Page 11
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Foreign contaminants
hit U.S. ‘pristine’ sites
LORNA BYRNE MIDDLE SCHOOL last week honored
its December Students of the Month. They are (rear,
from left) seventh-graders Taylor Harris and Brittany
Mosely, and eighth-graders Robert Sanders and
Brieanna Andrews; and (front) sixth-graders Jessica
Myers and Andrew Mullins. The students were recog-
nized for factors including attendance, demeanor, and
scholastic achievement. (‘Illinois Valley News’ photos)
Expertise of
Dr. Miller at
SCHC noted
HAY’S HILL CRASHES - Two motor vehicle accidents on Hwy. 199 on Hay’s Hill were
among a number of mishaps during the past several days because of rain and icy
roads. On Wednesday, Dec. 14, emergency personnel responded to a single-vehicle
accident (photo above) near the top of the hill. The driver was Olivia Taylor-Young,
68, of Cave Junction. Her car spun out after running into black ice. American Medi-
cal Response (AMR) took her to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass,
where she was treated and released. She praised Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD)
and AMR for quick response, and was especially thankful to two firefighters who
were behind her car and immediately rendered aid. The other accident on Hay’s Hill
(bottom photo) occurred Sunday, Dec. 18. Details were not immediately available.
(Photos by Dale & Elaine Sandberg/IVFD)
Wyden endorses border enforcement
As part of continuing
effort to increase security
along U.S. borders and curb
illegal immigration, 2nd
District Congressman Greg
Walden (R-Ore.) became an
original co-sponsor of the
True Enforcement and Bor-
der Security Act, H.R. 4313,
introduced by Congressman
Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).
The act addresses many
key issues surrounding en-
hanced immigration control
including the completion of
additional fencing along the
southern U.S. border,
sharply increasing the num-
ber of border patrol agents
and detention capabilities,
and eliminating benefits that
entice illegal immigrants to
America, Walden said.
“Illegal immigrants
continue to cross our na-
tion’s borders, creating an
overwhelming burden on
taxpayers through increased
costs of education and
health care, and, most im-
portantly, they can pose a
threat to homeland secu-
rity,” said Walden.
“Enhanced patrols,
greater authority to local
officials, the construction of
additional physical barriers
along the border, and many
other provisions in H.R.
4313 will help curb illegal
immigration,” said Walden,
a member of the Congres-
sional Immigration Reform
Caucus.
“While there is no
‘silver bullet’ in the fight
against illegal immigration,
the True Enforcement and
Border Security Act will go
a long way toward advanc-
ing our efforts,” said Wal-
den.
The act, he said, is a
comprehensive piece of leg-
islation drafted in a collabo-
rative process that takes into
consideration the many dif-
ferent legislative proposals
suggested in the House and
Senate this year.
Among points, H.R.
4313 would:
*Create a border secu-
rity zone from the Pacific
Ocean to the Gulf of Mex-
ico with 25 additional ports
of entry, calling on the Dept.
of Homeland Security
(DHS) to incorporate fenc-
ing, roads and technology
infrastructure along the na-
tion’s border with Mexico.
*Authorize 5,000 new
border patrol officers, 1,250
immigration investigators,
500 adjudicators and 2,000
worksite investigators.
*Affirm inherent au-
thority of state and local law
enforcement to enforce im-
migration laws and require
reimbursement to such
agencies for their coopera-
tion in immigration enforce-
ment.
*Withhold funding
from the State Criminal
Alien Assistance Program
from states and localities
with sanctuary policies to
protect illegal or criminal
aliens.
*Halt current “catch-
and-release” practices by
increasing federal detention
space.
*Make illegal immigra-
tion less attractive by with-
holding U.S. citizenship
from babies born on U.S.
soil to illegal aliens.
*Prevent illegal aliens
from collecting Social Secu-
rity and claiming the Earned
Income Tax Credit.
A recent certification
exam shows that Dr. Kristin
Miller, of Siskiyou Commu-
nity Health Center (SCHC),
earned the highest scores
among the approximately
7,000 physicians taking the
exam during 2005.
Miller, a Board Certi-
fied Family Medicine Physi-
cian, was notified about her
certification exam test
scores by the American
Board of Family Medicine
(ABFM) Certification
Exam. She was ranked at
the 100th percentile.
To be Board Certified
by ABFM, a physician must
complete a Family Medicine
residency program and pass
the certification exam. A
physician must earn 300
hours of continuing medical
education and pass the (Re)
Certification Exam, a day-
long test covering all aspects
of family medicine, every
seven years to maintain cer-
tification.
Miller earned bachelor
of science and doctor of
medicine degrees at Univer-
sity of Wisconsin in Madi-
son. Her graduation honor
was “With Distinction.”
Following completion of her
Family Medicine Residency
at Truman Medical Center-
East at University of Mis-
souri-Kansas City, she
joined SCHC in 1999.
Miller continues to see
patients at SCHC’s Grants
Pass clinic site.
“As long as I can re-
member, I have wanted to
become a physician,” said
Miller. “And I always saw
myself in a primary-care
setting, taking care of fami-
lies. And that’s what I do
here every day,” Miller said.
SCHC is a federally
qualified health center with
medical clinics in Cave
Junction and Grants Pass, a
dental clinic in Grants Pass,
a student health center at
Lorna Byrne Middle School
in Cave Junction, and exten-
sive outreach programs.
Asthma help
Nearly 5 million U.S.
children under 18 suffer
from asthma, causing them
to miss school -- 14 million
absences per year.
Alhough there is no
known cure for asthma, Dr.
Michael Kaliner, medical
director of the Institute for
Asthma and Allergy in
Chevy Chase, Md., said that
one option for children 5
years and older is Intal.
“It works by preventing
certain cells from releasing
substances that may cause
inflammation in the air pas-
sages,” Kaliner said.
(NewsUSA)
High in mountain lakes
and far north in Alaskan
wilderness, researchers from
Oregon State University at
Corvallis are finding some
of the world’s most toxic
chemicals, possibly from
sources as far away as
Europe and Asia.
“We’ve found persistent
chemicals -- such as mer-
cury and PCBs -- in lakes in
very remote areas,” said
Michael Kent, director of
the Center for Salmon Dis-
ease Research at OSU.
“And we’ve found evidence
of toxic effects in fish in
these lakes.”
Kent heads the fish pa-
thology investigation of the
Western Airborne Contami-
nant Assessment Program
(WACAP), a collaboration
of government and univer-
sity scientists conducting a
six-year study in national
parks from California to
Alaska.
Far from the crowds of
national park visitors, OSU
researchers trek to wilder-
ness lakes in the high Sier-
ras, Rockies, and Cascade
Mountains, as well as
Alaska back country. They
carry the bare essentials:
Some 2,000 pounds of
scientific equipment, inflat-
able boats, hand pumps, dry
ice, food and shelter for
eight people for three days.
In the winter, they sam-
ple the snowpack and return
with sleds and backpacks
full of frozen samples. They
are measuring mercury and
other contaminants in snow,
soil, air, water, fish and
vegetation in places once
thought to be among the
most pristine areas in the
world.
“Places that are far re-
moved from human activity,
places high in altitude or
latitude, were thought to be
pristine,” said Carl Schreck,
a professor in OSU’s Dept.
of Fisheries and Wildlife
who heads the fish physiol-
ogy investigations. “They
are not,” he said.
“Nothing is pristine
anymore, and that makes it
hard to determine a baseline
for measuring environ-
mental change,” he said.
The researchers’ sam-
pling methods target differ-
ent time periods. They sam-
ple this year’s snowpack to
get a snapshot of current
airborne pollutants; they
examine lake sediments for
evidence from as far back as
the 1870s.
“We have seen physio-
logical and pathological
changes in the fish in these
lakes, and we have seen an
accumulation of toxic
chemicals in the water that
could only have come in by
air,” Kent said.
Although the specific
sources of these airborne
contaminants are as yet un-
known, other studies have
shown that air masses can
cross the Pacific Ocean
from Asia to North America
in just a few days.
These air masses can
carry coal smoke ( a major
source of mercury) and
polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) emitted from indus-
trial sites in Russia, China
and elsewhere.
When the air masses hit
the mountains of western
North America, pollutants
they carry begin to settle.
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A novel inspired by the heartbreak of
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