Opinions
Bo ww
JIM
HEFFNER
Columnist
~The EPA is at it again
If you smoke. stop now. If you don't smoke, don't
start.
I am saying that up front, because I know there are
going to be those who say 1 am endorsing something
that everybody knows is unhealthy. This is not an en-
dorsement of smoking, this is just a little story about
how a government agency manipulates information,
and lies. to get what it wants.
The Environmental protection Agency (EPA) has
lost its latest court bid to keep everyone in this country
from smoking.
A federal court in Winston-Salem has rejected a mo-
tion filed by the EPA to dismiss a lawsuit filed against
it by Philip Morris USA, one of the tobacco giants.
The lawsuit, which will now proceed into court, seeks
to have the EPA's report on and classification of envi-
ronmental tobacco smoke (ETS) as a "Group A
Carcinogen" declared null and void.
I really have no idea why Philip Morris wants to go
to the trouble. If they are successful nobody will ever
hear about it. How many of you knew about the ruling
in Winston-Salem.
There is no group as powerful as the militant non-
smokers.
The EPA released its report almost two years ago, a
report that generated a great deal of media coverage,
and has resulted in a spate of businesses declaring their
facilities smoke free, including several fast food
chains.
Many parents were scared by the EPA document,
And will not allow their small children near anyone
who is smoking, to the extent of paranoia.
Philip Morris believes, with good reason, that the
EPA report is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccu-
racies. That's a nice way of putting it.
Analysis of the report, according to Philip Morris,
reveals that EPA researchers decided that their report
would conclude that ETS is harmful to non-smokers
even before they began collecting data.
The agency decided not to conduct any new re-
search, but to sift through old reports and pick and
choose anything they could find to support their thesis.
They chose, for example, to omit the largest study
ever conducted on this issue. This study, funded in part
by the National Cancer Institute, reflected no overall
statistically significant increased risk among non-
smokers exposed to ETS.
Of the 30 studies they did use, 24 showed the same,
but the EPA conveniently manipulated these studies to
support their own preconceived conclusion. The six
that did show a statistical association did not take into
consideration cultural and environmental influences.
Why hash this over here you might ask? Because it
gives you an idea.of the audacity of your government.
They have decided what is best for us, and we have no
say in it. Not only that, they've taken "scientific" data
and bent it to their own use.
I wish Philip Morris all the luck in the world as their
suit goes to court. I hope they win, and if they do, I'll
let you know. This is probably one of the few places
you'll see it printed.
I'm not quite through with the EPA and how they do
business.
Several regional offices of the agency have
launched a new campaign to intimidate restaurant
owners into banning smoking.
Some restaurant owners, particularly in the New
England and Mid-Atlantic regions have received a
rather confusing letter from the Agency, asking them
to sign a "Memorandum of Understanding." By sign-
ing, restaurant owners agree to prohibit smoking in
their establishments.
What the agency does not say in this letter, is that
they have absolutely no authority to require restaurants
to ban smoking. Business owners are free to set their
own policy in this matter.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's your government at
work. One of our federal agencies uses intimidation
and deceit and we let them get by with it.
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Pictorial Editorial
The good rains of the summer will mean good eating for Wayne Yarbro's cattle this winter. Yarbro is
pictured above cutting a huge field of corn off Margrace Road near Kings Mountain. The corn is now
stored in Yarbro's silo and fermenting for winter use.
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Writer taught course in Durham
To the editor:
As national consultant for Project Reality (formerly
Project Respect) for the past eight years, I have trav-
eled to 38 states and trained over 15,000 teachers how
to effectively implement abstinence based curricula in
the classroom. I began this endeavor teaching the "Sex
Respect" curriculum in three high schools in Durham
County from 1986 to 1990. The course was taught by
teacher invitation to me to enter their health and health
occupations classes.
All this became a reality partly due to a 1986 meet-
ing I had with Dr. John Fletcher (Health Director of
the Durham County Health Department) who wrote a
letter of endorsement for me to the NC Department of
Human Resources to receive funding to teach "Sex
Respect" in Durham County. This funding was granted
to me through my local organization at the time called
Project WAIT. The course was taught to over 2,000 -
students at North Durham High School alone over the
next four years under this project.
In 1990, the counselors at Northern reviewed the
names of the 2,000 students I had taught there and
could only identify five pregnancies from that group
(less than 1%). Out of the 775 students I taught at
Southern Durham and Jordan High Schools, 94.5%
said they will accept the abstinence message or a "sec-
ondary virginity" to avoid pregnancy or S.T.Ds.
Project WAIT showed tremendous changes in attitude
from pre and post testing of these students. As a result,
in 1989, Dr. Fletcher wrote another letter of endorse-
ment concluding, "Project WAIT shows excellent
promise and based upon initial reports is achieving
good results."
Although the Durham County Schools or the
Durham County Health Department never officially
adopted "Sex Respect" as part of their Health curricu-
lum, the school system allowed me to enter these vari-
ous classrooms by teacher invitation to teach the
course and the Health Department supported me with
letters of endorsement to the state. The abstinence
teaching strategy 1 developed using this course in
Durham County became so effective, it is now being
applied to other great abstinence based curricula on the
national scene today that are achieving even greater re-
sults in the classroom.
The Kings Mountain schools would be doing a great
service to teens by adopting a true abstinence base cur-
riculum and providing in service training for their
teachers. y
Michael B. Long,
National Consultant
Project Reality
Parent trying to help
To the editor:
The letter published September 15, 1994 from Dr.
John Fletcher (Health Director of the Durham County
Health Department), without contact on my behalf;
Willie M. program fails violent juveniles
The real outrage with the mismanagement of the
state-run $48 million Willie M. program is not the in-
adequate training of the staff personnel, it's not the
run-down buildings, it's not the incorrect psychiatric
diagnoses, nor is it even the millions of hard-earned
and ill-spent tax dollars that have been wasted.
The real outrage of the Willie M. program is that the
"always forgiving" public is allowing this scandal to
continue to be played out on those least able to help
themselves - the 1,200 violent, emotionally disturbed
children the program is failing. The program is named
for a 1979 class action lawsuit that forced North
Carolina to provide specialized treatment for disturbed
and violent youths and, apparently, none of the offi-
cials running the program will be held accountable for
its dismal failure.
After an cight-month evaluation, the Willie M.
Review Panel criticized state officials, citing inade-
quate training of personnel, dilapidated buildings, high
employee turnover rates, breakdowns in communica:
tions and staffing problems at the 41 Willie M. centers.
When one considers that the $48 million program
serves only 1,200 youths, simple math tells you that
tried to discredit my integrity a one who would try to
deceive the Kings Mountain School Board and the
community.
My sources and statistics are not deceptive. It is my
intent to help our community and schools, not to hin-
der.
: Jean McAbee
KM doesn't need office
To the editor:
This letter is being written in response to your arti-
cle in the Kings Mountain Herald on September 22 en-
titled "Sheriff Candidate Wants Office For Deputies in
Kings Mountain."
Being a citizen of Kings Mountain and Cleveland
County “and speaking from a former Kings Mountain
~ Police Officer and a 16-year veteran with the
Cleveland County Sheriff's Department, Lwould; like; -
to say: Mr. Kellum stated warrants could be served out
of his proposed satellite sheriff's office in the Kings
Mountain area. How can this be possible? A warrant is
an order by the court to arrest a suspect for a crime and
the suspect, by law, has to be carried before a judicial
official and/or magistrate to determine bond or suspec-
t's incarceration. Being that this is the process a deputy
has no other choice but to do what the law directs.
Without the State of North Carolina and the senior res-
ident superior court judge assigning a magistrate to
Kings Mountain the warrants could not be served at
this satellite office.
Having worked with the Cleveland County Sheriff's
Department for 16 years, I had no problems in using
© the facility of the Kings Mountain Police Department.
I see no need for taxpayers of all of Cleveland County
' to provide satellite and/or sub stations when there are
departments such as Kings Mountain Police
Department that will provide office space, assistance
of any kind to any deputy just by asking. During my
16 year tenure, I have never seen a need for a satellite
and/or sub station that would assist a deputy in doing
his sworn duty. Cleveland County is a small depart-
ment but is providing law enforcement duties to a very
large county.
I was privileged to serve under three different sher-
*iffs, Haywood Allen, Dale Costner and Buddy
McKinney, and I feel that if there had been a need for
a satellite and/or sub stations this would have been ad-
dressed by one of these three men with the Cleveland
County Commissioners at some time.
“It appears to me that these articles by Mr. Kellum
are in an effort to deceive the residents of greater
Kings Mountain to influence their vote and I can only
hope that the residents of Kings Mountain can see
through this political cloud.
I will be, along with numerous others, casting my
vote for the man that can address the crime problems
that our county has without using political promises,
this man being Dan Crawford.
Joe King
GUEST COLUMN
THOMAS GOOLSBY
Carolina Syndicated
Columns
we are talking about a budget of $40,000 per child.
What's happening with our money? About all we real-
ly know is that it's being spent.
The panel's review, the first of the program since
1989, noted major gaps in psychiatric care that may
have resulted in children receiving wrong diagnoses
and improper treatment. Don't fret, however, "recom-
mendations to the General Assembly” have been made
by the staff.
In response to the panel's findings, Marcie White,
Director of the Willie M. program, stated: "There were
no surprises.” Do you mean to tell us, Ms. White, that
you have been and continue to preside over a program
GARY
STEWART
Editor
Best place on Saturday night?
At home watching HBO movie
Some items that have been piling up or didn't mak
it into more suitable parts of the paper:
BM Dean Westmoreland, Kings Mountain residen
who is seeking Ollie Harris's Senate seat in Novembe
recently had over 500 people show up for a rally at the
Cleveland County Fairgrounds. The event exceeded
everyone's expectations, so much in fact that the orga-
nizers ran out of food and had to go back to the store
for more.
Many of North Carolina's political leaders attended, °
and there were a lot of speeches, hand shaking and |
back slapping.
The supporters also relieved Westmoreland of most | y
of his political signs and bumper stickers, so you'll see
a lot of them around the area between now and
November.
HB Kings Mountain's State Representative, John
Weatherly, got good grades from North Carolina
Taxpayers United which tracked how each member of
the House and Senate voted on key tax and spend
items during the 1993 and '94 legislative sessions.
Weatherly was declared a "Taxpayer's Best Friend"
for accumulating 100 points (the minimum required
was 65 for Taxpayer Friend or 90 for Taxpayer Best
Friend) on the group's scorecard which reflected how
the House members voted on nine bills. The Senate
was tracked on seven tax and spend matters.
Weatherly was the only area legislator to earn either
of the honors. Rep. Jack Hunt scored 27.5 and Rep.
Edith Lutz 55, and Senator Ollie Harris scored 30.
Overall, the group criticized the General Assembly
for its spending record of the past several years. It
pointed out that the state's budget has increased from
$1 billion in 1972 to more than $10.2 billion today,
and that North Carolina has the second highest state
taxes in the Southeast. The G.A. was also criticized for
spending most of this year's $1 billion budget surplus.
HM HBO recently conducted a survey to see how
Americans spend their Saturday nights. Forty-five per-
cent of the 1,010 respondents said they see Saturday as
their night out, but a huge number of them said their
best plans usually go wrong.
Seventeen percent said they experienced their worst
Saturday night at a party, while 16 percent suffered at
dinner. A blind date was responsible for one in ten 1
‘lousy Saturday nights.
5a
Here dre some others you might relate to:
When asked what was the worst thing a companion
ever did, 19 percent said their companion got sick or
drunk. Another 16 percent complained of fighting, and
14 had to listen to a companion talk about himself or
herself all night.
A third of all omen who had a bad experience on
Saturday night blamed their companion, and one per-
cent blamed a pet.
More than 25 percent of 18-24 year-olds said their
worst Saturday night occurred at a party, and one in six
had their night ruined by companions who made ad-
vances on others or disappeared in the middle of the
night.
Among those personally blamed for ruined Saturday
nights were Bo Schembechler, two prostitutes and
President Nixon.
Respondents said that among the worst things com-
panions have done over the course of a Saturday night
included: not showing up, talking about an ex-spouse
and the ultimate in anti-social behavior - dying.
BM Former Kings Mountain teacher/coach Bruce
Clark, now offensive coordinator for Southern
Guilford High School, is helping create some excite-
ment on Friday nights for the SG fans.
Southern won its first two games before losing the
pat two weeks to a pair of state-ranked 2-A clubs -
Randleman and Eastern Alamance. Southern needs
one more victory to match last year's total.
The SG offense is averaging over 300 yards rushing
and 100 yards passing per game and scored 57 points
in a victory over Trinity. In their regular season opener
they defeated Ragsdale 28-14 for their first home win
in over two years.
Southern has two backs averaging over 100 yards
rushing per game and their quarterback is hitting over
50 percent of his passes and is averaging over 100
yards per contest.
that manages to spend $40,000 per needy child and
you can't even provide these Kids with necessary ser-
vices, proper diagnoses, and decent facilities? Even
our bureaucratically top heavy and bloated corrections
system doesn't come close to the costs of the Willie M.
program. Why can't we see more for our money?
Ms. White does have an answer to the problem and
it does not involve giving you more for your money.
Her answer is simple - more money, more money.
more money. Does this refrain sound familiar - "You
(Joe Taxpayer) aren't paying enough?" Apparently. all
we must do is increase the amount of money we are
spending per child to maybe $60.000 or even $80.000,
and the problem will be solved.
How long will we continue to pour money into the
bottomless pit of government spending and hope. be-
yond hope and reason, that things will get better?
When we will realize that our financial resources arc § 7
limited and that more and more government is not the
answer? When will we stop listening to the soothing § «7;
tones of the Willie M. administrators. who have the au-
dacity to tell us that $40,000 per child 1s not enough?
When will be stand up and start doing the work that
needs to be done?
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