My Busy Day

Today is Thursday, September 23, 2010 and it has been a very busy day for me. I had three different tests in Theatre Appreciation, Fitness and Wellness, and Biology but I think I passed with good grades. After going to school from 8 to 2, I had to come to work, but at least I got to work on the assisted living. Work is still busy and I have been running like crazy, since I ‘m the only aide on the station, but it’s better than being on the skilled side of the nursing home. This place sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out from all the stress and other days I have a fun time working, but those are the easier and more relaxed days that are mostly only on Sundays. I think today is a good day for me and I got my work done a couple hours early, so I had a little time to get some homework done.

Study backs new heart valve without cracking chest

A new way to thread in an artificial aortic valve without cracking someone’s chest was introduced in Washington. The aortic valve is for people that are older but are too frail to survive a surgery and also could improve the chances for patients who are very ill to live at least a year because they have no other treatment options. The Transcatheter aortic valve was manufactured by Edwards Life science Corporation and has already been sold in Europe. The valve is placed by threading it through a leg artery up to the heart and is propped open. Doctors has saved a life for every five patients treated and most patients have felt better, move better, and enjoy more quality of life. Standard heart valve replacement costs up to $50,000, but the Transcatheter valve will cost between $20,000 to $30,000 in order to bring lower hospital bills.

I think this is a very good idea because this opens the door to a new treatment and many more to come. This treatment will be so much cheaper for people that cannot afford medical bills and plus more people are more likely to live longer. It’s best for patients not having to worry about the risk of surgery; it just makes them feel more comfortable and relaxed knowing that they don’t have a long and painful procedure.

Japan denies Paris Hilton entry after drug case

In Narita, Japan, the star Paris Hilton was denied to enter into Japan two days after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge in Las Vegas. Their strict immigration laws deny entrance into the country to people convicted of drug offense. Other stars that have also been denied entrance into Japan are soccer icon Diego Maradona was banned during the 2002 World Cup finals for past drug offenses, the Rolling Stones, and Paul McCartney was arrested for marijuana possession upon arrival at Narita airport in the 1980’s. They were eventually allowed back but had to wait months or years depending on their charges.

I thought our immigration laws were strict but I would never think that other countries could deny a person over drug charges, especially if they were not convicted in that country. Stars are probably the ones that are more enforced because their personal business is always announced all over the world, so Japan is probably trying to keep a good reputation.

http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view.bg?articleid=1283325

Dance clubs owner charged with stealing from partner

In Joplin, Mo, a dispute between club owners of three dance clubs in Joplin has led to theft charges being filed against one of them and his girlfriend. Daniel W. Graves, 48 and Bridgette A. Lewis, 38 has felony theft charges because they were being accused of stealing more than $ 15,000 of the proceeds from Guitars. Graves and Zimmerman are co-owners of Guitars, Club 502, and Jukebox but Zimmerman had to file a suit against Graves. Mr. Graves allegedly diverted $70,306 of corporate proceeds or disbursements for his own benefit.  Graves has denied the allegations in court records and filed a counter claim alleging that Zimmerman caused the assists.

Sounds like they are very unprofessional of how they handle their businesses and let money get to their heads!

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1561142889/Dance-clubs-owner-charged-with-stealing-from-partner

Lamar man charged with bank robbery

In Lamar, Mo, a Lamar man robbed a Great Southern Bank on Wednesday around 9:30 a.m. Daniel Louis Slotterback, 52, approach the teller and presented a note to a teller reading “Have a Gun Give Your 20-50-100 So No One Will Get Hurt.” The teller provided the robber with $ 1,430 from his drawer, including five $ 20 bait bills that are used to serve as evidence in bank robberies. Around 11:30 a.m. that day, the Missouri State Highway Patrol stopped Slotterback in his green Subaru and placed him under arrest. Slotterback reportedly confessed to the robbery.

It’s a good thing that he was caught, but he might have desperately needed the money so maybe that’s why he did it.  Although it is terrible to commit a robbery, the man should still be punished for what he did and plus he could have put people in danger.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x2064741050/Lamar-man-charged-with-bank-robbery

Odyssey takes crime victim to work with criminals in Joplin

Leah Goins, a woman who lost her mother, Pam Cook, more than 12 years to a drug-addled killing spree that started in Indiana and ended in Illinois. In June of this year, Leah thought it was time to write the man who participated in the murder of her mother on April 1, 1998. Leah was 15 years old and a high school freshman in Indiana when a group of men showed up at her mother’s home and shot her in the head on the front porch. Leah has forgiven Steve Hale years earlier but it has taken some time for her to write him and let him know that she forgives him.

I think it’s good for Mrs. Goins to forgive her mother’s murderer, it will give her a more peaceful life knowing that she made the right choice to forgive Mr. Hale and might be life changing for him to be a better person.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1561143053/Odyssey-takes-crime-victim-to-work-with-criminals-in-Joplin

Iran must halt woman's death by stoning

Iran women named, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtianti has been convicted of Adultery and for the murder of her husband in the year 2006. Ashtianti gave an interview about a month ago to tell her side of the story, which she told reporters that a man entered her life and fooled her with his words in order to kill her husband. The man was her husband cousin and was the master mind behind the plot of killing Ashtianti’s husband. She said she knew about the idea, but she didn’t take it seriously. The day of her husband’s death, she said, that she went to get medicine for her mother in-law and saw the man there with all his tools, electrical tools, wires, and gloves. The prosecutor of East Azerbaijan Province, Malek Ajdar Sharifi said, “The husband was given an injection to fall asleep by his wife, then the man arrived and put him into the bath with two electrical lines on his body and killed the deceased.” The man who actually killed her husband was later identified and imprisoned for the crime. Ashtianti sentence on the other hand is being reviewed again and her sentencing for complicity in the murder is in process. The sentence was commuted because the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights states from Article 5 that no one should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

In my opinion about this crime sounds like the women was an accomplice to the murder of her husband. She obviously knew what was going on if the man told her that he would kill his cousin for her and there are obvious signs that he was going to do it by the tools she saw him with. I don’t think the women should be stoned to death because that’s just cruel for a government to punish someone like that, but I do think if she is proven guilty then she should serve time in prison.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/07/iftikhar.iran.stoning/index.html?iref=allsearch#fbid=S4ucOIpPXVG&wom=false

Firefighters claim progress against Colorado wildfire

In Boulder, Colorado at least 54 homes have been destroyed by a wildfire and four people are missing. Twenty- four fire trucks, 200 fire fighters, and several aircrafts were used to battle the fire. Colorado Governor, Bill Ritter, declared a state of emergency, when the size of the wildfire doubled. The fire first started at 7,100 acres and then later shrunk to 6,128 acres. The state will be throwing $5 million into the battle to save the forest and homes located around the canyon. Police are investigating the possible causes of this fire and they suspect a vehicle hit and ruptured a propane tank. That’s all the information police have for right now, but at least no injuries have been reported.

I think it’s terrible that all those people lost their homes and the forest that surrounded them. It’s a good thing that the governor declared a state of emergency and threw in $5 million to help the ones, who had to battle the fire and lost everything.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/09/10/colorado.wildfire/index.html?iref=allsearch#fbid=S4ucOIpPXVG&wom=false

Webb City man dies after crash near Mansfield

Donald J. Ehrmantrout, 43, from Webb City, was killed by a single vehicle accident on Friday at 8:35a.m. on U.S. Highway 60 in Wright County about two miles away from Mansfield, MO. The highway patrol said, Ehrmantrout’s vehicle ran off the right side of the road going westbound, crossed the center median, and he was thrown out while the vehicle flipped over. Ehrmantrout was flown by air ambulance to St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, MO and was later pronounced dead.
I think it’s terrible that this man died from a car wreck, but I wonder why he wrecked by himself and what made him lose control of his car? Maybe he was tired or on a control substance, but luckily he didn’t hurt no one else.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/crime_and_courts/x955427970/Webb-City-man-dies-after-crash-near-Mansfield

Mexican shootout leaves 25 suspects dead

In Monterrey, Mexico there was a shoot out between the military and the drug cartel. Thursday, soldiers stormed in a training camp that was set up by drug cartel members from the northern border region. These gang members are known to be very violent and just last week they slaughtered 72 illegal migrants. A spokesman said that soldiers were patrolling the area around noon and came under fire by many gunmen's on a ranch controlled by the Zetas drug cartel but in return the troops fired back killing 25 people. The migrants were found later piled up with their hands tied and blindfolded inside a warehouse on the ranch. The northeastern state will help to identify the victims.

My opinion about this topic is I am shocked! The drug cartels are still bad in Mexico killing innocent victims because the war on drugs. I think it’s terrible that people in Mexico have to fear for their lives and how these gang members have no guilt for killing all these people for entertainment. Situations like this make me grateful for being born in America, so I don’t have to live in fear.

Is Tigers Ex-wife getting $54 million?

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren divorce could leave Elin a hefty amount of change in her pocket. Tiger could be dishing out $54.5 million in either cash over the next five years, or a form of Tigers property. Documents show that Tiger took out a $54.5 million mortgage on a waterfront property in Florida, which is already owned by him. To the terms of the mortgage, Tiger has to make payments in full by January of 2016. If he cannot or does not make the payments, then his three parcel real estate spread and the mansion goes to Elin stated by one of her six lawyers.

I think Elin deserves the $54.5 million because Tiger was involved in a sex scandal that was posted throughout the news for a long time that must have been an embarrassment for her and the family. Women don’t deserve to be cheated on and Elin has paid her portion of the divorce according to the lawyers.

Medicating Children

In Opelousas, LA, Kyle Warren at 18 months has started taking a daily antipsychotic drug orders from his pediatrician to try to control his severe temper tantrums. The disorders that affect him are autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia, and oppositional defiant disorder. His daily pill routine is to take antipsychotic risperdal, antidepressant, two sleeping pills, and one pill for attention deficit disorder. The boy has been taking all these medications by the age of 3. The drugs side effects caused Kyle to alter a different personality, sedated him to where he was drooling, and overweight. Today, Kyle is six year old and weaned off his medications. His family agrees that Kyle is much better, even though he is rambunctious but he is making remarkable progress and in school he is scoring higher on tests.

My view on this story is that I think children should not have to rely on medication to function on a daily basis. Doctors put children on medications so they can be controlled but any child is going have a lot of energy and going to be rambunctious. Yes children can also be aggressive but parents that can't handle their kids desperately take them to the doctor for help. Medication is just a simple solution for a complex problem that doctors use as an easy way to get them out of their hair.