SUNDAY GOOD NEWS

Having just spent 45 straight hours in the company of my two adolescent grandchildren (11 and 16), one of which now has his first car and a permit to drive it, I have to say any way you can control their usage of any of the many electronic devices that seem to be growing from them like organic appendages is “sweet” in my book. So next July, California will become the 16th state to clamp down on cell phone use for 16/17-year-old drivers. And the bill doesn’t stop there. It forbids: cell phones, pagers, walkie-talkies, laptop computers, and whatever else they can think of even if it has “hands free” features. Teens who ignore it will get a $20 fee for a first offense and $50 for subsequent ones. One reason cited by the bill’s sponsor is that crash rates are 5 times higher for 16-year-olds than even 18-year-olds. I watched my grandkids this weekend and I swear there was hardly a moment when some electronic device was not in their hands. They were either phoning, texting, or playing games constantly – even when we went for a nice morning walk in the neighborhood. My grandson is angling for an iPhone since the price dropped. I cringe to think of how much more isolated that will make him. For his birthday this year I gave him Catcher in the Rye, hoping to lure him into some summer reading. I thought if any book can charm a 16-year-old it has to be this. This weekend he told me he’d read 15 pages. Probably had to put it down for a phone call and forgot to return. As of May this year, the Oregon House had passed a similar bill and I guess it’s waiting on the Senate. I hope it passes before my grandson gets up to speed in his new-used first car.

TUESDAY POLITICS

While flipping through the cable news channels the past few days, the term “white tree” kept popping up and each time I would catch the item too late to hear the history behind it. Finally, this morning I looked it up online and found out that this is an old story – a year old, in fact – sidelined by the media until now. Back then, in the tiny town of Jena, Louisiana (12% African-American) a black high school student asked to sit under a shade tree usually commandeered by white students and was given permission by the school. Next three nooses appeared in the tree and tensions escalated from there with more than one fight breaking out between black and white students. In one of those fights a white teenager was treated at the hospital and released a few hours later. Following that, six black teens were charged with attempted murder. One of them was convicted on reduced charges in July by an all-white jury and faces 22 years in prison, sentencing coming September 20. A Louisiana judge is scheduled to hear motions today to throw out his conviction. Five of the six were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit that crime, carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison. Needless to say, the word is finally leaking out and the cavalry has been summoned. This morning my 11-year-old granddaughter began middle school here in Oregon. Last year out of 821 students at her new school, 106 were African-American. That would be 12%. My granddaughter happens to be biracial (White and African-American). She chose to have her hair straightened for the first week of school. Her skin is fair, her eyes are blue, and her long blond hair is normally pretty darn curly. Racism seems to be alive and well in the deep south. Here in Oregon it’s right there waiting too. I’m watching this news story with very personal interest.

Guess the Movie: “Women weaken legs!”  Answer:  Rocky, 1976.  Winner:  buddhacat.
Documents Show Troops Disregarding Rules
by Ryan Lenz
New documents released Tuesday regarding crimes committed by U.S. soldiers against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan detail a troubling pattern of troops failing to understand and follow the rules that govern interrogations and deadly actions. (Rest of article here.)