Bangalore’s salubrious weather is not helping your daily quota of Vitamin D, a vitamin most easily attained by the body through the absorption of sunlight. Dr Shonali Sabherwal, a certified macrobiotic food consultant explains why a large number of people are now Vitamin D deficient. It’s not just about the sun.
Adequate fill
Normally speaking, Vitamin D aids a large number of critical functions in the body without which systems begin to fail. It helps absorb calcium in the body and maintains phosphorus levels which are critical for bone development. It also helps with weight loss and reduces muscle fatigue and skin disorders.
It improves your immunity and is also known to reduce the incidence of cancer and heart diseases. According to studies, adequate quantities of the vitamin also help combat depression and type II diabetes.
In spite of your sun tan, you might still be deficient for the vitamin owing to the following reasons:
Junk yard woes
The kidneys play an essential role in converting Vitamin D into a usable substance for the body. Most people in cities suffer from what might be known as ‘adrenal fatigue’. Lifestyle ills such as drinking excessive tea/coffee, not sleeping enough, consuming processed foods and too much salt end up having a snowball effect on your system.
The adrenal glands located above the kidney regulates your stress response and immunity, which are affected adversely by these excesses. Better immunity, in turn, ensures better absorption of Vitamin D. Help your adrenals by resting adequately, cutting back on sugar and processed foods and eating more vegetables, grains legumes, etc.
Gut instinct
In order to adequately absorb Vitamin D, the body needs to break down fat which doesn’t happen if the digestive system is ailing. When someone suffers from diarrhea or colitis, there is no absorption of the vitamin as the food consumed passes through and is digested in the intestines instead of the stomach. In such cases, liver pumps in reserve Vitamin D that it stores in its system and if the liver is weak as well, the body is denied these stores. People advised to consume oil-based laxatives also suffer from low Vitamin D absorption.
2011年8月14日星期日
2011年8月11日星期四
Crestwood officials indicted in tainted drinking water scandal
For nearly two decades, the former mayor of Crestwood, who ruled the village of 11,000 with an iron fist, hid from regulators and residents the fact that they were drinking contaminated water, federal authorities said Thursday, announcing indictments against two former water department officials.
But Chester Stranczek, whose attorney confirms he’s the “Public Official A” mentioned in the 23-count indictment, has not been charged — and likely will not — face criminal charges, his attorney said, because Parkinson’s disease dementia has left him unfit to stand trial.
Facing felony charges are Frank Scaccia, 59, Crestwood’s former certified water operator, and Theresa Neubauer, 53, former water department clerk and supervisor and currently Crestwood’s police chief. Both are accused of lying to environmental regulators for more than 20 years about using a tainted well to supplement the village’s drinking water supply from Lake Michigan, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced in a press release.
The village told residents and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency it was only using Lake Michigan water after 1985, when it discovered a village well had been tainted by vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. But regulators later discovered the village continued to use the well for as much as 20 percent of its water from 1985 to 2007.
The indictment alleges Scaccia and Neubauer acted with unnamed “Public Official A,” an elected Crestwood government official who had authority over the village’s water system, including the use of the well water. Between roughly 1999 and 2007, “Public Official A” signed regulatory documents on behalf of the village.
“Public Official A” is the elder Stranczek, too sick to stand trial, said Chris Gair, who’s been representing Stranczek in some 200 lawsuits filed over the tainted well scandal.
“I feel confident (prosecutors) are not going to come after him because they are aware that his disease has rendered him unfit to stand trial,” Gair said. “He’s no more able to participate in (the lawsuits) than he would in a criminal case. He does not have the mental capacity anymore to do so.”
Stranczek’s son, current Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Employees at the village hall and police department said he and Neubauer were on “planned vacations.”
Neubauer’s attorney, Thomas Breen, said she learned of the charges while camping with her children.
“All of the counts have to do with her when she had a clerical position when she assisted in filing out forms with information given to her by the water department and management,” he said. “The evidence is going to show she had a clerical job filing out forms.”
Neubauer has been placed on administrative leave “pending further review,” according a village statement.
Scaccia’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment. He was fired in March 2010, the village statement said.
“The government’s investigation — resulting in only these false statements charges — confirms that there is not now and never has been any concern with the safety or quality of the drinking water in Crestwood and the health of our citizens has never been compromised or threatened,” the statement read. “Our citizens’ well-being has always been and will always continue to be our top priority.”
An arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined there is no safe level of exposure to vinyl chloride, which also can cause damage to the liver and nervous system.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the village over the use of the well water, including one by the Illinois attorney general’s office. Crestwood has footed the multi-million-dollar bill for various defense attorneys.
In December, the village settled one of those suits, which covered water bills paid by current and former residents and village business owners. The settlement established a $500,000 fund to give residents partial refunds on their water bills from January 1985 to September 2007 — the years the village was found to have tapped the contaminated well. The village also agreed to a two-year freeze on the cost of vehicle stickers, business licenses and garbage collection fees, among other conditions.
Other lawsuits alleging wrongful death and personal injury still are pending.
Current and former Crestwood residents Thursday said they were outraged and vindicated. Many spoke of their terrible health problems: kidney problems, tumors, immune system disorders and many types of cancer.
But Chester Stranczek, whose attorney confirms he’s the “Public Official A” mentioned in the 23-count indictment, has not been charged — and likely will not — face criminal charges, his attorney said, because Parkinson’s disease dementia has left him unfit to stand trial.
Facing felony charges are Frank Scaccia, 59, Crestwood’s former certified water operator, and Theresa Neubauer, 53, former water department clerk and supervisor and currently Crestwood’s police chief. Both are accused of lying to environmental regulators for more than 20 years about using a tainted well to supplement the village’s drinking water supply from Lake Michigan, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced in a press release.
The village told residents and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency it was only using Lake Michigan water after 1985, when it discovered a village well had been tainted by vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. But regulators later discovered the village continued to use the well for as much as 20 percent of its water from 1985 to 2007.
The indictment alleges Scaccia and Neubauer acted with unnamed “Public Official A,” an elected Crestwood government official who had authority over the village’s water system, including the use of the well water. Between roughly 1999 and 2007, “Public Official A” signed regulatory documents on behalf of the village.
“Public Official A” is the elder Stranczek, too sick to stand trial, said Chris Gair, who’s been representing Stranczek in some 200 lawsuits filed over the tainted well scandal.
“I feel confident (prosecutors) are not going to come after him because they are aware that his disease has rendered him unfit to stand trial,” Gair said. “He’s no more able to participate in (the lawsuits) than he would in a criminal case. He does not have the mental capacity anymore to do so.”
Stranczek’s son, current Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Employees at the village hall and police department said he and Neubauer were on “planned vacations.”
Neubauer’s attorney, Thomas Breen, said she learned of the charges while camping with her children.
“All of the counts have to do with her when she had a clerical position when she assisted in filing out forms with information given to her by the water department and management,” he said. “The evidence is going to show she had a clerical job filing out forms.”
Neubauer has been placed on administrative leave “pending further review,” according a village statement.
Scaccia’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment. He was fired in March 2010, the village statement said.
“The government’s investigation — resulting in only these false statements charges — confirms that there is not now and never has been any concern with the safety or quality of the drinking water in Crestwood and the health of our citizens has never been compromised or threatened,” the statement read. “Our citizens’ well-being has always been and will always continue to be our top priority.”
An arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined there is no safe level of exposure to vinyl chloride, which also can cause damage to the liver and nervous system.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the village over the use of the well water, including one by the Illinois attorney general’s office. Crestwood has footed the multi-million-dollar bill for various defense attorneys.
In December, the village settled one of those suits, which covered water bills paid by current and former residents and village business owners. The settlement established a $500,000 fund to give residents partial refunds on their water bills from January 1985 to September 2007 — the years the village was found to have tapped the contaminated well. The village also agreed to a two-year freeze on the cost of vehicle stickers, business licenses and garbage collection fees, among other conditions.
Other lawsuits alleging wrongful death and personal injury still are pending.
Current and former Crestwood residents Thursday said they were outraged and vindicated. Many spoke of their terrible health problems: kidney problems, tumors, immune system disorders and many types of cancer.
2011年8月10日星期三
Farmer's wife treated for rare brain disease
The wintry morning of Dec 18, 2010, was just another day for Omwati Singh, a farmer's wife in Haryana's Ballabhgarh, when the 42-year-old woke up at 4 a.m. to complete household chores and accompany her husband to the farms. However, things went topsy-turvy when she collapsed and her family found her unconscious in the kitchen, soaked in sweat and vomit.
The mother of four children was diagnosed with a combination of heart and brain disorders, until she was finally brought to Apollo hospital in the capital where she was treated for a rare state called 'Takotsubo syndrome' - a condition in which the brain closely mimics symptoms of a heart attack.
'We rushed her to the nearest hospital in Faridabad, she was fretting and mumbling. We were told that she had suffered a heart attack and the problem was of both the heart and the brain,' said Umed Singh, Omwati's husband, who sold a chunk of his land in Ballabhgarh to get his wife treated.
Omwati underwent several diagnostic tests, shuttled between hospitals in the national capital region - even as her husband and children stood by her side.
'The same day we came to Apollo Hospital where doctors told her to immediately go for a brain surgery as the problem of the heart was provoked because of brain hemorrhage. She was operated upon the same day, and is fine now,' Umed Singh said, as he sat beside Omwati. The surgery cost him around Rs.6 lakh.
'I was worried for my daughter who was undergoing treatment for kidney stone at that time. But all this happened to me suddenly,' Omwati said.
Doctors said the patient suffered from brain hemorrhage that produced changes in the heart and abnormal widening of the blood vessels in the brain.
'It was a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage causing bleeding in the area between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain. She showed symptoms such as headache, blood pressure, drowsiness, vomiting that cannot be easily attributed to a heart or brain disorder,' said Pranav Kumar, senior consultant neurosurgeon who conducted the six-hour-long surgery.
'Titanium clips were placed across the widened blood vessels in the brain. The clips will remain in her brain for lifetime and prevent rupture of vessels,' Pranav Kumar said.
He said that the cause of the disease could have been weakness since birth, head injury, or high cholesterol diet.
For Omwati's family, this is her rebirth. 'God has given a second life to my wife. That is all I can say,' Umed Singh said.
The mother of four children was diagnosed with a combination of heart and brain disorders, until she was finally brought to Apollo hospital in the capital where she was treated for a rare state called 'Takotsubo syndrome' - a condition in which the brain closely mimics symptoms of a heart attack.
'We rushed her to the nearest hospital in Faridabad, she was fretting and mumbling. We were told that she had suffered a heart attack and the problem was of both the heart and the brain,' said Umed Singh, Omwati's husband, who sold a chunk of his land in Ballabhgarh to get his wife treated.
Omwati underwent several diagnostic tests, shuttled between hospitals in the national capital region - even as her husband and children stood by her side.
'The same day we came to Apollo Hospital where doctors told her to immediately go for a brain surgery as the problem of the heart was provoked because of brain hemorrhage. She was operated upon the same day, and is fine now,' Umed Singh said, as he sat beside Omwati. The surgery cost him around Rs.6 lakh.
'I was worried for my daughter who was undergoing treatment for kidney stone at that time. But all this happened to me suddenly,' Omwati said.
Doctors said the patient suffered from brain hemorrhage that produced changes in the heart and abnormal widening of the blood vessels in the brain.
'It was a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage causing bleeding in the area between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain. She showed symptoms such as headache, blood pressure, drowsiness, vomiting that cannot be easily attributed to a heart or brain disorder,' said Pranav Kumar, senior consultant neurosurgeon who conducted the six-hour-long surgery.
'Titanium clips were placed across the widened blood vessels in the brain. The clips will remain in her brain for lifetime and prevent rupture of vessels,' Pranav Kumar said.
He said that the cause of the disease could have been weakness since birth, head injury, or high cholesterol diet.
For Omwati's family, this is her rebirth. 'God has given a second life to my wife. That is all I can say,' Umed Singh said.
2011年8月9日星期二
Block Party planned for Riley Children's Foundation
A Block Party, including fun, food and games, will be held to support the Riley Children's Foundation August 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of 1700 Lincoln Way.
"We have all kinds of games for kids," said Linda Rinkel, owner of House of Stitches. "Things for adults to do like food and fun. There will be music, magic and a clown."
Rinkel has worked hard to make this the second annual Block Party. There will be a raffle drawing and ticketed gift baskets filled with gift certificates that have been donated by local restaurants, a video store and the Indianapolis Children's Museum.
Included in the Block Party is the Midwest Stash Exchange. At the Stash Exchange, people are invited to shop, swap and sell needlework related stash. The funds are raised through table rental.
"They can buy, sell and trade so it's like a big garage sale for stitchers," said Rinkel.
All of the funds raised from the Block Party go to the Riley Foundation, providing all kinds of activities, crafts, games and toys for kids while they are at Riley.
"If they had to have an icky procedure, there was something fun waiting for them at the end," said Rinkel.
Rinkel believes in supporting Riley because she said she has seen the love and care they provide for kids. Her 6-year-old granddaughter, Grace, has visited Riley on several occasions due to complications with a kidney stone.
"It was a problem with the kidney, and the little tube that connects it to the bladder," said her mother, Sarah Rinkel. "We thought she had a kidney stone, but they found a bigger problem once they took a closer look."
Grace had one major procedure, and she has been back several times since then for visits.
"We did 14 visits down the road to Riley in one summer," said her father, Jon Rinkel.
As far as her parents know, Grace is making a good recovery, and they hope to have their last visit to Riley in December. Grace's parents express their gratitude towards Riley, and the compassion they have for children and their families.
"I can't say enough good things about Riley Hospital," said Jon. "You can tell that everybody there loves kids and wants to work with kids. It's just a phenomenal place."
Last year the Block Party raised $1,620, and they hope to raise even more this year.
"We have all kinds of games for kids," said Linda Rinkel, owner of House of Stitches. "Things for adults to do like food and fun. There will be music, magic and a clown."
Rinkel has worked hard to make this the second annual Block Party. There will be a raffle drawing and ticketed gift baskets filled with gift certificates that have been donated by local restaurants, a video store and the Indianapolis Children's Museum.
Included in the Block Party is the Midwest Stash Exchange. At the Stash Exchange, people are invited to shop, swap and sell needlework related stash. The funds are raised through table rental.
"They can buy, sell and trade so it's like a big garage sale for stitchers," said Rinkel.
All of the funds raised from the Block Party go to the Riley Foundation, providing all kinds of activities, crafts, games and toys for kids while they are at Riley.
"If they had to have an icky procedure, there was something fun waiting for them at the end," said Rinkel.
Rinkel believes in supporting Riley because she said she has seen the love and care they provide for kids. Her 6-year-old granddaughter, Grace, has visited Riley on several occasions due to complications with a kidney stone.
"It was a problem with the kidney, and the little tube that connects it to the bladder," said her mother, Sarah Rinkel. "We thought she had a kidney stone, but they found a bigger problem once they took a closer look."
Grace had one major procedure, and she has been back several times since then for visits.
"We did 14 visits down the road to Riley in one summer," said her father, Jon Rinkel.
As far as her parents know, Grace is making a good recovery, and they hope to have their last visit to Riley in December. Grace's parents express their gratitude towards Riley, and the compassion they have for children and their families.
"I can't say enough good things about Riley Hospital," said Jon. "You can tell that everybody there loves kids and wants to work with kids. It's just a phenomenal place."
Last year the Block Party raised $1,620, and they hope to raise even more this year.
2011年8月8日星期一
Navigating the Difficult Road to All-American Wrestler
When given the choice of either grappling with the nation’s toughest wrestlers or having to battle kidney stones, Barrington’s varsity wrestler Jared Parvinmehr feels it is any easy choice.
“I would rather wrestle,” he said after finishing fifth in the Greco-Roman ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet National Championships held at Fargo, N.D.
“I tried to wrestle with the kidney stones” in an earlier tournament, Parvinmehr, the Greco All-American went on to say. “But that area (of the body) was just too tender.”
Contending with kidney stones wasn’t exactly in Parvinmehr’s plan when he began his summer wrestling, which started by winning state in freestyle at 112 pounds; rather he was focused on gearing up for the nation’s best wrestlers.
Moving on to compete in the Central Regional Tournament in Indiana, Parvinmehr continued his impressive wrestling by qualifying for the Fargo National Tournament with his first-place finish in both freestyle and Greco in the 112-pound weight category.
Unfortunately, it was the time off between the regional and national tournaments, while participating in the Junior Duals in Oklahoma, which forced Parvinmehr to the sidelines with kidney stones, despite attempting to wrestle with the ailment.
With a small window of time remaining before the Greco-Roman portion of the National Tournament in Fargo, Parvinmehr, with the rest of Izzy Style School of Wrestling, headed to the University of Illinois and began the daunting task of cutting weight in preparation for the elite competition in Fargo. Cutting weight is not relatively new for the wrestlers, but Parvinmehr did spend much of his varsity season wrestling above his natural weight category, when he wrestled at 119.
“I was conditioning and dieting all to cut weight without affecting technique,” Parvinmehr said of his extensive and exhausting workouts that would last all day.
And the extra workload paid off for him.
He had wrestled in the Fargo tournament in previous years but had failed to crack the top 10. But Parvinmehr wouldn’t lose his first match this year until the later rounds, when he faced last year’s 98-pound Greco-Roman champion, and this year’s eventual champion in the 112 division, Colton Howell of Missouri. Howell would defeat the Barrington wrestler by only the narrowest of margins in the two periods 1-0, 1-0.
Despite the difficult loss, Parvinmehr stayed focused and on track in the tournament, thanks to the guidance of Stanford’s assistant wrestling coach Ray Blake.
“Coach (Ray) knew how to fire me up,” Parvinmehr said of getting to work with and pick the brain of the collegiate coach. “He knew what to say to me, and he gave me good advice.”
But the conversations didn’t mention having to face another All-American, since the level of competition wouldn’t taper off in the later rounds. Facing Hawaii’s Cassidy Oshiro, Parvinmehr suffered another heartbreakingly close loss that would have had him wrestling for third place in his final match, but instead positioned him for at a fifth place finish in the tournament.
Parvinmehr’s final bout, to decide fifth and sixth place, was not going to end as closely as the previous rounds. Parvinmehr stayed aggressive and was able to win on technical fall 7-0, 10-3 securing the fifth-place finish in the National Tournament.
“It feels amazing,” Parvinmehr said of the recognition of being an All-American for his fifth-place finish, “and something I wouldn’t have thought was going to happen.”
The win may move Parvinmehr up in the United States’ future Olympian ratings, too. Parvinmehr is ranked second in the nation with 800 earned points from competing in various meets and matches, trailing Georgia's Darshawn Sharp by only 75 points.
Parvinmehr was hoping to add to his point total and build on his recent success during the freestyle portion of the tournament, but he was unable to because he had to wrestle two classes above his normal weight due to his inability to cut the necessary weight by weigh-ins.
Cutting weight isn’t something new for most wrestlers but it is something relatively new to Parvinmehr, who was used to wrestling at the 119 category on the Bronco varsity team and thus needed to keep weight on. However, wrestling at 125 pounds left little room for error in Parvinmehr’s bracket, and the extra weight he carried proved too much, as he was eventually eliminated by the third round.
Even with the early elimination from the freestyle portion of the tournament Parvinmehr isn’t ready to take time off.
“I would rather wrestle,” he said after finishing fifth in the Greco-Roman ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet National Championships held at Fargo, N.D.
“I tried to wrestle with the kidney stones” in an earlier tournament, Parvinmehr, the Greco All-American went on to say. “But that area (of the body) was just too tender.”
Contending with kidney stones wasn’t exactly in Parvinmehr’s plan when he began his summer wrestling, which started by winning state in freestyle at 112 pounds; rather he was focused on gearing up for the nation’s best wrestlers.
Moving on to compete in the Central Regional Tournament in Indiana, Parvinmehr continued his impressive wrestling by qualifying for the Fargo National Tournament with his first-place finish in both freestyle and Greco in the 112-pound weight category.
Unfortunately, it was the time off between the regional and national tournaments, while participating in the Junior Duals in Oklahoma, which forced Parvinmehr to the sidelines with kidney stones, despite attempting to wrestle with the ailment.
With a small window of time remaining before the Greco-Roman portion of the National Tournament in Fargo, Parvinmehr, with the rest of Izzy Style School of Wrestling, headed to the University of Illinois and began the daunting task of cutting weight in preparation for the elite competition in Fargo. Cutting weight is not relatively new for the wrestlers, but Parvinmehr did spend much of his varsity season wrestling above his natural weight category, when he wrestled at 119.
“I was conditioning and dieting all to cut weight without affecting technique,” Parvinmehr said of his extensive and exhausting workouts that would last all day.
And the extra workload paid off for him.
He had wrestled in the Fargo tournament in previous years but had failed to crack the top 10. But Parvinmehr wouldn’t lose his first match this year until the later rounds, when he faced last year’s 98-pound Greco-Roman champion, and this year’s eventual champion in the 112 division, Colton Howell of Missouri. Howell would defeat the Barrington wrestler by only the narrowest of margins in the two periods 1-0, 1-0.
Despite the difficult loss, Parvinmehr stayed focused and on track in the tournament, thanks to the guidance of Stanford’s assistant wrestling coach Ray Blake.
“Coach (Ray) knew how to fire me up,” Parvinmehr said of getting to work with and pick the brain of the collegiate coach. “He knew what to say to me, and he gave me good advice.”
But the conversations didn’t mention having to face another All-American, since the level of competition wouldn’t taper off in the later rounds. Facing Hawaii’s Cassidy Oshiro, Parvinmehr suffered another heartbreakingly close loss that would have had him wrestling for third place in his final match, but instead positioned him for at a fifth place finish in the tournament.
Parvinmehr’s final bout, to decide fifth and sixth place, was not going to end as closely as the previous rounds. Parvinmehr stayed aggressive and was able to win on technical fall 7-0, 10-3 securing the fifth-place finish in the National Tournament.
“It feels amazing,” Parvinmehr said of the recognition of being an All-American for his fifth-place finish, “and something I wouldn’t have thought was going to happen.”
The win may move Parvinmehr up in the United States’ future Olympian ratings, too. Parvinmehr is ranked second in the nation with 800 earned points from competing in various meets and matches, trailing Georgia's Darshawn Sharp by only 75 points.
Parvinmehr was hoping to add to his point total and build on his recent success during the freestyle portion of the tournament, but he was unable to because he had to wrestle two classes above his normal weight due to his inability to cut the necessary weight by weigh-ins.
Cutting weight isn’t something new for most wrestlers but it is something relatively new to Parvinmehr, who was used to wrestling at the 119 category on the Bronco varsity team and thus needed to keep weight on. However, wrestling at 125 pounds left little room for error in Parvinmehr’s bracket, and the extra weight he carried proved too much, as he was eventually eliminated by the third round.
Even with the early elimination from the freestyle portion of the tournament Parvinmehr isn’t ready to take time off.
2011年8月7日星期日
Kiwis offer home out of jail for Colombians
Two Colombians arrested after entering the country illegally could be out of jail in a week, thanks to the offers of kind-hearted Kiwi families.
Maria Oliva Rosas Peralta, 64, and John Gerardo Medina Fuentes, 33, were arrested in June after using fake passports to come to New Zealand.
Rosas Peralta was scrubbing floors to fund an operation for her 10-year-old son, who cannot walk properly because he has a deformed leg, her lawyer Kevin Smith said.
She was told New Zealand was "the land of milk and honey".
Last week, both Colombians were sentenced to nine months' jail for possessing and using fake passports, and were due to spend half that time in prison before being deported.
If a suitable home were found, they could be granted home detention and would have to spend only about two weeks here before deportation could be organised.
Several families from Lower Hutt to Auckland contacted The Dominion Post after reading about Rosas Peralta's story.
Other families contacted Mr Smith directly and he said yesterday that a family in Upper Hutt had offered to take in Medina Fuentes as well.
Today he will make an application to have the two prisoners released to the Upper Hutt family's residence. He hopes his client and Medina Fuentes could be out of prison in about a week.
Mr Smith said he had been surprised by the response to Saturday's story. "I had been doing the rounds asking for help. They've got nothing, just the clothes they stand up in."
For Lower Hutt couple Maree and Kevin Crighton, reading about Rosas Peralta's plight reminded them of their own experiences in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Their son has lived there for four years with his girlfriend and the Crightons said Colombians had always shown them kindness. "They just embrace people, you know – when we were staying with the girlfriend's family, we were treated like part of the family."
Mrs Crighton said it was "a pretty sad crime" that Rosas Peralta had committed. "I can't understand why she thought she could find work when she didn't speak English. It's such a long way to travel."
Mr Smith told the district court last week his client could not speak English, and had spent her time in Tawa's Arohata Prison in self-imposed solitary confinement, depressed and suffering from kidney stones.
Whanganui woman Joy Clark said reading Rosas Peralta's story gave her nightmares. Ms Clark has a son with special needs who is the same age as Rosas Peralta's son who needs a leg operation, and she could not bear the thought of her not being able to contact her family. Whether or not Rosas Peralta came to stay with her, Ms Clark planned to offer assistance any way she could.
Maria Oliva Rosas Peralta, 64, and John Gerardo Medina Fuentes, 33, were arrested in June after using fake passports to come to New Zealand.
Rosas Peralta was scrubbing floors to fund an operation for her 10-year-old son, who cannot walk properly because he has a deformed leg, her lawyer Kevin Smith said.
She was told New Zealand was "the land of milk and honey".
Last week, both Colombians were sentenced to nine months' jail for possessing and using fake passports, and were due to spend half that time in prison before being deported.
If a suitable home were found, they could be granted home detention and would have to spend only about two weeks here before deportation could be organised.
Several families from Lower Hutt to Auckland contacted The Dominion Post after reading about Rosas Peralta's story.
Other families contacted Mr Smith directly and he said yesterday that a family in Upper Hutt had offered to take in Medina Fuentes as well.
Today he will make an application to have the two prisoners released to the Upper Hutt family's residence. He hopes his client and Medina Fuentes could be out of prison in about a week.
Mr Smith said he had been surprised by the response to Saturday's story. "I had been doing the rounds asking for help. They've got nothing, just the clothes they stand up in."
For Lower Hutt couple Maree and Kevin Crighton, reading about Rosas Peralta's plight reminded them of their own experiences in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Their son has lived there for four years with his girlfriend and the Crightons said Colombians had always shown them kindness. "They just embrace people, you know – when we were staying with the girlfriend's family, we were treated like part of the family."
Mrs Crighton said it was "a pretty sad crime" that Rosas Peralta had committed. "I can't understand why she thought she could find work when she didn't speak English. It's such a long way to travel."
Mr Smith told the district court last week his client could not speak English, and had spent her time in Tawa's Arohata Prison in self-imposed solitary confinement, depressed and suffering from kidney stones.
Whanganui woman Joy Clark said reading Rosas Peralta's story gave her nightmares. Ms Clark has a son with special needs who is the same age as Rosas Peralta's son who needs a leg operation, and she could not bear the thought of her not being able to contact her family. Whether or not Rosas Peralta came to stay with her, Ms Clark planned to offer assistance any way she could.
2011年8月3日星期三
'Boiling with hatred'
Whether it is exploding melons or pigs pumped full of steroids to produce lean meat, many in China simply do not trust what is put on their dinner tables.
This worries the authorities, anxious that people will lose trust in a government if it cannot ensure the safety of what they eat.
Little Donkey Farm worker These part-time farmers are the lucky few who have the time - and money - to produce their own food
That confidence hit rock bottom three years ago when news of China's biggest food-safety scandal broke.
Melamine-tainted baby formula killed at least six children and 300,000 others fell ill.
Wang Gang is still living with the consequences. His son - Zi Yuan - developed kidney stones after being fed the baby formula.
Mr Wang continues to worry about his Zi Yuan's health. He wants justice for his son.
"I think the government needs to bear responsibility," he says, standing in his kitchen surrounded by papers and packets of baby formula which he has kept for three years.
"Our court case keeps getting delayed. I'm boiling with hatred over this but I'm trying to control myself."
The Chinese authorities have enacted stricter policies to ensure food safety.
Wang Zi Yuan Wang Zi Yuan developed kidney stones after being fed the tainted baby formula
It includes a directive from the Supreme Court calling for the death penalty for cases in which people die as a result of poor food safety.
But regulations are often flouted in China. And with food price inflation rising, some producers will continue to cut corners in order to fatten up the bottom-line.
After a hard day's work, the group of young professionals at the Beijing co-operative farm retired to an upmarket apartment.
They cooked a meal using the fresh produce they had harvested.
"It definitely tastes better when you grow it yourself," says one of them.
But they are the lucky few, who have the time - and the money - to produce their own food.
This worries the authorities, anxious that people will lose trust in a government if it cannot ensure the safety of what they eat.
Little Donkey Farm worker These part-time farmers are the lucky few who have the time - and money - to produce their own food
That confidence hit rock bottom three years ago when news of China's biggest food-safety scandal broke.
Melamine-tainted baby formula killed at least six children and 300,000 others fell ill.
Wang Gang is still living with the consequences. His son - Zi Yuan - developed kidney stones after being fed the baby formula.
Mr Wang continues to worry about his Zi Yuan's health. He wants justice for his son.
"I think the government needs to bear responsibility," he says, standing in his kitchen surrounded by papers and packets of baby formula which he has kept for three years.
"Our court case keeps getting delayed. I'm boiling with hatred over this but I'm trying to control myself."
The Chinese authorities have enacted stricter policies to ensure food safety.
Wang Zi Yuan Wang Zi Yuan developed kidney stones after being fed the tainted baby formula
It includes a directive from the Supreme Court calling for the death penalty for cases in which people die as a result of poor food safety.
But regulations are often flouted in China. And with food price inflation rising, some producers will continue to cut corners in order to fatten up the bottom-line.
After a hard day's work, the group of young professionals at the Beijing co-operative farm retired to an upmarket apartment.
They cooked a meal using the fresh produce they had harvested.
"It definitely tastes better when you grow it yourself," says one of them.
But they are the lucky few, who have the time - and the money - to produce their own food.
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