Mother Disciplined After Confronting Son’s Bullies

September 23, 2011

CBS Minnesota

By: Esme Murphy

A mother who confronted two boys who bullied her 10-year-old son has been banned from her son’s Minneapolis school and even her son’s bus stop for the rest of the year.

Tanya Sydney said she does not regret taking actions into her own hand to keep her son from being a victim.

Last week, fifth-grader Sovante Griffin told his Mom and Stepdad he was being bullied on the school bus. Sydney said he told her boys were hitting him, so she took matters into her own hands. She went to the bus stop the next day and confronted the bus driver.

“He told me ‘I am doing the best I can, I can’t be in 50 million places at once,’” Sydney said. She then got on the bus and yelled at the two boys that Griffin said were the bullies. “Specifically to the two boys I said you need to keep your hands to yourselves,” she said.

The driver ordered her off the bus. She and Griffin then walked to Lake Nokomis Community School. Sydney said when she and Griffin got to school they were met by the school’s police liaison officer, the principal and a transportation supervisor.

Sydney said the supervisor pulled out a photograph of another African-American woman who he said he created a disturbance on a school bus last year.

“That is when the transportation guy apologized and said ‘I assumed you were the woman from last year,’” she said

Her son and the two bullies later had to apologize to each other. Sydney got a letter from the principal saying she is banned from school grounds and the bus stop for the rest of the school year.

“It’s mindboggling,” she said.

She has filed an appeal to the year-long ban with the Minneapolis School Board. Sydney said she does not regret her actions.

“There are too many stories of children getting bullied. I don’t want it to get to the point were he is scared to get on this bus and he can’t be successful,” she said.

Griffin has gotten back on the bus this week and has been going to school without incident. The school district released a statement on the matter Wednesday, saying they can’t comment on the incident because of data privacy laws.

“Because of data privacy laws, we are unable to share any particulars about this matter. For the safety of students and staff, we are committed to following the MPS policies regarding bus protocol, including only allowing MPS students to board school buses; it is not our protocol to allow parents or other adults to board school buses. Maintaining a safe and secure environment in the school district, including our school buses, is a top priority.

Minneapolis Public Schools encourages parents to contact their school immediately if there are bullying concerns. Our schools take allegations concerning bullying very seriously and have a protocol to address these types of situations,” the statement reads.

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Cutting Salt In Foods Will Save US $32B A Year

June 23, 2010

Natural News

By Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California recently released the results of a study they conducted on the best ways to get Americans to consume less salt. The study was in response to research indicating that even a 10 percent cut in salt intake overall would prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes over the course of several decades, saving the U.S. government $32 billion in healthcare costs.

Researchers decided that the best approach to reducing overall salt intake is to establish voluntary programs with the U.S. food industry to cut salt levels in food. The U.K. operates under a similar program that is said to work well.

According to Dr. Crystal Smith-Spangler from the VA, even a small decrease in overall salt intake would be effective at reducing the number of deaths due to cardiovascular disease. According to the study, more than 500,000 fatal stroke and more than 480,000 heart attacks would be prevented because of the salt-cutting campaign.

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2-Year-Old Boy Addicted To Cigarettes

May 28, 2010

Boston Herald

By Laura Crimaldi

Anti-tobacco advocates worldwide are stunned, but the dad of a chain-smoking Indonesian toddler doesn’t see what the big deal is. And, mom adds, don’t even think about taking the coffin nails away from their little stovepipe terror of a tyke.

“He’s totally addicted,” mother Diana Rizal, 26, said of Ardi, the 2-year-old ashtray of her eye. “If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.”

Ardi had his first smoke at 18 months under Dad’s unconcerned eye, British papers reported. Mohammed Rizal, 30, opined, “He looks pretty healthy to me. I don’t see the problem.”

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Economic Recovery Slower Than Reported

May 27, 2010

My Way

By Jeannine Aversa

WASHINGTON (AP) – The economic rebound last quarter turned out to be slower than first thought, one of the reasons unemployment is likely to stay high this year.

The economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate from January to March, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was slightly weaker than an initial estimate of 3.2 percent a month ago. The new reading, based on more complete information, also fell short of economists’ forecast for stronger growth of 3.4 percent.

The reasons for the small downgrade: consumers spent less than first estimated. Same goes for business spending on equipment and software. And, the nation’s trade deficit was a bigger drag on economic activity.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said Thursday that the number of newly laid off workers filings claims for unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 to 460,000 last week. The decline came after claims had risen by a revised 28,000 in the previous week, the largest gain in three months.

The latest level of claims is slightly higher than it was at the start of the year. That shows the nation’s workers are still facing tough times even though the overall economy is growing again.

During normal times, growth in the 3 percent range would be considered healthy. But the country is coming out the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression. So economic growth needs to be a lot stronger – two or three times the current pace- to make a big dent in the nation’s 9.9 percent unemployment rate.

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