Oregon banned mascots with Native American links.

There weren’t supposed to be any more Braves, Chieftains, Eagle Indians, Indians, Mohawks or Warriors. More than a dozen schools would have had to make the change.

The Oregon Board of Education said in 2012 schools must eliminate the mascots by 2017 or they may lose state funding.

We believe that decision went too far. There is nothing inherently demeaning or offensive about those mascots. Just as there is nothing inherently demeaning or offensive about the Cowboys, Crusaders, Knights, Loggers, Outlaws, Pirates, Spartans or Vikings.

Of course, there are people who are going to be offended by some mascot names. But you don’t pick a mascot to ridicule it. And there is no need for Oregon to tie itself in knots to be a leader in politically correct victimology.

If Native American mascots are so despicable to be deemed by the state to be wrong, isn’t that unfair to other groups whose names have been chosen as mascots? Why allow Cowboys, Loggers or Vikings? Is it really fair to Outlaws?

But even Oregon’s efforts to unknot itself have knotted. A bill in 2014 required the state Board of Education to come up with rules that would allow for mascot use agreements between school districts and nearby tribes. The problem is there are still no such rules.

This is where Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, comes in. Her bill, House Bill 3536, would prohibit the state board from adopting such rules and prohibit it from sanctioning schools that have such mascots. The bill is scheduled for a hearing April 20.

School districts and tribes could work out any issues on their own without the state getting involved. That’s what should have happened in the first place.