Published in the Current
Specialist Isa Lomac-MacNair of Scarborough is serving in the U.S. Army, stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, working in military intelligence. She specializes in Russian and Serbo-Croatian languages and is taking a leadership course that will help in her promotion to the rank of sergeant, according to her father, Andrew Lomac-MacNair.
She attended Cape Elizabeth schools through ninth grade, because her father is a teacher at the Cape Elizabeth Middle School. She transferred to Scarborough High School and graduated from there in 1999.
After basic training, she was sent to the Defense Language Institute in Berkeley, Calif., for just over a year, and then went to Schofield Barracks, which is near Honolulu.
She chose languages based on the results of her Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery tests, which indicated that she would be good at language acquisition. “She was very good in languages in school,” her father said. With a good memory and a strong vocabulary, he said, “linguistics was kind of a natural.”
She went directly from high school into the military, having decided that she needed more structure than is available on college campuses. “It was one of the best moves she could have made,” her father said. “She’s a very bright young woman but she needed that structure.”
Not only does she have four years of college language credit, but she also has a lot of money available to her through the G.I. Bill and recruitment incentives, which she can use to pay for college when she gets out of the military.
Her enlistment is up in about a year, and her father said he doesn’t know whether she’ll re-enlist or decide to leave the service. Her experience, he said, puts her in a good position for either continuing in the military or getting a civilian job.
She will be coming home for Christmas, he said, and the family is looking forward to seeing her then.
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Using exercise to control diabetes
Published in the Current
A diabetic himself, Brad Smith knows the value of exercise to people living with diabetes. Smith, who runs the Right Fitness Studio on Route 1 in Scarborough, used November’s status as American Diabetes Month to begin a program educating diabetics about the impact exercise can have on their lives and to teach non-diabetics about the disease, which affects 17 million Americans.
There are two types of diabetes, numbered one and two, both involving too much sugar in the blood. Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the pancreas, resulting in the production of no insulin
at all. Insulin regulates the level of sugar in the blood by moving excess blood sugar into the cells of the body. People with Type 1 diabetes typically are diagnosed at an early age, and require daily insulin injections throughout their lives.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin, or cells resist the effects of insulin. The first stage of attack, said Smith, who is an exercise physiologist, is for a diabetes patient to increase physical activity and change his or her diet. Medication can also make a person more receptive to insulin. A last resort is insulin injections.
“The first line of defense is a healthy lifestyle,” Smith said. That’s true even for non-diabetics. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 16 million people have a condition called “pre-diabetes,” in which their blood sugar levels are elevated, but not high enough to qualify as diabetics.
And Smith said there are more young people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than in the past. “Everything is super-sized, ” Smith said, referring not only to large fast-food servings, but dishes at all types of restaurants and even foods in supermarkets. He also said children see their parents involved in sedentary lifestyles, and continue that pattern as they grow up.
For diabetics, as for many people, exercise can be troublesome.
Exercise changes how the body uses blood sugar, and modifies its demand for insulin. People with Type 1 diabetes, Smith said, may need to eat when they don’t want to eat, to prevent their blood sugar from being too low. Or they may have to stop exercising for a time.
“It can be frustrating for someone who’s trying to lose weight,” he said.
And for someone seeking weight loss, high-impact sports may be too hard on already stressed joints like knees and ankles, Smith said. Diabetes increases the risk for cardiovascular disease and kidney failure and is the leading cause of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 74.
Teens who have to sit out during sports because of diabetes may be more susceptible to eating disorders and depression, due to feelings of lack of control over their own bodies.
Smith said exercise can help minimize those health risks in all people, and help people deal better with their diabetes. “Diabetes doesn’t have to hold you back,” he said.
He offers clinics for diabetics who want to learn more about ways they can exercise safely, including tips on aerobic exercise and using weights. Smith, a Type 1 diabetic since he was eight years old, is hoping he can make a connection to diabetics in the area.
“I understand the physical and psychological things that go with (diabetes),” he said.
He also understands the value exercise can bring to a diabetic’s life. He recently completed the Maine Marathon. He did have to do some things differently from most runners, checking his blood sugar level every three or four miles and bringing along fast-acting sugars, like juice, in case he needed to boost his blood sugar level.
Smith said some people with diabetes or other health issues may feel intimidated to join a conventional gym, so he offers work in small groups and one-on-one coaching to meet individual goals.
He encourages people to find exercise they enjoy, whether it is walking with friends or a regular workout using exercise equipment or weights.
“It’s all about balance,” Smith said.
A diabetic himself, Brad Smith knows the value of exercise to people living with diabetes. Smith, who runs the Right Fitness Studio on Route 1 in Scarborough, used November’s status as American Diabetes Month to begin a program educating diabetics about the impact exercise can have on their lives and to teach non-diabetics about the disease, which affects 17 million Americans.
There are two types of diabetes, numbered one and two, both involving too much sugar in the blood. Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the pancreas, resulting in the production of no insulin
at all. Insulin regulates the level of sugar in the blood by moving excess blood sugar into the cells of the body. People with Type 1 diabetes typically are diagnosed at an early age, and require daily insulin injections throughout their lives.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin, or cells resist the effects of insulin. The first stage of attack, said Smith, who is an exercise physiologist, is for a diabetes patient to increase physical activity and change his or her diet. Medication can also make a person more receptive to insulin. A last resort is insulin injections.
“The first line of defense is a healthy lifestyle,” Smith said. That’s true even for non-diabetics. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 16 million people have a condition called “pre-diabetes,” in which their blood sugar levels are elevated, but not high enough to qualify as diabetics.
And Smith said there are more young people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than in the past. “Everything is super-sized, ” Smith said, referring not only to large fast-food servings, but dishes at all types of restaurants and even foods in supermarkets. He also said children see their parents involved in sedentary lifestyles, and continue that pattern as they grow up.
For diabetics, as for many people, exercise can be troublesome.
Exercise changes how the body uses blood sugar, and modifies its demand for insulin. People with Type 1 diabetes, Smith said, may need to eat when they don’t want to eat, to prevent their blood sugar from being too low. Or they may have to stop exercising for a time.
“It can be frustrating for someone who’s trying to lose weight,” he said.
And for someone seeking weight loss, high-impact sports may be too hard on already stressed joints like knees and ankles, Smith said. Diabetes increases the risk for cardiovascular disease and kidney failure and is the leading cause of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 74.
Teens who have to sit out during sports because of diabetes may be more susceptible to eating disorders and depression, due to feelings of lack of control over their own bodies.
Smith said exercise can help minimize those health risks in all people, and help people deal better with their diabetes. “Diabetes doesn’t have to hold you back,” he said.
He offers clinics for diabetics who want to learn more about ways they can exercise safely, including tips on aerobic exercise and using weights. Smith, a Type 1 diabetic since he was eight years old, is hoping he can make a connection to diabetics in the area.
“I understand the physical and psychological things that go with (diabetes),” he said.
He also understands the value exercise can bring to a diabetic’s life. He recently completed the Maine Marathon. He did have to do some things differently from most runners, checking his blood sugar level every three or four miles and bringing along fast-acting sugars, like juice, in case he needed to boost his blood sugar level.
Smith said some people with diabetes or other health issues may feel intimidated to join a conventional gym, so he offers work in small groups and one-on-one coaching to meet individual goals.
He encourages people to find exercise they enjoy, whether it is walking with friends or a regular workout using exercise equipment or weights.
“It’s all about balance,” Smith said.
Cape students on field trip suspended for pot and alcohol
Published in the Current
An economics class trip to the New York Stock Exchange in mid-November resulted in two-day suspensions for 16 of the 22 students on the trip, after the group was caught drinking and smoking marijuana.
Student representative Aaron McKenney told the Cape Elizabeth School Board about the incident at its regular business meeting Tuesday. The class, led by teacher Ted Jordan, went to New York Nov. 10 and spent the night in a hotel before visiting the exchange the following day.
That night in the hotel, “most of the students were using marijuana and alcohol,” McKenney said.
School Board Chairman Marie Prager praised the students who didn’t drink or smoke, and said it “was a very good choice for them” to abstain. She said she was glad that “it wasn’t everybody” on the trip.
High school Principal Jeff Shedd, as a result of this incident and a student party shortly after Thanksgiving, is now enforcing a longtime school rule prohibiting students from hosting or attending parties where drugs or alcohol are being used, though he said it is not a cure-all.
“I have absolutely no expectation that this will alleviate the problem of drinking and drugging in Cape Elizabeth,” Shedd told the board.
He also told the board he did not seek the role he has found himself in, speaking out about teen drug and alcohol use. He said he does not want the school to be viewed as part of the problem and does want public discussion on the subject. “This is a very very important issue,” he said.
Shedd told the board that he wanted to encourage all students “to do the right thing.” He said that means for students who are hosting a party where
people are drinking and using drugs, they need to take action to end the party, by notifying police or parents immediately.
If they do not, they will face suspension from athletic teams or non-sports activities for the remainder of the season.
As for students who are in attendance at the party, they should leave when they discover illegal substances being used, and should not use the intoxicants. If they do not leave, they will be kept off their sports teams or activities while the incidents are under investigation by school officials.
Shedd said he does not expect the investigations to take “a long time” and does not anticipate that it will adversely affect many students.
Student representative Hillary Weimont told the board the students involved in the marijuana-smoking incident realized their error and will take the issue more seriously in the future.
A member of the public asked if the students were allowed to go on a later economics class trip to Augusta, where they met Gov. Angus King and Governor-elect John Baldacci. McKenney said the students were not barred from that trip, but it was a day trip with no opportunity to be away from adult supervision.
“Cape Elizabeth has this problem with drinking and substance abuse,” McKenney told the board. “We may not be alone, but we sure do have a big problem.”
He said that while programs like Cape Life – an initiative to provide kids with activities that don’t involve drinking and drugs – are good ideas, “I think it’s going to take a few years” to get the message to the kids in the community.
He commended Principal Shedd for taking on the issue.
Shedd said the students involved were good students, and not the “usual” students he deals with regarding drug and alcohol use. That, he said, confirmed that the problem of alcohol touches many of the town’s young people.
An economics class trip to the New York Stock Exchange in mid-November resulted in two-day suspensions for 16 of the 22 students on the trip, after the group was caught drinking and smoking marijuana.
Student representative Aaron McKenney told the Cape Elizabeth School Board about the incident at its regular business meeting Tuesday. The class, led by teacher Ted Jordan, went to New York Nov. 10 and spent the night in a hotel before visiting the exchange the following day.
That night in the hotel, “most of the students were using marijuana and alcohol,” McKenney said.
School Board Chairman Marie Prager praised the students who didn’t drink or smoke, and said it “was a very good choice for them” to abstain. She said she was glad that “it wasn’t everybody” on the trip.
High school Principal Jeff Shedd, as a result of this incident and a student party shortly after Thanksgiving, is now enforcing a longtime school rule prohibiting students from hosting or attending parties where drugs or alcohol are being used, though he said it is not a cure-all.
“I have absolutely no expectation that this will alleviate the problem of drinking and drugging in Cape Elizabeth,” Shedd told the board.
He also told the board he did not seek the role he has found himself in, speaking out about teen drug and alcohol use. He said he does not want the school to be viewed as part of the problem and does want public discussion on the subject. “This is a very very important issue,” he said.
Shedd told the board that he wanted to encourage all students “to do the right thing.” He said that means for students who are hosting a party where
people are drinking and using drugs, they need to take action to end the party, by notifying police or parents immediately.
If they do not, they will face suspension from athletic teams or non-sports activities for the remainder of the season.
As for students who are in attendance at the party, they should leave when they discover illegal substances being used, and should not use the intoxicants. If they do not leave, they will be kept off their sports teams or activities while the incidents are under investigation by school officials.
Shedd said he does not expect the investigations to take “a long time” and does not anticipate that it will adversely affect many students.
Student representative Hillary Weimont told the board the students involved in the marijuana-smoking incident realized their error and will take the issue more seriously in the future.
A member of the public asked if the students were allowed to go on a later economics class trip to Augusta, where they met Gov. Angus King and Governor-elect John Baldacci. McKenney said the students were not barred from that trip, but it was a day trip with no opportunity to be away from adult supervision.
“Cape Elizabeth has this problem with drinking and substance abuse,” McKenney told the board. “We may not be alone, but we sure do have a big problem.”
He said that while programs like Cape Life – an initiative to provide kids with activities that don’t involve drinking and drugs – are good ideas, “I think it’s going to take a few years” to get the message to the kids in the community.
He commended Principal Shedd for taking on the issue.
Shedd said the students involved were good students, and not the “usual” students he deals with regarding drug and alcohol use. That, he said, confirmed that the problem of alcohol touches many of the town’s young people.
Thursday, December 5, 2002
Doing what it takes to get to Scotland
Published in the Current
Theater students at Cape Elizabeth High School have a pair of huge challenges ahead: Not only do they have to raise $100,000 to fly 27 of them and five chaperones to Edinburgh for the August 2003 Fringe Festival, but they have to develop and rehearse a performance to put on while there.
The first challenge, getting the money together to arrive in Edinburgh, has been underway for several months. It started near the end of the last school year, after the school had found out it had been selected to participate in the American High School Theatre Festival, which is part of the Fringe Festival.
Money raised from last year’s production of “The King and I” was added to the fledgling “Fringe Fund,” which has been growing steadily since.
Parents are helping with events like the holiday fruit-basket drive that just finished, raising nearly $2,000. Others are looking into corporate and local business sponsorship for the project.
And each student who will be going to Scotland is required to come up with a way to raise money for the effort.
Raising money
Student Carl Langley-Wilbur, the “Bottle Man,” has been collecting returnable bottles and cans, though he hasn’t gone as far as taking over the town’s bottle shed for a month. He has, however, gotten donations of returnables from as far away as Falmouth.
He said it is a project that extends beyond the borders of Cape Elizabeth.
“It’s representing the state of Maine,” Langley-Wilbur said. He has found that people across the region want to participate.
Other students ran events called “Fringe Saturdays” through the fall, with car washes and bake sales, and what theater teacher Dick Mullen called “all the traditional” ways of raising money for school-related events.
Some students just completed “Project Strong Arm,” in which they worked on a wide variety of projects throughout the community, raking leaves and doing other chores for people, in exchange for donations.
“The students have been out in the community,” said student Sarah Bartlett, president of the theater council, students who with Mullen coordinate the theater department’s shows and projects.
On Dec. 7, the next project will kick off at Wal-Mart in Scarborough, with a bicycle raffle and popcorn snack sale to earn money from people outside Cape Elizabeth who want to contribute. Wal-Mart will also match the first $500 raised, Bartlett said.
And on Dec. 14 and 21, parents will be able to drop off their elementary-school age children at the high school auditorium for a day of supervised fun.
“It’s a chance for the parents, if they want to go Christmas shopping,” Bartlett said.
Other students are working on setting up a small singing group to raise money by singing carols, and may even learn Scottish folk tunes or songs from the Scottish-themed musical “Brigadoon.”
All of the efforts, Mullen said, reflect a “high level of commitment” to the fund-raising effort and the trip.
“They’re thinking big, which we want kids to do,” Mullen said.
Some of the students were worried about the money initially, but things are going well now, said student Michelle Wissley, who also gave credit to Mullen for his efforts over the years building the theater program.
Student Bree Douty said each activity so far has made more than it was projected to make.
In Scotland
The students will be overseas for a total of two weeks in August 2003, Mullen said, starting with a short stop in London. Bartlett said the students might be able to see a show, check out costume shops and even do a workshop with a theater group.
Then they will go to Edinburgh and stay for 10 days, performing their show four or five times. They will live, with their chaperones, in a dorm at the University of Edinburgh, which, Mullen said, is a very safe place in a very safe city, with a 24-hour security staff.
“We’ll also get a chance to see theater from other American high schools and others around the world,” Bartlett said.
The students and Mullen are still deciding what they will perform, but they expect it to be a show they will prepare and put on for the community this year, Bartlett said.
One possibility is a one-act entitled “Metamorphoses,” originally written in Latin by the ancient poet Ovid, and adapted by playwright Mary Zimmerman.
Students will perform the show in March, and Mullen said it would be a “world high school premiere.” And in the “Theater Live” class, students are adapting various works into stage productions, which are also possibilities for Edinburgh.
Mullen went to Scotland this past summer, to get a glimpse of what the theater space will be. It is an old church now converted for play performances.
It has a smaller stage and seating area than the CEHS auditorium, and lacks the thrust stage that brings the play’s action closer to CEHS audiences.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” said student Amanda Gibson. She appreciates the degree of student work that is going into the project. “I think it’s going to be so much more rewarding,” she said.
And for some students it will be a first-in-a-lifetime. Student Megan Culver will be leaving the country for the first time, and Wissley has never been on an airplane. Thinking about the prospect of this, Culver exclaimed, “We have to get passports!”
Theater students at Cape Elizabeth High School have a pair of huge challenges ahead: Not only do they have to raise $100,000 to fly 27 of them and five chaperones to Edinburgh for the August 2003 Fringe Festival, but they have to develop and rehearse a performance to put on while there.
The first challenge, getting the money together to arrive in Edinburgh, has been underway for several months. It started near the end of the last school year, after the school had found out it had been selected to participate in the American High School Theatre Festival, which is part of the Fringe Festival.
Money raised from last year’s production of “The King and I” was added to the fledgling “Fringe Fund,” which has been growing steadily since.
Parents are helping with events like the holiday fruit-basket drive that just finished, raising nearly $2,000. Others are looking into corporate and local business sponsorship for the project.
And each student who will be going to Scotland is required to come up with a way to raise money for the effort.
Raising money
Student Carl Langley-Wilbur, the “Bottle Man,” has been collecting returnable bottles and cans, though he hasn’t gone as far as taking over the town’s bottle shed for a month. He has, however, gotten donations of returnables from as far away as Falmouth.
He said it is a project that extends beyond the borders of Cape Elizabeth.
“It’s representing the state of Maine,” Langley-Wilbur said. He has found that people across the region want to participate.
Other students ran events called “Fringe Saturdays” through the fall, with car washes and bake sales, and what theater teacher Dick Mullen called “all the traditional” ways of raising money for school-related events.
Some students just completed “Project Strong Arm,” in which they worked on a wide variety of projects throughout the community, raking leaves and doing other chores for people, in exchange for donations.
“The students have been out in the community,” said student Sarah Bartlett, president of the theater council, students who with Mullen coordinate the theater department’s shows and projects.
On Dec. 7, the next project will kick off at Wal-Mart in Scarborough, with a bicycle raffle and popcorn snack sale to earn money from people outside Cape Elizabeth who want to contribute. Wal-Mart will also match the first $500 raised, Bartlett said.
And on Dec. 14 and 21, parents will be able to drop off their elementary-school age children at the high school auditorium for a day of supervised fun.
“It’s a chance for the parents, if they want to go Christmas shopping,” Bartlett said.
Other students are working on setting up a small singing group to raise money by singing carols, and may even learn Scottish folk tunes or songs from the Scottish-themed musical “Brigadoon.”
All of the efforts, Mullen said, reflect a “high level of commitment” to the fund-raising effort and the trip.
“They’re thinking big, which we want kids to do,” Mullen said.
Some of the students were worried about the money initially, but things are going well now, said student Michelle Wissley, who also gave credit to Mullen for his efforts over the years building the theater program.
Student Bree Douty said each activity so far has made more than it was projected to make.
In Scotland
The students will be overseas for a total of two weeks in August 2003, Mullen said, starting with a short stop in London. Bartlett said the students might be able to see a show, check out costume shops and even do a workshop with a theater group.
Then they will go to Edinburgh and stay for 10 days, performing their show four or five times. They will live, with their chaperones, in a dorm at the University of Edinburgh, which, Mullen said, is a very safe place in a very safe city, with a 24-hour security staff.
“We’ll also get a chance to see theater from other American high schools and others around the world,” Bartlett said.
The students and Mullen are still deciding what they will perform, but they expect it to be a show they will prepare and put on for the community this year, Bartlett said.
One possibility is a one-act entitled “Metamorphoses,” originally written in Latin by the ancient poet Ovid, and adapted by playwright Mary Zimmerman.
Students will perform the show in March, and Mullen said it would be a “world high school premiere.” And in the “Theater Live” class, students are adapting various works into stage productions, which are also possibilities for Edinburgh.
Mullen went to Scotland this past summer, to get a glimpse of what the theater space will be. It is an old church now converted for play performances.
It has a smaller stage and seating area than the CEHS auditorium, and lacks the thrust stage that brings the play’s action closer to CEHS audiences.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” said student Amanda Gibson. She appreciates the degree of student work that is going into the project. “I think it’s going to be so much more rewarding,” she said.
And for some students it will be a first-in-a-lifetime. Student Megan Culver will be leaving the country for the first time, and Wissley has never been on an airplane. Thinking about the prospect of this, Culver exclaimed, “We have to get passports!”
Cape chief warns of fire dangers
Published in the Current
Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is warning town residents about home fire hazards, following a recent fire that could have destroyed a house on Woodland Road.
On Nov. 23, a Woodland Road resident put some ashes from his woodstove in a paper bag and put it on his back deck, McGouldrick said. Embers still alive in the ashes started a fire that caught the deck and the rear of the house aflame.
The resident was home and called the fire department before turning a garden hose on the fire, which helped keep damage down, McGouldrick said. But had the resident not been home, the house could have been ruined.
McGouldrick said ashes from a woodstove can stay alive even when they have been left alone for several days. “A hot coal in the middle of that ash will stay there for a long period of time,” he said.
Any ashes removed from a woodstove should be placed in a metal bucket and scattered outside the home, in a garden or planting area, he said.
When he does woodstove inspections, McGouldrick makes sure not only that the woodstove itself is safely installed, with enough distance between the stove and wooden framing of the house, but also that smoke detectors are working properly.
He said he also checks that the stove’s owner has tongs and a metal shovel and a metal bucket to properly maintain the stove.
This type of incident has happened before. McGouldrick remembers a “really bad fire down in the Oakhurst neighborhood” a number of years ago that resulted from woodstove ashes in a paper bag.
Ash disposal in dumpsters and trash cans also can cause fires, McGouldrick said.
He also warned parents to do fire drills with their children, citing recent national reports that children do not reliably respond to smoke alarms in the house, especially when they are awakened at night by the alerts.
McGouldrick also cautioned people to use care when using candles, making sure they are safely extinguished before leaving the home and also ensuring they are contained in something that will not ignite, if the candle burns low.
People should also take care that items can’t fall on top of candles accidentally, which could also cause a fire.
Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Philip McGouldrick is warning town residents about home fire hazards, following a recent fire that could have destroyed a house on Woodland Road.
On Nov. 23, a Woodland Road resident put some ashes from his woodstove in a paper bag and put it on his back deck, McGouldrick said. Embers still alive in the ashes started a fire that caught the deck and the rear of the house aflame.
The resident was home and called the fire department before turning a garden hose on the fire, which helped keep damage down, McGouldrick said. But had the resident not been home, the house could have been ruined.
McGouldrick said ashes from a woodstove can stay alive even when they have been left alone for several days. “A hot coal in the middle of that ash will stay there for a long period of time,” he said.
Any ashes removed from a woodstove should be placed in a metal bucket and scattered outside the home, in a garden or planting area, he said.
When he does woodstove inspections, McGouldrick makes sure not only that the woodstove itself is safely installed, with enough distance between the stove and wooden framing of the house, but also that smoke detectors are working properly.
He said he also checks that the stove’s owner has tongs and a metal shovel and a metal bucket to properly maintain the stove.
This type of incident has happened before. McGouldrick remembers a “really bad fire down in the Oakhurst neighborhood” a number of years ago that resulted from woodstove ashes in a paper bag.
Ash disposal in dumpsters and trash cans also can cause fires, McGouldrick said.
He also warned parents to do fire drills with their children, citing recent national reports that children do not reliably respond to smoke alarms in the house, especially when they are awakened at night by the alerts.
McGouldrick also cautioned people to use care when using candles, making sure they are safely extinguished before leaving the home and also ensuring they are contained in something that will not ignite, if the candle burns low.
People should also take care that items can’t fall on top of candles accidentally, which could also cause a fire.
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