Outstanding Women honored March 16

By MYRTLE OSNER

Honoring and Celebrating the contributions of women to the life of their communities is a long tradition in Stanislaus County. For twenty-two years the County Commission for Women has chosen Women of History (deceased), Living Pioneers, Outstanding Young Women, (ages 16 to 23), and just plain Outstanding Women. They come from all backgrounds, colors, strengths, and specialties. Each has enriched her sphere of influence in a unique way. March is Women’s History Month. We congratulate all the women who have been chosen in the past and especially those honored this year.

Nineteen women will be honored at a dinner to be held Saturday night, March 16, at the Red Lion, Sisk Road, Modesto.

Three Women of History are:

• Pearl Knutson Nicolds, community activist and historian from Patterson.

• Virginia Garrison Belt, teacher, began American Field Service student program here.

• Christina Jacobs Vanden Akker Van Konynenburg, farm wife, church and school leader.

Five Young Women have been chosen:

• Melissa R. Loeffler, volunteer for those in need, outstanding student.

• Areli Dohner-Chavez, community service, Academic Decathlon winner, peace activist.

• Linda Huynh, community service, International Baccalaureate student.

• Kari Graham, 4 H leader, International Baccalaureate, sports, Girl scout.

• Esther Rosario, Healthy Start founder in Riverbank, mentor to others

All the Outstanding Women have made multiple contributions to their communities; designations are for identification only and cannot begin to tell the breadth of their lives

• Heide Allen, Girl Scout volunteer and businesswoman.

• Susan Dignan, school and political volunteer.

• Beverly Finley, retired CEO of Stanislaus County’s Health Services Agency.

• Pat Graham, Oakdale teacher and activist.

• Juanita Jackson, role model for African Americans and advocate for community.

• Mary Jane Hamilton, teacher and writer of “Character Connections.”

• Marla Loew, Teacher and co-author of “Character Connections.”

• Martha Loeffler, author, social worker, historian.

• Marsha A. Lovelace, nurse and caregiver.

• Jeanette D. Rosenthal, special education teacher, many-faceted volunteer

• Valrie Thompson, Center for Human Services and volunteer, Oakdale.

ACTION: Tickets for the dinner must be reserved in advance at Stanislaus County Commission for Women, P.O. Box 4254, Modesto 95352.

Outstanding Young Woman

By MYRTLE OSNER

Areli Dohner-Chavez

A student at Patterson High School, Areli holds office in a variety of school clubs, art Club, Academic Decathlon, Leadership club and Spanish Club. She has participated in marches for peace during this time of strife in the Middle East and can look at political situations holistically, unusual for her age. She knows there must be a more peaceful manner in which to resolve terrorist issues.

Areli’s list of community service activities includes Toys for Tots, translation for teachers and mentor for the freshman class. Her awards include Academic Decathlon highest point winner, musical merit award in Piano, Academic Excellence in English and Spanish and she designed the Apricot Festival cover in 2000. She is an intelligent woman who helps her mother with her goals to pass the GED exam (her mother is an immigrant from El Salvador.)

Friends of the Tuolumne Preserves Habitat

By MYRTLE OSNER

Talking with Allison Boucher of the “Friends” and visiting Bobcat Flat east of Waterford were real learning experiences. You may wonder when I say it wasn’t really a beautiful place, but remember this is winter: no green leaves and no wildflowers. When the lowlands flood, as they do most years, the wildflowers must be wonderful to behold.

Wildlife abounds there — deer, coyote, skunk, raccoon, coyote and the occasional bobcat. Birds wheel overhead and fill the air with song. You can hear the frogs in the late afternoon, ribbet-ribbeting in the shallow ponds, and egrets and ducks fish without fear of humans.

Bobcat flat is the newest conservation project of Friends of the River, 300 acres east of Waterford, on flats left when mounds of rocks were removed to build New Don Pedro Dam. During past mining days, the river was dredged and dredging “tailings” were stacked up all over the edges of the lowlands beside the river (to see tailings in all their immensity, go to Snelling along the Merced River).

Now the flats are still very rocky, but some soil supports enough grasses to be grazed for a short period each year. Trees are relatively small, though along the edge of the river sizable native oaks, cottonwoods and sycamores flourish. Shallow ponds give rise to cattails and attract water birds and frogs. Here and there are delightful shady nooks.

Allison and Dave Boucher spend all their spare time in projects to restore riparian habitat along the Tuolumne. As a conservation project, first they must go through endless permitting processes with a variety of agencies. Bobcat Flat is only the latest of their projects.

Grayson River Ranch is another project along the lower Tuolumne, still being farmed but now benefiting the edges of the river. Trees are being planted and already the wildlife is coming back. None of these projects are open to the public but tours will eventually be held.

Unique to the City of Waterford is the project downhill from the sewer percolation ponds. Near the Waterford-Hickman bridge, and below the ponds, is a flat area that is the next project for which permits are being sought. The City of Waterford is enthusiastic about restoring about nine acres below the ponds, and wants to plant native trees there along the river.

Money to acquire and maintain these projects is still needed. We are seeing that many people care about our rivers. They are our life blood. You may not realize it, if you are new to the Central Valley, that this is really a desert. Without our rivers, none of the farming or the cities would exist.

Unless we treat our rivers as the precious source of life that they are, this valley will dry up and blow away.

So, conserve water every day, and be alert to protect our life blood. Driving home into the sunset I was so thrilled with a day in the wild, and so thankful that there are others to carry on the tradition of conservation. May you too feel that connection to the earth, our home.

Schools get top marks when it comes to racism, sexism and elitism

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

When it comes to racial and ethnic profiling, California schools seem to excel. At least, this is the perception among Hispanic, African American and other populations of color and ethnicity.

This startling reality, brought to light by studies of the California Teachers Association, was the focus Marlene Bell of the CTA Regional Uniserve Staff explored at recent diversity training workshops in Modesto sponsored by the Stanislaus County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Modesto Teachers Association and local law enforcement.

In the 2000 CTA study of minority attitudes on public education the populations polled list education as a top priority. At the same time, many members of the same communities believe their schools are failing them.

According to the poll, 74 percent of African Americans believe that discrimination in public schools is an issue; that “teachers stereotype their children and give up on Black students who have problems.” Further, they feel “teacher quality extends beyond the individual teacher and rests with a system that overloads teachers and does not value them.” They call for better teacher training to deal with Black students.

An African American from Los Angeles says, “You got to go up there and stay all day until you get them a teacher that cares and gives them what you paid for with your taxes.”

Fifty eight percent of the Latinos polled also feel their children face discrimination in public schools, most of which is felt by Spanish speaking and bilingual Latinos. “Moreover, [it is felt] discrimination against Latino students is systematic.”

A Los Angeles Latino laments, “[Teachers assume that], if you do not speak the language you do not have the capacity.” “It’s about having dreams and continuing on with those dreams instead of having them smashed,” says another Latino from San Jose.

Sixty three percent of Asian Americans cite discrimination issues, and join Latinos in listing language barriers, prejudice, racism and a lack of cultural understanding as obstacles for their students. Interestingly, 57 percent of the Asian Americans questioned feel “other kids” were the main source of discrimination. Bell also points out the stereotyping of Asian American children as “always being smart and brilliant” has put undo pressure upon this student population, which has the highest suicide rate.

A large cross section of those polled, especially African Americans and Latinos, feel inadequate funding is one of the largest road blocks to providing their children with a good education.

“It is time for this country to come to grips with the effect that institutionalized racism, sexism and elitism has had on all of its people and the role that education has played in perpetuating these negative forces,” says Dolores A Grayson of GESA (Generating Expectations for Student Achievement). “In a democratic society public educators have a responsibility to equip all students to be contributing, participating, self-supporting members of the society...” There is “a need for measures to be taken at every level, which ensure that all human beings will be valued and treated with dignity.

“In order for education to succeed for all children, says CTA President Wayne Johnson, CTA members and staff must understand and respond effectively to the perceptions and needs of our minority communities.”

Bell wants communities to understand the outreach work launched by the CTA studies does not encourage CTA staff “to beat up on people”, but to help “make changes” at the local level. She cautions against going down the road of “who done it,” or “you’ll stay along that road.” Instead, she suggests the focus has to be on commending teachers for the difficult jobs they do and helping teachers, students and families find ways to build upon the positives already in place.

Bell outlines the need for honoring diversity in the education community by “establishing partnerships with students and parents and creating an inclusive...learning place. She feels increased productivity must come from “improving the efficacy of management [administration], validating student culture and identity, improving student achievement and reducing discipline issues.” She feels achieving student potential must come from reducing the drop-out rate of all groups, while raising the graduation levels and the number of college bound students.

“We need to broaden our scope to know who our fellow Americans are, who is American,” she emphasizes. We “need to understand our constituency.”

A portion of the study looked at language experiences and school success in a working class black community, a working class white group and a district of highly educated families. Rich language experiences, mostly provided to those from the educated community, allowed that each student’s stories were valued, that they had access to printed texts, that they had listening skills and that different forms of talk were used in their communities. The importance of doing well in school was understood.

It was found that children from a background similar to the teacher “knew what the teacher was talking about” or “how to ask for help in a way the teacher recognized.” They “knew how to tell stories in ways the teacher understood,” and most “graduated from high school.”

A far different picture is presented where children are from a background different from the teacher. These students “had difficulty showing the teacher they understood in a manner the teacher could recognize, were asked to engage in activities they didn’t fully understand, found teacher talk unfamiliar or confusing, [and found] school...uncomfortable.” Consequently, “they dropped out in higher numbers.”

In the spring of 2001 5,436 Modesto City Schools students were identified as part of a large and growing population of English language learners. Figures showed that of the 6.5 percent of those who dropped out during the 1999-2000 school year, 43.9 percent were Hispanic and 35.9 percent were European American. The drop out rate fell to only 3.5 percent in the 2000-2001 school year with Hispanics comprising 40.5 percent and European Americans making up 37.5 percent of that number.

The 1999-2000 figures point out that staff diversity in MCS is under represented when compared with state standards. The diversity of the high schools teaching staff by ethnicity shows 90.5 percent are European American in MCS as compared with 75.5 percent statewide. MCS has only 5.1 percent Hispanic teachers, compared with 12.6 percent statewide, 1.1 percent African American to 5.1 percent statewide, 1.8 percent Asian American to 4 percent statewide and a very minimal 1.1 percent Native American to an even less 0.7 percent statewide. Elementary teaching staff figures also show a similar statistical preponderance of European Americans.

Statistics showed 67 percent of MCS classified staff to be European American compared to 51.8 percent statewide and a somewhat higher proportion of Hispanics at 25.1 percent to 30.3 percent statewide. Other ethnicities remained close in all three groupings.

Bell stressed MCS, its students and parents have much to gain through the hiring of a varied and diverse staff.

She spent a great deal of time talking to the need for all children to improve academic standards, but pointed out the current major indicator of academic success is the Scholastic Achievement Test - 9 (SAT 9). She explained the test is designed so that students have a 50 percent chance of passing or failing. She laments that children who are not English speakers are required to take the test, which damages their esteem and future ability to succeed. As these children fall behind, the likelihood of dropping out increases.

Bell explains that test scores correlate to zip codes. The aftermath of SAT 9 testing is those who wish to privatize education point to the lowest 20 percent for their information. That 20 percent in California is largely Hispanic and/or socio-economically disadvantaged. Special education placements also tend to come from this group and are often male, pointing to gender discrimination.

Parents surveyed felt a strong need for parent involvement, which Bell says is more than getting kids to school, showing up for Back to School Night and teacher conferences, sitting on school steering committees, fund raising and “building garden boxes for the school gardens.” It is all of these, but even more it is the parents’ connection at home with homework, extra-curricular activities and hands on help with school projects.

National figures from a poll by Public Agenda 2001 show 70 percent had not volunteered to tutor or coach in the past 2 years, 60 percent had not attended even 1 event at the child’s school and 1 in 4 parents do not attend parent/teacher conferences. A 1999 University of Michigan study shows two-parent families spend more time with children than 20 years ago, although most of that time involves shopping and watching TV.

The study identifies these “drop out” parents from across the spectrum of income and education, including low income couples and single moms juggling multiple jobs and professional couples with demanding careers. All are overextended in their jobs, leaving 24 percent of children feeling their parents had no interest in what they studied at school (Time Magazine and Nickelodeon 2000).

“Improvement can’t happen in a vacuum,” Bell reminds. Parents, as well as students, need to feel welcome and valued for their help and input.

The Sacramento City Unified School District Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project has been an exemplary model for encouraging parent involvement and has led to state funding for similar projects. The program was developed and organized by the grassroots Sacramento Area Congregations Together and began working with 9 of the district’s lowest performing schools, where parent involvement was almost nonexistent, teachers were not reflective of the student ethnicity, nor did they live in their teaching neighborhoods.

The goals of the project were to raise student achievement and overall student success, help parents gain knowledge to be an active participant in the learning process and help teachers gain a better understanding of the child and family culture. During the next 3 years teachers made 6,000 home visits, reading scores on standardized tests rose 32 percent, math scores rose 66 percent and 89 percent of the parents said their children had improved.

Local NAACP President Gladys Williams, who has done home visits throughout her long teaching career, is working through MTA to bring the project into MCS. It is her hope that Bell’s workshops will plant the seeds toward “bringing educators, juvenile justice, social services, mental health and other community agencies together with the home in order to meet the needs of all children and youth.”

Ultimately, all members of a community must be called upon to “make children feel included, to [help] improve student achievement levels, to promote a more inclusive and responsive learning environment for children, and to promote a more inclusive and responsive community for students and teachers.”

ACTION: Now that the CTA has “lifted the lid to expose the needs in education and society,” parents and community members can: spend more time helping children with homework and extracurricular activities; volunteer at your neighborhood school; get involved with the NAACP or other community based organizations committed to improving academic achievement and adult student interaction; contact legislators and educators to encourage educational funding for programs like the Teacher Home Visit Project; stop pointing fingers at “they” and start pointing at yourself to get involved.

Travelers attend World Social Forum

Chris Johnson and Tirza Hollenhorst attended the second World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil. The Forum, which ran from January 31 to February 5, is a international conference of civil society parallel to the World Economic Forum, held this year in New York. While the World Economic Forum is an exclusive gathering dominated by corporate executives, the World Social Forum is open to all. Over 68,000 people from 120+ countries participated this year in the WSF. The slogan of the WSF is “Another World is Possible”. The WSF is an opportunity to present and debate alternatives to globalization of the neo-liberal economic model.

There were over 700 workshops on issues ranging from biotechnology to corporate accountability. The activities of the forum are conducted in four languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French. The forum enabled an international exchange between leaders from around the world and resulted in treaties, declarations, and the formation of new networks.

A complimentary forum ran at the Youth Encampment where a city was constructed in a local public park for camping, activities, and cultural exchange. Chris and Tirza were among the 11,000 residents in Harmony Park. The Brazilians organized a phenomenal gathering with style. Not only was it fun but it united the voices of thousands in solidarity.

Vivisection is scientific fraud

By VASU MURTY

Smoking was once thought non-carcinogenic because smoking-related cancer is difficult to reproduce in lab animals. Many continued to smoke and to die from cancer. Benzene was not withdrawn from use as an industrial chemical despite clinical and epidemiological evidence that exposure caused leukemia in humans, because manufacturer-supported tests failed to reproduce leukemia in mice. Animal experiments on rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, monkeys, and baboons revealed no link between glass fibers and cancer. Not until 1991, due to human studies, did the government label it carcinogenic.

Though arsenic was a known human carcinogen for decades, scientists still found little evidence in animals to support the conclusion as late as 1977. This was the accepted view until it was produced in lab animals. Many continued to be exposed to asbestos and die because scientists could not reproduce the cancer in lab animals.

Pacemakers and heart valves were delayed in development because of physiological differences between animals they were designed on and humans. Animal models of heart disease failed to show that a high cholesterol and high fat diet increases the risk of coronary artery disease. Instead of switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet to prevent the disease, people continued their lifestyles with a false sense of security. Patients received medications that were harmful and/or ineffective due to animal models of stroke.

Animal studies predicted that beta-blockers would not lower blood pressure. This withheld their development. Even animal experimenters admitted the failure of animal models of hypertension in this regard, but in the meantime, there were thousands more stroke victims.

Over half of the 198 new medications released between 1976 and 1985 were either withdrawn or relabeled secondary to severe unpredicted side effects. These side effects included complications like lethal dysrhythmias, heart attacks, kidney failure, seizures, respiratory arrest, liver failure, and stroke, among others. Flosint, an arthritis medication, was tested on rats, monkeys and dogs; all tolerated the medication well. In humans, however, it caused deaths.

Clioquinol, an antidiarrheal, passed tests in rats, cats, dogs and rabbits. It was pulled off the shelves all over the world in 1982 after it was found to cause blindness and paralysis in humans. Eraldin, a medication for heart disease, caused 23 deaths despite the fact that no harmful effects could be shown in animals. When introduced, scientists said it noted for the thoroughness of the toxicity studies on animals. It caused blindness and deaths in humans. Afterwards, scientists were unable to reproduce these results in animals.

Zomax, another arthritis drug, killed 14 people and caused many more to suffer. The dose of isoproterenol, a medication used to treat asthma, was worked out in animals. Unfortunately, it was much too toxic for humans. Thirty five hundred asthmatics died in Great Britain alone due to overdose. It is still difficult to reproduce these results in animals. Suprofen, an arthritis drug, was withdrawn from the market when patients suffered kidney toxicity. Prior to its release researchers had this to say about the animal tests: “...excellent safety profile. No ...cardiac, renal, or CNS [central nervous system] effects in any species.”

Cylert (pemoline), a medication used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, caused liver failure in 13 children. Eleven either died or needed a liver transplant.

The diet drug combination of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine was linked to heart valve abnormalities and taken off the market although animal studies “had never revealed heart abnormalities.” The diabetes medication troglitazone, better known as Rezulin, was tested on animals without significant problems, but caused liver damage in humans. The company admitted that at least one patient had died and another had to undergo a liver transplant as a result.

Despite the ineffectiveness of penicillin in his rabbits, Alexander Fleming used the antibiotic on a very sick patient since he had nothing else to try. Luckily, Fleming’s initial tests were not on guinea pigs or hamsters—it kills them. Howard Florey, the Nobel Prize winner credited with co-discovering and manufacturing penicillin, stated: “How fortunate we didn’t have these animal tests in the 1940s, for penicillin would probably never been granted a license, and possibly the whole field of antibiotics might never have been realized.”

The notoriously dangerous drugs thalidomide and DES were tested in animals and released. Tens of thousands suffered and died as a result. Animal experiments misinformed researchers about how rapidly HIV replicates. Based on this false information, patients did not receive prompt therapies and their lives were shortened.

Animal-based research delayed the development of the polio vaccine, according to Dr. Albert Sabin, its inventor. The first rabies and polio vaccines worked well on animals but crippled or killed the people who tried them. Researchers who work with animals have succumbed to illness and death due to exposure to diseases that though harmless to the animal host (such as Hepatitis-B), kill humans.

Time, funding, and resources devoted to animal experiments could have gone to human-based research. Clinical studies, in vitro research, autopsies, post-marketing drug surveillance, computer modeling, epidemiology, and genetic research pose no hazard to humans and provide accurate results. Importantly, animal experiments have exhausted resources that could have been dedicated to educating the public about health hazards and health maintenance, therein diminishing the incidence of diseases that require treatment. Vivisection is scientific fraud. Animal experimentation does not make sense. Human-based science prevents disease and creates valid therapies.