the stentoriarr
October 20031
Obesity: A Growing Epidemic?
Dawn More
T he American Obesity
Association reported
this year that nearly 127
million adults living in the
|sityi
United States
are over
weight, sixty
million -are
obese, and
nine million
are severely
obese. Many
now consider
obesity one
of the most
prominent ' '
public health concerns in the
US. This number represents
about one-third of the
American population and indi
cates that obesity is, in fact, an
epidemic.
In the late 1970s, 14.4
percent of the population in
the U.S. was obese. A study
done in 2000 showed that 30.5
percent of the population was
obese. The obesity epidemic
in the U.S. has been attributed
to decreased
There is a higher obe-
rate for people with
lesser education: only
15.7 percent of college
graduates are obese
while 27.4 percent of
high school drop-
are obese."
amounts of
physical
activity and
increased
amounts of
foods high
in fat and
calories.
The
overall
trend shows both genders are
increasingly overweight, but
in the United States, more
women than men suffer,from
obesity. About 34 percent of
women are obese while 27.7
III OT
-OU^
percent of men are obese.
There are more than double
the amounts of severely obese
women (6.3 percent) than
severely obese men (3.1 per
cent). Another study revealed
that there is a higher obesity
rate for people with lesser edu
cation: only 15.7 percent of
college graduates are obese
while 27.4 percent of high
school drop-outs are obese.
Obesity is affecting one-
third of the United States pop
ulation. The implications of
this new epidemic are social as
well. In our nation, obese indi
viduals are often victims of
discrimination and are penal
ized for their condition despite
many state and federal laws to
protect citizens from discrimi
nation.
One of the most alarming
medical consequences of our
society's partiality for food is
the rise in childhood obesity,
which has nearly quadrupled
over the past 25 years. A few
of the more serious health
effects of obesity in youth
include asthma, hypertension,
type 2 diabetes, and sleep
apnea in which breathing is
uneven during sleep due to
closure of the airway.
However, children are not the
only individuals at risk for
health problems associated
with obesity. The incidence of
osteoarthritis steadily increas
es with a BMI of 25 and high
er. Birth defects, infertility,
impaired immime responses,
and multiple other conditions
have been attributed to obesity.
Obesity is on the rise
within the US; however, it is a
disease that can be treated with
diet and exercise. A general
attention to health and well
ness within the US could
reverse this trend and improve
national wellbeing as a whole.
(I St#
Logan Couce
Siemens-Westinghouse
Leah Hawkins
T o many students on,
campus, September
30th passed by like any
other day. However, a small
percentage of Science and
Mathers^enttheir day scram-'’
bling to meet a deadline.
:jThe Siemens-
Westinghouse competition in
math, science, and technology
rewards high school students
each year with prizes, honor
able«-mentions, and scholar-
sh^s. 1 ’ "The Siemens
Foundation ' provides') more
than $1 million in college
scholarships and awards each
year for talented high school
students in the United States"
(Siemens Foundation).
Science and Math has had
several national winners in the
past, including one team who
won at nationals, receiving
$100,000. This year, various
groups submitted papers
including chemistry, biology,
computer technology, and
physics projects. The Siemens
competition requires a large
amoimt of work; as one senior
stated, "r didn't do Siemens
because it seemed to cause a
lot of stress and was too much
work."
For example; the many
students who submitted
research papers to Siemens
conducted research last school
year, over their summer
breaks, and this fall in order to
collect enough data. Also, two
physibs teams received curfew
extensions from Dr. Warshaw,
the head of academic pro
grams, to work on their paper
until 3 a.m. the night before
the paper was due.
Although the competition
is a stressful experience, some
seniors enjoyed the experi
ence. As Monica Shah stated,
"weekends without LYM (her
chemistry research team) will
not be the same."
On October 1, all research
papers were due to the
Siemens Foundation. Only
time will tell whether or not
these students' hard work will
result in snazzy semi-finalist
prizes like a top-of-the-line
palm pilot or full rides to col
leges of their choice.
Logan Couce
Asiri and Jenny hard at work on their Siemens research writeup.
Prejudice Renewed
Bryan Butler
ihe early morning of
October third went by
imeventfully fof most
of the NCSSM community.
Most of us do not know the
story of Eddie Hartman and do
not know that he was executed
in our state a little after 2 am
that morning. Most of us are
not aware of the history of big-,
otry that Hartman's case repre
sents to many of our fellow
Americans.
In the preceding weeks,
many groups including
Amnesty International,
Human Rights Campaign and
the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force heightened their
campaigns for Governor
Easley to stay Hartman's exe
cution. Hartman was sen
tenced to death in October
1994 after he was arrested and
confessed to shooting and rob
bing Herman Smith, his
housemate, in Northampton
County. There has been a deep
concern that Hartman's sexual
orientation was used against
him at trial.
At sentencing, Hartman's
mother, while being cross-
examined about sexual abuse
her son had experienced as a
child, was asked by the prose
cutor, "is not your son a homo
sexual?" The prosecutor was
apparently attempting to mini
mize the significance of the
sexual abuse and avoid lenien
cy from the jury. Hartman's
aunt was told by the prosecu
tor, "Well, you knew that Mr.
Hartman is a homosexual.
You've heard that." This ques
tion was objected to and the
objection was sustained, at
which point the prosecution
asked, "Did you know what
sexual persuasion the defen
dant was?" ■
When I heard of
Hartman's case and its dubious
circumstances, I began look
ing for other cases of sexual
orientation being used against
defendants. According to The
Independent,. i an estimated
40% of women on death row
had an implication of lesbian
ism used against them,
whether the charge was true or
http://www. usatoday. com
Eddie Hartman
not. Recently, Missouri,
Oklahoma and Texas prosecu
tors have featured defendants'
gay identities in trials resulting
in death sentences.
Many contend that cases
such as this one are used far
too often to prove a point, or to
symbolize some large nebu
lous social movement, and I
try to avoid making an isolated
case into a case study of all
that is wrong with the world.
With this case, though, 1 could
not ignore the fact that such
cases in the US symbolize a
much deeper problem in socie
ty.
If you are serving on a
jury, about to decide the fate of
a defendant, and you are sud
denly told the defendant is
gay, something you had not
thought of before, how would
you think of them differently?
The only acknowledge
ment of the inappropriate and
discriminatory nature of the
comments made by the prose
cutor concerning Hartman's
sexual orientation was the
instruction .inade by th^ judge
to the jury to disregard the
comments. If you are told that
someone is homosexual, can
you eyei; look at and feel the
same way about them again?
Can you discard the connota
tions, the years of things you
have been told about gay peo
ple?
The homophobia and
intolerance of normal citizens
was perhaps played upon in
this case, and many others, and
that is deeply disturbing. The
history of institutionalized
prejudice in our legal system
(which is indicative of the
prejudice in our social sys
tems) has always included
gender and race, and is more
and more including national
origin and religion. The addi
tion of sexual orientation to
this list is a terrible fact for a
supposedly progressive coun
try such as ours.
At the core of the ability
of a prosecutor to utilize some
one's sexual orientation to
exact harsher punishment on
them is homophobia. Where
does this type of prejudice
come from?
It isn't NORMAL'. You
would be surprised how many
times I've heard this.
In our quest for normalcy,
the obsessive desire of seem
ingly all young people (and
sadly, many older, supposedly
more mature people), the
repulsion of all that is foreign
or different, we have become
prejudiced time and again in
See “Justice”
Page 6