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by Andy
Evangelista First
appeared 02 December 1998
Follow-Up Facts and Figures
UCSF Police Captain Yolanda Brown is still adding up the hours -- many are time-and-a-half
-- but she estimates the extra patrols and security during the chilly six-day protest by
an animal rights activist cost the campus $32,000. She's still waiting for the bills from
UC Berkeley and Davis, which loaned some of their officers to help keep an eye on the guy.
The figure doesn't include treatment for people's stiff necks from watching the protester
who camped on a riser outside of the fourth story of the Medical Sciences Building.
Tons of Relief and Gratitude
On a warmer note, Medical Center respiratory therapist and Nicaraguan native Oscar Garcia
collected enough food, medical supplies and clothing to fill 10 vans. The last of it was
shipped over the Thanksgiving Holiday to Hurricane Mitch survivors in Honduras and
Nicaragua. There have been stories in the local news about tons of relief supplies stuck
in warehouses waiting to be transported, but the items gathered by Oscar aren't among
them. He had arranged to piggyback the UCSF-donated items with those collected and shipped
by his church. Some $1,000 from UCSF people helped pay for the shipping. Oscar says he's
been too busy to send personal thank-yous -- and he didn't get a chance to meet many of
the people who dropped off supplies -- so he asked Daybreak to extend his gratitude to the
all campus members who donated to the relief effort.
Ditto from Henry Padilla, the Airborne Express driver who collected and boxed some 4,000
pounds of food and supplies from clients -- including UCSF people -- on his route.
Whatever could fit on an airplane was flown to Honduras, courtesy of Airborne, on Nov. 19.
A Charitable Mood
The number of people participating in the 1998 Charitable Giving Campaign has already
doubled last year's. Some 800 UCSF and UCSF Stanford Health Care staff contributed last
month to charities -- including the Red Cross' hurricane relief effort and various United
Way agencies -- according to campaign coordinator Katherine Riordan. She reminds the
campus that it's still not too late to send in donations -- tax-deductible, of course --
they're accepted year-round. Those who sent their donation envelopes and forms by Nov. 30
are eligible for a raffle prize (donated by Campus Travel) of a round-trip for two on
American Airlines to anywhere the airline flies in the continental US, Mexico or the
Caribbean. The raffle will be held at the end of the year, she says.
A Nice Touch
Karen Attix, manager of Arts & Performances, is retiring from UCSF at the end of the
year. In her 15 years here, Karen has brought to the campus numerous programs for
performing artists and the many people wanting good and varied entertainment. (See
previous Artists Among Us)
As a going-away present and a show of appreciation for "bringing the best of the arts
to UCSF," Karen's co-workers at Millberry Programs and Services are presenting an
evening of performances by campus artists on Dec. 10 at Laurel Heights. (Sorry, invitation
only.) After her "retirement," Karen will be a marketing consultant for the
Marin Jewish Community Center. But she promises to keep up with the people and happenings
at UCSF.
Life in the Big City
Proof that there is life after UCSF: Brad Foss, a writer for Newsbreak and Daybreak before
he left to enroll in Columbia University's graduate program in journalism this fall, has
hit the big time. Brad got his first byline in the New York Times for a story on a new
neighborhood park that has displaced some homeless people in that city.
Green Thumbs Up and Down
An interesting and down-to-earth study from our sister campus: People in the Golden -- and
green -- State spend nearly $10 billion a year maintaining their yards and other
landscaping, according to UC Berkeley researchers. That's almost half as much as
California farms spend to produce the state's entire food crop. Eight out of every ten
California households has a planted yard, and the average home spends $310 a year on
potted plants, fertilizer, gardening tools, water and whatever else is needed to pretty up
the land. And if you think you're hearing more leaf blowers than before, it's not your
imagination or bad ears -- some one-third of what homeowners spend on their yards goes to
professional gardeners and landscapers.
The rest of the state's landscaping expenses goes to
parks, school yards, cemeteries, roadways, golf courses and zoos. While just over $5,000
per acre is spent for private residential yards and golf courses, $7,900 per acre goes to
keeping up cemeteries. "We spend more on the dead than we do on the living,"
said economist George Goldman, co-author of the report. Ranking dead last in per acre
landscaping spending ($2,800) in the state were K-12 school playgrounds and yards.
Pros and Cons
There is a wealth of health and science information on the Web, but readers can get mixed
information when perusing the headlines. Again, here are some recent headlines:
Good News: New HIV drugs being developed (Yahoo/Reuters, Nov. 18)
Bad News: HIV drugs linked to risky sex (Yahoo/Reuters, Nov. 18)
Good News: Number of pregnant smokers fell 26% in the nineties (Nando Times, Nov.
20)
Bad News: More pregnant teens smoke (Yahoo/Reuters, Nov. 24)
Good News: Hormone is latest anti-aging elixir (AP Wire, Nov. 15)
Bad News: Sugar could speed aging, study poses (Nando Times, Nov. 23)
Good News: Exercise fights "middle-age spread" (Yahoo/Reuters Health
Information, Nov. 16)
Bad News: Exercise may not fight constipation (Yahoo/Reuters, Nov. 23)
Good News: Sterile mice shed light on infertility (Yahoo/Reuters, Nov. 24)
Good or Bad News?: Scientists get mouse to grow an elephant egg (AP wire, Nov. 10)
Readers: If you have any items or suggestions for this
column, send us an email: andye@itsa.ucsf.edu. |
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