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.