LBCC: Measure 91 and Marijuana on Campus

Since the midterm elections on Nov. 4 three students have been found smoking marijuana in their cars because "it's legal." Security and administration are busy laying out the laws on campus before more students confuse the passing of Measure 91 with expected conduct on campus.

The policy remains: no use in cars, in designated smoking shelters or in vape pens. Furthermore, marijuana is prohibited in any food products on campus.

"We still absolutely ask and expect students not to come to school under the influence," said Lynne Cox, associate dean of student development. "Technically almost nothing will change at LBCC because of this law change."

The law is not in affect until July 2015, and even after that, the use of marijuana on campus will be the same as it has been for alcohol consumption: it's not welcome. The reasons vary from cognitive abilities, safety, and financial aid.

"When states decriminalize something that the feds say is illegal, they win," said Cox. "For the feds to be able to provide financial aid, we have to enforce drug-free schools."

If the college is found allowing the use of illegal drugs—according to the federal government—they could pull aid for LBCC and its students. The loss of such funds would be devastating.

Besides the battle of federal verses state law, mind-altering drugs can present challenges to certain programs on campus. Some trade tools are considered high-risk in classrooms. In courses requiring the use of equipment that could cause bodily harm, teachers expect students to be sober.

Conducting chemistry experiments, welding, using medical equipment in health occupations classes, knives in culinary arts, or car lifts in the auto tech department are all examples of hazardous situations for students if improperly executed. Having a level-lead is important.

Concerns of marijuana use stem deeper than just campus safety. Driving to or from school under the influence results in operating a vehicle while intoxicated—illegal under any circumstance. With no on-campus housing, the school can't regulate students' ability to drive.

The school, however, recognizes challenges in monitoring legal use off campus.

Staff and faculty are being advised to question suspected students about their sobriety in class. If a student is disruptive or smells of the drug, staff are asked to inquire about and assess someone's behavior before removing them from class.

"Use of intoxicants can lead to disciplinary action at a minimum," said Bruce Thompson, safety and loss prevention coordinator.

Discipline is decided on an individual basis.

First violations are preferred as a counseling session for corrective action. Some violators may be assigned a research paper or essay in hopes of educating them further. Some violators may have to attend a conduct hearing on campus.

Depending on the severity of disruption or repeated infractions, marijuana use could result in a two day exclusion from campus up to a year of suspension. Suspension from classes will affect attendance, potentially resulting in a student losing their financial aid.

As stated in the Student Rights and Responsibilities, LBCC is committed to a drug and alcohol free campus, despite any change in state law.

"We've somewhat dealt with this problem on and off for years now with medical marijuana users," said Thompson, "It's a serious issue and I know we're going to have a lot of people testing the waters."

If a student requires the use of marijuana for a medical disability, they are encouraged to contact the Center for Accessibility Resources (formally the Disability Office) for proper instructions and declaration.

Veterans Day has a new Meaning for Nicole Patterson

Photo by Christopher Trotchie

Veterans Day has a new meaning for Nicole Patterson. On Oct. 6, 2013 she lost her brother, Cody Patterson, in Afghanistan. A year later, she opens up about how her life has been impacted.

"I feel a personal connection to every single soldier that is deployed now. It's not a nameless face, I feel their sacrifice."

The Pattersons were born and raised in Philomath. Locals may recall Cody's memorial service with an astonishing turnout of an estimated 5,000 people.

She has met peers in her classes at LBCC who said they attended his memorial service not because they knew him but because they felt they should be there.

"Our community is phenomenal," said Nicole. "People I had never met in my life reached out to us."

Cody was serving his second tour in Afghanistan when he lost his life. He had two weeks of duty left before he was to return home. He was on a mission to render help for comrades when he and three others were killed in action. He was 24 years old.

He will forever be a son, brother and soldier who gave his life fighting for fellow Americans.

"Veterans Day is every day in our family,” Nicole said. “I've definitely become more patriotic than ever before in my life."

It has been a long year for her since Cody's passing.

After his death, Nicole fell into depression that led her to drink away her pain. Months passed, many of them blurred, until she realized she had to pull herself together, if not for herself, for Cody. She has been sober for six months.

"Cody gave his life and I don't want that sacrifice to be for nothing," said Nicole. "We don't get to choose the bad things in life, but we can take away lessons."

Nicole has become involved in organizations that help families of fallen soldiers. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is a non-profit organization that serves as a support network. They connect surviving family members to help each other cope with loss.

"Our family has had the chance to get really close with some [TAPS members]. They have a near and dear place in my heart," said Nicole.

She is closer to her family now than ever before.

"There's some really dark, dark times we walked through, but we all walked together," she said. "My mom and I are really close now. I'm lucky to have her as a source of strength."

Her dad, on the other hand, still struggles.

"They say that things will make or break people and it's broken him."

Her sister, Leticia Williams, has channeled the loss by organizing package drives for fellow rangers. They accept donations of food and supplies to send to troops. Cash donations help with the shipping cost of packages.

"The last one was really special because it was for Cody's battalion," Nicole said.

Nicole's 3-year-old daughter Chloe still talks about her uncle. She understands he's gone and relates everything camouflage to Cody. She got a new camouflage backpack and calls it her "Cody bag.” When she counts her plastic soldiers she tells her mom she has "six Codys."

"It's sad that she is so young and knows loss," she said of her daughter. "When Cody would come home from leave he would let the kids play his drum set. He was a good uncle."

Nicole and her family received a gold star pin from the government as a token of remembrance. She wears hers every day as a necklace. She has Cody's initials engraved on the back, hanging just above her heart.

She thinks of him often.

"I saw a middle-aged man driving a minivan the other day," she recalled. "He looked like a middle-aged Cody, and I thought, 'He would have been a great dad.'"

They shared a love of music and music often reminds her of him.

The night she learned of his death, the 1967 hit from The Youngbloods "Get Together" came on the radio. The lyrics, "Smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now," blared through her car speakers and she felt Cody was with her.

"I thought he played the song for me." 

Cody's sacrifice motivates her to make her life count.

"He's inspired me. I picked up my guitar and started learning to play. I got art supplies, which I hadn't done in a long time."

A year later Nicole continues to see a counselor, attends a women's group, and goes to AA meetings. She stays busy raising three kids and is nearing graduation with a degree in psychology this spring.

"I struggled after he was gone about what happens when you leave this Earth. I had to let it go and realize that his memory is here."

His death was tragic but not forgotten. His life was short but it was meaningful. He will forever be young. He will forever be a hero. Veterans Day has a new meaning for the Pattersons.

Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P. PFC Cody Patterson.

Representative Sara Gelser at Linn-Benton Community College

On Tuesday, Oct. 28 Representative Sara Gelser spoke on the Linn-Benton Community College campus. Invited by the Student Leadership Council to talk of her future plans for Oregon, attending students had opportunity to ask her questions.

Fifty students gathered in the Forum as Rep. Gelser spoke about current projects in her elected District 16, Corvallis and Philomath. She is currently running for U.S. Senate District 8 against Senator Betsy Close (R) elected in 2012. District 8 would expand Gelser's scope to include Albany.

Both Senator Close and Representative Gelser were invited to LBCC by SLC for a candidate debate. However, Close did not acknowledge the request.

"We're positive she saw a copy of [our invitation] but she did not respond," said Jon Crenshaw, Oregon Student Foundation.

Gelser on the other hand happily obliged. After her visit on Tuesday she took to her Facebook page.

"Senate District 8 includes tens of thousands of student voters, so I was honored to accept an invitation to participate in a candidate forum at Linn-Benton Community College today. It was a little lonely being the only candidate to attend, but I enjoyed the great discussion with students about working families, college affordability, and equality. Thank you, LBCC and OSA for hosting a great forum!"

Adelaine Carter, SLC president, and Melissa Jeffers, staffer of The Commuter, were mediators fielding prepared questions for Rep. Gelser. Questions included her stance on higher education, cost of tuition, current midterm election ballot measures, and student safety.

"I really would like to see the cost of tuition not just to freeze but to decrease," said Gelser.

Gelser has already impacted child abuse laws and victims of abuse laws in the state of Oregon, a focal point of her campaign. She discussed her intention to bring awareness to sexual assaults on campuses.

"I think we need to talk a lot more about not only assault but the stigma in reporting assault. Men and women are sexually assaulted on campuses." She continued, "Rape is rape and there's no excuse for it."

There was much discussion about Measure 88, making four-year driver licenses available for those that cannot prove legal presence in the state. Rep. Gelser addressed her concerns about hate and racial stereotyping. 

"My opponent has run an ad that is very offensive calling 'them' illegal. No human being is illegal."

A student in the audience asked for her stance on Measure 91, legalization of marijuana.

"I think that the voters are likely to pass Measure 91 in the fall," adding, "I respect the voters but also want to make sure we are keeping drugs out of the hands of kids and minors, and making sure no intoxicants are used when driving."

Another student asked her thoughts on Measure 92, the labeling of GMO foodstuffs.

"We all have a right to know what we are buying. Consumers want to know what they are putting in their bodies."

In response to a question about Measure 89, equal rights for women, Rep. Gelser explained that across the state on average women are paid less than men. As Co-Chair for Oregon's Women Health and Wellness Alliance, equality is on her radar.

"I get an email everyday with a personal story of how things effect them."

When asked specifically if Rep. Gelser supported local Measure 22-130, the $34 million bond for LBCC, she responded with conviction.

"I absolutely support the bond."

Of her two degrees, she earned her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from OSU. Rep. Gelser currently lives with her family in Corvallis. A past member of the Corvallis School Board and Parent Educator and LBCC, she has been in legislation since 2005.

Cultural Comparison of Native Netsilik and Chipewyan Tribes

Both living on tundra, the Netsilik and Chipewyan people shared two staple food sources in their diet; caribou and fish. They also shared the use of moss and berries during less plentiful times. Both groups, in desperate times, would result to cannibalism.

Women played an important role for food, clothing and shelter. In both Netsilik and Chipewyan societies the women prepared, transformed and cooked the food in which the men hunted. They were responsible for the process of scraping, sewing and softening caribou hides. Sewing was generally with bone needles.

Both cultures wore outfits made from caribou skins. Both relied on the use of snowshoes for most of the year made from wood or antlers, depending on solids available. Bags, containers and tents were made from caribou in both cultures. Come summer, both were living in tents using caribou skins.

When hunting caribou both communities shared a similar practice. They set up hunting operations at river crossings of the herds. Men hidden along the river's edge would wait with their canoe or kayak and launch to enclose them as they crossed, spearing trapped animals. The women and children in both groups were helpful during this hunt. They would stand on the banks and scare the caribou back into the water in an effort to get as many animals trapped as possible.

Both groups would stock up on meat during fall hunts to preserve for offseason meals. For most of the year, their prospective environments made preserving meat rather easy. Both groups dried meat, making food intake easier for travel and preservation.

The Netsilik and the Chipewyan also shared the use of using bone for hunting tools, specifically the fish hook. After carving the hook, both would attach it to caribou tendons or sinew. Both groups had to fish through ice at certain times of year, cutting a hole in the ice and dangling the hook waiting for a bite.

The Chipewyan did not hunt sea animals as the Netsilik did. Netsilik means "the people of the ringed seal" and when caribou migrated south, seals became the next best thing. Seals, unlike the caribou, do not migrate so by January when the sea had frozen over the Netsilik moved onto the ice to hunt. Seal skins were used largely as a resource for water resistant materials, clothing and shoes. Seals also provided oil for lamps, an invaluable possession in Netsilik culture.

While the Netsilik turned to seals, the Chipewyan turned to fishing. They were skilled in fishing and used tools to ensure catching to most fish possible to stock up for more trying times. They speared fish, used weirs that would trap them, and used gill nets set across rivers for mass fishing. In western Chipewyan bands fishing was more important than in the eastern bands.

A hunting technique developed by the Chipewyan that was not used by Netsilik was unattended hunting. The Chipewyan often used snares and deadfalls. This ability to hunt with unattended devices was less dangerous and time consuming, and burned less energy. The Netsilik would have to stand at seal holes for hours or days, while the Chipewyan would travel back to nets, snares and deadfalls to collect food with less effort.

The Chipewyan had a second style of hunting caribou that differed from the Netsilik. Women and children would hide in wooded areas funneling caribou from a wide space that got thinner, leading to eventual entrapment where men would spear and shoot them with arrows. When caribou were plentiful the Chipewyan were at times wasteful with the carcasses, taking only prized parts and leaving the rest. This was unlike the Netsilik who used all parts possible. A reason for this is attributed to the Chipewyan belief that the land owned them and that creation existed for them to eat.

They Netsilik considered sharing among the band an expectation. This was not the case with the Chipewyan that shared only within their household. Because of the use of unattended hunting devices, the Chipewyan had an advantage of requiring less people to hunt making small parties possible. The Netsilik, for example, needed a 15-man team to hunt seals, each expecting to get equal parts regardless of whose “hole” the seal was caught in.

The Netsilik, from the arctic, and the Chipewyan, from the subarctic, shared similar negative temperatures in the winter. They both adapted well to life in the snow. The weather for the Netsilik could reach -40 degrees while the Chipewyan could experience -60 degrees. Because of their harsh living environments, large animals and plants were limited.

Both cultures were nomadic and lived in small bands, identified by regional herds of caribou. The leaders of both groups were not born into their positions, they were voted into them. Leaders were defined by their skill in hunting - the most essential skill a man could have. The ability to identify good hunting areas and succeed in the hunt was how men proved themselves worthy of leading.

In both of their native environments caribou were their lifeline. They relied heavily on the movement of the herd, which was the main reason for their nomadic lifestyle. They preferred to hunt caribou in the fall when the herd was the healthiest and fattest, and had the most desirable fur. The caribou not only fed both groups during migration, but were the main source of clothing and contributed to a key resources for tools. Both cultures used caribou antlers and bones as a solid because much of their land lacked wood.

When comparing their two environments, the Netsilik got about 20 frost-free days a year in the arctic. Therefore their main source of a solid for building houses was snow, the igloo, as wood was sparse. The Chipewyan, on the other hand, got the benefit of short, hot summers up to 80 degrees. With more wood available, they used it to frame their dwellings wrapped in caribou skins.

Tools and weapons varied from the two cultures depending on what was available. For the Netsilik, their natural resource of soapstone was critical for making items such as cooking pots and lamps. The Chipewyan relied on their natural resource of copper for items like ice picks, arrows, spears, spoons, and axes. Comparatively, the Netsilik used the adz with stone blades and knives made with slate. The Netsilik used kayaks made from driftwood and antlers. The Chipewyan used skin-covered canoes.

There was a notable difference of the two cultures that impacted lifestyle surrounding the use of dogs.  The Chipewyan believed that their creator was half-dog. Because of this, they had supernatural associations with dogs and did not use them in society as the Netsilik did. The Netsilik relied heavily on dogs to help pull sleds, sniff out seal holes, corner polar bears and pull seal carcasses back to camps.

Sustaining life with a "survival of the fittest" mentality resulted in both groups having a history of infanticide, specifically of females. Women in both societies played the role of preparing meals, however they did not hunt the meals. Therefore, if resources were low and food was scarce families would make the decision to allow their infant girls to die. Although, the dangers of hunting left a higher mortality rate in males thus leaving well-balanced communities of men and women.

The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger

Hundreds of community members gathered at the historic Whiteside Theatre in downtown Corvallis Friday night. Taking a stand against hunger, all $6,000 collected was donated to Linn Benton Food Share, providing an estimated 82,000 pounds of food.

Twenty-one years ago faculty of OSU started "A Reading to Fight Hunger," and each year it continues to grow. This year, nine accomplished writers took the stage and sampled their works. The OSU Center for Humanities continued their support by paying for the use of space.

As supporters flooded the theatre, The Sideways Portal Sandbox jammed on stage filling the room with smooth jazz. The half dozen musicians with brass, percussion, guitars, and lots of talent created ambiance with a slow, seductive pulse. 

Gregg Kleiner, event organizer, welcomed attendees settling into the low-lit theatre.

"This is really cool! Wow twenty-one years, it's because of you coming out to help the hungry among us."

Selections were nonfiction, fiction, essays, and poetry. 

"It's a nice way for people to get a sample of different kinds of writing," said Alison Clement, LBCC English instructor and steering committee member for the event.

Local bookstore Grass Roots was a sponsor of the event. Owner Jack Woolcott displayed books from the night's artists. Each was available for an autograph when purchased. 

"We're contributing 100 percent of proceeds to the event. It's a labor of love," said Wolcott.

"We've already had someone pay more than the book costs to donate," added Claire Meints, Grass Roots event coordinator.

All readers that took the stage live in Oregon. Most were local, the furthest came from Ashland. Each had a unique style and got seven minutes to share their words. Poet laureates Peter Sears and Lawson Inada were two of them.

John Daniel, master of ceremonies, has six published nonfiction books and three Oregon Book Awards. He engaged the audience with humor and hope. 

"We're here tonight because no child in Linn County or Benton County or any county should have to eat paste."

The event coincided with National Food Day, Oct. 24, and prepared food was donated for listeners. The "magic barrel," a shrunken wooden vessel like that which stores wine, sat prominently in the reception area. Donations were added in exchange for a bite to eat.

Greg Little, owner of Squirrel's Tavern, worked a booth for thirsty patrons. He donated beer for purchase, giving all sales to Linn Benton Food Share. Wine was donated by First Alternative Natural Foods and hard cider was donated by local cider house 2 Towns.

With the many businesses and community members that came together to share food and drink, many more will be thankful for their generosity as the holidays approach and their stomachs are empty.

The vibe of the night was warm and soft, loving and embracing.

Readers took the stage behind a large podium adorned with oversized pumpkins and live, leafy plants. The lamp shades on nearby tables gave the comfort of a living room. The prominent red brick wall behind them showed its 90 years of use, adding to the theater's rustic Italian architecture.

Artists were as diverse as the crowd. 

The youngest to stand behind the podium were in their 30s, while others in their 70s. Onlookers were a blend of students, hipsters and professors, white-haired with walkers, couples snuggled on dates, and notably, even a lady dressed in traditional velvet renaissance attire.

Nick Dybek read his compelling fiction of a fisherman on a crabbing boat in Alaska. Tangled in a crab pot as it's thrown overboard, the imagery he presented of the fisherman was masterful. His description of freezing veins, loss of breath, fear of the abyss, flashes of the afterlife, and his eventual rescue left listeners with dropped jaws.

Barbara Drake shared her nonfiction story about the varied finds one makes in the rural countryside. Quite the wordsmith, she compared scat to, "apple pie filling, but definitely not sauce." Her creative and humorous narration sent the crowd into bursts of laughter.

Fiction author Jon Raymond read a semi foul-mouthed, sort of cynical, but absolutely hilarious tale of a middle aged lady underwhelmed in her life-sucking office cubicle. His book was just sold last week, and he expressed his excitement reading it for the first time in his community. 

"This marriage of giving and literature is such a wonderful thing. I'm not a church-goer but it feels spiritual."

The evening was loaded with laughter, applause, punchlines, and puns intended. All in the name of helping those less fortunate.