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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2000)
Page A3 November 22, 2000 ïb v ^Jorthmö ffihaeruer BHealth/Education Portland Community College Looks to the Future Randy McEwen Portland Community College has named Randy McEwen as its new vice president o f Administrative Ser vices and W ing-Kit Chung as asso ciate vice president o f Financial A f fairs. M cE w en has se rv e d as the college’s director o f Plant Services the last two years. Chung, as PCC director o f Financial Services. “I’m thrilled and honored to have been chosen,” said McEwen. “I’m looking forward to providing a supe rior, high-value service to the college and leadership that people feel good about.” McEwen has experience manag ing large budgets and directing de partments. Before his work at PCC, he was with the Fort James and James River corporations where he served in various positions since 1978. Chung has spent more than nine years with the college after serving nine years at the Eugene School Dis trict and the City o f Eugene. He holds a m aster’s degree from O regon State U niversity and a bachelor’s degree from Southern Oregon University. “I’m looking forward to working in cooperation with Randy,” Chung said. “I think we both are looking forward to building a solid founda tion for the future.” PCC is the largest institution of higher learning in the state, serving more than 940,000 residents in five- counties. The college, which enrolls almost 97,000 students annually, has three comprehensive campuses, including the Cascade Campus in north Port land. Wing-Kit Chung Alcohol, Genetics Linked to High Blood Pressure For years physicians have known that chronic alcohol consumption can lead to high blood pressure. Now researchers at Oregon Health Sci ences University have confirmed another important factor in the rela tionship between alcohol and hyper tension-genetics. “The reason why this research is so important is that high blood pressure has been linked to stokes, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease,” said Daniel Hatton, Ph D., an associate professor o f be havioral neuroscience in O H SU ’s School o f Medicine. “If we can fur ther understand this relationship, then we might have a better chance of understanding who’s at risk and how we can treat them. According to American Heart Association, nearly 50 million Americans older than 6 suffer from high blood pressure, which also is called hypertension. In 1997 hypertension was the primary or contributing cause o f death for 210,000Americans. To understand the relationship be tween genetics, chronic alcohol con sum ption and hypertension, re searchers studied five different strains ofmice. All the mice in a given strain were genetically identical, but each strain was genetically different. By observing these mice, response r to alcohol consumption. The other strains witnessed a decrease in blood pressure in response to alcohol con sumption. The other strains wit nessed decrease in blood pressure after ingesting the same amount o f alcohol; genetics and hypertension can be witnessed in both species. Because 80 percent o f the genetics makeup in mice and humans is iden tical, scientists believe this same re lationship between alcohol; genetics and hypertension can be witnessed in both species. “The study shows that individuals can respond differ ently to given amount o f alcohol,” said Hatton. As Winter Approaches, Take Fireplace Safety Precautions Now that the cold weather is upon us, more and more Orego nians will be turning to their w oodstoves or fireplaces to keep warm. But before lighting the first bundle o f kindling, state and local fire safety professional urges you to take the necessary precautions to ensure that a flue fire does not occur. Every year, fire trucks re spond to chimney and flue fires that could have been prevented had the homeowner taken the time to have his or her fireplace system inspected. The most important step is to clean the stovepipe or chimney before lighting your first fire o f the winter. You can do it your self, but fire officials recom m end having a professional chimney sweep do it for you. The cleaning process involves special tools o f the trade, such as a wire brush to clear away creosote, the sooty buildup that can ignite, causing the stove pipe or chimney to heat up over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, start ing a flue fire. Chimney maintenance is vital to a safe woodstove and fire place operation, and fire m ar shals recommend that you have your chimney inspected annu ally to cut back on the chances o f a chim ney fire. These in tense fires can cause much dam age, igniting the house inside and out creating enough smoke to be deadly to occupants in doors. If you do not clean your flue at all, a chim ney fire will occur. It will begin when the creosote, which is made up of tiny unburned particles o f wood fuel, heats up until it turns bright red. As air rushes in to oxygen ate the fire, a loud roaring sound will be heard inside the stove pipe. It may shake loose sec tions o f pipe. Throwing burning particles and flames into the house. Should you experience a flue fire, shut o ff the air supply to the woodstove, get everyone out o f the house and call 911. There are other precautions to take this tim e o f year besides making sure your chimney is creosote-free. Be sure to dis pose o f ashes properly, in a cov ered m etal c o n ta in e r. Y ou should keep the container out doors at least 3 feet from any thing flam mable. Also, keep com bustible materials, such as furniture, drapes and decora tions, away from the fireplace or woodstove itself. Using a fireplace screen can also help prevent sparks and ashes from leaping out o f the fire and landing on surrounding furniture and carpet. As always, vacuum and test smoke alarms to be certain that they are work ing properly; it is recommended that you change the batteries twice a year and replace smoke alarms that are more then ten years old. In Oregon, thousands o f hom es rely on outd ated woodstoves or fireplace inserts installed during the energy cri- Show me how to get e-Commerce sis o fth e late 1970’s and many o f these may not have been installed or m aintained prop erly In addition to improper in stallation, these old stoves pro duce far more smoke and bum less efficiently than the m od em certified woodstove pellet stoves or non-woodtuming sys tem s like natural gas. You may want to check to see if your woodstove is a cer tified model by checking on the back o f the stove for a certifi cation sticker from the De partm ent o f Environm ental Quality (DEQ) or the Environ m en tal P ro te c tio n A gency (EPA). If there is no tag, you have an uncertified, high-pol luting stove. Oregon law allows the use o f woodstoves, uncertified or not. However, resale or rein stallation of an uncertified stove is prohibited. Homeowners who upgrade their woodstove should request that the installer recycle their old stove. For information about chim ney sweeping and a list o f professional chimney sweeps, check out w w w .ocsa.org. For m o re in fo rm a tio n on woodstoves and other fireplace p ro d u c ts, call the O regon H earth Products Association at 503-585-8254, or check out the website: w w w .ohpa.org. For information on wood smoke pollution, contact the Oregon D EQ at 5 0 3 -2 2 9 -5 3 5 9 or w w w .deq.state.or.us. fo r the Holidays! ...and give me a m onth o f service FREE! Let A T & T Small Business Hosting Services get your business ready for the holiday shopping season with your very own e-Commerce Web site. Sign up N O W and get your first month of service FREE!** Start with a business-quality Web site hosted by AT&T, inducing domain name service, CGI scripting, email, and more for just $25/month.Then, for just another $25/month. create your own e-Commerce store with our free catalog tools, unlimited free transactions, and real-time credit card processing! 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