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News & Views - September,
2001 Issue (page 2)
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Page 2 of 3 - Previous
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TEXAS STATE FUNDED WILDERNESS PROGRAM LOSING
FUNDING
(August 13, 2001) The Houston Chronicle, reports the Bob Lanier
Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Boys and the Elizabeth G. Lanier Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Girls, founded in 1972 for
troubled youth, have lost their state funding and probably will be closing their doors this summer.
UP TO 18 MAY HAVE DIED OF OVERDOSES IN HOUSTON
(August 14, 2001) The New York Times article by Jim Yardley quotes Dr. H. Westley Clark, Director of the Federal Center
for Substance Abuse: “the increasing use of heroin, particularly when mixed with cocaine, has been linked to rising overdoses across
the country.” A recent study in San Francisco describes the cocktail of cocaine and heroin, known as a “speedball” as a contributing
factor in nonfatal overdoses. It was cited as the probable cause of a rash of deaths without precedent in the Houston area, where
as many as 18 people, including a 16-year-old girl, have died in one week from suspected overdoses. Dr Clark said that the purity
of street heroin sold nationally has risen dramatically as competition between dealers has intensified.
PRESIDENT EMPHASIZES TEACHING VALUES TO CHILDREN
(August 14, 2001) The New York Times, reported President Bush,
when speaking in Denver, Colorado, emphasized his goal to push hard for the importance of teaching values to children and creating
“communities of character.”
SCHOOLS' BACKING OF BEHAVIOR DRUGS COMES UNDER FIRE
(August 19, 2001) The New York Times article by Kate Zernike and Melody Petersen reports: “Some of Ritalin’s competitors
are breaking with 30-year-old international marketing restrictions to advertise directly to parents, selling the idea that drugs may
be the answer to their children’s problems in school.” They cite recent legislation in Minnesota and Connecticut’s new law prohibiting
school staff members from discussing drug treatments with parents, limiting such advise to doctors’ recommendations. Similar bills
introduced in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Wisconsin are described as a reaction to excessive reliance on Ritalin and several
competing drugs, which are “driving parents away from traditional forms of discipline,” creating a “growing, illegal traffic in what
are potent and dangerous speed-like stimulants.”
AEROSMITH DITCHED DRUGS TO SUCCEED
(August 21, 2001) According to online entertainment news, Infobeat,
“the legendary rocker AEROSMITH …never would have made a comeback if they hadn’t kicked their devastating drug habits. The band’s
popularity has taken a turn for the better…sealed by an induction into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME earlier this year.” Bandmember
JOE PERRY, 51, explains, “we got sober, basically, because we burned every bridge we had…and…I know how hard it was for me to get
clean. I didn’t know anybody that I could relate to that had gotten clean. Most of the people that I looked up to were dead. By having
it known that I’ve done it and the band’s done it, it might give somebody else a little incentive to try it.”
CHARTER SCHOOL STUDY SHOWS INNOVATION
(August 22, 2001) Chester E. Finn, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington D.C. released a study
on Charter Schools by economists Michael Podgursky, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Dale Ballou, at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst. Entitled Personnel Policy in Charter Schools, it concluded, “When public school personnel decisions are
untangled from red tape — but the schools are held accountable for results — the outcome is innovative policies and practices that
differ in key respects from those of conventional public schools....” The full report can be downloaded from www.edexcellence.net.
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