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The INDEPENDENT, August 19, 2010
Get rid of pantry pests with these tips Military suicides increase
No one is immune to having
an infestation of those pesky lit-
tle bugs that get into the food in
your pantry. When you do spot
one on the shelf or in your food,
it’s important to know how to
get rid of them and what you
can do to decrease the chance
that it will happen again.
The first sign that you have
pantry pests is the presence of
small brown beetles, moths or
worms in your cupboards or
even on the kitchen counter.
They can come from a lot of
places. You can bring them
home in a package you buy at
the grocery store. They can
even fly in the house through
an open door or window, or
crawl through the tiniest crack.
Two of the most common
types are grain and flour bee-
tles and flour moths. The grain
and flour beetles are small flat
brown bugs. They like to eat
flour, cornmeal and cereal. You
can also find these pests in
your dry dog and cat food, even
in nuts, candies and dried fruit.
These bugs do not like light
and will move away when a
container is opened. They mul-
tiply rapidly so you may see a
large number of them.
Flour moths are another
common pantry pest. The dam-
age to the food is actually done
by the caterpillars and not the
mature moth. The caterpillar is
only about one-half inch long
and can be off-white, greenish
or pinkish. They leave a
“thread” trail along anything
they move over, which forms
webs across the infected food.
To get rid of these unwanted
buts, remove all food from your
shelves sealing any infested
food in an airtight bag before
discarding. Use a vacuum
cleaner because these bugs
like to get in tiny cracks and
crevices in your pantry. Make
sure to dispose of the vacuum
bag in another airtight contain-
er so the bugs don’t come
back.
Some tips to protect your
kitchen from pantry pests in-
cludes buying only small por-
tions of grain foods if you don’t
use them that often, store sus-
ceptible foods in airtight con-
tainers, don’t buy opened or
crushed packages as they are
more likely to be contaminated,
and remove all food from your
food storage area once per
year for a thorough cleaning.
Source: Tammy Roberts, MS, RD,
LD, Nutrition and Health Education
Specialist, University of Missouri
Extension.
Learn green back-to-school tips here
1. Don’t Overbuy. It might be
exciting to enter the back-to-
school section of your local re-
tailer – so many shiny things
and bright colors! But don’t be
tempted to buy more than you
need. First, check what you al-
ready have in stock. Did your
child really use all 500 sheets
of paper you bought last year?
Is every single pencil worn
down to the nub? Did the scis-
sors spontaneously break? Buy
only what you really need for
the year. The amount of “stuff”
you don’t bring home will be as-
tonishing.
2. Purchase Recycled. It’s
unavoidable: You will have to
buy some things for the upcom-
ing school year. Look for a
backpack that’s PVC-free,
which means not made out of
vinyl. But instead of a regular
backpack, how about one from
TerraCycle made out of recy-
cled juice drink pouches?
There are lots of fun backpacks
made from recycled materials
available at REI or Reware-
store.com. Some backpacks
also come with a lifetime guar-
antee, so if your kids’ pack
needs fixing, you can send it
back for repair. Purchase recy-
cled pencils made from old
denim or newsprint. More than
14 billion pencils are produced
every year – enough to circle
the globe 62 times! Or use re-
fillable pencils, instead of the
wooden kind. Consider buying
100% recycled paper for your
printer, available at most major
retailers. (3.4 million tons of pa-
per are purchased during back-
to-school season) Just be sure
to check your recycled school
supplies for durability and mini-
mal packaging.
3. Opt for Used. If you want
to reduce waste – and costs –
look at buying used, opting for
online, or renting. Campus
bookstores often have used
textbooks for half off, or more.
Web sites such as eCampus
and Amazon carry many used
titles. Some schools are even
experimenting with online text-
books, reducing both costs and
strain on your backpack. Rent-
See These on page 14
Dealing with the emotional
impact of multiple combat
tours, a bad economy, difficul-
ties re-entering civilian life and
family troubles, 32 Army sol-
diers took their own lives in
June. Of those soldiers, 11
were not on active duty. In the
first half of this year, 145 US
soldiers committed suicide.
Returning home can seem
even more stressful than com-
bat for some veterans.
The adjustment strain can
be a significant factor leading
to suicide, especially a feeling
of hopelessness that they can’t
get their lives back together.
Oregon Partnership’s new,
confidential Military Helpline
was created just for this crisis.
Early intervention and assess-
ment is the key. Oregon Part-
nership’s Military Helpline pro-
vides that, guiding individuals
and families on a path to safety
and healing.
In establishing the Military
Helpline, Oregon Partnership
has received unwavering sup-
port from Oregon’s Military De-
partment and the Oregon Na-
tional Guard.
“Over the past year, we’ve
gotten calls from some 1,200
veterans on our crisis lines,”
says David Corse, OP Crisis
Lines Operations Director. “But
that’s the tip of the iceberg.
With our new line, we can
reach out to Oregon National
Guard members, veterans and
others and let them know we’re
here for them.”
“Of the more than 30,000
suicides in this country each
year, fully 20 percent of them
are acts by veterans,” says VA
Secretary Eric Shinseki.” That
means on average 18 veterans
commit suicide each day.”
Suicide rates in all four serv-
ices of the military are signifi-
cantly higher than in the gener-
al population, with 52 Marines,
48 sailors, and 41 members of
the Air force committing suicide
in 2009.
The Army has begun an ag-
gressive campaign urging sol-
diers to seek counseling at the
slightest sign of trouble. Still,
many balk at the suggestion
due to fear of negative career
impact, the stigma of perceived
weakness among their peers
and frustration with red tape.
“In a 6-year period a young
man, or a young woman, can
have as many stressors as a
normal American has through-
out their entire life,” says Gen-
eral Peter Chiarelli, Army Vice
Chief of Staff.
Oregon Partnership’s Mili-
tary Helpline number is 888-
HLP-4-VET (888-457-4838).
Founded in 1993, Oregon
Partnership is a 501-3c non-
profit organization whose mis-
sion is to end substance abuse
and suicide. OP’s crisis lines
are now receiving more than
35-thousand calls annually. To
learn more, visit www.orpart-
nership.org .
Columbia
County
Mental Health
800-294-5211
-----------------
Suicide
Hotline
1-800-
784-2433
or
1-800-273-
TALK(8255)
-----------------
Domestic Abuse
Hotline
503-397-6161
or
866-397-6161
-----------------
Military Helpline
888-HLP-4-VET
(888-457-4838)
"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.
It's the life in your years".
~ Abraham Lincoln
503-901-1705
Lee Anne Krause, Future Directer
for the The Pampered Chef
leeannekrause@gmail.com
503-816-9810
www.pamperedchef.biz/leeannekrause