Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2004)
C ommentary 4 « T he C lackamas P rint Do you think Oregon should switch to self-service “It would make us independent creatures in the gas pumping world. Mindy Crouchley I think it’s rather odd. I feel nice that I’m being served, but possibly our gas prices would be lowered. Clare Gunn “[Attendant service] cre ates jobs and if S probably safer; it’s quicker and easier from a consumer perspective. Sabastian I in in el Price jump drives gas debat Josh Lynch i “If it lowers the rates, sure. How about a lane where you have the option?” p Donovan Effray The monster of obesity is attack ing our state, evidenced by the fact that Oregonians can’t even pump Cory Price their own gas; this has to stop. E ditor - in -C hief According to Mel Kohn, M.D., Oregon is the fattest state west of the Rockies. Almost sixty percent of Oregonians arc overweight or obese. The cause is a lack of exercise, better known as the lazy bug. It’s common knowledge that a person needs thirty minutes of exercise per day to main tain a healthy lifestyle. Changing the state ban on self-pumping could help us create a healthier population. If we could get out and pump our own gas, we could often finish the job and be on our way before the attendant approaches the car. In this scenario, not only docs the driver create five extra minutes in the day but also gets five minutes of exercise. Currcndy 48 states are saving time by having consumers pump their own gas, leaving Oregon and New Jersey battling for the tide of laziest state in the union. Still there arc skeptics about the idea of touching a gas pump. Websites offer reasons like, “Oregonians wouldn’t know how to pump their own gas,” or “I t wouldn’t save time because a person has to go inside to pay.” The first argument can be discounted with a look at Oregon’s high school graduation rate. In 2000, it was 80 percent. It follows that most of these grad uates can learn how to operate a gas pump. The answer to the second argument is called “pay at the pump.” Step one: remove debit card from wal let Step two: insert card into slot. Step three: begin pumping. This simple, process eliminates any wait inside. . Be excited; there is hope for all of us who want to save money and cannot afford to pay $2.05 a gallon.' There is a bill in Salem right now to decide whether to maintain Oregon’s ban on self-pumping, If it passes, if will retain a portion of the current jobs for those who arc unable to pump their own gas. For example, the law stares that those over 55 and people with disabled parking passes do not need to pump their own gas. The bill also provides an exception for people who have, a medical condition that makes them unable to.be around gas fumes. So doesn’t this idea make for a happv wofkl? The ' elderly can have that cute lad pump fheitsgas, while those who are 54 and under get to pump their own gas and save some money. The dominant reason for passing this bill is the speed, or lack thereof, at the pump. A person would no longer have to sit at the pump waiting for Joe Schmo to lollygag over. Instead, people would be able to jump out, pump their gas and be. on their way. Ixt New Jersey be the laziest state in the country by allowing Oregonians to pump their own gas. We’ll save time; We’ll save money, and ultimately, we’ll save our own health. 19600 S Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 657-6958 ext. 2309 The Clackamas Print is a weekly student publication and is distributed every Wednesday except during finals week. No matter how fluster; arc at being gouged in the p< book at the pump, taking Ben Maras someone’s job is not the p pinion E ditor way to deal with it and tl exactly what self-pumping do While the theory in itself may not be a bad idea, when it is ii mented it causes more harm than good. Technology is expc Gommon sense dictates that it costs more to maintain high-tech, putcrized machines than it does for standard machines —just cor new cars to older ones for example. Also, the people it takes to i such machines cost considerably more than the normal repairm; When these costs add up, it negates the savings of not having high school kid pump our gas and explains why self-pumping] only a few cents cheaper at the most, and in some cases slight! \ expensive. Now what about that high school kid? Because of our grec would be out of a job. One of the few jobs that cannot be out-so would now be taken over by a computer. This is only a giant step wards for society. With the economy in the dismal shape that i now more than ever we need entry-level that can be filled by people het ■ America—hot overseas. , What jobs such as this do is provide i form for high-schoolers, or someone! needs another job to make ends met someone who is just coming off uneni ment. By cutting these jobs away, we arc dering the ability of people to be what the be. Most dectint people would gladly pay] or two more if it means keeping somcon welfare. With all this said, there is one ridicui ‘ simple and common sense thing we can i to keep ourselves from getting shafted b oil: Don’t.use as much fuel. This could! anything from getting a tune-up to having. •- car converted to a hybrid (something A g vehicles should be). Diesel engines can lx verted to run on cooking oil (read next for the full story on that). Think of al i things one can do and buy to make a ca - smoother! and morc^fficientl^-m ; We also cbuld find out what is tithes with the nine-tenths of a cent on thi prices—the tenth of a penny that wo get back, because the tenth gets round to a whole cent, even though we shout a penny back for every ten gallons ol we buy. How much docs that add up i Just because oil companies may be ging the motorist with their insanely prices doesn’t mean that we in turn lit bludgeon the working class to save : pennies. by JESSE LAMOND C lackamas P rint Rolling backpacks cause monster Hilliary Ferguson T he C lackamas P rint For years, the badge of a student was a crooked, slouching back. We all suffered for our majors; slumping under the weight of ridiculously heavy books. However, some stu dents have no sense of common decency and continually aggravate the rest of us with the rat-tat-tat of their plastic wheels. Once offered solely in luggage, rollers are now readily available on, backpacks, much to the chagrin of regular students. Every day— every day—they’re out there, rolling their bags, disturbing the peace The sound jackhammers into every crevice on campus and ricochets off every building. Just one student with one roller bag sounds like a simple air raid; the racket created by many resembles Pearl Harbor. One day, I was enjoying the serenity of a sunny afternoon, and all of a sudden, I heard them coming. To my left I noticed a caravan of 20 people, a rainbow of nursing students in varying scrubs. Behind them, wheels of thun der. Not one of them had a conventional backpack—not one! As I wondered if this was a prerequisite for the nursing program, 1 realized how a family T he C lackamas P rint Self-service saves little money, destroys jobs Save time, money with self-pumping stations - P hoto I llustration I have a bet ter idea: offer an island for self-service, then a couple with an atten dant.” M ay 5 Co Editors-in-Chief: Cyndce Mady and Cory Price Ext. 2576 (Mady) or ext. 2447 (Price) Copy Editor: Katie Funk News Editor: Karlin Johnson Opinion Editor: Ben Maras Feature Editor: Karen Hill A&E Editor: Isaiah Creel on the open plains must feel when faced with a stampede of bison. The sound must cer tainly break some sort of noise ordinance, but who’s going to complain about a group of students dutifully walking to class? 1 am, that’s who! (dome on, guys, give up the roller bags; Unless you can legitimately cash in on a senior discount at Burgeryillc, carry your bags like the rest of us. Get a locker! Gould 1 go around campus, screeching like a madman? At least acting like cx-prcsidcntial candidate Howard Dean is entertaining. Disrupting the entire student body simply by walking to class is uncalled for. ' It’s because of students like this that 1 come off looking like a bad guy. I don’t mean to pre judge them, but I immediately assume that they just might be horribly annoying. Upon first meeting, 1 already feel the urge to chuck their loathcsome instruments of laziness up and over the side of the courtyard. I hate it when people make me think irrational thoughts. But the fault is not only that of the students them selves but the companies man- Sports Editor: Nie Dclzell Photo Editor: Jesse 1 .amond . Sports Copy Editor: Frank Jordan Staff Writers: Robb Egan, Joel Gaynor, Hilliary Ferguson, Jessica LeClaire, Bethany Monroe, Jeff Sorensen, Jennifer Trank ufacturing these bags. To these 1 plead, the love of Vishnu, please make your tin] wheels out of rubber. My cars—they c: take it!” A cushy rubber wheel might pul a soothing murmur instead of the teeth j ing atrocity committed beneath plastic« (dan the students themselves not', the sound their bags make? Had lj chased a roller bag, upon first hcarin. sound of their wheels hitting the [, ment, 1 would have marched <»' < Meyer, demanding a refund. Perhaps, ing the bag behind you| one into a dream-like where you cannot sec ot; what is going on around' Perhaps this soothe^ sting of having sttul cover their ears and s' dirty glances wlw( the roller bag passes; In any event, ii lj to have one of J bags, I Would slowj insane. That perpi racket can’t be J for the mental My backpack i cause a crooked l’< but yours causes denw So there. I Production assistants: Michacle Cooper, Brian Hill, Sharon James, James Tombe Photographers: Truman Anderson, Angela Gerhart Adviser: Linda Vogt Department assistant: Lauren Vuylstckc Goals: The Clackamas Print aim> j report the ncvdpi aBijRineSkunbiasi professional mannerJ'hc <Qni< ms expressed do iim I nMhgril^’h'ilcci it4 of the studcn®ody, Kllcgc adniim' ! its faculty or Print. I'An.nl com»! to chiefed@clackamas.edu. The Clackamas PrinjjA
