Pubdate: Thu, 11 Feb 2010
Source: Sierra Sun (Truckee, CA)
Copyright: 2010 Sierra Sun
Contact:  http://www.sierrasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2294

CHEERS AND JEERS

CHEERS: To the nine Lake Tahoe and Truckee area  Olympians who are 
competing in Vancouver. No area in  the world supplies more winter 
Olympians per capita  than our region, so we have to make a big deal 
out of  it. (You can find a 16-page local Olympics guide inside 
today's Sierra Sun.) And while we appreciate the  Olympic history at 
Squaw and the Tahoe area, nothing is  more relevant to the Olympics 
than our current athletes  heading to Vancouver to compete. Win or 
lose, they are  our local heroes.

JEERS: To the International Olympic Commission for  allowing our 
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to  run with the torch. 
Schwarzenegger, who has admitted to  steroid use, will carry the 
torch today. But to the  Olympic athletes, who must report their 
whereabouts to  Olympic drug-testing officials 365 days a year, 
24  hours per day, it is an insult. In 2006, an Olympic  skeleton 
racer was denied by the IOC because he used a  male baldness medicine 
that was later legalized, proof  that they take our athlete's 
performance seriously. Allowing a former steroid user to carry the 
symbol of  the Olympics, unfortunately, proves otherwise.

JEERS: To the California Police Chiefs Association for  saying 
medical marijuana facilities will instantly  generate more crime, and 
using that as the primary  reason to ban facilities in Placer County. 
This is not  the argument. Local establishments that serve 
alcohol  late at night generate more crime than these  establishments 
ever will, and they still remain  important to our communities. We 
wish the Association  would just be honest -- that a large part of 
our police funding comes from the federal government, which  rewards 
marijuana prohibition.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart