Galvin crop

Sisyphus has nothing on Kim Thatcher.

The former — as all Journalism majors at the Midvale School for the Gifted learned in their Writing 101 class on Implementing Well-Worn Metaphors, Similes, Symbols and Analogies — was a figure in Greek mythology doomed to the maddening, labor-intensive and ultimately futile task of pushing a boulder forward, only to see it fall back just as the goal was in reach.

The story of Sisyphus is of such simplicity, for instance, that it has been historically helpful to writers stuck between a rock and hard place when trying to find an entry point into the actual topic at hand.

Oh.

Thatcher’s uphill battle, as it were, has proven to be equally maddening, labor-intensive and ultimately futile.

The Republican state senator from Keizer is the primary mover in the current short session of the Legislature behind Senate Bill 1548 — which would keep Oregon clocks permanently running on Standard Time.

It was way back in November, when last we fell back, that the Rogue Valley Times ran one of its unscientific online polls asking website readers what they wanted to see happen about this perennial time-wasting topic.

Suffice to say, results were mixed: 36.1% wanted permanent Standard Time; 30.3% didn’t care which way, “just pick one and stay there”; 21.3% wanted permanent Daylight Saving Time; and 12.3% said to keep both times because a) “it’s not that big a deal” and 2) it reminds us to change the batteries in our smoke alarms.

Those results present a clearer, if not definitive, picture of our options than what happened this past week in Salem.

The pro/con of the debate in the Legislature this time around were the usual suspects or, as Julia Shumway put it in an Oregon Capital Chronicle story, “religious freedom, interstate commutes, health concerns, school start times and Arizona.”

Shumway’s report on the Senate hearing did not invoke Sisyphus — in part because it was a news story, not a column; but also because she took the Writing 102 course on Avoiding Well-Worn Metaphors, Similes, Symbols and Analogies.

Oh.

The bill stalled briefly in committee this past week, until Thatcher and other supporters of ridding our lives of this twice-yearly nonsense agreed to a fallback position (sorry): Oregon would go ahead with the change if, and only if, California and Washington state agreed to do the same.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Yeppers, Thatcher has tried to get this ball rolling before. Back in 2019, you might remember, she pushed through a bill that — with the same compromise — would have kept us living in Daylight Saving Time.

Washington state was on board, only to see time run out (ouch) on the effort when the California version of the bill died in its Legislature before reaching a final vote.

Springing forward (my gawd, I’m turning into Paul Fattig before our very eyes) to 2024 and, while the bills in Oregon and California are still alive, it’s our neighbors to the north that have gummed up the works, as it’s Legislature threw up the stop sign.

C’mon, Washington, even Idaho is still deliberating a similar law — although the reason for that (speaking of ultimately futile tasks) might well be the quixotic quest (speaking of Well-Worn Metaphors, Similes, Symbols and Analogies) of annexing several Oregon counties.

Even should the amended Senate Bill 1548 become law, its chances of coming to fruition appear stalled.

Since there’s nothing Sen. Thatcher and her supporters can do about the lack of action in our neighboring states, their hands are tied.

Which, as even Sisyphus would admit, makes it even harder to push a boulder uphill.