Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Oct. 19, 2006, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
People from across the state cele brate sexuality in Asheville -av Pridefest Bi ue B Nt.v corner sp '~1 A / nightlife tc // l^^iiskcOja^ r.v corner sp)t brings big eitv' to Asheville anner See Lifestyles 6 Volume 45, Issue 8 Serving the University of North Carolina at Asheville since 1982 See Kn ter I'AINMEN F 4 October 19, 2006 Bacteria forces dining hall to trash leafy greens By Christa Chappelle Staff Writer A recent national E. coli out break in spinach products prompt ed Chartwell’s Dining Services to remove the leaf vegetable from their menus, according to their senior director. “The story ran, and the first call I made was to my chef,” said Danny Dawkins, senior director of dining services. ‘T told my chef to pull all spinach, spinach-based items and spring mixes that contain spinach.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out a health alert for spinach products on Sept. 16, warning consumers of the out break. This excludes processed spinach. The strain of E. coli 0157:H7 originated from spinach produced by Natural Selection Foods brands located in San Juan Bautista, Calif., with an expiration date of Oct. 1, 2006, or earlier. Twenty-six states reported E. coli infections as of Oct. 6. North Carolina did not have any reported outbreaks, according to the CDC. When Dining Services knew about the situation, they discarded all of their spinach. Because they receive prepackaged spinach, this reduces the possibility of cross contamination with other foods, according to Dawkins. “The spinach we receive goes through a prepackaged form,” Dawkins said. “It’s just a matter of discarding it. There’s no possibili ty of cross contamination.” There are a range of symptoms of E. coli poisoning,, according to Missy Parris, health services staff nurse. “Usually the symptoms are going to be bloody diarrhea,” Parris said. “When you lose a lot of fluids that can be very dangerous, particularly to young children or elderly adults. There’s another more serious complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. Simply put, that causes kidney failure” However, the chance of dying from E. coli infection decreases among healthy adults, according to Parris. “A majority of the time, healthy adults can get through their symp toms with very little problems or illnesses that would be life threat ening,” Parris said. “There’s a low chance of (serious side effects) if you’re a healthy adult.” SEE Spinach 31 By Ben Smith Copy Editor Asheville stands alongside many cities nationwide looking to solve homelessness by first pro viding housing, rather than con tinuing to treat the symptoms of the problem. But despite achieve ments and continued support of the 10-year plan established January 2005, many Ashevillians will still spend this winter in the cold. “It’s not easy being homeless,” said Josh Deliefde, homeless It's very hard for people to address their underlying prob lems while they 're living on the streets. Chari.otte Capland community development director member of the Asheville Homeless Network. “[My fiancd and I] have been to four different camps since we’ve been here. The first two we got ran out of by the cops, and the third one our dog got hit and died by the interstate, and we had to leave that place. I couldn’t stay there anymore. Now we’re in a new site, which hope fully won’t get ransacked for too long.” Deliefde and his pregnant fiance, Valerie Debenedictis, are currently awaiting housing from Asheville’s Housing First pro gram. This policy, set up in the 10-year plan, aims to eventually house all chronically homeless individuals, defined in the plan as those who have been homeless for a year or longer or have had four or more episodes of homelessness in three years. The plan is a radical departure from traditional answers to home lessness. Rather than first requir ing individuals to seek help for mental problems and alcohol and drug addiction, the Housing First plan provides housing and then treats the individual’s other prob lems. The hope is with a stable place to stay, homeless individu als will be more likely to be treat ed effectively and reintegrate into society. “The plan really moves housing from the end of reintroduction of a homeless person back to the beginning,” said Charlotte Capland, community develop ment director and coordinator of the 10-year plan. “It is recogniz ing that people are homeless usu ally for a multiplicity of reasons. It is very hard for people to address their underlying problems while they are living on the streets or even in emergency shelters.” Similar programs have been met with success throughout many major cities including Chicago, Denver, Atlanta and New York. Currently there are over 200 10- year plans either established or in the planning stages throughout the country, according to the Interagency Council on Homelessness. “The strength in the program in Asheville is that there’s far greater understanding of the dynamics of homelessness,” said Gary Jackson, Asheville city manager. ‘There’s a higher level of sympa- A man by the name of Chester No.l plans on sur viving through the winter withoiit a home. While the number of chnmic homeless pec^le in ■ . Asheville has dropped in the last year, more than * '100 still live on the streets. / ‘ (( I’ve seen a lot of people go pay their rent and then go smoke the rest of it up. Josh Deliefde member of homeleas net work thy and empathy for the plight of homeless here than most commu nities.” The real motivation for initiat ing the 10-year plan is the eco nomic burden it removes from the government, who pays for home less individuals, who are more likely to use emergency rooms, spend time in jail for petty crimes and experience health problems such as alcohol and drug addic tion and HIV. By providing the homeless with shelter, tests have shown the gov ernment spends less money than by dealing with the consequences of continued homelessness, of who account for less than 20 per cent of all homeless in Asheville, according to Capland. “The chronically homeless end up using more than half the resources that go into helping homeless people,” Capland said. “Because they have multiple issues in their life, including alco hol abuse and mental illness, they end up using a ridiculous quantity of other public resources.” In a study, 37 chronically home less individuals cost the govern ment an average of $22,700 each per year in jail, court, hospital. Megan Wildman - Staff Photographer EMS and emergency shelter costs. This is compared to the estimat ed $16,000 annual cost of housing such individuals, according to the 10-year plan. Evidence of the success of Asheville’s 10-year plan is just emerging. On Oct. 5 the city opened the Woodfin Apartments, which house 18 chronically ■ homeless individuals with disabilities, including individuals with mental disorders and individuals infected SEE Homeless page 21 ...nov4 4eu^ieav/f Q \ \ • CU+’ \ idea * XV\ it's S»rv\pic "fo / Resident students change daily habits to conserve energy and save money Abby Kent - Staff Photographer Students work together with others in their dorm building to save energy. Many said they hope, whUe the prizes are appealing, the moti vating force behind the Green Games is to save the environment. • • By Anna Lee Staff Writer Resident halls battle in the Green Games this week to determine which group of students can con serve the most water and energy to win a chocolate fountain party and other prizes. “Hopefully people aren’t just wanting to win the competition but to actually pollute less, bum less fossil fuels and use less water,” said Katie Blanchard-Reid, mem ber of Active Students for a Healthy Environment, the organi zation behind the Green Games. Norm Richards, the man in charge of the heating and ventila tion systems on campus, said con serving is not just about environ mental concerns. “The students are paying for the money that goes toward facilities,” Richards said. “It’s not being paid by the state. Every dollar that’s saved keeps tuition from going up or keeps fees from going up.” The school’s total water and energy costs totaled $823,000 last year, and the school consumed 14.9 million gallons of water, according to Richards. The aver age usage of electricity in Mills Hall, for example, is seven kilo watt hours per student per day. “The idea is to raise awareness about how much energy is wasted and how much we could be doing,” Blanchard-Reid said. “Really basic things, which don’t end up happen ing here because people just don’t think about it, include taking short er showers and turning off your laptop at night.” The biggest waste in the dorms includes leaving residence hall windows open, according to Richards. “The systems in all the buildings ran 24 hours a day, and they’re designed to maintain a sjjecific temperature,” Richards said. “I, like everyone else, like nice fresh air, but if you leave your windows open, what ends up is we are trying to cool or heat Asheville.” Many people left their windows open during fall break, according to Richards. “Over 30 percent of the windows were open in Mills Hall, and nobody was here,” Richards said. Things like turning off computer monitors at night are easy to do and save a lot of energy, according to Richards. “If you turn your monitor off, you are going to be using only a third of the electricity you would use otherwise during the day if you leave it on continuously,” Richards said. Holly Michaelson, freshman stu dent, said she does not waste elec tricity. “I always turn the lights off in the bathroom,” Michaelson said. “I always turn off everything before I leave. I think I do OK.” By saving energy, students get the chance to enter a raffle to win a mountain bike, prizes from Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, Marble Slab Creamery ice cream shop, the Fine Arts Theatre, the Sword and Grail game shop and Spiritex organic clothing. To measure which residence hall wins, Richards and ASHE will cal culate the percentage change in water and electricity use in each resident hall compared to an aver age consumption p>er student per day during previous Octobers. Richards says complete accuracy remains impossible because many buildings share power sources. “For instance, Highsmith heats and cools Founders, so when we look at Founders’ energy use, we have to look at Highsmith,” Richards said. “And South Ridge and West Ridge share their water, so we look at that, too.”
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 19, 2006, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75