A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Bottle Bill rate
increase paying
dividends
T
Overall, Americans are
he Bottle Bill is one
of Oregon’s great
sloppy recyclers. We’re not
achievements.
alone in that trait, but we’re
Nine other states have
bad at sorting before we drop
followed in our footsteps since off and, because of the mess
1971, creating an incentive to
we leave, much
recycle one-use
of the world’s
containers rather
refuse is no
than pitching
longer accepted
them in a trash
at processing
can, gutter or
centers in China.
wildlife habitat.
That’s bad for
About 1.3
the world, as
billion bottles
material that
and cans were
File photo
can be reused is
returned in
Cubes of crushed cans
instead piling up
2017. That
stand on a pallet in the back
of
the
BottleDrop
facility
in
in landfills.
represents about
Hermiston.
80 percent of
Bottles
the containers
and cans are
that were purchased, and a
unique in that they are easily
substantial increase from 2016
sorted, and a targeted campaign
when the deposit was a nickel.
provides a greater return on
According to the online Bottle
investment than other materials.
Bill Resource Guide, the return
As a bonus, the increased
rate for non-Bottle Bill states is deposits have made them a
about 28 percent.
more effective fundraising
Distributors, who receive
mechanism for nonprofits.
the initial deposit and pay it
So whether you return your
back at the end of the cycle,
cans
and bottles yourself,
came out ahead at $25 million
donate them to a charity or give
in unreturned containers. But
the big win is that the incentive them to a neighbor kid looking
to make a few bucks, the daily
of a dime did what it was
effect of the bottle bill is what
supposed to and got us back
you don’t see — litter and
into the habit of returning our
cans and bottles.
waste in our state.
Farmer’s Fate: Wiped out!
By Brianna Walker
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
There I was, standing in the toilet
paper aisle in the middle of the night.
It had been one of those weeks that
felt like a series of tasks you absolute-
ly must get done before they don’t
matter anymore. The 10-day forecast
had called for rain, which meant that
everything took second fiddle to get-
ting the hay up. Breakfast? I’m sure
there’s an old bag of peanuts in the
tractor. Sleep? Remind me what that
is after first cutting is tarped or sold.
Laundry? A good shake ought to get
most of the dirt from your pockets and
cuffs. Toilet paper? Uh oh, Houston.
We have a problem.
All my life, I’ve heard, “You
don’t know what you have until
it’s gone.” Well, that is definitely
true when it comes to toilet paper!
With the weather forecast continu-
ing to predict gloomy rain, I opted
to “borrow” the TP from the shop
bathroom, rather than waste valu-
able tractor time for a shopping trip.
That seemed like a great plan — un-
til the shop bathroom ran out also.
Thankfully, my husband keeps
an emergency roll in the harrow
bed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a full
one. The people who calculate such
things have determined that the
average American uses 57 sheets
of toilet paper each day, 8.6 sheets
per visit. At that rate, the sad little
emergency roll wouldn’t buy us
much time.
But the threat of that rainstorm
looming in the forecast pushed
toilet paper to the far back of our
minds, and we continued pressing
on to get that hay up green and dry.
Coffee, Mountain Dew and sheer de-
termination kept us at it as the nights
grew even shorter
— but not as short
as a roll of toilet pa-
per in the house.
Just like our
week, it kept going
faster and faster
Brianna
until it ended with
Walker
unfortunate tim-
ing. According to a
Cottonelle poll, 72 percent of people
prefer to hang toilet paper with the
first sheet over the roll, and 28 per-
cent prefer the first sheet under the
roll. I am a “sheet over” kind of girl,
but at that moment, I wouldn’t have
complained about a roll perched pre-
cariously on top of the holder. Luck-
ily, my son remembered another par-
tial roll in one of our snowmobiles.
The week’s work sped on, as did
the remaining rolls of TP. I remem-
bered with nostalgia the years of
large Sears catalogs. Using TP with
page numbers might seem redneck
to some, but during a ridiculously
busy week of harvest, I think it was
just old-fashioned genius.
The night finally arrived when
even MacGyver would have come
up empty. That’s how I found my-
self staring at an aisle of toilet paper
at midnight.
I usually buy my toilet paper
at Costco, where my choices are
limited to a handful of brands —
making it easy to compare prices.
Perhaps it was the late hour, or per-
haps the lack of sleep, but some-
how, standing there, those toilet
paper packages seemed especially
confusing. How can a person cal-
culate which package is a better
deal when a roll isn’t a roll. Some
packages boasted “mega-rolls,”
“jumbo-rolls” and “1,000 sheet
rolls.” Others more simply stated
that “12=48,” and “36=72.”
It was obvious I was not going
to be able to compare rolls to price
shop, but maybe I could calculate
it based on the number of sheets.
A quick glance at the packages re-
vealed that the number of sheets on
various “double-rolls” ranged from
176-352. Lest one spend time calcu-
lating the cost per sheet, it is prudent
to note that the sheet size can vary
between brands by nearly an inch!
I looked around at the packages,
all vying to end up in my cart. My
brain felt muddled. I stood nearly
comatose as the little squirrel in my
brain tried to coax the wheel into
spinning.
I was just reaching for one pack-
age that said 12=48, when I no-
ticed the package beside it boasting
12=54. “What kind of math is this?”
the price-shopping part of my brain
screamed. That’s when I noticed the
single rolls of toilet paper. I may
not understand the math behind the
cost of toilet paper, but I am really
confused with buying a single roll.
I may not be able to easily find the
better bargain between the 12-pack
and the 30-pack, but a single roll? I
mean, really, are you trying to quit?
With my brain still muddling
through the murky math of dou-
ble-rolls, I grabbed the big package
with the purple — because I liked the
color.
As the cashier rang me up, I de-
cided that buying toilet paper ranked
as my second favorite domestic duty,
falling only slightly behind airing
out my husband’s work boots, all the
while holding my breath until I pass
out from lack of fresh air.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
G UEST C OMMENT
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityoflong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
• Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900
Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone:
503-986-1730. Website: www.oregonlegis-
lature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.CliffBentz@
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court
St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-
986-1460. Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch-
board: 202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Email:
wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Website:
http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email:
senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-
228-3997. Oregon offices include One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St.,
Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310
S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR
97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278-
1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Second
District) 1404 Longworth Building, Wash-
ington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730.
No direct email because of spam. Website:
www.walden.house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774.
Medford office: 14 North Central, Suite 112,
Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646.
Fax: 541-779-0204.
• Pending Bills: For information on bills in
Congress, Phone: 202-225-1772.
Being overwhelmed
By Bryan Golden
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
The proverbial straw that broke
the camel’s back is an illustration
of what can happen when you feel
overwhelmed. Each straw by itself
is irrelevant. Yet, the cumulative
weight of enough straw can be un-
bearable.
Life’s events can have the same
cumulative impact as the straw. Most
situations, by themselves, are man-
ageable. But when you are faced with
one problem after another, before you
have a chance to resolve each one, it’s
easy to feel overwhelmed.
Situations can also pile up grad-
ually because of your inattention or
failure to deal with them as they oc-
cur. Then, seemingly out of nowhere,
you become overwhelmed. In this
scenario, you don’t realize what’s
happening until everything becomes
a crisis.
So, you can become overwhelmed
because of circumstances beyond
your control that occur quickly or
simultaneously. Or you can become
overwhelmed because you neglect to
handle situations as they arise. Each
scenario requires a slightly different
strategy.
When events occur non-stop
and without letup, often the first
reaction is to panic and freeze. Not
knowing what to do first, you try
to juggle everything at once while
feeling as if you are about to lose
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............ ..................... C HRIS R USH , CRUSH @ EOMEDIAGROUP . COM
E DITOR & G ENERAL M ANAGER ... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM
R EPORTER ............................... R ICHARD H ANNERS , RICK @ BMEAGLE . COM
C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE A SSISTANT .................... A LIXANDRA H AND , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
your balance at any moment.
The key to dealing with this sit-
uation is to prioritize. Since you can
only address one issue at a time, you
have to decide which circumstances
require immediate attention. Some-
times, it seems as if everything is
critical. But you, nevertheless, have
to pick a starting point for your atten-
tion.
Unfortunately, the most critical
situation is usually the most difficult
to deal with. So, human nature being
what it is, people will tend to address
one of the least important issues be-
cause it’s easier. However, when you
neglect the most critical situation, it
will quickly worsen. With enough
neglect, a situation will get to a point
where it is out of control and the win-
dow of opportunity to take corrective
action has passed.
For example, the roof on Debra’s
house has started to leak. Addition-
ally, her car needs an oil change, the
kitchen has to be painted, she needs
new clothes for a party in three weeks,
her son is doing poorly in school, she
has a painful toothache and the com-
pany she works for is being sold in six
months.
Debra feels overwhelmed. So she
goes shopping for her new clothes.
Rather than prioritizing and go-
ing to the dentist first, Debra takes
a painkiller and then picks the task
of lowest importance. After she gets
her clothes, Debra will feel just as
overwhelmed as before since all of
1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES
(including online access)
Grant County .....................................$40
Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$51
Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60
Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710
the pressing issues are still there.
As an outside observer, it easy to
see what Debra should do first. She
should tend to her tooth before she
risks losing it. If Debra neglects her
roof, more serious damage will occur.
Then she has to get her son back on
track before he falls too far behind.
Once these immediate issues are
dealt with, Debra will have a little
more breathing room and feel less
overwhelmed.
But when you are the one feeling
overwhelmed, your perspective be-
comes cloudy. You become stressed
out and don’t want to deal with any-
thing. Avoidance, however, will al-
low things to get worse.
When overwhelmed, you have
to address the most critical situation
first. Then focus your energy on one
task at a time. Once you have done
everything you can for the most
important problem, move on to the
next pressing situation. Resist the
temptation to begin with the least
significant challenge.
When you take this approach,
you will start to feel better because
you are taking action on the most
pressing problems. The more pro-
active you are, the faster you will
overcome the obstacles in front of
you.
Bryan Golden is the author of
“Dare to Live Without Limits.”
Contact him at Bryan@columnist.
com or visit daretolivewithoutlim-
its.com.
Periodicals Postage Paid at John
Day and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER
send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845-1187
USPS 226-340
Copyright © 2018 Blue Mountain Eagle
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or
copied in any form or by any means
— graphic, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, taping or
information storage and retrieval
systems — without written
permission of the publisher.
www.facebook.com/MyEagleNews
@MyEagleNews