From the Editor by Alison Smith

TIMES-NEWS

OPINION SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2016 |

magicvalley.com |

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2016 |

SECTION C

READER COMMENT

FROM THE EDITOR

Inside our reporting on Trevor’s law: An the Fawnbrook case honor to

received dozens of questions from readers last week about our reporting on the Fawnbrook Apartment case, where two boys have been arrested in an alleged sexual assault that occurred inside the complex’s laundry facilities. I’ll answer them here, but first, in case you’ve MATT CHRISTENSEN somehow missed the news, here’s a quick recap. On June 2, three boys, ages 7, 10, and 14, were caught with a 5-yearold girl. The older boy recorded the incident on a cellphone, which police have obtained for evidence. According to prosecutors and police, the older boys coached the two younger children into committing a sex act. Police haven’t described the exact nature of that act but have said it was not a rape. The incident exploded when social media and several anti-refugee blogs characterized it as a gang rape perpetrated by knife-wielding Syrian refugees. Police have said there was no knife, no one involved was Syrian, and the refugee status of the boys isn’t clear. The youngest boy came from an Iraqi family, the eldest from a Sudanese family. Police and prosecutors took the unusual step of commenting about the case to dispel the lies and rumors swirling on the internet, saying they were being used to fuel anti-refugee sentiment and jeopardizing the investigation. And on Friday the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boise issued a statement warning folks to refrain from speculating on the case, assuring that local authorities were investigating and properly pursing justice. So now to the questions. Q: Why didn’t the TimesNews report on the incident right after it happened? A: Like nearly all juvenile

cases, especially those involving sex crimes, this case was sealed. That means the public — including the press — does not have access to any records nor are we allowed to watch the court proceedings. It’s standard procedure in the justice system to protect not only the identities of the victim but also of those accused. Cases like this happen several times a year in Twin Falls County, and nearly all go unreported for this reason. Whether that’s right or wrong is a column topic for another day. Our reporters heard about the incident almost immediately after it happened, but the TimesNews does not report stories it cannot confirm. So until my reporters could bring me a story with hard facts – court documents, police reports, and confirmation from investigators or eye-witness sources — we didn’t have a story suitable for print. Some readers have accused the newspaper of aiding a cover-up by withholding the story so as to protect the refugee community. That’s false. We didn’t report the crime because without records or reliable sources, we didn’t have a solid story that met our standards for quality, reliable journalism. Q: So why are you writing about it now? A: We have facts. Prosecutors and police are talking. The case has been the focus of the past two City Council meetings. And unlike other child-on-child sex cases, this one has captured the attention of the community. Q: Why did it take so long for the boys to be arrested? A: Call logs show police and paramedics responded to the incident within minutes. Special investigators are brought in for cases involving children — people specially trained to interview kids. And those interviews take time and sensitivity. That’s the case with this incident, too. It’s not like on

Some readers have accused the newspaper of aiding a cover-up by withholding the story so as to protect the refugee community. That’s false.

Council and demanding action. Q: Isn’t this case proof that Muslims are destroying our community? A: My answer? Absolutely not. Authorities have said there is no evidence whatsoever this case was motivated by religious beliefs or customs; police and prosecutors aren’t even sure if the boys are Muslims. Does that matter? Contrary to online reports, the families of the boys did not condone the attack or celebrate it afterward. It could just as well have been three white Christian children inTV, where a suspect is dragged volved. into an interrogation room and Q: Why should we believe police play good cop, bad cop your reporting instead of the until somebody confesses. other accounts I saw online. Authorities apprehended the A: Because the Times-News boys as soon as those interviews reports the truth, and those and others were complete and websites are trying to push their case had been built. a political agenda. If Syrians Q: So where’s the justice for had gang-raped a little girl, we this little girl? A: It’s happening as we speak. would have reported that — on the front page. It would have Two of the boys have been arrested and charged with crimes, been the biggest news story of the year, and we would have covalthough because the case is ered the hell out of it. (Can you sealed it’s not clear what those imagine how many newspapers charges are. that story would have sold?) Police, prosecutors, even the Had there been evidence that U.S. Attorney’s Office, have said the crime was driven by religious the government’s first priority or cultural beliefs, we would has always been the victim. have reported that, too. Q: If that’s true, why were But that’s simply not the story, the boys released from juvenile despite what you may have read detention last week? Isn’t that proof that authorities are giving on an anti-refugee website or heard on social media from them special treatment? someone claiming to be close to A: It’s common in juvenile the victim’s family. cases to release the children as This story is far from over, and the court cases play out. That’s you’re likely to continue to read true for the majority of adult about it on social media, on blogs cases, too. Q: Why isn’t the City Council and agenda-driven websites, and in the Times-News. My wish is doing anything? that you’ll consider the motivaA: There’s almost nothing it tions and reliability of the people can do. Council members don’t bringing you that news. get involved in criminal cases. And if you still have questions The prosecutor’s office is a county agency, not under the ju- about our coverage, I’m more risdiction of the Council. Simply than happy to answer them. Give put, there’s almost no authority me a call at 208-735-3255. for the Council on this issue, Christensen is editor of the Timesalthough that hasn’t stopped News. the public from haranguing the

IDAHO VIEW

When it comes to guns, Idaho’s view stands This appeared in the Lewiston Tribune: nited we stand.” “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” “E pluribus unum—out of many, one.” Blah. Blah. Blah. When it comes to doing something about gun violence, the U.S. is so polarized you have to worry whether our experiment in self-government is failing. Whether it’s 20 students and six teachers killed at Newtown, Conn., 14 more murdered at a San Bernardino, Calif., office party or the 49 killed and more than 50 wounded at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, the response is always the same. Nothing can be done. It’s not as if anyone is talking about registering guns. Nor is there a serious suggestion to ban military assault weapons. People even throw up their hands in defeat about limiting the capacity of magazines. But how in the world has the country’s politics become so sclerotic that you can’t even make incremental steps? How does restricting the sales

‘U

of weapons to suspected terrorists weaken anybody’s Second Amendment rights? Ask the U.S. Senate, where Republicans such as Idaho’s Mike Crapo and Jim Risch voted against Democratic plans they considered too robust. Net result: stalemate. The country can’t even get its act together filling the background check loopholes that may allow gun sales, largely over the internet, to go unscrutinized. Somehow keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons, individuals so mentally ill they have been adjudicated as dangerous to themselves or others and people with a history of domestic violence is an assault on gun ownership rights of law-abiding citizens. How about untying the hands of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research ways to effectively combat gun-related deaths — most notably suicides? You wouldn’t think an investigation would undermine anybody’s gun rights. But for two decades, the National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress stymied that effort by stipulating the agency may not spend its funds “to advocate or promote gun control.”

More than a dozen attorneys general, including Washington’s Bob Ferguson, have asked Congress to reconsider. Why would holding a gun owner accountable for keeping his firearms out of the reach of minors weaken the Second Amendment? And why isn’t the gun rights lobby not more enthusiastic about developing smart gun technology? How would a gun that won’t fire for anyone other its owner violate anybody’s constitutional rights? Public opinion is not standing in the way. As the Associated Press reported Monday, universal background checks enjoy broad support—85 percent told Pew they support the idea. A separate poll shows the idea has support among 74 percent of the NRA’s membership. In fact, the public would go much further than the politicians:  70 percent would support having the feds monitor who bought and sold guns.  57 percent would go along with banning military assault weapons. But the answer in Idaho—and other rural states—is always the same.

Treat the mentally ill. Do something about terrorists. All to the good. Reverse four decades of neglecting mental health. Address lapses in security. But where is it written that reasonable efforts to restrain gun violence should not be part of that same package? The leave-my-guns-alone mantra prevails because the Senate gives voters in small states such as Idaho a voice equal to that of large states such as California. No matter what the nation as a whole believes, a lot of voters in Idaho follow as gospel what the NRA says. If a candidate gets an “A” from the NRA, Idahoans tend to vote for him. If the candidate gets a “F” from the gun lobby, they don’t. All of which gives the gun lobby outsized leverage over how Idaho’s politicians vote in Washington, D.C., or Boise. It’s not going to change until ordinary folks in Idaho stop interpreting every idea that comes along, however modest, as the beginning of the end of the Second Amendment. In their hands, Idahoans hold a veto over solving this problem. They also carry the burden that comes with it.

Find fresh ideas for summer salads M 1

LOOK INSIDE

Idaho

revor Schaefer of Boise not only fought hard and survived after being diagnosed with brain cancer at the young age of 13, but also he has fought for the last seven years to get legislation through Congress and to the president’s desk that will help others through the docSEN. MIKE umentation and tracking of childCRAPO hood and adult cancer clusters in Idaho and around the nation. In 2010, Trevor shared his story with me, and he and his mother, Charlie Smith, and Susan Rosser proposed cancer cluster legislation. I worked with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to introduce the original bill in 2011 and similar legislation again in 2013. To help advance the bill, Trevor testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which I serve. Trevor and his family have worked to raise awareness of cancer clusters and the possible links of clusters to toxins in the environment. The Schaefer family has also helped build support for legislation to assist communities experiencing suspected cancer clusters. Every step of the way, Trevor stayed with the legislation and overcame many hurdles. His perseverance is an example to me and an honor to Idaho. I worked with EPW Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and ranking member Barbara Boxer to write and include the Trevor’s Law language in the final compromise legislation of the Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill. The bill, which the U.S. Senate recently passed by unanimous voice vote and the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 403-12 in May, was signed into law by the president on Wednesday. Trevor’s law makes the following important changes:  The law would strengthen federal agency coordination and accountability when investigating potential “clusters” of cancer;  It would increase assistance to areas impacted by potential cancer clusters; and  It would authorize federal agencies to form partnerships with states and academic institutions to investigate and help address cancer clusters. The enactment of Trevor’s law is a significant milestone in how cancer clusters will be identified, monitored and treated in the United States. As a two-time cancer survivor, I recognize that cancer can come from many sources. This law may provide the answers to questions that many families face when confronting cancer, and finding ways to help Americans fully understand cancer clusters is important. Through increasing federal agency coordination and accountability and providing more resources to affected communities, families will have more information and tools to maintain health and well-being. The enactment of Trevor’s Law is also a testament to the determination and commitment of many people — including Trevor Schaefer and his mother, Charlie Smith — in never giving up on enacting this law that will benefit Americans nationwide. Crapo, a Republican, represents Idaho in the U.S. Senate.

OPINION

TIMES-NEWS

SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016 |

magicvalley.com

SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016 |

| SECTION C

FROM THE EDITOR

Founded 1905 | A Lee Enterprises newspaper 132 Fairfield St. W., Twin Falls, ID 83303 letters@magicvalley.com

Editorial Board

TRAVIS QUAST Publisher MATT CHRISTENSEN Editor

Quote of the day “Go look at the graves of brave Americans who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing.” Khizr Khan, father of a fallen Muslim soldier, addressing Republican presidential Donald Trump at the Democratic convention.

READER COMMENT

The problem of alcoholism

lcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the United States. Seventeen million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million who engage in risky, binge-drinking patterns. More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking. Eighty-eight thousand deaths are annually attributed to excessive alcohol use. Alcoholism is the third-leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the nation. These are listed facts presented by the National Council of Alcohol and Drug Dependency. The major problems in the use of alcohol is twofold. First, since it is legal to buy, many, especially the younger people, do not see it as a threat to their health. If it is legal how could it present such a problem? The advertising of fun times correlated with the use of alcohol gives youth the idea that drinking is the thing to do to be socially accepted. The second problem is that many alcoholics who have passed the line into the disease of alcoholism are in denial of their problem. This is the part that we will focus our attention upon in this article. It has been found alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control their drinking. Rarely does a real alcoholic ever recover control of their drinking, although at times there may be brief intervals where they do regain control followed by still less control followed by a still worse relapse. Alcoholics of this type are in a state of a progressive illness which is wired into their brain. Lots of alcoholics refuse or deny they have a problem. They think that they can solve their problems with alcohol by changing something in their life that will make them into a normal drinker. Alcoholics who are in denial of their problem will try many things to prove they can once again drink like normal drinkers. They will change their use from hard liquor to beer. They will not drink until the evening hours. They will include more vitamins and better diets. They will include exercise regimens. They will join churches and religious organizations. They will read inspirational books. They will swear off drinking both with and without an oath. They will change their drinking schedules, only drinking on weekends or holidays. They will try and measure the amount of time between drinks. They will go to asylums and expensive rehabs. They will change their place where they drink. They will declare that they will quit if they are ever drunk on the job, and the list goes on and on. A lot of alcoholics deny their problems with drinking and blame their problems on people, places, circumstance or fate. A lot of deniers deny it is a problem all the way to their death. Denial among alcoholics is a major problem. Deniers try to minimize the problem. They hide their alcohol and also justify their drinking. If you had my problems you would drink too. They feel their drinking is well within reason as they may view an alcoholic as a derelict who wanders the street and they are not in that class, so not alcoholic. Deniers compare themselves to others and often say they are not as bad as an alcoholic or as others so they do not have a problem. Deniers are often in shame and afraid to ask for help, or all too proud to admit to their problem. They would rather die than ask for help as they often do die because of the disease. The only way to help themselves is to stop the denial, admit the problem and seek help. Much help is now available in treatment centers, AA and other avenues to help alcoholics reach a level of total abstinence, which many people in the field of alcohol counseling feel is the answer to this disease. Dave Davis is a certified alcohol and drug counselor associated with New Hope Transition and has obtained certificates of study in the field from U.C. Santa Cruz and San Jose State. Davis also has a bachelor’s in psychology from Idaho State University. He lives in Kimberly.

Have your say ONLINE: Join our community of readers at Facebook.com/ thetimesnews, or register an account at Magicvalley.com and respond to any of the local opinions or stories in today’s edition. ON PAPER OR VIA EMAIL: The Times-News welcomes letters from readers, but please limit letters to 300 words. Include your signature, mailing address and phone number. Letters may be brought to our Twin Falls office; mailed to P.O. Box 548, Twin Falls, ID 83303; faxed to (208) 734-5538; or e-mailed to letters@magicvalley.com.

The Twin Falls I know

t’s always interesting to hear from visitors about their perspectives on Twin Falls. They marvel at the beauty of the canyon. They remark about all the new construction. Sometimes they’ll tell you about a favorite restaurant they tried. And almost all of them will say how welcoming, friendly and hospitable our community is. I agree. Twin Falls is pretty cool. But go online recently and you’ll hear a much difMATT ferent story. EspeCHRISTENSEN cially if you’ve been reading the yarns high-profile political activist Pamela Geller has been spinning about Twin Falls, fed to her mostly by local gadfly Julie Ruf and her ilk. Thanks to Geller, tens of thousands of her readers now think Twin Falls is a hellhole. Since earlier this summer, when a 5-year-old was allegedly assaulted at the Fawnbrook Apartments, Ruf has been dishing dirt to Geller, a commentator and blogger with a large following, about how refugees are ruining our city. By now we’ve all heard the story: A handful of twisted folks somehow believe the girl’s assault is clear proof that Muslims are destroying Twin Falls because the boys accused of committing the assault are Muslims or refugees or maybe both. And, oh, yeah, the mainstream media, the entire city council, city staff, the police, the county prosecutor’s office, the city’s major employers, the local community college, several state Republican lawmakers and a federal prosecutor are complicit in a conspiracy to either cover up the details of the assault, asperse the girl’s family or mislead you in an effort to promote a liberal agenda that will allow Muslims to take over our community, commit terrorism, molest our children and institute sharia law. Or something like that. The accusations grow a little each day, and it’s hard to keep up. It’d be almost comical if this weren’t also true: Geller and others in the anti-Muslim movement have happily typed up these scary fairy tales, which are being read by thousands of people around the world who believe Twin Falls is no

longer in Idaho but sandwiched somewhere in one of Dante’s circles of hell. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” isn’t exactly the phrase our economic development leaders and tourism promoters want associated with Twin Falls. And neither do I. So I believe it’s important to offer an alternative perspective on our fine city and look at one of Geller’s most recent columns, published last week on the Breitbart website, and see if we can’t set the record straight about our city. Geller writes: “Ruf also recounted that one Sunday afternoon, she was with a group of Twin Falls residents that encountered a repellent prostitute soliciting outside of the local public library in broad daylight, three blocks from the police station. She was an older harlot who had already attracted a line of Muslim immigrant males waiting in their cars for their turn.” Who knows what Ruf and her friends saw outside the library, but I checked with police who said they aren’t aware of any situation even remotely like the one Geller describes. There was one case of woman from California and a man from Mexico in a car near the library recently in the middle of the night, but it certainly wasn’t an old hooker and a parade of Muslim johns. In fact, police have investigated prostitution at four Twin Falls motels in the past 80 days, and none of the stings appeared to involve refugees. Geller writes of the troubles the Fawnbrook girl’s family is having finding new housing in Twin and says: “It is almost impossible to find a place to rent because of the housing shortage due to the sudden crush of refugees.” Sure, rentals are getting harder to find in Twin Falls, but it’s not because of a “sudden crush of refugees.” The College of Southern Idaho’s refugee resettlement center has been relocating about 300 people a year like clockwork for three decades — there’s nothing sudden about that. The rental problem has little to do with refugees and everything to do with our booming economy and the fact we’ve added 5,000 new jobs in the food-manufacturing sector alone and thousands of new residents who’ve moved to the area to fill

Matt Christensen is editor of the Times-News.

IDAHO VIEW

Heather and Raul, check in with Jim and Sheryl

his appeared in the Lewiston Tribune: If you want to turn conventional wisdom on its head in Idaho, start flirting with access to public lands. When then-Congressman C.L. “Butch” Otter even suggested selling off some federal acres to finance relief to Hurricane Katrina victims, he handed his Democratic rival in the upcoming 2006 gubernatorial campaign, newspaper publisher Jerry Brady, his rallying cry: “Idaho is not for sale.” That fall, Brady came the closest of any Democratic candidate for governor—44.1 percent—since Cecil Andrus retired in 1995. Then this spring, the unthinkable became the fact. Two arch foes of federal land management—Idaho County Commission Chairman Jim Chmelik and state Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood—went down to defeat. Chmelik—who championed the cause of securing control of federal lands within Idaho and the West—got just 36.5 percent of the vote against former Cottonwood Mayor Denis Duman. Nuxoll—author of a law that empowers sheriffs and county commissioners to declare federal lands within their jurisdictions a public nuisance—lost her seat to Carl Crabtree, who got 51.1 per-

cent of the vote. This happened not in urban Idaho, where federal lands are gateways to recreation—and transfers are seen as the first step toward handing public lands over to the highest bidders. Instead, this took shape in the rural, central part of the state where antipathy toward the federal landlords supposedly runs deep. And it involved Republican primary election voters. This is a party that on the national level last week endorsed platform language encouraging the transfer of 640 million acres of federal lands to the states. So, take heed, Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard. Earlier this year, Scott led the charge against a plan to hold in place 13,000 acres held by the Stimson Lumber Co. in Bonner County. In exchange for $5.5 million in federal forest legacy funds and another $2 million generated from excise taxes on hunting apparatus, these owners agreed to forgo unpopular plans to develop 1,200 homes and two golf courses. Sure, this involves private—not public—property rights. But conservation easements are a tool that have been used to preserve Idaho’s open spaces everywhere from the South Fork of the Snake River to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area to the lower

Find simple yet sophisticated gluten-free meals M 1

them. Geller writes: “Ruf told me: ‘In the last four months the demographics of our area have dramatically shifted and we’ve been profoundly affected by what we suspect is secondary migration. We locals intend to survey the population to discover the source of this massive influx.” This should sound pretty bizarre to anyone who actually lives in Twin Falls. Does the city seem dramatically different than it did in March? And who, exactly, is being “profoundly affected” by this phantom influx? Something terrible happened to that poor girl at the Fawnbrook Apartments. Scores of children in southern Idaho are molested or abused every year, and that’s heartbreaking. But Geller is using this one case to drive a sickening political agenda. See, Geller wants the world to think Twin Falls is being overrun by Muslim perverts who are destroying our city. She’s made a career spreading such nonsense on the backs of community’s like ours. But her vision of an American apocalypse isn’t what I see happening in Twin Falls — at all. The Twin Falls I know is a welcoming community, where my wife and I feel perfectly safe raising our two girls. We’ve never had to push through a line of Muslims waiting for their turn with a hooker when we visit the library. We live in a growing and prosperous city, where new houses and apartments are springing up every day. It’s a place where it’s easy to find a job, where people work hard. It’s a beautiful city, and I’m incredibly proud and lucky to live here. I think most of us also feel this way. Do we have problems? Yeah, every community does. But they’re nothing close to the horrors Geller paints. Geller had planned to visit Twin Falls this week and hold a rally on the courthouse steps, but she canceled. I guess it’s just easier to spread second-hand garbage on the internet instead of taking time to come see for herself. Too bad. I wish she could have seen the Twin Falls I know.

LOOK INSIDE

Salmon River Canyon. Lawmakers approved the funding package, putting the conservation easement in play. But voters may not forget Scott’s efforts to derail that effort. And take heed, Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. His Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act would have states manage up to 4 million acres of federal lands throughout the West—with minimum pilot projects of 200,000 acres each. It is nothing close to the kind of federal lands transfer Chmelik supports, for instance. But Democratic congressional candidate James Piotrowski thinks he smells vulnerability. Piotrowski is painting with the broadest brush he can find. Labrador’s bill, he says, is just an opening to a larger land transfer— and loss of public access. If he has his way, the Democrat will transform the congressional race into a referendum on the issue—the same tactic Brady employed against Otter a decade ago. Both Scott and Labrador have won handily in the past. Scott carried 66 percent of the vote in 2014. That same year, Labrador got 65 percent. They’d be within their rights to laugh off this argument. Of course, Chmelik and Nuxoll didn’t see the speed bump in front of them, either.

| FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016

TIMES-NEWS

OPINION Founded 1905 | A Lee Enterprises newspaper 132 Fairfield St. W., Twin Falls, ID 83303 letters@magicvalley.com

Editorial Board

TRAVIS QUAST Publisher MATT CHRISTENSEN Editor

Quote of the day “I call you ‘My Beings of light.’ Miracles happen all the time; one just has to be open to them and believe.” Susan Bachtold, a member of the Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, who adopted a refugee family from Tanzania.

FROM THE EDITOR

Responsible Berlin attack exposes problems reporting matters now T more than ever OTHER VIEW

LEONID BERSHIDSKY

ur story in Wednesday’s edition about the capture of two suspects in the drive-by shooting of a teenage boy contained details you won’t find from any other media outlet. Thanks to the dogged reporting of Alex Riggins, we were piecing together our own investigation immediately after the shooting in May, and from the get-go it appeared Riggins was collecting the same details as police and just about as fast. We had a pretty good idea about the police’s prime suspect. We knew that he lived in Buhl and that his car matched the description of a car fleeing the scene. We knew that police brought him in for violating his probation — arresting him in the middle of the night and asking a judge to hold him on unusually large bond. Ultimately, they had to let him go because they didn’t have enough evidence. We knew witnesses had said Vason Widaman, the MATT CHRISTENSEN victim, had a beef with the suspect, and Widaman’s friends thought he had something to do with the hit. We heard the motive was drugs. But we didn’t report any of this until police finally arrested two men Tuesday: Jose Daniel Alvarez and Gerardo Raul Chavez. And, yes, Chavez was the suspect we also believed to be involved in the shooting based on our reporting. So why wait to report these details? For one, despite the mountain of circumstantial evidence, our reporting didn’t meet our standard for a story. We couldn’t prove Chavez had actually shot Widaman. (It’s important to note that police haven’t either; he’s still innocent until proven guilty in a court.) Second, we constantly have to weigh what we know with what the community should know. There’s a chance that if we had reported our story sooner, the information may have blown the investigation. Chavez might have skipped town. The case might never have been solved. For me, this is a good reminder why it’s important to place trust in trained reporters and editors. We’ve all heard a lot about fake news lately — guys who sit in their apartments and publish rumors and outright lies on the Internet just to get Web clicks. Some readers can’t tell the difference between real news — that which is reported and vetted and held to high ethical standards — with the slime dripping through our Facebook feeds. Just think back to what folks were reading during the height of the Fawnbrook incident over the summer, when police and prosecutors went out of their way to separate the facts being reported in the Times-News from the falsehoods circulating on the Internet. I’m sharing this not to boast about our reporting prowess (although I’m incredibly proud of our journalism every day), but to make a point about news in general and the importance of readers’ abilities to separate the wheat from the chaff. Our reporters work and live in this community, and they care. We want the police to catch the bad guys, even if that means we have to hold off on reporting something we know would sell a lot of newspapers. Our readers are our neighbors, and our obligation is to you, not some arbitrary number of Web clicks. The point is, responsible reporting matters now more than ever as the sources of news expand every day. The question is: Who do you trust to deliver the truth? I’m thankful and grateful our readers choose us. As 2016 winds to a close, I can promise we’ll hold to these same standards in the new year and years to come, no matter what changes arise on the media landscape. Again, thanks for reading. Matt Christensen is editor of the Times-News and writes occasionally about the news from a behind-the-scenes perspective.

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau

he story of Anis Amri, the man sought in connection with Monday’s terror attack in Berlin, shows clearly that Europe, and Germany in particular, isn’t letting in too many migrants — it’s kicking out too few. Amri, with a history of violence, drug-dealing and other crimes, including a truck theft, left Tunisia in 2011, during the country’s Arab Spring revolution. The country’s economy had come to a standstill because of the disturbances and Europe’s financial crisis, which undermined tourism. At the same time, border controls all but disappeared, so irregular migration to Europe spiked. When Amri reached Italy, he continued his career as a petty criminal, earning a four-year prison sentence. After his release in 2015 to a deportation center, Italian authorities waited for Tunisia to recognize his citizenship and issue a passport. The answer didn’t come in the allocated time, and Italy released Amri with orders to leave the country. He went to Germany: July 2015 was a good time to get lost among the throngs of refugees then pouring across the border. Many didn’t have valid identity papers, and Amri could start a new life by joining those filing asylum applications. This entitled him to $408 (392 euros) a month in cash. The German migration service was flooded with applications, and waiting times were long. By the time Amri was denied refugee status in June 2016, he was under surveillance on suspicion of terrorist ties and selling soft drugs in Berlin. Amri should have been deported immediately; but Tunisia denied he was its citizen. It issued his passport only on Wednesday — after the

truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. Immigrants from poor and violent countries brave enough to make the long, dangerous journey to Europe generally deserve a chance. Not all of them can make good use of it, though. Amri, with no education, no desire to learn or work and a tendency to break rules, did not belong in Europe and should have been kicked out at several points in his squalid sojourn here. But he wasn’t because the system isn’t designed to handle cases like his. The German bureaucracy has done a stellar job of reducing the asylum application backlog, but it hasn’t demonstrated similar efficiency in deporting those deemed ineligible. It processed 616,000 applications from January through November, 160 percent more than in the same period of last year. But the 23,750 deportations in that period is an increase of just 14 percent over 2015. With another 51,243 taking advantage of voluntary repatriation programs, compared with about 35,000 last year, about 215,000 rejected asylum-seekers are still residing in Germany. And that number will jump. Earlier this month, McKinsey submitted a report to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, entitled “Return Management 2017,” predicting that the number of people ordered to leave but still in Germany will grow to 485,000 by the end of next year. McKinsey says immigrants stuck around for an average of 12 months after being told to leave, while the deportation process after a criminal conviction takes 20 months. The longer Europe’s rejects overstay their welcome, the more embittered they become and the more susceptible to

Islamic State recruiters’ whisperings. Amri probably wasn’t a terrorist when he arrived in Italy from Tunisia, otherwise he would have acted much earlier. His radicalization must have happened while he was in Europe, in limbo. McKinsey advised Germany to improve cooperation between states in rounding up deportees, set up special detention centers and offer stronger financial incentives than just a ticket home to encourage voluntary repatriation — a worthwhile investment, given that each rejected applicant costs Germany 670 euros a month, according to McKinsey. But none of this will help unless Germany and its neighbors work out better return mechanisms with the immigrants’ countries of origin. Fixing this requires a major diplomatic effort to produce efficient repatriation procedures with the dozen or so countries responsible for the bulk of the immigrants. European governments are humane; they cannot just put people in boats and push them off toward Turkey or North Africa, the way Spain did with 17th-century Moriscos. But that hardly justifies the management failure of being unable to deport convicted criminals and repatriate rejects. German Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn’t need to apologize for letting people try their luck in her country. She does, however, have a responsibility to make sure that those with no respect for rules cannot stay. McKinsey is criticized in Germany for charging millions of euros for its advice — but the expense is justifiable if it forces bureaucrats and politicians to resolve the issue. Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg View columnist.

OTHER VIEW

Republicans stand at crossroads FRANCIS WILKINSON

e don’t know how Donald Trump’s presidency will turn out, or what the cost could be to democratic culture and norms. But we know that Trump’s capacity for harm will depend only partly on Trump and his aides. Enormous power will rest with Republicans in Congress. If the GOP wants to constrain Trump’s propaganda, political chaos and end-runs around ethical, constitutional and democratic standards, especially on the domestic front, it can. It’s far from clear, however, that it will. Trump represents an obvious departure from democratic behavior and norms. But what about the GOP? Is the Republican Party still fixed in a democratic orbit, respectful of American political

traditions and protective of civil and political rights? Or is its early acquiescence to Trump, following other retrograde motions — Republican presidents get to appoint justices to the Supreme Court but Democratic presidents don’t — a sign that the party is transitioning into something else? “I don’t see any evidence, at least at the grass-roots level, that the Republican Party is morphing into a vehicle for authoritarian rule,” said political scientist Matthew Dickinson, an expert on the presidency, in an e-mail interview. “Trump did highlight a deep strain of political and economic populism within the Republican electorate, but I didn’t see evidence that people were willing to cede authority to a strongman and his ruling clique.” Of course, the GOP’s grass-

roots, which account for much of the demand side of the political propaganda market, may not be all that reliable a bulwark. They didn’t terribly mind their candidate’s lack of disclosure, accountability or credibility, or his wallowing in cruel attacks and trashy conspiracy theories. They may not mind such behavior in a president, or a majority party, either. Thomas Mann, a University of California, Berkeley, and Brookings Institution scholar who cowrote an influential 2012 book on the decline of democratic norms among congressional Republicans, exhibits less confidence about democracy’s durability. In a blog post, Mann said that the silence of GOP leaders on everything from Trump’s alarming personnel moves to his egregious conflicts of interest is alarming.

Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley

M 1