OFF PAGE ONE
BRAIN: Reaches almost full size by about age two
Page 10A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
She told them that the
wrinkles serve to make the
brain compact.
“It we didn’t have all
those bulges and cracks, our
brains wouldn’t fit inside
our heads. They enable us to
process a lot more informa-
tion. If you took a brain and
put it in a blender, it would
fill a two-liter pop bottle,”
Oja said. “That’s how much
material is there.”
When Oja asked who
wanted to touch a real brain,
most hands shot up. The
sixth-graders donned surgical
gloves and got into a queue.
At the front of the line,
Hunter Holford cautiously
extended his pointer finger
toward the gray matter inside
the glass container. He slid
his finger along the surface
and commented on the
texture. This brain, stiffened
by chemicals, felt rubbery.
One by one, they reached
in, touched and reacted, some
with fascination, others with
revulsion.
“Eeee-yew,” said one girl,
who quickly pulled her hand
back.
Back in their seats, the
students queried about
everything from the central
nervous system to dreams
and déjà vu and how the skull
accommodates a growing
brain.
Oja explained about the
fibrous membrane known
as “the soft spot” in babies,
which allows the brain to
enlarge. The brain reaches
almost full size by about age
two, she said, which is why
their heads appear somewhat
ALFONZO: Had a way
of connecting to people
no matter the language
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC science instructor Kristen Oja talks about the brain while holding a model of
the human skull and brain to a class of sixth-graders on Friday at Sunridge Middle
School in Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sixth-grader Julianne Jones looks at a cutaway of
the human skull while studying the brain on Friday at
Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton.
out of proportion.
Oja veered into current
events when she brought up
the spate of NFL football
players experiencing a
degenerative brain disease
called chronic traumatic
encephalopathy (CTE).
“What are some other
sports that might involve
repeated blows to the head?”
she asked.
Answers flowed back.
Football. Soccer. Boxing.
Rugby.
She encouraged wearing
helmets for biking and skiing
and urged all-around caution
in the care and maintenance
of their brains.
“We really need to protect
our heads,” Oja said. “We
only have one brain.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 941-966-0810.
RECYCLE: Styrofoam ruins cardboard recycling
Continued from 1A
ride out for a while.
“We’re stockpiling more,”
he said.
Recyclables are the sixth
largest export from the United
States to China, according
to the Oregon Refuse and
Recycling Association. As
the market fluctuates, care-
less or intentional dumping
of non-recyclable materials
into drop-off sites like the
one Sanitary Disposal has on
Harper Road in Hermiston
can cause a thin profit margin
to turn into a loss.
“Recycling is expensive
enough as it is to collect, and
then if we have to toss it,
that’s really expensive, and
that reflects on everyone’s
(garbage collection) rates,”
Jewett said.
Not following the rules on
recycling can have a larger
impact than most people
realize. Signs at the collection
depots state that window glass
and light bulbs should not be
dumped into the containers
for clear glass, for example,
but people do it anyway. If
the window breaks before a
Sanitary Disposal employee
spots it and pulls it out, the
entire load of glass has to be
dumped in a landfill rather
than risk the lead-tainted
window glass being recycled
into a food or beverage
container.
“Suddenly you’ve got 30
tons of glass that are useless,”
Kik said.
They also get a lot of clear
plastic mixed in with the
glass, and people tend to not
be able to tell the difference
between tin and aluminum
(hint: if it sticks to a magnet,
it’s tin; if not, it’s aluminum)
or don’t bother to rinse the
food out of the containers or
pull the paper labels off.
Kik said another one he
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Bill Kik, maintenance supervisor at Sanitary Disposal, pulls Styrofoam someone
put in a cardboard recycling bin in front of the offices in Hermiston.
sees frequently is people
throwing Styrofoam pieces
and packing peanuts into the
cardboard dumpster.
“The Styrofoam just kills
the load,” he said. “A lot of
places will just bale it up with
all of that in there. We pull it
out, but a lot of people don’t
and I guess that’s what caused
the problem with China.”
Staff time spent removing
packing peanuts from a load
of cardboard or hauling
lead-contaminated glass to
a landfill instead of selling it
adds up. Jewett and Kik said
the more people can follow
the rules posted on signs at
the Harper Road, Harvest
Foods and transfer station
sites, the better.
The problem with China
has hit Portland recyclers and
other areas with co-mingled
curbside recycling much
harder, Jewett said.
“By us having our material
separated at the depot, as long
as it doesn’t get contaminated,
it gives us a better chance to
find a market,” he said.
Pendleton Sanitary Service
offers curbside recycling
for newspapers, magazines,
phone books, aluminum and
motor oil on collection day,
plus collection of other mate-
rials such as scrap metal and
wood waste at the transfer
station on Rieth Road and the
recycle depot at Southwest
18th Street and Byers Avenue.
President Mike McHenry was
not available Thursday or
Friday to speak to the effects
of China’s ban on Pendleton
Sanitary Service, but it is
not one of the companies
that has received a disposal
concurrence from DEQ to
send recyclables to a landfill.
The DEQ issued a news
release recently stating that
as transfer stations slowed
down their processes in an
effort to reduce the amount of
contamination in loads they
export, customers can help by
making sure their recyclables
are clean and by stopping
“wishful recycling” in which
they mix in items that are not
on the approved list in the
hopes that somehow it will be
recycled anyway.
teens up to no good.” Ceja
said. They picked on him
because he was older. To
avoid the harassment and
confrontations, Alfonzo
stayed in the laundry room.
“I couldn’t stand to see
him like that,” Ceja said,
so he opened his home to
Alfonzo. Instead of paying
rent, he helped around the
house and took care of the
dogs when Ceja was out of
town for work.
No one knew when
Alfonzo first came to the
United States. He worked
a circuit of farms from
California to Washington.
His friends said his home-
town was Santa Clara
del Cobre, Michuacan,
Mexico, a place famous
for its coppersmithing.
Tricia Perez, 47, said
Alfonzo learned the craft in
his youth and became quite
skilled. Ceja’s nephew,
Adrian
Ceja,
added
Alfonzo studied karate and
played in a band when he
lived in Mexico and was a
fine soccer player.
Perez said she met
Alfonzo years ago through
her father-in-law, who
bought property locally
and hired Alfonzo to help
inspect the goods before
the purchase. She also said
her father-in-law brought
Alfonzo along just to hang
out with him. He had such
a good nature, she said,
that people loved him.
Shannon Byerly, Jesus
Ceja’s fiancée, said she
misses Alfonzo for his
genuine heart. She and
Perez described how
Alfonzo could not help but
dance when a tune played.
“He would hear the
music at one our family
fiestas,” Byerly said.
“And he would have those
happy feet and get up and
dance.”
And his genuine nature
and willingness to always
lend a hand are some of
the characteristics his
friends hold most dear. If
you were washing a car,
Adrian Ceja said, and
Alfonzo was nearby, he
just joined in the work.
Byerly said he did the
work of three younger
men in his stint at Smith’s
Frozen Foods, where he
was hired about three
months before his death.
Jesus Ceja said he lost
the job after his alcoholism
took hold and he began
missing work.
Alfonzo struggled with
an addiction to alcohol,
and it began to effect his
health. Ceja said a doctor
told Alfonzo only half his
liver functioned. He would
stop drinking for a while,
but always started again.
Ceja pleaded with
Alfonzo not to drink, to
seek professional help. His
friend refused.
Alfonzo had a wife in
Santa Clara del Cobre and
10 children, Ceja said, but
no one from Alfonzo’s
family called to wish him
a happy birthday or merry
Christmas. Sometimes a
relative would show up for
a handout.
“Many times I sent
money to his wife in
Mexico,” Ceja said. “The
guy was lonely.”
Alfonzo’s father died
when he was young, Ceja
said, and his mother died
in Mexico while Alfonzo
was in the United States.
Alfonzo took her death
hard, Ceja said, and the
grief may have fueled his
alcoholism.
“I’m so sad at the way
he died. He just didn’t
have the support from his
family,” Ceja said.
Some said Alfonzo was
a legal resident of the U.S.,
others said his documenta-
tion was questionable. That
may have played a role in
why he stopped returning
to Mexico and lost contact
with family there.
Alfonzo also had a
case pending in Umatilla
County Circuit Court for
a 2016 charge of driving
under the influence of
intoxicants. He was in and
out of jail in Pendleton for
missing court proceedings.
Court records show the jail
let him out on Nov. 14 due
to overcrowding, but he
did not return home.
Byerly heard about the
body two days later and
told Ceja she had a bad
feeling.
Police soon confirmed
her suspicion. Byerly
called Ceja and broke the
news to him while he was
working on a roofing job
at the airport in Richland,
Washington. He came
straight home.
“I didn’t want it to be
the reality,” Ceja said.
Alfonzo’s friends said
he touched the lives of so
many.
“He was a great guy,”
Byerly said. “He had this
joy in his heart that you
wouldn’t expect from
someone who had so little.
And that’s probably what
I’ll miss about him.”
Alfonzo’s body is going
back to Mexico, where
relatives there can view
him a last time. People here
who knew Alfonzo can go
to a visitation Saturday,
3-8 p.m., at Pendleton
Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-
Bishop. 131 S.E. Byers
Ave., Pendleton. They also
can express condolences
online at www.pioneer-
chapel.com.
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