic, neighborly wayOration. We, alas, have become the day. And yet all reports indicate that from its urban context. Visitors who descendants not of that fine and it was a failure of established Secret come from around the country to fundamental sentiment of democService policies that allowed Omar understand and celebrate the glo- racy, but of the brutal imperial arroJ. Gonzalez,an Iraq war veteran, ry of self-governance will be asked gance that corrupted the Athenian to jump the fence, traverse the lawn to sacrifice yet more of their con- state in later years. and briefly enter the White House. stitutional rights in its proximity. Only weeks after events in FerguThe SecretService should examResidents, who already endure the son, Missouri, revealed the extent to ine its own failures before it further agony of motorcades and the surly which we have militarized our pohumiliates local citizens and tour- demeanor of all manner of police, lice, we are asked to surrender yet ists who circulate near the White Secret Service and other security more freedom of circulation in the House. It should not be rewarded personnel, will be forced to suffer national capital? This is fearmonwith yet more control over public more of this abuse. gering, and worse, it is fearmonspace. Nor should any further visuThe loss of public space and the gering by a troubled federal agency al clutter around the White House intrusion of the security appara- that can't seem to curb its own fraperimeter be allowed, including any tus into daily life are not merely ternity-boy culture of drunkenness additions to the security fence or inconveniences. Among the most and sexual license. Until the Secret any loss of access to the fence itself. cherished symbols of democracy is Service has reformed itself, it should This is an institutional, organiza- openness, including direct access to not be granted any further indultional problem; it does not require our leaders. Politicians, in a democ- gencefrom thepeople.
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Amid leadership crisis, we live in a comparatively fortunate era ve been living in and visiting New York for a l most a
h a lf-century
ow. One thought occurs as I walk around these days: The city has never been better.
There has never been a time when there were so many interesting places to visit, shop and eat, when the riv-
ers and the parks were so beautiful, when there were so many vibrant neighborhoods across all boroughs, with immigrants and hipsters and new businesses and experimental schools. I suppose New York isn't as
artistically or intellectually rich as it was in the 1940s and 1950s, but daily life is immeasurably better. And when I think about the 15 or 20 largest American cities, the same
thought applies. Compared with all past periods, American cities and suburbs are sweeter and more in-
teresting places. Of course there are the problems of inequality and poverty that we all know about, but there hasn't been a time in American
history when so many global cultures percolated in the mainstream,
and rising crime — we are living in a childish notionthat we don't need a regolden age. sponsible leadership dass, that power Our global enemies are not exactly can be wielded directly by the people. DAVID impressive. We have the Islamic State, The United States was governed best BROOKS a bunch of barbarians riding around when it was governed by a porous, in pickup trucks, and President Vlad- self-conscious and responsible eliteimir Putin of Russia, a lone thug sit- during the American Revolution, for when there was so much tolerance ting atop a failing regime. These folks example, or during and after World for diverse ethnicities, lifestyles and thrive only because of the failed states War II. Karl Marx and Ted Cruz may the complex directions of the heart, and vacuums around them. believe that power can be wielded diwhen there was so little tolerance I mention all of this because of the rectly by the masses, but this has alfor disorder,domestic violence and despondency and passivity and talk most never happened historically. prejudice. of unraveling that floated around this Second, the elite we do have has to Widening the lens, we're living in summer. Now there is a mood of pes- acknowledge that privilege imposes an era with the greatest reduction in simism and fatalism evident in the duties. Wealthy people have an obliglobal poverty ever — across Asia polls and in conversations — a lack of gation to try to follow a code of seemand Africa. We're seeing a decline in faith in ourselves. liness.No luxury cars forcollege-age It's important in times like these to kids. No private jet/ski weekends. Live civil wars and warfare generally. The scope of the problems we face step back and get clarity. The truest a lifestyle that is more integrated into are way below historic averages. We thing to say is this: We are living in an middle-class America than the one face nothing like the slavery fights of amazingly fortunate time. But we also you can actually afford. Strike a blow the 1860s, the brutality of child labor happen to be living during a leader- for social cohesion. and industrialization of the 1880s, or ship crisis and a time few people have Powerful people might follow a code a civilization-threatening crisis like faith in elites to govern from the top. of public spiritedness. That means reWorld War I, the Great Depression, We live in a vibrant society that is not straining your partisan passions and World War II or the Cold War. Even being led. parochial interests for the sake of donext to the 1970s — which witnessed This leadership crisis is eminently mestic tranquility. Re-establish the Watergate, stagflation, social decay solvable. First, we need to get over the lines between public service and pri-
vate enrichment.
Third, discredit political bigotry. In 1960, 5 percent of Republicans and 4 percent of Democrats said they would be displeased if their children married someone of the opposite party. By 2010, Cass Sunstein observes, those numbers had jumped to 49 percent
and 33 percent. Fourth, put congressional reform atop the national agenda. More states
couldhave open primaries.Nonpartisan commissions could draw district lines. Presidential nominees should
get an up-or-down vote within 90 days. Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee suggests that if Congress doesn't pass a budget or annual spending bills on time, then members don't get paid.
Politics is generally the same old tasks. Rejuvenating ailing institutions. Fighting barbarians to preserve world order. Today is nothing new. Instead of sliding into fatalism, it might be a good idea to address our problems without
exaggerating our plight. — David Brooksis a columnist for The New York Times.