Cruelty and the Truth about Dairy
Besides humans, no species drinks milk beyond infancy, and never consumes the milk of another species. Cow’s milk is a refined substance especially suited to the nutritional needs of calves (calves have four stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months, sometimes weighing more than 1,000 pounds before they are 2 years old). According to the American Gastroenterological Association, when people ingest it, problems such as food allergies among infants and children can occur. Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. This reduction can lead to lactose intolerance. Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and an estimated 90 percent of Asian-Americans and 75 percent of Native- and African-Americans suffer from the condition, which can cause bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, headaches, rashes, and asthma.
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Cape Charles: Home of the Sweetheart Deal?
When we ran the story about the hookup charges for the proposed Brew Pub on Peach Street, several folks wrote or commented that we should investigate the sweetheart deal that the Shanty got from the town, mainly that hookup charges were waived for that project. Even as these charges were waived, we wondered if that still constituted a ‘sweetheart deal’; this writer has followed the Shanty project from before there was a ‘Shanty’, and given the details of that development, didn’t necessarily think ‘sweetheart’ is a label that accurately fit that deal.
Shanty proprietor, Jon Dempster, supplied the Mirror with his perspective, “The town got the “sweetheart deal” here. They leased an empty lot to someone who invested $700k on improving it to open a business that provides them with over $100k a year in meals taxes, pays all the property and real estate taxes they previously were responsible for, purchases over $300k a year on the shore, and employs up to 60 locals during peak season with no security on the investment. Should we fail they now have a turnkey operation they did not pay for that they can lease or sell for a higher amount. At the same time they are the property owner which is the main difference between us and the brew pub. I argued that we should not be responsible for paying water / sewer hookup fees for land we do not own. Let’s say you had an empty lot in town. You then decided you wanted to improve the value of that lot. So you put an ad out in the paper that read “Great rental property at a low rate for anybody willing to build said property and pay property owners town water and hookup fee.” How many eager responses do you think you would get? Maybe just like the town you’d get one person crazy enough to think it was a ‘sweetheart deal’.”
Hottest new trend for Cape Charles Beach Season: Armpit Hair
This season, the newest summer trend has nothing to do with bikinis or diet plans; the coolest women on the Cape Charles beach will be focusing instead on how lengthy and colorful their armpit hair can get. Way back when I was in college, I remember many of my friends trying to emulate Patti Smith, with dirty white tank tops and tufts of armpit hair…very cool, sexy and punk then, but fast forward to 2016, and around the world, women are again challenging the norm and embracing their natural underarm hair. The Mirror became aware of the trend’s velocity via photos of Madonna and Beyonce in NYTs Cut, and from of photographer Ben Hopper’s ‘Natural Beauty’ project.
Some of the reasons woman are giving for growing ‘it’ out range from feminist ideology to just plain loving the natural look, feel and convenience of unshaved pits – and just being sexy.And it’s not just in America. In China, feminist Xiao Meili started an armpit hair competition on the microblogging site Weibo where woman could submit their photos.
“Women should have the right to decide how to deal with their bodies, including small details like armpit hair,” said Xiao in a CNN report. “You can choose to shave it, but you shouldn’t be forced to do so under the pressure of stereotypes.”
Letter: Menhaden not Overfished
The following letter is being submitted on behalf of Robert Vanasse, the Executive Director of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (http://menhadencoalition.org/). Based in Washington, D.C., the Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries, and comprise over 30 businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Contact information for verification purposes is included below.
Your recent story on Atlantic Menhaden (Menhaden: still struggling under weight of corruption, January 17, 2016) incorrectly states that menhaden are overfished and that the stock is at unsustainably low levels. The figures cited are based on old stock assessments that have been widely recognized as flawed and inaccurate. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the interstate agency that manages menhaden stock assessments, acknowledged these flaws, with the Commission’s Menhaden Technical Committee stating in 2012 that they undermine “confidence in the assessment results to provide management advice.”
In 2015, the ASMFC produced a new assessment, the most comprehensive study of the menhaden stock to date. The Commission completely revised the assessment’s methods and models to address the inaccuracies that had plagued previous reports. As a result, the 2015 assessment measures the menhaden population more accurately than ever before; it found that menhaden were not overfished, nor were they experiencing overfishing
The results of the 2015 assessment point to a downward trend in menhaden landings, and highlight the fact that menhaden fishing mortality is at an historic low. It found that the menhaden population that had been regularly underestimated by prior assessments is much healthier than both previous assessments have indicated and what your article claims. Menhaden is an abundant resource according to the latest assessments, and the data presented in the article is misleading and out of date.
Thank you.
Robert Vanasse
Executive Director
Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
(202) 333-2628
bob@savingseafood.org
Richard Gliedman: with new zoning it’s Happy New Year….not
It didn’t take long for the board of supervisors to take action on their proposed zoning which, along with the process itself, has been universally panned by the overwhelming majority of Northampton County’s residents.
The county administrator gave the board a “Rube Goldberg-like” mark up of zoning changes to choose from. “A”, “B” and “C” were the choices but the board was told that they were limited to “A” for the time being because the rest will have to go back out for review by the same public that has not been listened to for the last 2+ years.
The vote was predictable with the exception of Mr. Hubbard who, to the surprise of most everyone present, voted against it. Only he knows whether he was driven by a last minute pang of conscience or a desire to avoid the appearance of a potential conflict of interest in the future.
In stark contrast to the rest of the board, Mr. Hogg should be commended for the common sense, intestinal fortitude and grace he has shown while dealing with the rest of this board and county administrator. As for the remaining board members and county administrator, they should be ashamed! They have not, at all, distinguished themselves in this endeavor.
For myself, and I suspect a lot of other folks in our beautiful county, the greeting “Happy New Year!” has taken on an added dimension. January, and the new board of supervisors, can’t come soon enough!!!
Merry Christmas to the Ghost of the Palace Theater
On Thursday night, I arrived at the Palace Theater about a half an hour early for that evening’s dance rehearsal – I thought I might take a few minutes to warm up before the dancers got there, plus sometimes it is nice to have the stage all to yourself. All alone, just me and the stage, I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t alone at all—in the midst of my warmup, I had forgotten about the ghost. Anyone that has ever spent any time alone in the Palace can affirm this; you may not see it, but you know that poltergeist is there.
My dear friend David Glowacki, who for many years was our tech wizard up in the booth for shows such as Blithe Spirit, Annie and You Can’t Take It With You had many a run in with our mischievous, yet benevolent apparition. It seems our ghost took a perverse pleasure in wreaking havoc on David’s work. Every so often, after David would have everything set for the show, things would go haywire—all light settings would be lost, sounds disappeared, and spots would just stop working, sending David off, frantically trying to bring things back online. Like I said, the ghost was a benevolent one, and never did anything during an actual production, and seemed quite content to torture us during dress rehearsal week.
Last Christmas, on the day of our opening for our version of A Christmas Carol, I came in to finish up some last minute changes to the set, mainly constructing and hanging the huge, beautiful clock that was built and painted by Nicole Hart. The ghost was in prime form that day, with scissors falling of the stage, tape rolling off onto the floor, and somehow winding up way under the stage, and the lights went off several times, leaving me in total darkness, trying to make my way back to the switch.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “We have a show to put on, this is opening night.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what the deal was. But then I realized that it was about Sheila – the ghost really loved Sheila Cardano, whose vision it was to resurrect this theater, and once again fill it with life. I wonder how many years the poor apparition languished here, all alone, wandering about the cold, empty space. But that all changed with Ms. Cardano, who brought warmth and light to what had to have been an almost unbearable emptiness – there are few places more sad than an abandoned theater. I realized, that was why the ghost was giving me a hard time about this show. Ms. Cardano, a few years earlier, produced and directed a supremely beautiful version of the Dickens’ Christmas classic (I actually played Scrooge for her), but now, with Sheila retired, the ghost took our plans to stage the same show as an affront to its theater’s grand matron.
“Look, I get it,” I said. “I miss her too, everybody does. But like you, her spirit permeates every inch of this stage…she will always be here. But look, these kids have worked so hard on this show. It’s opening night, let them perform, will you?…this is what it’s really all about, right? This is what Sheila worked so hard to build for them, isn’t it?”
With that, the ghost left me alone, and I was finally able to hang the clock, and go home to rest up for opening night. Of course, the ghost had one more bit of mischief left, as ten minutes before the opening curtain, one of the strands holding the giant clock broke free, and was left hanging by one thread, ready to crash onto the stage.
“Really?” I asked, and I swear I heard a little giggle. Thankfully, my buddy Ethan Watson was on hand to save the day by hanging the clock with just under three minutes before the curtain was set to come up.
After that show, I feel me and ghost have come to an agreement. It finally realizes that Amy Watkins and I are not trying to replace Ms. Cardano, only to carry on the beauty and work that she and her family, especially Clelia, started years ago. In the shows since last winter’s Christmas Carol, Effervesent Elf, and now this year’s winter show, Christmas in New York, the ghost has been fairly tame. But I always know it’s there.
An odd thing happened this fall. For the last couple of years, I have been diagnosed with an aggressive set of cataracts in both eyes. As of this summer, I was almost totally blind in my right eye. However, this fall, our own brilliant Dr. Shepherd performed surgery on both eyes, and as of my last post-surgery checkup, I once again have 20/20 vision.
But there’s more…
I’m not sure how, but after the surgery, I seem to have much better peripheral vision, and that I can detect and sense light much better than before. I noticed this working in the booth as we rehearsed for the show. Where I once could only sense the ghost was next to me (especially in the booth, as I think this is its favorite place to hang out), I now catch glimpses of light, escaping just as I turn to see it. I know the ghost loves me now, but I have to admit it still creeps me out sometimes, especially at night, when I’m all alone in there. Even so, I wouldn’t change a thing, and I don’t think the Palace would be the same without it.
Merry Christmas ghost…and thank you.
Community Based Paramedicine: can it fill the medical gap?
With construction of the new Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Onley on schedule to open this time next year, the reality of the hospital moving north to Melfa is starting to sink in. While Northampton Supervisor Granville Hogg and the AD-HOC Emergency Care Committee grapple with how to adjust to this new reality, the use of community based paramedicine has not been discussed as an option for the lower shore.
Community paramedicine (CP) is a new model of community-based health care that leverages paramedics, using them in ways outside their customary emergency response and transport roles. Community paramedicine attempts to posit a model that more efficiently uses emergency care resources while enhancing medical access for typically underserved populations like the lower eastern shore. These programs usually use existing relationships and collaborations between EMS and other health care and social service providers. Where community paramedicine may help our community, is that it may improve access to, as well as the quality of care while also reducing costs.
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County responds to allegations of racial bias
The County, particularly the Board of Supervisors and Administrator Katie Nunez have been the recipients of a good bit of criticism of late over perceived racial bias in the proposed zoning. In the below letter, Katie Nunez provides the County’s response to many of the allegations:
To the Editor:
In his letter Mr. Kellam expresses his opinion about how he wishes his real estate to be zoned and why. He also makes allegations such as that the proposed zoning map includes what he calls “spot zoning” and constitutes a “taking” of value from his property. None of those remarks is in any sense unusual in rezoning situations. Mr. Kellam’s wishes and opinions with respect to the zoning of his property should be offered to the Board of Supervisors and taken into consideration by them. (As a matter of fact, Mr. Kellam’s assertion that the proposed rezoning would prohibit “the sale of crops” is categorically false.)
Unfortunately, though, Mr. Kellam’s letter also includes defamatory allegations about the Board of Supervisors and, inferentially, its staff which are profoundly, dangerously and unjustly divisive of and corrosive to the relations between the citizens of Northampton County who are of different races. Mr. Kellam goes so far as to allege that “the sitting Board is engaged in a war on the minority population.” It is hard to imagine a more baseless and irresponsible accusation; an accusation which follows the similarly despicable and racially inflammatory remarks made by Mr. Ken Dufty at the public hearing on November 2, 201 5, regarding the proposed zoning ordinance.
I advise the readers of this letter that I was present at virtually every meeting at which the County’s staff worked on the proposed rezoning. No one ever even remarked on the race of any owner of property and, indeed, in the giant majority of cases no one was even consciously aware of the name, much less the race, of the property owners. I have never seen the slightest sign that any of the staff members who worked on this project has any animus toward anyone based on race or anything else.
As to the Board of Supervisors, their meetings are matters of public record with all remarks being audio recorded and minutes being maintained. While there has been enthusiastic disagreement among members of the Board about some provisions of the proposed ordinance, not a single member of the Board has ever suggested that any change be made based on racial considerations nor has any member ever suggested that any of his colleagues might be so motivated. I personally attended virtually every single executive session attended by the Board of Supervisors and I unambiguously and without reservation report that the substance of the proposed rezoning was never discussed and, if it ever came up in some peripheral sense, no member of the Board of Supervisors ever exhibited even the slightest indication that he was motivated in any way by racial considerations or was even mindful of the race of any interested party.
It is natural that a general rezoning of the real estate in the County would give rise to passions among some or even many people. But it is worthy of note that over a process which has extended for most of two years (the first public hearing was held in March of 2014), Ken Dufty’s noxious statement on November 2, 2015, was the first time anyone suggested that there was some racial dimension to the proposed rezoning. It cannot be a coincidence that that theme was unleashed at exactly the time when it became apparent that the Board may well vote on the proposed map and ordinance. The fomenting of racial animus to gain some perceived advantage on a public policy question is a truly nasty tactic engaged in with reckless disregard for the welfare of Northampton County. Mr. Dufty and Mr. Kellam should be ashamed of themselves.
LETTER: Questions why there is a rush to vote on zoning
Despite months of overwhelming public opposition the majority of the current Northampton County board of supervisors have continued to pursue their proposed zoning changes. At best, this reflects an egotistical, “we know better than you” attitude. At worst, it reeks of money driven back room deals with nameless individuals or corporations unwilling to publicly speak up for this zoning but who will most certainly benefit from it.
Whatever the current board’s motivations, given the longstanding public opposition along with the apparent desire of the new board created by the last week’s election to want to reconsider at least some of the zoning changes, the now lame duck majority has an ethical obligation to put off any vote on the zoning changes until after the new board is in place.
The current board’s actions in what remains of this year, and their term in office, will tell everyone a lot about where they believe their obligations lie.
Richard Gliedman
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