4
ECREE
VolUME XIX, NUMbER 5
Christmas Without Dad
Now Christmas is the
saddest time
Around our house each year
Because there is an empty
place
For one that can't be here.
To decorate the Christmas
tree
Won't even be the same,
And on the gifts beneath
the tree
We'll always miss his name.
We won't forget his
smiling eyes
And how he loved the fuss
And all the things that
Christmas meant,
Though he can't be with us.
Now Christmas is the
saddest time
Since Dad has passed away.
But in our hearts, Dad
will
be* here
On every Christmas Day.
Peter West
COMMFNTARV
! Recentlv, McDonalds settled a
DO YOU PLAY AN
INSTRUMENT?
DO YOU LIKE TO SING?
DO YOU WANT TO
COLLABORATE WITH
OTHER MUSICIANS AND
SINGERS?
DO YOU WANT TO START
A BAND?
IF YOU SAID YES TO
ANY ONE OF THESE
QUESTIONS, THEN HELP
US START A NCWC
MUSICIANS CLUB.
For more information please
contact:
Dr. Jay Quinan at ext. 5133 or
at iauinan@ncwc.edu
Gabe Raynor at ext. 5550 or
at qlravnor@ncwc.edu
John Trifilo at ext. 5259 or at
itrifilo@ncwc.edu
Lucille Garrett at ext. 5549 or
at iaarrett@ncwc.edu
Or stop by the Leon Russell
Chapel Wednesdays from
7:00 - 9:00pm
Big Food
By: Christinamios
The consumer lawyers that broke
new grounds with the tobacco industry
have set their sights on another
popular, but controversial target: Junk
food, or what they call “Big Food.”
These lawsuits have been filed
contended that children did not know
junk food, particularly McDonald’s and
other fast food chains, made them fat
and put them at risk for other health
problems, such as diabetes and high
blood pressure. These cases are the
first of their type to arise, and are
probably going to stem a series of
cases alike in the future. Too many,
obesity from fast food is simply a
matter of common sense, but to others,
an issue involving a violation consumer
fraud laws by misinforming, or not
informing the public at all is at hand.
These cases are likely to bring about a
huge debate on not only an individual’s
ability to make their own decisions, but
also if such individual can construe
good judgment without being informed
of effects that ordinary people should
assume or understand. "You may not
be able to prove that somebody got
fat because of a particular product, but
you can prove that the companies may
have misrepresented, by omission,
what is in their foods" one professor of
law at George Washington University
puts it.
In the two states of California and
Texas, where respectively 98 percent
of students are out of shape and nearly
800,000 students are overweight,
school officials have already started
taking the junk food away from their
cafeterias. In February, the 52,000-
student district in Oakland, California
banished soda, candy, caffeinated
drinks and other products from their
schools. Despite the fact that these
students now have healthier eating
choices in the cafeteria, more kids are
sneaking off campus to get junk food,
says the district food service manager,
Amy Lins.
Furthermore, in two other states,
New York and Florida, class-action
lawsuits have been filed claiming
that processed foods have misled
consumers about their little nutritional
value. One supporter for the fast-
food industry says that laziness, not
junk food, is behind the threefold
increase in the number of ovenweight
children in the last 30 years. Many
other representatives for the fast
food industries say that they eat from
these fast food chains everyday and
it is perfectly healthy, in moderation
that is. “Although lawsuits attacking
junk food do not say a specific food is
responsible for obesity, they say food
companies are liable for some health
risks because of mislabeling,” says
one reporter for the New York Times.
One class-action suit, filed in New
York last month, accused the company
that makes Pirate's Booty popcorn of
mislabeling. The popcorn was recalled
after an independent group found
that it had far more fat than the label
indicated.
The corporation that has been
long withstanding in the legal news is
McDonalds, with lawsuits involving hot
coffee spills and rat heads to the most
up to date obesity-causing food cases.
Recently, McDonalds settled a class-
action lawsuit for $10 million because
the company had not informed people
that its french fries were cooked in oil
that contained beef extract. This was
a class-action lawsuit, meaning that
this particular case could represent
other persons in the United States
that “(i) have consumed french fries
or hash browns from or at McDonald’s
Restaurants in the United States since
July 23, 1990; and (ii) have concerns,
objections, or dietary restrictions,
whether ethical, moral, religious,
philosophical, or health-related,
with respect to the consumption of
beef or meat.” As part of the $10
million settlement, McDonald’s has
agreed to: “(i) donate $10 million
to charitable organizations in the
following percentages: vegetarianism
(60 percent); Hinduism and/or Sikhism
(20 percent); children's nutrition and/or
children's hunger relief (10 percent);
and promotion of the understanding
of Jewish law, standards and practices
with respect to Kosher foods and
dietary practices (10 percent); (ii) issue
an apology; and (iii) establish an
advisory board to make reports and
recommendations to McDonald’s
about dietary restrictions that apply to
various types of vegetarians, as well as
guidelines for companies who market
to vegetarians.”
The most current obesity case that
McDonalds has faced began with a
lawsuit filed by lawyer Samuel Hirsch
in a Manhattan federal court that later
turned into a class-action suit, thus could
represent anyone that claims to have
developed problems and/or obesity
from eating McDonald’s food. Hirsh
alleged that McDonald's violated New
York state's consumer fraud statutes
by deliberately misleading consumers
into thinking their cheeseburgers
and other products were healthy and
nutritious. McDonald's asked for a
dismissal on grounds that the case is
“frivolous.” One lawyer for McDonald’s
says “People don't go to sleep thin and
wake up obese, the understanding and
comprehension of what hamburgers
and French fries do has been with
us for a long, long time."^ Judge
Robert Sweet ruled in this case that
consumers could not hold McDonald's
responsible for their excessive
consumption of its burgers. Although
the case was dismissed, there were
problems that the judge found in the
plaintifTs original argument in which
he granted the plaintiff the option of
filing an amended complaint within
30 days addressing these problems.
"If plaintiffs were able to flesh out this
argument in an amended complaint,
it may establish that the dangers
of McDonald's products were not
commonly well known and thus that
McDonald's had a duty towards its
customers," Judge Sweet wrote. In
Judge Sweet’s ruling, he stays, "Where
should the line be drawn between an
individual's own responsibility to
take care of herself and society's
responsibility to ensure others shield
her? The complaint fails to allege the
McDonald's products consumed by the
plaintiffs were dangerous in any way
other than that which was open and
obvious to a reasonable consumer."
The plaintiff’s lawyers have every
intention to amending their complaint
and re-filing it in the federal court in
30 days.
Watson Is
Jefferson
Pilot
Professor
Source : Public Relations
Dr. Richard L. Watson III, professor
of history at North Carolina Wesleyan
College, has been named Jefferson
Pilot Professor for the 2003-2004
academic year. The honor is the
highest that Wesleyan bestows upon a
member of its faculty. It carries a stipend
and requires the professor selected
to research a topic on which he will
present at a public lecture in the spring.
The award was established in 1981
by the Jefferson Pilot Life Insurance
Company to recognize tenured faculty
members who have distinguished
themselves as teachers, scholars, and
members of the Wesleyan community.
The recipient is nominated by a
committee of the faculty, recommended
by the dean of the College, and
appointed by the president.
This is the second time that Watson
has been chosen as the Jefferson
Pilot Professor. He first received the
honor for the 1986-87 academic year.
Watson earned his B.A. degree
from Duke University and his master’s
degree and Ph.D. from Boston
University. He has taught African,
European, and Afro-American history
at Wesleyan since 1972. His research
focuses on 19th century South African
history, particularly on the roles of
missionaries and slavery. This research
has produced a number of articles in
professional journals and a book. The
Slave Question: Liberty and Property
in South Africa, published in 1990.
Currently he is studying the changes
South African society underwent when
slavery was abolished, and is interested
in comparing that experience to the
same period in the United States after
the Civil War.
2003 December
Graduates Dinner
Source: Jetta Baker
A dinner will be held on Wednesday,
December 10 at 7:00 p.m. in the
Dunn Center for the Performing
Arts for the 2003 December
Graduates, invitations have been
sent to the December graduates
participating in Commencement, if
you are traditional day student and
live off campus, please stop by the
Office of Student Life, located in the
Hardees Building, to pick up your
invitation. There will be a drawing for
extra Commencement tickets at the
December 10 dinner for the graduates
attending the event. Please rsvp to the
Student Life Office by December 5 to
confirm your attendance.
NoRTh CaroUna WesIeyan CollEqE Rocky Mount, NortIh CaroUna 27804