“NEWS BRIEFS - Columbus Dispatch” plus 2 more

NEWS BRIEFS - Columbus Dispatch
Effects of secondhand smoke on children - Lexington Herald-Leader
Passion can distort facts - Sun and Press

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 04:01 AM PDT

Bone bits in Garrido's yard likely American Indians'

Bone fragments dug up from the backyard of kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido's home and a neighboring property probably belonged to American Indians buried a long time ago, the Contra Costa County sheriff's office said.

Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said yesterday that scientists at a state forensics lab were unable to pull any DNA from the bones. An anthropologist concluded that the fragments likely were human but probably buried long ago.

Investigators uncovered the bones while searching for evidence in the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, as well as other unsolved abductions and murders. Garrido and his wife, Nancy, have been charged with kidnapping and rape of Dugard.

Members of panel to look at arson findings swapped

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has shaken up a state panel that was about to review a report concluding that a faulty arson investigation led to a Texas inmate's execution.

The governor announced yesterday that a criminal-defense attorney from Fort Worth will fill a vacancy on the Texas Forensic Science Commission and that one medical examiner is replacing another.

The commission, which oversees professional conduct of forensic laboratories and facilities, was to consider arson findings that led to the 2004 execution of Cameron Willingham. Perry has said the changes are routine.

Gun-rights soccer mom shot to death by husband

A soccer mom thrust into the national gun-rights debate after taking a loaded pistol to youth sports events was killed by her husband in a shooting witnessed online by her video-chat partner, authorities said yesterday.

Scott Hain used his own gun to fire several shots into his 30-year-old wife, Meleanie, while her video chat was active, police said.

The online friend heard a shot and screams and turned to see Scott Hain firing, authorities said.

Scott Hain, 33, later killed himself in a bedroom.

Meleanie Hain became a voice of the gun-rights movement last year when she fought for the right to carry a holstered pistol at her young daughter's soccer games. Other parents complained, prompting a sheriff to revoke her concealed-weapons permit, a decision a judge later overturned.

Woman in coma gives birth to healthy baby

A woman gave birth to a healthy baby despite having been in a coma for the last 22 weeks of her pregnancy, a German hospital said.

Bavaria's Erlangen University Clinic said yesterday that the family of the 40-year-old woman wanted the baby to be born even after she went into a coma after a heart attack.

The clinic refused to give any more information about the case and would not say whether the baby's father was involved nor whether the woman is ever expected to come out of the coma.

Father not guilty in girl's hypothermia death

An Idaho man who let his 11-year-old daughter walk several miles in freezing weather along an isolated rural highway on Christmas Day was acquitted yesterday of involuntary manslaughter in the girl's death from hypothermia.

Robert Aragon also was found not guilty of felony injury to a child.

He was accused of letting his daughter, Sage, and his 12-year-old son, Bear, walk after his car got stuck.

The temperature was as low as minus 5 degrees, with wind, snow and ice.

-- From wire reports

Effects of secondhand smoke on children - Lexington Herald-Leader

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 10:38 PM PDT

A: Several research studies have demonstrated that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke reduces or decreases lung function in children. Some research has even shown if a mother smokes while pregnant, the child will have decreased lung function. Children who are chronically exposed to secondhand smoke have higher rates of respiratory infections, more hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses, and higher risk for the development of asthma. Chronic exposure to tobacco smoke as a small child affects lung growth during childhood and will lead to lung problems later in life.

Q: Can smoking during pregnancy affect my future baby in ways other than lung problems?

A: The growth of the fetus can be affected by the mother smoking while pregnant. Numerous chemicals found in tobacco go across the placenta into the fetus, including nicotine. As a result of this, babies born to mothers who smoked during the pregnancy are at higher risk to be born at low birth weight. There are also studies suggesting that cleft palates and congenital heart disease may be related to smoking during pregnancy.

Q: Can smoking while I am pregnant affect my child's behavior and school performance?

A: Numerous research studies have shown that exposure of a fetus to tobacco smoke leads to behavior problems and poor conduct later in childhood. There is also research that demonstrates babies exposed to tobacco smoke during a pregnancy have lower intelligence scores or IQ.

Q: Does exposure to tobacco smoke affect asthma?

A: Children who live with smokers have a higher risk of having asthma. These children also have more asthma attacks when they are exposed to tobacco smoke every day and are admitted to the hospital for asthma more often. In 2003, the National Survey of Children's Health reported that Kentucky had the highest pediatric asthma attack rate in the United States at 7.2 percent. This high asthma attack rate is directly related to the high smoking rates in Kentucky.

Q: Can exposure to tobacco smoke cause my children to develop cavities?

A: Children who are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke chronically are at a higher risk to develop dental cavities or caries. Researchers have also found that children with cavities who are exposed to tobacco smoke have high levels of tobacco smoke byproducts in their urine.

For more information about UK HealthCare's secondhand smoke campaign, visit: www.ukhealthcare.uky.edu/secondhandsmoke.

Passion can distort facts - Sun and Press

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 09:04 PM PDT

It seems to me that so many of the important issues before us today are being discussed in a less-than-civilized way. I think part of the problem is that we are not careful in distinguishing between truth and fact.

I had lunch with a clergy colleague the other day who shared with me the story of a parishioner who was very passionate about several issues that affect their church and their faith. The parishioner, out of that passion, presented several arguments based on a personal perception of truth rather than facts. One specific concern, of which I am very informed on the facts, concerned Planned Parenthood and abortion.

As a member of the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of South Central New York, I am very aware of the facts about their services. The fact is that our local affiliate does not perform abortions. A more important fact is, however, that this affiliate is primarily concerned with total reproductive health, offering education that includes abstinence as the only certain way of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.

Our services also include offering information on all options in the event of an unwanted pregnancy, including a recent increase in our resources about the alternative of adoption. These are the facts, but there is always a danger in the church and elsewhere, where passions run high, that we may confuse our concepts of the eternal truths with the facts. Similar problems seem to be pushing increasingly into our public discourse, however, and the results are divisive and often hurtful.

On these viewpoints pages, one often sees angry vitriol from one or another religious or political camp about any number of important public policy issues. Recently, police and firefighters unions have used scare tactics about how unsafe our streets will become if there are any cutbacks. These are passionately held truths, but not facts. While the factual outcome of such cuts remains to be seen, one significant fact is that our streets are the safest they have been in many years. It does not seem to be an appropriate time for such tactics.

This is not only a local issue, however. It extends to the state and national levels as well. The outburst from a member of Congress during President Obama's speech and the furor over his speech to schoolchildren reflect this same misunderstanding of the difference between truth and facts. In the former case, the president was trying to clarify an inaccurate rumor about health care and in the latter, he wanted to urge kids to do well in school.

Throughout discussions on issues, we should keep the conversation on the high ground, acknowledging the differences in our truth perspectives. It is likely that we will disagree sometimes, and for sound reasons. Yet our public discourse should be at the least, polite, but at best, thoughtful and considerate. Let us acknowledge our passionately held truths but not confuse them with the facts. I hope I have set such an example here.