Preparing for a pandemic - 4/14/2006
Diane Anderson has twenty-one hundred pounds of wheat, hundreds of pounds of canned fruit, salt, legumes, herbs and
toilet paper carefully stored in her pantry.
She is neither a food bank or a shelter for the homeless. She is a member of the Mormon church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages the practice of "provident living", which stresses the need for church members to be prepared with life-saving food and water in case of disaster.
With the possibility of bird flu epidemic, provident living is getting more attention.
"When it hits, we'll have a couple of weeks to get ready and that's it," said Vaughn Kileen of Greater Idaho - an organization responsible to the federal government for handling shelter, food and care in times of disaster.
In the case of a bird flue pandemic, shelters would not be viable because of the risk of spreading disease. The nation's transportation system could be crippled, as the pandemic illness strikes drivers, pilots and train conductors. Medications and food could be hard to come by.
"Most of Idaho only runs a backlog of about three days' worth of food in their grocery stores because we don't have any warehouses. If you don't have shipments backing that up, you could potentially have problems," Killeen said.
The federal government has recommended that people keep water and extra food on hand in case of a pandemic. Mike, Leavitt, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said that people should consider storing powdered milk and canned tuna fish under their beds, just in case.
Anderson, a Meridian, Idaho resident is ready.
"It's just very basic things that will save your life in the event of a disaster," she said. "Instead of buying two cans of green beans, you can buy three or four cans and put away the extra. After a few months, it's surprising how much you can stock up."
Anderson lives in a large house on several acres with a fruit orchard, a garden and a milk cow.
She knows that not everyone is able to save up as many supplies as she has. She has
even prepared an antique stove that can burn either coal or wood and is suitable for both cooking and providing heat. Bottles, cans and containers fill her pantry, along with everything from dried lavender - good for bruises - to powdered cocoa - a quick nutrition source.
Preparedness isn't just about the food, Anderson said.
It's storing up on alternate energy and light sources - candles, flashlights with fresh batteries - and being out of debt so that if someone can't work for a time, they don't lose their house or car.
Based on an article from...
Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press "Residents stock pantries to prepare for pandemic" The Spokesman-Review. 9 April 2006. Sec. B6.
Charges against Kansas abortion provider dropped - 12/23/2006
Judge Paul W. Clark, a Sedgwick County judge, dismissed the charges against Dr. George Tiller at the request of Attorney Nola Foulston. Foulston said her office had not been consulted by outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline, who lost his re-election bid in November.
Kline has been investigating whether Tiller and other abortion providers performed illegal late-term abortions in Kansas or failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.
Based on an article from...
Compiled from wire reports "Abortion provider charges dismissed" The Spokesman-Review. 23
December 2006. Sec. A10.
Late term abortion ban upheld by Supreme Court - 04/19/2007
Partial-birth abortions remain banned, following the Supreme Court ruling upheld the governments ban on the procedure. The banned method, known as intact dilation and evacuation, involves dilating a woman's cervix to allow most of the baby to emerge into the vagina intact. A doctor then suctions out the baby's brain to collapse the head and allow delivery. Standard D&Es, in which the baby is dismembered in the uterus, still is allowed by law.
By a 5-4 vote, the conservative court of Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, was joined by
Kennedy in upholding the ban. In 2000, the partial-birth abortions were allowed by the liberal Supreme Court, when Sandra Day O'Connor cast the deciding vote to strike down a state ban on the controversial abortion procedure.
Based on an article from...
Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY "Justices back abortion limits" USA TODAY. 19 April 2007. Sec. 1A.
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