Readers Sound Off On Healthy School Snacks and the Wave
The school system educates our children in academics but also in life lessons. I think that allowing junk food in the school is the wrong message to send our children when we have an obesity epidemic in our country. We educate our children about the dangers of drugs and do everything we can to keep drugs out of the schools but it is ok to provide easy acess to junk food even though we teach them about the food pyramid? Shouldn’t we do everything in our power to provide our children nutritious foods to nurish their brains and bodies while they are at school? Research has shown over and over that nutritious foods provide childrens brains with nutritious food that allows them to learn at their highest potential. Anyone for putting this food in our schools must have an ulterior motive, money. They are clearly not putting the best interests of our children first.
April Merrill
Dear Mr. Williams,
I am encouraged that our school district is supporting our children by providing only healthy snacks to encourage good eating habits for a lifetime. Elementary school is where most children establish health habits. What possible reason could any school district have for tempting children with useless, empty calories that promote weight gain and unhealthy eating habits? It is sheer hypocrisy to teach them about the food pyramid and making good eating choices in one class and go to the halls or cafeteria to find junk food available for purchase. What message does that send? We need to be consistent. Thank you for shining light on this issue. The only reason we have junk food in schools today is to line the pockets of greedy vendors who hook kids with high fat, high sugar/salt junk. I salute the school board members who are trying to protect our kids.
Lori Pettus
My favorite way of communication with my friends is via email, if I do not hear back from them in a short while then I phone them. I have friends I have known for over fifty years and if I do not have contact from them, they can expect me to show up on their doorstep such is our relationship and it is a two way street. I have had a friend drive forty miles to my house at four am because he could not reach me and was worried about my health. My phone was off the hook, he was relieved…such is a friend. A great friend in Wichita would phone my mother, visit her once a week. When she did not answer the door, he phoned the police. She was unconscious on the floor for two days. He saved her life. Such is our link with my friends.
BJ Cassady in Guthrie
Dear Mr. Williams:
I totally support the change to 100 percent healthy vending machines in the schools. I can’t compare the “loss of revenue” with the added health benefits of our children when they have access to only nutritious snacks.
Michelle Ruhl
I enjoyed your article about “the wave” and laughed to myself at your description of your dad’s wave: it sounded just like MY dad’s wave.
I’ve been meaning to write you about “The Wave” but in a different aspect. I’d like to see it as a sign of “thank you” for car drivers. When I let someone in line, say onto Santa Fe from the Crest parking lot, it’s nice to see a little wave of thanks. Perhaps our mayoral candidates should pick this up as one of their ideas for betterment of Edmond. Can’t you see the signs now? “
I enjoy your articles!
Jackie Damiani
The evidence is there about high calorie foods contributing to our children’s obesity and diabetic problems in this country. No debate. If keeping healthy foods available for our children are part of the cost of education, then so be it. We cannot compromise on modeling the components of healthy living. All schools look for leaders who will be role models for our children; we look for instructors, administrators, school board members who model decent behavior and good thinking skills. Our world demands this of us. In this case, our leaders must model good thinking in what they put in front of our students as food worthy. Students model what they see and what is available. We must make healthy foods available. Surely, the Edmond Public Schools will not compromise in teaching this valuable lesson of healthy living.
Now, let’s take a stand and show that we care enough to get our funding from more reputable places than vending machines that cater to the sweet tooth inside our school buildings. The EPS Board should be encouraged to only stock their vending machines with healthy foods. It’s our responsibility to nurture the mind and the body with the best that we have. Stay healthy in every way.
Armetta Smitley
John,
I enjoyed your article on the one finger wave. Being raised in Edmond when it was a much smaller town, I remember the one finger wave which was the raising of the index finger from the steering wheel. Then there was the nodding of the head by an upward motion. These gestures are still used a lot in the rural areas. I travel to Kingfisher occasional and on the road when you meet someone you almost always still get this kind of howdy. John I really enjoy your daily articles. Keep up the good work.
E. L. McBroom.
A tip of the hat to you for comments in today’s OK. Bet you’ll still get the steering wheel/index finger wave on some country roads over here in Lincoln County. Many years ago, that was my Dad’s routine greeting to all passing motorists. He also never passed a woman on the street without the motion of tipping or doffing his felt Stetson hat to her and I think said howdy to everyone he passed as just common courtesy.
Chandler reader, Sally Ferrell
Dear John,
Has Edmond become too much a part of the city? I moved to
Betty Thorsen, Chandler,
A letter to the editor about student drug testing
David King of Edmond sent this satirical “letter to the editor” after reading about the Edmond School Board’s discussion on student drug testing. King is a life-long member of Edmond.
Dear School Board Members,
Sorry I wasn’t able to attend your meeting, but I was nursing a hangover all day and didn’t feel like getting out, so I want to thank the Oklahoman for the opportunity to write my comments regarding this ridiculous issue of Drug Testing. I am the President of the newly formed Pro-Pot-Smoking Parents Organization, or PPiS-POR as we like to call it. I wanted to say that I was really encouraged to hear about all the parents who showed up at the meeting to speak out against drug testing in the school system. Its about time that the Edmond school system gets off it’s high horse and starts patterning itself after other schools that get high…I mean have high standards. Some schools have continually rejected drug testing in their schools and have had tremendous success in their academic performance, and are graduating outstanding students. Students like… ..um… …uh… ..well…..anyway. I can only hope for the day that we finally have a great school system like theirs. Just imagine, gun-shots ringing out in the parking lot and the pinnacle……to hear the song “Cocaine” blaring through the speakers at the beginning of every football game. Oh Yeah Baby! What a glorious day that will be.
The Pro-Pot Smoking Parent Organization (PPiS-POR) realizes that since teaching was developed into a science, academic institutions have instructed teachers on the importance of the learning environment as an essential part of education process. The PPiS-POR group, however, prefers the position stated in the meeting by my fellow PPiS-POR parents that we need to stop worrying about the current drug-laden environment and worry about education, (so long as we don’t educate on the dangers of THC and lung disease).
With this “progressive” attitude we can ensure that fee and uninhibited use of hooch will continue unchallenged by school administration. In fact, we at PPiS-POR would like to be the first to sponsor weekly events like “Weed-Wednesdays” and “Fatty-Fridays”, (but only if someone else does it cause I don’t feel like getting off my couch).
It is clear, that based on the last 10 years of Edmond Athletic championships we obviously don’t need any improvement. I would be happy to have our new PPiS-POR spokesman, Michael Phelps, speak to the Athletic Director about the financial benefits of athletes who get caught high on drugs. If you think training kids to catch or kick a ball when their “straight” is difficult, just wait until your kids are seeing three or four balls. Now watching that at a game would be the Bong… I mean Bomb!!
I must admit, however, I am a tiny bit conflicted about the drug testing issue myself. Mainly because, without it, our PPiS-POR group could not show the “huge” numbers of National Merit, and AP scholars who regularly get high on drugs. (I’m confident I can find at least one)
In conclusion, I would like to encourage other potential PPiS-POR members, who also had parents that didn’t care if their kids got high, to join our organization’s cause. We have meetings semi-regularly, (or whenever we feel like getting off the couch). And some day I hope to get around to building a website for our group…. Just don’t feel like doing anything right now.
Sincerely Yours
PPiS-POR President
David King
Hundreds Compete In Frigid 5 Miler
Hundreds of competitors, 934 to be exact, braved a cold Valentines Day morning to compete in the Edmond Running’s Club Frigid 5 Miler.
Follow this link to find a list of winners in male and female open and by age groups.
Dodging The Edmond Tornado
For the most part tornados don’t scare me.
I tease my friends who live out of state that a tornado warning in Oklahoma is a signal to go outside to see the twister.
That’s going to change. Tuesday I was in Edmond doing interviews for news stories when I heard the tornado warning for west Edmond on the radio. That’s exactly where I was, so I decided to try to drive home ahead of the storm.
I’ve seen lots of tornados. One went over my house some years ago as a neighbor and I stood in the street and watched it pass by about 100 yards away. My job has been to follow a distance away and file stories as they happen. But Tuesday I felt differently.
As I stood near my patio window, the wind suddenly stopped. Everything got very quiet except for the sound of distant sirens. Then without warning the wind began to blow fiercely. I could hear trashcans in the neighborhood being blown away from houses. And for the first time in a tornado warning I did something I’ve never done before. I got inside a closet.
Minutes passed when I decided to drive outside my neighborhood to see if there was any damage. Driving north up Santa Fe I saw several cars stopped just north of Covell. To my left were downed power lines and a man sitting in his truck. He was trapped between the shoulder of the road and the downed lines. To his left was the Kanaly’s North Country addition. Several people were in the street assessing the damage to their homes.
There I met Lisa Brady. Her home was missing roof shingles and several large trees in her front yard had been uprooted. In a way she seemed relieved that nothing more happened. She told me she took her dogs to the closet when she first heard the warning sirens.
Next door Rick Early also lost shingles and trees. Parts of a metal shed wound up in his swimming pool, he told me. By this time police and utility crews had arrived to block off the entrance into the addition. I had to wait until power was terminated before crossing the street back to my car. It was then that large hail and rain began to pour. One of the residents of the neighborhood graciously allowed me to sit it out in his truck.
From there I filed a report back to the newspaper and eventually made it home to download my photos to NewsOK.com.
Later I went out again, this time to interview managers of local hardware stores to see if they had a demand for certain items due to the storm. Without question, flashlights, batteries and generators were in demand.
Reporting demands getting the story fast and accurate and safely. Going to a place of shelter was the right move for these residents and me. Fortunately I can only report on damage and not deaths in Edmond. Now the story moves on to the rebuilding and the healing.
Something different for Valentines Day
A couple of years ago my wife and I enjoyed a wonderful Valentine’s Day treat at Oklahoma Christian University.
The school put together “Valentine Cabaret,” a dinner theater production, if you will. A very nice dinner was served in the airy McIntosh Conservatory, and the show was presented on a nearby stage.
This year the annual dinner and show, scheduled Feb. 12-14 at the Garvey Center, is called “And the Oscar Goes To…” featuring songs from Academy Award-winning movies.
Patricia Groves, the school’s box office manager said tickets are $15 for the dinner and show or $7 for the cabaret only. But reservations need to be made at least 24 hours in advance to prepare the right amount of food.
Dinner is served at 6 p.m., and the show begins at 7 each night. Come a little early and enjoy the art gallery.
For more information, you can e-mail Groves at patricia.groves@oc.edu or call 425-5530 before 5 p.m. Or call the box office at 425-5540 from 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays.
