Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1980)
Voting still apathetic Packwood pushes bottle bill The following article ap peared as an editorial in The Daily Barometer at Oregon State University. Oregon set a precedent in 1972 when it enacted the bottle bill. While Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Iowa and Connec ticut have followed Oregon’s lead, the rest of the nation is dragging its feet. In an effort to reverse the lack of response in other states, Sen. Bob Packwood is trying to get a national bottle bill through Congress. Strong opposition from the beverage industry is hampering the bill, but if Packwood can sell his .idea, by emphasizing Oregon’s success story, he may be able to convince Congress. The Oregon senator first in troduced the bill in 1977 and again in 1979. Except for three days of hearings in 1978, the bill has received little attention. Recently, however, Packwood renewed his efforts with a hearing in Portland at which he hoped to bring members of the Senate Commerce Com mittee up-to-date with the legislation. sprint 19600 S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon City , Oregon 97045 Office: Trailer B; telephone, 656-2631, ext. 309 editor: Leanne Lally; news editor: Mike Koller arts editor: Elena Vancil; feature editor: Kelly Laughlin sports editor: Brian Rood; photo editor: Duffy Coffman copyeditor: Sandy Carter staff writers: Tod Bassham Ramona Isackson, Lee Jeffries, Matt Johnson James Rhoades, Tom Rhodes staff photographers: Cathy Gross e Robert Hand, Sue Hanneman, Sally P< »Hack advertising manager: Tim Tycer; business manager: Ron Allen advertising representative: Dan Champie professional adviser: Suzie Boss The Print, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, aims to be a fair and impartial journalistic medium covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opinions expressed in The Print do not necessarily reflect those of the CCC administration, faculty or Associated Student Gover nment. Page 2 Based on Packwood’s data about results of the bottle bill in this state, a national bill would be a positive step for the nation both aesthetically and economically. Litter was reduced by 73 percent in the first year after enactment of the bottle bill and 83 percent the second year. Overall litter was reduced by 39 percent by piece count and 47 percent by volume within two years. If approved nationally, the bottle bill is predicted to reduce roadside litter by 60 to 70 per cent and by 20 to 40 percent total volume. Municipal solid waste would be reduced by 7 million tons. Economically, it takes 6 million gallons of gasoline •everyday, more than two trillion gallons annually, to produce the approximately 56 billion beverage containers produced in the U.S. every year. More recycling would bring a reduction of 245 trillion BTU’s annually and could bring consumer savings of about 2.5 cents per 10-ounce container. A national bottle bill could also bring an increase of 80,000 jobs, according to the senator. We hope Packwood’s renewed efforts with the national bottle bill are more than a campaign tactic in his. race for re-election.'Oregon’s clean roadsides are proof that the legislation merits nation wide approval. The Associated Student Government elections are over and the majority vote has won, or has it? What happened to everyone? When the word “vote” came up, where were you? Does voting give you cramps, or something? Only a little more than 200 of us voted in this year's ASG election; hardly enough to really get an idea of who should win. But life goes on. There really isn’t much that ASG or The Print can do about your apathy except put the people in office who got the most votes (100 votes out of a college of 8,200 students isn’t a very impressive turnout). But have heart, you apathetic people. It’s not just you who carry around an “I don’t care what happens” attitude. Many Oregon voters apparently share your sentiments. John Coffman, Clackamas County elec tions officer, commented that apathy is running rampant throughout the state. “People have the attitude that, ‘Oh, my vote doesn’t make a difference at all’,” he said. According to Coffman, in a recent election in Mulino, the vote ended in a tie, and one more vote in favor could have passed a levy. “It happens a lot,” said Coffman. Just think, yours could be the deciding vote in an election. It’s obvious we didn’t do a good job of getting the rest of you 8,200 to vote in the ASG election, but maybe we can get you to vote in the Oregon primary elec tion that’s coming up in May. But then again, maybe we can’t. Accor ding to statistics, voting has been low the past few years here in our beautiful state.Tri the general election of 1979, 57 percent of the 18 year olds voted, along with 50 per cent of the 19 year olds, 39 percent of the 20 year olds and only 37 percent of the 21 year olds. Is apathy a disease that worsens as you get older? According to Coffman, in the same year, 75 percent of the people bet ween the ages of 40*50 voted in the general election. It looks as if the ones who are the most apathetic are us, right? (Oh, that’s right, you don’t care.) If this apathy keeps up, then crooked politicians could be taking over the world, and potential voters wouldn’t be motivated to stop them. With this type of apathy going around, more payoffs could happen, more politicians couldbevoted in with maybe only 30 percent of the population behind them. Who knows, maybe they will abolish voting and we will turn to a dictatorship (it may sound drastic, but just think about it). It’s not that we are upset with the results of the ASG election. It’s just that we want to be sure that the people who will now take over next year are the ones most of the 8,200 of us wanted in office. What’s more is that we want to gear you up for voting next month. Don’t leave a few to carry the burden for everyone. If you don’t vote, you really don’t have the right to gripe (an old, worn, but still valid statement). People in government are there because we want them there. They are there to do what we feel is right for us. Don’t let a few decide what is best for all of us. Clackamas Community Collegi
