Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / July 14, 1994, edition 1 / Page 11
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1 1 yVu^K thD CI in iKmMntttM U1 JUC1 LI JC oUll Brass NSIDE THIS SECTION: TV Listings , 6-7 Calendar, Page 8 Kristy Bellamy Makes A New Start With Help From JTPA DI aUMTI USttEJC Who says you don't get a second chance? Kristy Julene Bellamy knows better; she believes in miracles. She also knows that the opportunity for a new start doesn't guarantee success. That it takes having a dream, strong determination and a little help along the way from others who believe in you even when you're hav ing doubts. The Supply woman recently teceived the 1994 Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Participant of the Year Award for the Individual Referral Program in Brunswick County. Hers is the kind of success story that could inspire others to try to change their lives for the better, to not give up, to stretch and reach again for that brass ring like a child on an old-fashioned merry-go-round. Grab the shining ring dangling just out of reach above your head, youngsters were told, and if you truly be lieve, your wish will come true. At age 18, Kristy moved away from home, she sa.d. "expecting to live like a grown person and handle all of the responsibilities that had beer, placed before me." She learned very quickly that the real world has a harsh, unforgiving edge. After IX years living on her own trying to work odd jobs, she simply gave up. Disheartened and exhausted, Kristy retreated to safe har I inn. "I could no longer handle the real world," she re called. "I asked my grandparents if I could stay with them. They opened their door and their hearts to me. Time went by. Many days I would get up depressed, cry ing all the time, asking God, 'Why me?*" In fall 1992, she was skimming the The Brunswick Beacon when she spotted an article concerning new courses Brunswick Community College planned to offer that winter as part of a regional health education consor tium. Those courses included phlebotomy, the medical practice of opening a vein to draw blood. The short-term course would prepare students with a valuable skill said to be in demand across southeastern North Carolina. Space was limited to 10 students, on a first-come, fust-served basis. Interest in the course was high and ru mors were circulating that "a lot" of would-be enrollees planned to camp out the night before. Kristy was determined to get into that class. She grabbed the brass ring, held it close to her heart, and set out to make her wish come true. The night of Dec. 1, she pulled her old car into the parking lot at BCC at around 10:30 p.m., curled up and slept as best she could. Rolling out at 7 a.m. Kristy took her place near the front of the registration line. She made the cut-off. TWo quarters later, Kristy had com pleted the program. "You don't see that kind of determination very often, especially in someone so young," says Linda Moore field. Job Training Partnership Act coordinator for BCC. "I'm really proud of her. She has really done well." At 3CC Kristy qualified for assistance under the fed eral Job Trairiing Partnership Act (JTPA) individual re ferral program. JTPA sponsors employment and training programs aimed at helping get disadvantaged individuals off in come subsidies and into the workforce ? where Kristy desperately wanted to be. Under the individual referral program she qualified for a full scholarship to train in an occupational field where skill shortages exist and em ployment opportunities are available. The scholarship could be used to pay for books, tuition, supplies, fees, uniforms, tools, licenses and professional exams. Along the way, Kristy 's vision grew. She had worked before as a nursing assistant, but needed to brush up on her skills to meet new state registration requirements. After completing the phlebotomy course, she enrolled in the Nursing Assistant III refresher course, again with JTPA support, and earned a place on the state register. She completed the class just 16 days before BCC's Aug. 20 commencement. Still ahead of her was sitting for a national phle- I botomist certification exam in Raleigh. Without an ac ceptable score, finding employment as a phlebotomist would be difficult. On Sept. 20, she passed the American Society of Clinical Pathologists exam" with flying colors." With her dual health care skills Kristy confidently be gan job hunting, but grew more and more discouraged. "The fall of 1993 was one of phone calls, resumes, applications and nail-biting." she recalled. "Sadness overwhelmed me." Then, on Nov. 18. she received a call from Janet Shew, coordinator of the Brunswick County Health Department's WIC (Women. Infants and Children) pro gram. W1C provides education and nutritional support for expectant women, and infants and young children. Kristy heard the magic words: "I'd like you to come in for an interview." But WIC was hoping to hire someone with more ex perience. The waiting and hunting resumed. By then Kristy had almost convinced herself that she would never find a job. In mid-December Mrs. Shew called again, asking if Kristy were still interested in the opening. "I said 'Yes!,'" she recalled. Kristy calls that first day on the job ? Dec. 20 ? "Glory Day." "My Lord, my family, my JTPA family saved me from what ddn't have to happen," she says. For just under four months she worked part-time as a community health assistant, becoming a full-time per manent employee April 4, qualifying for benefits that in clude health insurance. "JTPA made me a true believer that miracles can hap pen in the lives of many whom are often willing to go that extra mile but are often unable to," she says. "I'm so very proud of myself and my accomplishments. JTPA made the road smoother and the ride more comfortable." Long-Term Coastal Resource Study Begins With UNCW Data Despite volumes of scientific research, no one really knows for sure if conditions along the eastern coastline are declining or im proving. "There was no systematic look at the United States in terms of environmental health," said Courtney Hackney, a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. But this summer, UNCW, the Envi ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin istration (NOAA) began laying the ground work for long-term monitoring of estuaries along the North Carolina coast Estuaries lie between the fresh water of inland rivers and the salt water of the open ocean. They have unique characteristics that make them the most productive coastal eco logical resources. Health estuaries contain a variety of plants and animals all interacting in dose balance with the surrounding physi cal and chemical environment The ecologi cal balance is important in enabling the sys tem to resist or recover from changes brought on by natural causes or man-in duced stress. While billions of dollars are spent each year to rcducc pollution to surface waters that affect estuaries and other coastal habi tats, there is little information available to judge the nation's success in protecting the overall health of these valuable resources. EMAP is the first comprehensive pro gram to collect and analyze data that will provide the basis for the monitoring of the nation's coastal resources. It is a cooperative effort between two federal agencies borne out of the National Coastal Monitoring Act (Title V of the 1992 Amendments to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act). It merges NOAA's National Status and Trends Program and EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) to prevent the duplication of effort and to build a larger and more reliable data base. UNCW was awarded a $490,000 contract to cany out EMAP research this year in the North Carolina estuarine system, which en compasses coastal waters from the Virginia border to the South Carolina line. This in cludes more than half the 18,000-square kilometer Carolinian Province currently be ing studies, said Hackney, who is coordinat ing the project with James Merritt, director of UNCW's Center for Marine Science Research; Martin Posey, marine biologist; and Steve Ross, N.C. sanctuary program co ordinator. By the time the five-year project is com pleted, it will be an approximate S2.3 mil lion effort in North Carolina. A dozen researchers, including three full time scientists from UNCW's Center far Marine Science Research and nine UNCW students or graduates, are collecting data at SO sites through Aug. 25. Hackney ex plained that the sizes were randomly select ed and indude a variety of locations ranging from large sounds to small tidal creeks, some of which have never been studied. "We're sampling a whole range of estuar ine conditions," he said. This is the first of four years of data col lection. The fifth year of the protect will be dedicated to analyzing the data, he said. Data will be collected June through September of each year by field crews with the assistance of programmable instruments armed with probes that can take samples at selected time intervals around the dock Sampling will include all types of animal life, from fish populations to minute crea tures which live in the mud, oxygen content and sediment toxicity. "It's a very detailed sampling procedure," Hackney sakL Because of that, UNCW re searchers had to undergo a week of training to become certified by the federal govern ment. "We had to prove we know the protocols. It ensures the samples are good and can be used in the future," he said. Stringent con trols were established so data collections would be uniform up and down the coast, no matter who was performing them, and pro vide an accurate picture of changes in coastal conditions for years to come. The main thrust is to get a data base that anyone can use," Hackney said. "This is a huge project. It's very complex." Similar EMAP monitoring has already been completed in the Northeast's Virginia Province and the Louis ianan Province along the Gulf of Mexico. Data collected will be made available to the U.S. Congress and state agencies such as divisions of coastal management, fisheries and environmental management for future coastal policy development. Hackney said. The work won't end when the EMAP study of the entire Carolinian Province (which ranges from Cape Henry, Va., to the Indian River lagoon system in Florida) is completed. Hackney said the whole process will begin again in ten years. "This is a long-term effort," he said. Hackney said he believes EMAP will re veal some surprises when all the data ate compiled and analyzed. "A lot of areas people think poor habitats may be normal, but it may reveal dangers we're not aware of," be said. In addition, "we folly expect to turn up rare and new species." "This will allow us as scientists to get a look at North Carolina never before seen, a snapshot view of the environmental health of the whole coast" 1 The Gooseneck Barnacles BY BILL FAVER Some marine species are active in that they roam in seas, bays and marshes in search of food. Others are ? passive and stay in one place wait ing for food to come by them. The gooseneck barnacles are a combination of active and passive, for they attach themselves to ships and pieces of lumber and debris and then are carried many miles by cur rents or trade routes. Goose barnacles, or gooseneck barnacles, have little resemblance to the more common acorn bama FAVEX cles we find on pilings and rocks and other places around the shore. Most goose barna cles live on the deep sea bottom, but some wash up on our beaches attached to ocean debris. These "stalked barnacles" have an elongated body within a shell made of two halves, each with several plates. The body forms a stalk an inch or more long and fastens by means of a glue-like substance. Barnacles characteristically stand on their heads and stick their feet out to bring in the food. Six pairs of legs divide into curling jointed branches at the end and re semble feathery plumes. L - Since the goose barnacle attaches itself and gets a free ride all over the world, H is not considered to in habit any particular place but it always a visitor wher ever it washes ashore. Those we find have stalks about an inch long, but in some parts of the world the stalk may be up to a foot long. One story in medieval England is that the barnacle goose hatched from these goose barnacles. Since the migratory habits of these geese were unknown, it was assumed they developed almost overnight from the bar nacles found in the area. Even as late as 1678, Sir Robert Moray dissected a goose barnacle and reported to the British Royal Society that, "The little bill like that of a goose, the eyes marked, the head, neck, breast, wings and tail formed, Ihc feather* everywhere perfectly shaped sad blackish in color, and the feet like that of other water fowl." Such imagination gave these barnacles their name, and many years passed before the notion was dispelled that these shells broke open and geese flew away. Watch for pieces of driftwood and floating timber riding the waves as they wash ashore. Examine them carefclly for goosencck barnacles stretching out their slender stalks to feed. And if you find them, you might just look around for some geese overhead. GOOSENECK BARNACLES <
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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July 14, 1994, edition 1
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