NEWS STORIES
Aiming for a healthier North Dakota
Smoking is the main cause of preventable diseases that people die from yearly—heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary heart disease—and the government pays out billions of dollars because of smoke‑related deaths and illnesses.
According to the Center for Disease Control, a non-smoker's chance of developing lung cancer increases by 20–30 percent.
The American Cancer Society states that "as many as 20 percent of people who die from lung cancer in the United States every year have never smoked or used any other form of tobacco," and that second-hand smoke causes as much as 7,000 adults to die of lung cancer.
North Dakota has found creative ways to inform, educate, and to deter people from smoking and passed measure 4, Nov. 6, 2012, banning smoking in public places and indoor workplaces.
The ban was implemented to promote clean-air and prevent residents from the harmful exposure to the second‑hand smoke.
According to BreatheND, the official portal for the North Dakota government, the ban went into effect officially December 6, just one month after measure 4 was passed.
BreatheND indicates that 66.6 percent of North Dakota residents are in favor of this clean-air legislation.
A poll conducted by Forum Communications shows that many North Dakota residents are in favor of this ban.
Measure 4 also bans electronic cigarettes in public places and disallows smoking in bars, taxis, motels, private nursing homes, and that people be at least 20 feet away from buildings when smoking.
While many are learning to accept the implementation of measure 4, the state has also put in place various resources to help smokers become aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke and quit.
Through public health partners in association with the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention Control Policy, counseling, and anti-smoking resources such as: nicotine patches and Nicorette gums and lozenges are provided for free; therefore, smokers who break the anti-smoking laws will face varying levels of consequences.
The North Dakota Century Code Chapter 23-12 Public Health, Miscellaneous Provisions states that anyone in violation of the non-smoking law is guilty of an infraction and is subject to fines from $100 to $500.
The law also prevents minors from starting to use tobacco by citing the child for possession of tobacco and to pay a $25 fine. He or she must then attend a one-hour tobacco education program and pay an additional $25.
According to BreatheND, the Fargo Cass Public Health and the Fargo Police Department have been working together to perform tobacco compliance checks to ensure businesses comply with the tobacco-free coalition laws and issue warnings or suspension of tobacco licenses to businesses that break these smoking laws.
North Dakota is taking these measures to help smokers to quit and to help those who do not smoke to enjoy clean air.
One hundred and thirteen campuses in North Dakota are participating and supporting measure 4.
Smoking is prohibited on campuses and tobacco awareness and resources are provided.
According to the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy, among the comprehensive tobacco-free campuses are Trinity Bible College, Bismarck State College, University of North Dakota, Jamestown College, Valley City State University, Lake Region State College, Dakota College, North Dakota State College of Science, Dickinson State University, University of Mary, and North Dakota State University.
NDSU joined in the efforts March 1, 2010, to ensure a tobacco-free, smoke-free campus. NDSU provides students who are trying to quit three months of counseling and anti-smoking resources, free, at its Wallman Wellness Center.
Jace Beehler, NDSU student body vice president, said students were the ones who voted for a smoke-free campus.
Richard Hanson, former NDSU president, signed policy 153, for “A Smoke-Free Campus” as far back as Dec. 18, 2009.
Students voted May 6-7, 2009, for clean air on campus. By spring 2010, the move in the direction for clean air was implemented.
Deb Thomson, assistant secretary at the NDSU Office of Multicultural Programs, said, the ban on campus has helped her to cut down on smoking because she feels lazy to leave the campus to smoke.
“It’s helping me because I can’t smoke in the day,” Thomson said.
Thomson said she is more likely to go without smoking for an entire day or at least cut down to only smoking one to three cigarettes at nights.
The CDC states that even smoking a few cigarettes a day increases your risk of lung cancer.
Non-smoking members of the NDSU community appreciate the smoke-free air.
NDSU graduate student Mbang Umanah said that second-hand smoking bothers her.
“I really like when there is no smoking around,” she said.
Even though NDSU has banned smoking on campus, Umanah said that she still sees students smoking on campus.
“I think they (NDSU) should do something.”
Smokers have had to adjust their habits to obey the anti-smoking rule on campus and consider those who will inhale the second-hand smoke.
The CDC states that when a person breathes in second-hand smoke it is as if he or she is smoking.
Suzan Wolter who works at the NDSU Office of International Programs enjoys the benefits of the rule change.
“I think it’s good,” Wolter said, “when I walk through smoke, it’s hard for me to breathe.”
Wolter said she grew up around smokers and is glad for the change to promote clean air.
To promote the clean air legislation, North Dakota, through public health initiatives to make residents aware of the smoke risks and quit smoking, developed various anti-smoking program.
It developed the SAFE program —Smoke-free Air for Everyone Coalition, which mission states to “improve the health of the citizens of Cass County through education and strategies designed to eliminate the use of tobacco products and exposure to the harmful effects of tobacco.”
The SAFE coalition program, which began in 2003, focuses on Fargo, N.D.
In collaboration with a group called “Share the Air,” SAFE works to eliminate smoking in rental apartments, truck stops, bars and especially those places where minors are allowed.
The North Dakota Tobacco Prevention and Control Executive Committee and the North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy has put together a program called BAN—Break Away from Nicotine, to give those who want to quit the resources to do so.
The program is free and offers a four-step approach to quit smoking.
The first step is a 30-minute consultation to discuss the challenges and to set up a program catered to the individual.
The second step is called the treatment plan. This option identifies a target-quit date and provide anti-smoking resources, such as nicotine patches, gums, and inhalers.
The third step is the education session. A support team discusses how to deal with the unwanted cravings for nicotine while trying to quit.
Triggers and stress management are also discussed.
The fourth step is a follow-up. The support team repeatedly checks on individuals as much as up to one year after completing the BAN program and offer encouragement.
Outside the BAN program, there are other online programs, such as NDQuits, which cater to busy people.
NDQuits is an internet-based and telephone program to help North Dakota residents who chew and smoke tobacco to quit.
It offers free 24-hour counseling and support as well as nicotine replacement therapy for two months.
According to the CDC, there are more than 400,000 smoke-related deaths on average each year.
Through the North Dakota anti-smoking programs, Individuals not only get to breathe clean air but to add many more years to their life and lessen preventable diseases.
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Warner bull on showcase this spring
University of Nebraska-Lincoln students and FFA contestants will have another chance this spring to see Golden Design 14.
The Hereford bull sculpture will be on display, April 12-30, 2019, at the Animal Science Complex Student Commons during the FFA competition at the R.B. Warren Arena.
This Hereford bull carries with it a historic story and is showcased all over Nebraska by Richard Brown.
Richard Brown is a UNL animal science alumnus who grew up in Taylor, Neb., a community that was fond of Hereford cattle.
He too grew to love Herefords while active in 4-H, FFA competitions, livestock judging, and showed Hereford cattle at the state level.
Brown graduated in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science then pursued law school at UNL.
Today, Brown is an assistant clerk for the Nebraska Legislature and serves as parliamentarian for the Lt. Gov. or other senators presiding over the legislative body, when in session.
When he is not doing record-keeping or putting out information on Nebraska bills, Brown puts out information about Golden Design 14.
Golden Design 14 was the name of a real-life Hereford bull owned by a Nebraska farmer named Charlie Warner.
Golden Design 14 was a reserve champion at the Old Reliable Hereford Association Show and Sale in Grand Island, Neb., in 1968.
The Warner family bid and won the bull and brought it back to their family farm, Warner Hereford Farms, in Waverly, Neb.
At the farm, the bull worked very well with calves. Charlie Warner, who handled the day-to-day running of the farm, grew to love the bull and later asked artist Arlo Bray to make a replica of it.
Bray, who was a farmer and Charlie Warner’s neighbor, spent 100 hours to complete it by 1975.
When completed, it weighed 110 pounds and was 32 inches tall, 56 inches long, 18 inches wide, and welded from sheet metal.
Since its creation, the Golden Design 14 sculpture went everywhere with Charlie Warner and was showcased at Hereford cattle shows all over Nebraska.
Eventually the bull become a symbol of the Warner Hereford Farms and eventually adopted the name, Warner Bull.
The Warner’s were a well-known family in all of Nebraska and known for raising Herefords. Charlie Warner was the son of Charles J. Warner, who owned Warner Hereford Farms in 1926.
Charles J. Warner served 24 years as a Nebraska state legislature and as Lt. Gov.
His son Charlie took over the running of the farm while Charlie's brother Jerome went to work for the state.
Jerome became a long-serving state legislator in Nebraska where he met Brown.
Brown knew the Warner’s from their business of raising Herefords, a kind of cattle Brown was fond of as a kid and became close family friends with the Warners.
Following the deaths of Charlie and Jerome, in the 1990’s, the Warner Bull grew into bad shape.
At the request of Jerome's daughter, Elizabeth Warner, Brown began to restore the bull.
Brown created the Hereford History Preservation Project and began raising funds to restore the Warner Bull.
He received donations from the Taylor community, people who knew the Warners and thought Nebraskans would be interested in its history, and funds from the Nebraska Arts Council.
After gaining the funds to restore the Warner Bull, he made a promise to display the sculpture all over Nebraska and to share the story behind it.
Since 2015, Brown has taken over Charlie Warner’s tradition of showcasing Golden Design 14.
It has been to various locations throughout Nebraska such as: Waverly, Grand Island, Thedford, Curtis, Valentine, Tryon, Kearney, Bassett, Eustis, Taylor, Alliance, Dunning, Norfolk, Crawford, and at the Department of Animal Science, last spring.
This spring, animal science students get another chance to learn the history surrounding Golden Design 14, the Warner family, and to appreciate Bray’s artistic rendition.
The sculpture represents more than just a story to Brown. He said that “the bull captures Nebraska, it captures public service, which was what the Warner family stood for, it captures Nebraska art, and it captures the livestock industry.”
He finds that displaying the sculpture at the Animal Science Complex is fitting to pass on the history of Golden Design 14.
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Levi McPhillips joins department
“The favorite part of my job is that I get to lead a team of people and while we’re doing ground-breaking research that really matters.” --Levi McPhillips
Throughout his college years McPhillips gained a wealth of experience that he uses today in his profession as a research feedlot manager at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center, in Mead, Neb.
McPhillips began working in the Department of Animal Science in March and reports to Dr. Galen Erickson, beef feedlot extension specialist.
McPhillips oversees the daily operation of the feedlot center of 2,500 head of cattle.
He leads a team of 10, manages the overall health of the animals, feeding, taking feed inventory, equipment maintenance, and manages all research studies.
McPhillips grew up in Columbus, Neb. where he learned as early as a teenager to raise cattle on his family’s farm in Lindsey, Neb.
This inspired him to pursue an undergraduate degree in Animal Science with an emphasis in animal biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
During his college years, he gained useful experiences, the catalyst that turned his career into feedlot management.
His feedlot job experience began as early as 2012, when McPhillips worked as a temporary feedlot worker for Eisenmenger Farms, Inc. in Humphrey, Neb.
It was there that he learned to identify and treat sick cattle and helped with manure management and removal at the 10,000-head cattle feedyard operation.
In the summer of 2013, McPhillips worked at Tuls Dairy Butler County, LLC in Rising City, Neb.
He worked in herd health identifying and treating sick cows and garnered the management techniques for overseeing large–scale dairy production.
It was in 2014 that McPhillips, working as a student employee in ruminant metabolism at UNL Department of Animal Science, worked in the areas of research cattle metabolism and helped with feeding and husbandry.
That summer, McPhillips worked at the USDA Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb. on several experiments with feedlot cattle.
He launched projects related to beta-agonists, animal welfare, and respiration calorimetry.
By June 2015, McPhillips had become assistant feedmill manager at Mead Cattle Co., LLC, in Mead, Neb.
He oversaw 23,000 head of cattle and was responsible for the feeding, commodity inventory, mill, and feed truck maintenance, while supervising feed truck drivers and mill employees.
Later that year, McPhillips graduated from UNL and moved to Oklahoma to pursue a master’s degree in Animal Science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla.
While a student, McPhillips was manager and research coordinator at Willard Sparks Beef Research Center at the university.
Some of his responsibilities included managing 1,000 head of cattle, identifying and treating sick calves, feeding, feed billing, medicine and feed inventory, feed calls, and managing 10 undergraduate students.
McPhillips held this position until he graduated in 2017 with an Animal Science master’s with an emphasis in Ruminant Nutrition.
In March 2018, McPhillips took over the position as research feedlot manager at ENREC.
McPhillips is certified in Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance, Confined Animal Feeding Operations, and has a Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Land Application Training Certification.
McPhillips also speaks Spanish, a skill he uses when working at various livestock operations.
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Life lesson learned
While growing up, I constantly heard a saying, “Everything in life happens for a reason.” Though some may not agree with the saying, we can agree that life can throw us some dreadful moments that become important life lessons.
When asked about her life lesson, student Mb Umanah reminisced about trying to fit in. She remembered being betrayed by friends.
“I have learned through life that having a few, great, loyal, friends are better than having a lot of not-so-great friends,” Umanah said.
Umanah wanted to have many friends, but many turned about to be disloyal. Now, she prefers having a handful of great friends, which she says is fulfilling.
“Knowing you have people who love you for you and having open, honest relationships lead to lasting, loving friendships,” Umanah said.
Her advice on lasting friendships is to investigate people’s hearts to see who they are and build on those true connections. Forming great friendships sometimes lead us to great romantic relationships and appreciation for family.
Office clerk Ruby Dozen relives her experience as a student working on her honors thesis. Very passionate about her experience, she relates her story while holding back the tears.
“After interviewing the students,” Dozen said, “I would often cry because their lives were so dysfunctional.”
The drug infused environment Dozen was exposed to at the time made a lasting impression on her.
She focused on the “socioeconomic and racial status in an urban environment that contributed to the dropout rates of
African American and Puerto-Rican males within the Boston school system.” The horror of violence and poverty gave Dozen an appreciation for life.
According to Dozen, summer was a bad time for the residents. They could not walk freely without fear within a 10-block radius, and they would close their windows from 6 p.m. in fear.
“Life shouldn’t be that way,” Dozen said repeatedly.
She explained, mothers were beaten and babies in diapers were used to transport drugs. She continued to talk about how “everyone had their personal hell.”
“I never realized how fortunate I was to have grown up in Hawaii,” Dozen said.
Dozen was accustomed to people being bothered by not knowing what to wear, which now seems frivolous compared to what she saw others were dealing with in Boston. She said the experience taught her how lucky she is to have the family she does.
Office secretary Susan Wolter knows the value of family. She recalls her life lesson to be the time her son Benjamin died.
Wolter said she avoided dealing with the grief. She describes it as her most difficult experience, but later realizes that to heal she had to confront her fears.
“It came to me that I couldn’t run away or avoid it with anger or denial or drugs,” Wolter said, “I had to stop running and turn and face the pain.”
Going through the ordeal of losing her son taught her how to face her fears. She said that the experience made her stronger and less afraid of the world.
“I’m not going to let fear control my life,” Wolter said, “I don’t want to miss learning about life or myself because I am afraid of what might happen.”
While experiencing life-altering situations can seem dim, these tree women turned their negative situations into positive, important, life lessons that they use as a guide in their every-day life.
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Water, Water, Water
Peta-Gaye Clachar, Staff Photographer | peta-gaye.clachar@gleanerjm.com
Published: Monday | August 27, 2007
The Jamaica Gleaner Company
Water seems to be the one word on everyone's lips, whether they are talking about the flooding caused by Hurricane Dean or the lack of the substance in their pipes. The catastrophic category four hurricane, which passed by the island late Sunday afternoon, is said to be one of the worst hurricanes in the history of Jamaica. Some say Ivan was worse, but the people of Port Royal compare the disaster to that of Hurricane Charlie which devastated the island in 1951.
Too much water
A slogan we hear from time to time is 'Water is Life' and it was this same water that almost took the lives of several residents on Henry Morgan Boulevard when the hurricane struck. One resident, Peter Limtom, tells of the survival technique he had to employ when he had to swim out of his house with his six-year-old son, Giovanni, after the water reached approximately four feet high.
Speaking with other residents, they seem to have concluded that the flood was expected but not to the extent that they experienced it. They pointed out that there was flooding as a result of an improper drainage system and, as it rained, the sewers overflowed into the stormy waters and diverted into their homes.
Pearl Lord, who was wheelchair mobile, said her husband had to secure her to the bed.
Strolling along, one could see clothes and furniture littering the yards as they had been put out by residents to dry. Many were bailing out water.
No water
Men, women, children of all ages came out into to the main square by the St. Peter's Church as they received news that a water truck had come to the rescue. People grabbed for any container they could find. Some walked, two to a pail in hand or on their heads; others transported the water using their bicycles. One man made use of a baby stroller. Many were excited, even though the water was not palatable, while some cursed because of the time it took to arrive on the forgotten island.
The aftermath of Hurricane Dean was clear as one could view the pile-up of silt and see the host of garbage that delivered a stench so rich in the area.
The wrath of Hurricane Dean had no respect for the old hospital that withstood history and many decades of hurricanes as it took off with parts of the retaining walls as though they were paper.
*Please see link below for published article.
http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070827/news/news2.html
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Explore the Treasures of Dolphin Cove
Peta-Gaye Clachar, Staff Photographer | peta-gaye.clachar@gleanerjm.com
Published: Tuesday | October 23, 2007
The Jamaica Gleaner Company
Dolphin Cove is now renamed the 'Dolphin Cove at Treasure Reef' since the new additions to its attractions late last year. It is located at 21 Belmont Road in Ocho Rios. From just swimming with dolphins, Dolphin Cove at Treasure Reef has a new addition to the family: touching and snorkelling with nerve sharks. Each package chosen by guests also includes kayaking, a mini-boat ride and a tour through the 'Jungle Trail' which consists of snakes, a three-foot green iguana, sheep and friendly parrots like Rita, Guinep and Cally, just to name a few.
Guests are required to make reservations to participate in their many sporting activities. The entrance fee to this relaxing experience is US$45 for foreign guests and locals will pay US$35 or the Jamaican equivalent; then choose a package of swimming with one or two dolphins, or just touching the dolphin in knee-high water or enjoy the shark programme.
Among the friendly staff is the warm and welcoming general manager Stafford Burrowes, front office supervisor Kerry-Ann Brown, Quest, the stingray trainer, Mario Spencer and his colleagues from the shark pen, the hilarious pirate Crazy Jack named Frederick Wallace, Karel Willis and Romain Francis among the dolphin trainers.
*Please see link below for published article.
http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071023/business/business1.html
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