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January 10, 2008 Opinions |
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Editorial
City’s New Drug Dog, Another Tool For Fighting MethDuring a recent conversation I found myself defending the Baker City Police Department’s purchase and use of a drug-sniffing dog. I was told that using a dog to search residences and schools was in violation of our 4th Amendment rights that protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures.
There are only four ways that the Baker City Police can/will conduct a search and seizure of illegal drugs with or without the dog at a residence. 1. Plain view, for instance if the police are called to your home for a domestic disturbance and see evidence of drug use or have reasonable belief that drugs are being used; 2. with a warrant; 3. with consent (you always have the right to say “no”); and 4. exigent circumstances where the process of getting a valid search warrant could compromise public safety such as in a case where they have solid information that a meth lab is in process and cooking, which poses extreme danger from a chemical and fire standpoint. If conducted under these circumstances searches and seizures will hold up in a court of law.
Schools are treated differently. As public buildings, search warrants are not required. The Police can use the dog to search a school parking lot as well as the hallways and the outside of lockers. The Baker City Police always obtain permission from the school administration before conducting a search and if the dog alerts on a locker or an automobile, the administration is notified and the administration decides what course of action to take. I would think that parents would not want their children going to schools where drugs were being sold out of lockers any more than they would want them going to a school where students could easily smuggle in an assault rifle.
The use of a dog doesn’t change or add to the police’s ability to conduct searches and seizures, it only aids them in finding evidence. So why all of a sudden when a dog is thrown into the mix, do some think it becomes a violation of our 4th Amendment rights?
Lt. Harvey with the Baker City Police Department said they are not interested in catching medical marijuana users, they are not out to ruffle the feathers of the law-abiding citizen. He said they are very conscientious of maintaining citizen’s rights. Their goal with the help of the dog is to make an impact on drug trafficking, especially meth, in Baker County.
In some ways Harvey said using a drug dog is less intrusive than having officers search because when officers search, they have to go through everything piece by piece. The dog can detect illegal drugs just by sniffing the outside of a chest of drawers rather than going through it. The dog also saves the City costs in extra man power because it can do a search in 20 minutes compared to an officer who needs two or three hours.
Harvey said in his opinion, the dog has already paid for itself because of the deterrent factor. He said although the dog has made several drug discoveries for the local law enforcement agencies already, everyone wants to see a large seizure made. But visiting the local high schools where students know there is a possibility of a dog searching the premises and having a clean sweep is a huge success in itself.It’s tempting to say that we shouldn’t have to be subjected to the use of a dog in our community, in our schools, but we are already affected by the use of illegal drugs.
Meth not only has devastating physical and mental affects on the person who uses it, but there are residual effects on the user’s family and the public’s safety. Since meth is an illegal drug, getting it involves criminal activity (sometimes stealing to get the money to buy it), and using it impairs a person’s ability to operate machinery, work, drive a car and in some cases they are unable to care for their children.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse more than one-half of the economic impact of drug problems is borne by or transferred to the non-abusing population. In 1992, about the time meth started gaining popularity in the U.S., of the estimated $97.7 billion in drug abuse costs, (50 percent higher than the estimated cost in 1985) the non-abusing population bore an estimated $54.8 billion, or 56 percent, of the costs through increased insurance rates and health care costs, increased law enforcement (more than half of the estimated cost of drug abuse was associated with drug-related crimes), and increased social service systems (including welfare) and government entities needed to combat illegal drug use, resulting in increased taxes. By 2000, the estimated cost of drug abuse rose to $160.7 billion. I couldn’t find any current data, but the overall cost of drug abuse to society during the time frame of this study indicated a trend for an increase of 5.9 percent annually.
We have all had to, and continue to, share the burden of the effects of illegal drug use, and no one likes to feel that their privacy may be intruded upon. But if I have to go through a lengthy process to purchase cold medicines, which used to be available over the counter, pay more in insurance and taxes, or have a friendly dog sniff my purse, I can handle it as long as I know the law enforcement agencies are using every tool at their disposal to combat meth in our communities.
You can’t force a person with a meth addiction into getting help, but you can support efforts by the local police to make it difficult for people to obtain the drug.The Baker City Police Department’s new drug dog may seem like an intrusion to some, but I have high hopes that he will help preserve our right to live and work in a community where we don’t have to be concerned with drug-related acts of crime and violence. (DS)
Letters
Respect For Law ActTo The Record-Courier:In a few days Oregonians for Immigration Reform will start circulating an initiative petition, Respect for Law Act. It is designed to end the state of Oregon’s sanctuary for illegal aliens. It would end Oregon’s 181.850 law that prohibits law enforcement or any state agency from spending money to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and require proof of citizenship before registering to vote or obtain a driver’s license.
It’s about time. After years of foot dragging by the federal government and our own state of Oregon the Governor finally decided it is time to act and he issued an executive order requiring proof of citizenship before obtaining a driver’s license. The Governor supports Hillary Clinton and Hillary took a hit for supporting the Governor of New York’s decision to issue driver’s licenses to anyone who wanted one, no citizenship necessary. He backed off under pressure from the Clinton campaign when Hillary’s poll numbers began to drop and about that time our governor flip flopped and decided maybe Oregon should change the way it does business on illegal aliens. I suspect a call from the Clinton machine. We don’t need messy issues during a campaign. The Governor now says, “Oregon has become a magnet for non-citizens who want identification for nefarious purposes.”
We told you that a while back Governor. We’ve been telling George Bush similar things about the border too. The federal government has failed to act so now the states are stepping up to do the jobs American presidents and congressmen won’t do — end illegal immigration.
The Governor’s executive order didn’t go far enough and in fact he favored a two tier driver’s license plan, one for citizens and another for illegals. This initiative will end such nonsense. Sign the petition or better yet get some copies and circulate them yourself from Oregonians For Immigration Reform on their Web site or call 503-363-6095 or 503-435-0141.Steve CulleyBaker CityMore Pieces To The PuzzleTo The Record-Courier:Three cheers for Suzanne Fouty for recognizing that the trap neuter and release program is a piece of the puzzle for Baker City’s exploding feral cat problem. Ms. Fouty mentioned one part of the puzzle spaying/neutering domestic cats; there are many more pieces to this puzzle.
“All free-roaming abandoned and feral cats that are not in managed colonies should be removed from their environment and treated in the same manner as other abandoned and stray animals in accord with local and state ordinances. The AVMA opposes placement of managed cat colonies on public lands or in any area that could threaten at-risk wildlife or in areas that may pose a zoonotic risk to the public,” states the American Veterinary Medical Association, a 150 year old science-based organization.
In researching animal control policies and regulations, feral cats should not be fed and more importantly, removing their habitat of abandoned buildings and debris piles. Fortunately in Baker City we don’t have that problem here, right?I look forward to these pieces of the puzzle being implemented by Ms. Fouty and the Mollie Atwater group. Hip Hip Hooray!Darby DunkakBaker CityIs This A Free Nation?To The Record-Courier:How long can we sleep and still survive as a “free” nation? Do we understand, or care, where we are headed as a people and an example to the world? Why do we permit our government to station troops in nearly 30 nations around the globe while we become the greatest debtor nation in the world? Why do we permit public officials at the top level of government to openly violate the U.S. Constitution, still the Law of The Land, and say nothing? Why do we believe we will soon pull our troops out of Iraq when we have just built a very large and elaborate embassy there? Why is a quarter-mile wide toll roadway being built through the center of the United States, starting at the Texas-Mexican border, by foreign entities under the NAFTA authority without the consent of Congress or the people? Why have we permitted the State and Washington D.C. to take over the education and indoctrination of our children and dumb them down to where they can’t think independently? In other words, why have we turned everything, our very souls, over to government without a whimper?
Why do we let government agencies make laws that dictate what we can eat, drink, or smoke, and still call this a free nation? Why does this “free nation” have more people, per capita, in prison than any other nation on earth? Why don’t we reexamine laws that put roughly 50% of federal prisoners and 40% of those in state prisons there for violation of our drug laws that have created NO reduction in drug usage, but have required government to develop virtual armies of enforcers? Why do we allow our elected congressmen to insert into legitimate legislation billions of dollars worth of special ear-marked items to assure their re-election?
And why do we always, with only two exceptions since Eisenhower, elect presidents who belong to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) or the Trilateral Commission, both of which are committed to one-world government? And finally, why does our media not discuss these two subversive organizations so that their activities and objectives are known and voters can make intelligent choices? What do you think?Jasper CoombesRichland, Ore.Fight For Your RightsTo The Record-Courier:You better know who and what you are voting for this Presidential election. Hillary and Obama both want your guns. Both are rated “F” by the NRA. Gun control will be a priority. Hillary wants to restore the Bill Clinton ban, wants universal firearm registration and gun owner licensing. (Me thinka Billy is running for a 3rd term). Obama wants just about the same. Pelosi, Schumer, Conyers are all Democrats, all on the same team. One Republican who’s been in favor of NRA rating gun control also. All the time Giuliana was Mayor of New York, he was pro-abortion and anti-gun.
Here’s what could happen with a Democrat in office. Prosecution to bring down all lawful commerce in firearms, undo the protection of lawful commerce in arms act, pack the courts with anti-Second Amendment judges. Schumer, Pelosi want a federal judiciary that will declare OUR FREEDOM belongs to government NOT to the people. They want a federal judiciary that will subject the U.S. Constitution to FOREIGN LAW! Remember what happened in New Orleans during “Katrina” if you want a taste of gun control. Hillary voted in favor of disarming innocent Americans during times of disaster. Voting against the Personal Protection Act of 2006. If you think the attack is not real, check out what’s going on in California. A bill to expand the micro-stamping law to cover all new semi-automatic pistols and perhaps more!
If Congress and other states follow California’s increasingly aggressive lead on banning guns and ammunition, and carry it to its extreme conclusion, most of all guns will eventually be illegal to sell, and most or ALL ammunition will be illegal to shoot. It’s already a fact that micro-stamping does not work! Just when you thought Canadian gun owners had suffered enough, a new class of “Weapons” has been identified for government prohibition by Quebec victim-activist Pierre-Hugues Bosvenu. The so-called “weapons” to be outlawed? KNIVES, in particular, “Rambo-style” combat knives. He was astonished to see that anyone could buy big knives at flea markets. Sound familiar to anyone? Giving an object an inflammatory name to make it out to be something different and more sinister is a trick that worked for gun banners here in the United States.
In closing, this letter to all Americans, not just gun owners and hunters, but to all who believe in their freedom right. Freedom only comes to those who are willing to fight for it.Richard FoxBaker CityEasy Come, Easy GoTo The Record-Courier:Well it seems like with all the weather issues, those wanting to be in the running seat for the Presidency so to speak, it is almost like an easy come and easy go.
Given the weather here lately and all with the wind it makes me wonder like with the birds a friend of mine was telling me about in the country they were having a hard time coming to rest on their perch without being bounced around and having a sense of direction, and when feeding time came seeds seemed to go where the wind was going in either direction.
I noticed on the MSN NBC News here not too long ago, that Obama did not salute the flag along with the others. I don’t know about some of you out there but I know I couldn’t rest easy or sleep and trust that I would get a good nights rest and all if we ever had to face abolishing our saluting the flag on his account. Let alone the National Anthem. I for one would like to see all the candidates salute the flag in unison and see whether or not they can say it word for word and truly mean it. You know a favorite saying goes around something like do birds fly, well we know they do, they sing, flutter their wings, and all a birds has to do. Other than for what he leaves behind. I don’t think one could singly separate themselves from the others and try to think that kind of change can take place.
Then there are those who like to think schemes of getting rich so to speak. Most people I know work hard for their living and I hope we don’t forget our heritage and all that they went through just to see how far a dollar can go.
So it seems to me it is all up in the air of an easy come and easy go, with nothing concrete to bank on. Can change truly be defined?Coffee anyone?Brenda DickisonBaker City |
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