L The Clackamas Print
Alcoholic energy drinks
banned by the OLCC
By Joshua Baird
Arts & Culture Editor
Students everywhere revel in the
glory of energy drinks. They provide
us with the most vital aspect of the
food' pyramid: caffeine. However,
just as with so many great fami
lies, the energy drink family has its
alcoholic aunt or uncle and wishes
it could just stop inviting them to
reunions, Thanksgiving or other
social gatherings.
On Nov. 20, the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission took it upon
itself to let energy drink companies
like Four Loko, Joose and MAX
know they aren’t on the guest list
any longer.
“I think there are a lot of factors
that play into this decision. One is
young people all over the country
have been getting hurt from these
products. We are fortunate that we
haven’t had any of these incidents
happen here,” said Christy Scott, the
public affairs specialist at the OLCC.
“We have been concerned about
these products since the products
came out..... We want to make sure
that the young people here are safe.”
“(They) knock you the hell out,”
said Clackamas student Aaron Cox.
“(Sparks and Four Loko are) bad
for you.”
The five citizen commissioners,
tire decision making team for the
OLCC, voted 4-1 in favor of ban
ning Oregon distribution and sales
of seven brands of alcoholic energy
drinks. In addition to those previ
ously mentioned, these drinks are
Core High Gravity HG Green,
Core High Gravity HG Orange,
Lemon Lime Core Spiked and
Moonshot.
“I think it’s a good idea.
It’s making it safer for people,
because people drink a lot of
(energy drinks), just like with
alcohol,” said Catherine Hunter,
a first year student at Clackamas.
This ban does not affect bar
tenders’ ability to make cocktails
with energy drinks, such as “Jager
Bombs” and “Tic Tacs.”
According to the OLCC, this
ban is due to a Food and Drug
Administration report saying that
these drinks are considered to be
“adulterated” because the compa
nies added caffeine to them. This
is not a permanent fix, however,
nor does it encompass all alco
holic energy drinks. Beverages
such as Tilt and Spark were left
untouched by this ban.
The ban is really just a tem
porary fix until a, more formal
rule can be made on May 18,
2011. The initial ban went into
effect immediately following the
meeting.
Some people may be upset
by this, but for some it is about
being responsible for oneself. “If
there are still alcohol and energy
drinks, it’s a personal decision. If
you can’t handle it you shouldn’t
take (them),” said Kaden Adams,
a Clackamas student.
Oregon.gov
Alcoholic energy drinks such as Four Loko and Joose were
banned in Oregon on Nov. 20 by the OLCC.
OSU student detained
Thanksgiving is sup
posed to be about grati
tude and sharing with fam
ily, friends, and neighbors.
Portlanders almost had it all
taken away over the holiday
weekend.
An alleged car-bomb
ing attempt occurred at
the Pioneer Courthouse
Square in downtown on
Friday, Nov. 26 during the
tree lighting ceremony.
Somalia-born 19-year-old
Mohamed Osman Mohamud
|- Staff-
The
Clackamas Print
19600 Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-594-6266
was arrested for suspicion
of using weapons of mass
destruction. He is charged
with attempting to detonate
a parked van carrying explo
sives. Investigators later
determined that the explo
sives were ineffective.
Mohamud is a student
at Oregon State University
and lives in Corvallis. He is
facing the possibility of life
in prison and a $250,000
fine.
-Jaime Dunkle
Co-Editors in Chief:
Kayla Calloway
Erik Andersen
News Editor:
Jaime Dunkle
Associate News Editor:
Brian Baldwin
Sports Editor:
.
Robert Morrison
Arts & Culture Editor:
Joshua Baird
Ne
Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010
OPINION: Student sells fair trade
The Clackamas Print’s Sarah Mitts owns her own fair trade business. She helps women
children in India create and sell their own unique products worldwide.
By Sarah Mitts
The Clackamas Print
Have you ever stopped and
wondered where the things
you buy come from or how
they were made? Do the peo
ple behind the products you
consume get paid well or are
your dollars contributing to
child slavery and exploitation
of people around the world?
You can make a differ
ence this Christmas by buy
ing fair trade gifts, which let
you know that the people who
made them were paid fairly
and treated with dignity and
respect. Join the Northwest
Fair Trade Coalition and
Portland’s Unitarian Church
in downtown Portland for a
Fair Trade Holiday Bazaar and
Forum, Dec. 11 from 1-5 p.m.
to help bring social and eco
nomic justice into your holi
day shopping.
In 2008, I started a fair
trade company called AWAZ
Voice for Empowerment, to
help create a market outlet for
crafts and textiles made by
marginalized artisan groups in
India and to be a voice for
conscious consumption in our
country. I spent four months
doing volunteer work in India
during college and returned
in 2007 for a year to work on
community development proj
ects with nonprofit organiza
tions helping impoverished
women, children and groups.
I learned about the prevalence
of child labor in the making of
products for Western markets
and organizations who were
rescuing children from this
forced labor.
I realized this was happen
ing all over the world every
day, being driven by consum
ers like ourselves, who buy
these products and support
unethical companies.
In today’s global soci
ety, more often than not the
clothes, the toys and the
majority of the items you buy
Ad Manager:
James Duncan
Copy Editor;
John Simmons
Co-Design/Web Editors:
John Shufelt
Corey Romick
Photo Editor:
Michael Bonn
from America’s most popular
stores are made in poor coun
tries in factories or farming
communities where workers
and the environment are being
exploited. Forests are being
cut down to support cash crop
farming for export, child slav
ery and trafficking proliferate
in almost every industry where
workers are forced to endure
long hours without breaks and
meager wages in sweatshops
and maquilladoras.
Green
America’s
Responsible Shopper program
provides you with the real
story about abuses by well-
known companies that high
light the continued labor, envi
ronmental and human rights
violations in their work. A
well-known shoe company
with products often retailing
over $150 was recently caught
paying their full time workers
in India below the minimum
country living wage - less than
$2 a day. The same company
knowingly exposes workers to
hazardous chemicals without
appropriate protection and as a
result humans and the environ
ment suffer.
Our conventional trading
system continues to favor the
interests of wealthy nations
and companies who distort the
terms of trade and underpay
farmers and producers around
the world for their work.
In the last 60 years, a con
sumer-driven movement called
fair trade has emerged. This
movement is helping to bring
more economic justice and
equality into our trading sys
tem. Fair trade is an orga
nized social movement and
market-based approach that
aims to help marginalized pro
ducers in developing countries
obtain better trading condi
tions, access markets with
fewer middlemen and promote
sustainability. The movement
advocates the payment of a
higher price to small scale
farmers and artisans as well
Staff Writers/ Photographers:
Ben Carlson, Max Dorsey,
Conni Gaunt, Mandie Gavitt,
George Craig, Pamela Hollis,
Harley Jackson, Tyler Kern,
Sarah Mitts, Christina Pearl,
John Petty, Kyle Smith, David
Spears, Nathan Sturgess, Kath
erine Suydam
as social and environ™
standards, helping prl
ers develop knowledge, I
and resources to improvd
lives. It focuses in particul
exports from developing!
tries to developed couij
most notably handicrafts!
fee, cocoa, sugar, tea, b
as, honey, cotton, wine,|
fruit, chocolate and flows
I discovered fair trada
san groups while in Indij
saw the impact of their |
on women and coma
ties. Women were orgal
in democratically ran I
eratives, where they all]
voice and were earning!
as much as their peers.]
worked freely in a prod]
unit or from their* home!
had enough money to pl
their children’s educatiol
go to the doctor when inj
They made beautiful |
woven scarves and te
from natural dyes and
and did fine embroidery
on handbags and home
items. In 2008, I started
ing with five different ai
groups to buy their prd
and help market them i
U.S. to help support a
ethical trade movement
empowered communities
made a difference.
Fair trade is more than
ing a fair price; it’s a vl
help fight global poverj
consumers, we can votq
our dollars and make a I
ence by supporting a I
ment that helps low in
communities learn skill
develop a self-sustal
livelihood to get out off
ty. Be more conscious ol
consumption, vote with]
dollars and make a diffel
Make, the switch and bin
trade items today.
I
To learn more aboil
trade or how you cal
involved, visit www.l
forempowerment.com or
tact me at sarah@voicei
powerment.com
Production Assistants:
Katie Aamatti, Ashley
DeHut-McCollum, Neil
Lundin, Dakota Miller,
Jesse Pierce, Ryan Rau,
Tom Redick, Kelly Van
Hook
Journalism Adviser:
Melissa Jones
Goals:
The Clackamas Pl
aims to report the nl
in an honest, unbiai
professional
man!
Content published in I
Print is not screens!
subject to censorship!
E-mail
comments I
chiefed@clackamas.ej