Opinion

Don’t make me ‘mom lecture’ you {OPED}

Caitlin Walker

RBC | I was a bit of an odd kid. (Nothing has changed, if you’re wondering.)
When I was around 4, we went to a hardware store to pick up a few things, and I was instantly enamored, but not with the power tools, the wall of paint chips, or the shiny bright array of light fixtures, like a regular kid. I was obsessed with the rubber O-rings. Black, tiny, stretchy, right at my eye level from the shopping cart, and the coolest thing ever.
I had no idea what they were for, but I had to have them.
I waited patiently. When mom turned away to deal with one of my brothers, I snatched a handful and stuffed them in my corduroy jumper pocket.
My poker face has always been terrible, though, and mom’s sixth sense was on point. We were loading up the minivan when she discovered my transgression (as moms always do.) I was lectured six ways to Sunday and marched right back inside by the straps of my jumper to return the 50 cents in O-rings I’d stolen and make a personal apology to the store clerk. I was officially scared straight.
Fast forward about 20 years, and I’m now the exhausted mother dragging three small children through a store. I have a newborn in a baby carrier and two toddlers taking off their shoes and throwing them out of the bastard offspring of a shopping cart and Cozy Coupe play car, legitimately one of the worst inventions on the entire planet.
We’ve made it through the hellfire of grocery shopping, and while I’m busy checking out, my littles notice all the delicious candy sitting right outside the window of their tiny car. Unbeknown to me, the toddlers both grab Baby Bottle Pop candies.
We make it to the minivan, I strap in the fussy newborn, unload the groceries and realize the toddlers are suspiciously quiet. I discover them wrestling with the candy wrappers, and history repeats itself. Lecture them six ways to Sunday, unload the baby and march them right back inside to return the unopened candy and formally apologize. Another generation officially scared straight.
The universe has a delightful sense of humor, doesn’t it?
Five years later, the subject of stealing has returned to my life. While picking up paper returns a few weeks ago, we discovered someone took not one, two or even five papers from the rack at the Meeker post office, but 20, two thirds of the papers we dropped there, without paying for them.
I’ve been counting quarters for the paper off and on since I was 15. Newspaper theft has always been an issue, but this one is a whopper. The newspaper isn’t exactly a cash cow. We operate on a shoestring. By the time we’ve gathered editorial material, designed the paper, printed it, picked it up from Gypsum, packaged and distributed it, not to mention all the administrative work that facilitates this, that one dollar we charge has worn very, very thin.
My first thought? Wire the racks to record a “mom lecture” every single time someone opens them.
More recently, this past weekend, in fact, I escaped from my full-time mom gig to take photos of Meeker High School’s graduation ceremony. I’ve always hated mucking up photos with a watermark, so when I put them up (after a combined seven hours of work taking them, sorting them, editing them and uploading them) on Smugmug (a site we pay to host our photos) I decided against the watermark. In less than 10 minutes, they had been screenshot and scattered across social media.
It’s 99 cents to download a digital high res file, and you can do whatever you want with it. But apparently, that price is too high. So now it’s ruined for everyone, including me, and I’ll have watermarks on my work. I don’t like them either, but lesson learned.
It’s basic application of the golden rule. You don’t like being stolen from, do you? Then do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
On a larger scale, if nothing has value, society won’t function correctly. That’s why stealing is illegal.
Things that cost pennies still have value to the businesses who sell them and the people who create those products, whether it’s rubber O-rings or $2 worth of candy, a photo someone else took while you were enjoying the moment (as you well should!), $20 in newspapers, a car, a wallet or an identity. They are all cogs in the vast machine that makes coexistence with our fellow humans possible.
If we all just take what we want and to hell with the consequences, we’ll be bashing each other over the head with clubs in a matter of weeks. We’re already pretty close to this with the current state of things, let’s not make it worse.
Gray issues are everywhere these days, but this one, like our newspaper, is black and white. Stealing is wrong.

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  • The 2024 Meeker High School boys basketball team held their awards banquet last week. Jace Mobley was named Player of the Western Slope League and all-conference, Ryan Sullivan all-conference, Jonathon Fitzgibbons all-conference, Ethan Quinn honorable mention all-conference, Jacob Simonsen honorable mention all conference. Mobley will play in All State games. Coach Klark Kindler was named Western Slope Coach of the Year. Left to right: Bryan Rosas, Simonsen, Quinn, Fitzgibbons, Mobley and Sullivan.
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Rio Blanco County and the White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts are still asking for your help to identify additional hatch-outs of crickets so that control efforts can be put in place. The success of the program will highly depend upon local landowners and the public helping to locate crickets as soon as they hatch.  See last week’s paper for a list of ways to help or contact the County Weed & Pest District at 970-878-9670 or the Conservation District office at 970-878-9838 with any questions. Website: www.WhiteRiverCD.com
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The 2024 Meeker High School boys basketball team held their awards banquet last week. Jace Mobley was named Player of the Western Slope League and all-conference, Ryan Sullivan all-conference, Jonathon Fitzgibbons all-conference, Ethan Quinn honorable mention all-conference, Jacob Simonsen honorable mention all conference. Mobley will play in All State games. Coach Klark Kindler was named Western Slope Coach of the Year. Left to right: Bryan Rosas, Simonsen, Quinn, Fitzgibbons, Mobley and Sullivan.
The 2024 Meeker High School boys basketball team held their awards banquet last week. Jace Mobley was named Player of the Western Slope League and all-conference, Ryan Sullivan all-conference, Jonathon Fitzgibbons all-conference, Ethan Quinn honorable mention all-conference, Jacob Simonsen honorable mention all conference. Mobley will play in All State games. Coach Klark Kindler was named Western Slope Coach of the Year. Left to right: Bryan Rosas, Simonsen, Quinn, Fitzgibbons, Mobley and Sullivan.
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It's that time again! Another edition of great local news stories is 
🐰 Hopping 🐰 your way this morning! Catch up on everything thats 🐣 hatching 🐣 in Rio Blanco County this week.
Need a copy? Signing up is fast and easy! Visit our website at ht1885.com/subscribe to get a copy sent to your door every week! 
We appreciate all your continued support!
It's that time again! Another edition of great local news stories is 🐰 Hopping 🐰 your way this morning! Catch up on everything thats 🐣 hatching 🐣 in Rio Blanco County this week. Need a copy? Signing up is fast and easy! Visit our website at ht1885.com/subscribe to get a copy sent to your door every week! We appreciate all your continued support!
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Rio Blanco County and the White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts are still asking for your help to identify additional hatch-outs of crickets so that control efforts can be put in place. The success of the program will highly depend upon local landowners and the public helping to locate crickets as soon as they hatch.  See last week’s paper for a list of ways to help or contact the County Weed & Pest District at 970-878-9670 or the Conservation District office at 970-878-9838 with any questions. Website: www.WhiteRiverCD.com
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Meeker FFA Chapter members competed at the District Leadership Development Event in Craig, Colorado, this month. Top row from left to right: Eva Scritchfield, Charlie Rogers, Alan Rivera, Trent Sanders, Koy Weber, Orion Musser, Said Rodriguez, Carlos Carrillo, Aidan Tapia, Hayden Garcia, Tristan Rollins, Mathew Willey, Quentin Simpson. Middle row: Sidney Keetch, Aurora Stallings, Sydnie Ross, Ava Nay, Lili Piper, Leah Wood. Bottom Row: Jaicee Simmons, Kailynn Watson, Cody Richardson, Kayla Castillo, Braydin Raley, Autumn Stallings, Aimee Shults, Emily Hamm. Read the full story online at ht1885.com.
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