SENTINEL TRIBUNE
VIE 00VPOINT
Wednesday, April 9, 2014 Page 4
BETWEEN
THE
LINES
By Tom Merchant -
i
Healthy eating?
Sentinel Tribune -- tmerchant@ncppub.com
When it comes to healthy eating we have been told of the virtues
of vegan diet, and avoiding things like bacon, eggs, coffee and choco-
late. Well we carnivores now have something to be excited about.
According to recent studies we meat eaters live longer than vegetari-
ans. The same study showed that runners also have a shorter life span
than non runners. It seems that living only on vegetables is hardly pos-
sible, our bodies require a certain amount of fat and protein which is
much harder to come by eating only vegetables. Vegetarians need to
add supplements to their diets. If that's the case then why would any
one want to eat that way. On the other side of the coin I heard that
meat eaters also need a certain amount of fat in their diet, and that if
you had to survive in the wilderness only eating rabbit meat you would
not survive very long either. ,
Of course that doesn't mean we can all subscribe to a couch potato
lifestyle, pigging out solely on junk food either. While a lot of the
foods I mentioned above when eaten in excessive amounts can still
have a negative beating on your longevity. Also a sedentary lifestyle is
still not a good thing.
Being a diabetic, I have found that high carbohydrate foods seem
to do more to elevate ones blood sugar level, especially foods and liq-
uids that contain heavy doses of refined sugars. I also discovered that
somewhat modest exercise has a very positive affect on those blood
levels.
If you look at a lot of people from a couple of generations ago,
many of them ate diets high in fat, and sugar, but still managed to live
long lives. However you have to assume that these people did not con-
sume a lot of refined sugar growing up.
I know of people today that consume as many as six cans of sugar
soda every day. When I was younger I drank a lot more pop than I do
today, but I now drink mostly diet drinks. Contrary to some studies I
don't feel that it makes me hungrier or eat more. It reminds me of a
saying I once heard or read, the perfect diet is chocolate cake, hot
chocolate, chocolate candy, and diet cola.
I have never been a big fan of vegetables, especially raw veggies,
so with the busy lifestyle I lead it is a real pain to stop and prepare
vegetables for a lot of the quick meals I eat most often.
Of course I really think most foods are good for us if eaten in
moderation.
So if you have felt guilty about your diet, it's not so much what
you eat, but how much you eat. If we are what we eat, look around you
there's a lot of pear shaped people out there, but I don't think they got
that way from eating pears.
With all this in mind, I use little if any scientific evidence to come
up with my opinion.
Have a great week and do good!
What happened to
hungry America?
By Glenn Mollette
America seemed hungrier back in
the sixties than today. My family
did whatever they could to survive.
My grandpa ran a country grocery
store. My dad drove two hours to
work in an underground coal mine.
We raised a garden and had live-
stock. One uncle drove to a north-
em city to paint during the week.
Another uncle raised strawberries
and drove a school bus. Another
uncle was a peddler salesman driv-
ing over several counties. Nobody
was rich but everybody was very
busy trying to take care of their
families. This was all back before
food stamps and other current gov-
ernment programs became popular.
There is no question that people in
our area of Appalachia had strug-
gles but people had a hunger and a
desire to survive.
I watched the movie Coal Miner's
Daughter long before I went to Van
Lear to see Loretta Lynn's old home
place. Sure enough it's up a "hol-
ler." However, in many ways it's a
beautiful place. Her brother, who at
that time, was battling cancer and
still running a country grocery store
gave my wife and I a tour of the old
home place. When touring that old
house I knew there was something
within Loretta Lynn and her now
deceased husband Oliver "Mooney"
Lynn that was greater than the con-
ditions of poverty that engulfed the
area. The innate desire to live and
rise above their surroundings lift-
ed them higher than they probably
ever imagined. They first moved to
Washington State to work before
Loretta started having success with
music that took them to Nashville.
Of course, we all can't sing like
Loretta Lynn. However, we can
LETTER TO EDITOR
National Crime
Victim's Rights Week
New Horizons Crisis Center
is celebrating National Crime
Victim's Rights Week from April
6-12. During this week, we remem-
ber what Benjamin Franklin said,
"Justice will not be served until
those who are unaffected are as out-
raged as those who are." Established
in 1988 through an amendment to
the Victims of Crime Act of 1984,
the Office for Victims of Crime is
charged by Congress with admin-
istering the Crime Victims Fund.
Through OVC, the Fund supports
a broad array of programs and ser-
vices that focus on helping victims
in the immediate aftermath of crime
and continuing to support them as
they rebuild their lives. Millions
of dollars are invested annually in
victim compensation and assistance
in every U.S. state and territory, as
well as for training, technical assis-
tance, and other capacity-building
programs designed to enhance ser-
vice providers' ability to support
victims of crime in communities
across the Nation.
This week should remind all of us
that being a victim of crime can hap-
pen to anyone at any time. At New
Horizons Crisis Center we work to
empower all victims of crime, from
the victim of a sexual assault to a
victim of harassment or stalking.
All our crime victim serves are free
and confidential. New Horizons
Crisis Center serves all our commu-
nities in Lincoln, Lyon, Murray and
Redwood Counties.
To learn more about New
Horizons Crisis Center or the
NCVRW, please visit our website
at www.newhorizonscrisiscen-
ter.org or find us on Facebook at
NewHorizonsCrisisC or on Twitter
at New Horizons CC or call to
507-532--5764. Our phones are
answered 24-hours a day, 365 days
a year to support our communities.
Sincerely
Jim Smalley
New Horizons Crisis Center
Marshall
AI Bart...
"Stories from the BaH Cave"
Was it a
Sasquatch
or a mirror?
I remember it as if it were many
years ago.
It was back in the day when
I knew kids whose fathers were
named Walter.
A Sasquatch had been seen in the
greater Hartland area.
Who saw it first? No one is sure.
It might have been someone spend-
ing an extended period of time
accumulating graduate credits at
the University, the local dispensary
of adult beverages. The creature
wasn't bothering anyone. Today,
we'd assume it was part of a real-
ity TV show. Police officers were
called. They were unable to find
anything.
State officials became involved.
They searched high and low. After
all, it would have been a new tax-
payer.
Word spread. People were fling-
ing words in all directions at every-
one within hearing range. Some
folks seemed to know what they
all do and be something. Much of were talking about.
America has lost its desire to rise Where was it?
above life's circumstances. We have What was it?
become mired in our joblessness, Is it real?
poverty or stuck in a situation. Where did you see it last?
A lot of America has died. We We didn't know a Sasquatch
are breathing and going through from a bushel basket, but we want-
the motions. We are collecting our ed to.
food stamps, government assistance Jake Johnson claimed to have seen
and in too many cases numbing it. He swore upon his aunt Jenny's
ourselves on prescription drugs, sainted breadboard that it was a
Hopelessness is widespread from Sasquatch.
Butcher Holler to every mega city Jake's long suit wasn't Sasquatch.
house and condo throughout the It was red flannel underwear.
Jake said the Sasquatch didn't
United States. Sadly many suburban make a sound. He said that was
houses are filled with depressed, good because you can't believe
drug sedated Americans who can- everything you hear.
not fred the internal wherewithal
to get up and get moving. More Johnny Johnson said it was a
Americans now die from painkillers common two-headed Sasquatch,
than from heroin and cocaine com-
bined, (Mark Koba, USA Today,
July 28, 2013),
I'm sure the people who lived
where I was raised, on Milo road
in Kentucky, had days when the
dark cloud of hopelessness almost
killed their spirits but I doubt it hap-
pened a lot. People were too tired.
They found something to do with
their minds and bodies. We didn't
have computers, cell phones and
social media. We had yards to mow,
gardens to tend and were trying to
figure out how to make a few dol-
lars. We didn't need drugs to numb
ourselves. We simply fell into bed
exhausted.
An America that's not hungry
for a better life and is reliant on
the government and the politiciafis
to care for us and solve all of our
problems will live sadly and die
tragically.
/
but it was an unusual one. It was
unusual because it had only one
head. He told everyone that a
Sasquatch looked smaller in the
daytime, because it was let out at
night.
Someone said it was wearing a
Speedo, but that was probably the
widow Johnson's wishful thinking.
John Johnson planted poison
ivy around his house to keep the
Sasquatch away.
The Hartland think tank pretend-
ed to be above all the nonsense.
They concentrated their efforts on
trying to fry an egg on the side-
walk. It worked, but it made poor
eating with dirt and ants in it.
We wondered if the sighting
wasn't the Johnson boy, home from
college. We'd heard that he had
become a hirsute hippy.
The Johnson brothers thought it
was a kangaroo.
The Johnsons, newlyweds who
hadn't yet learned that neither of
them knew how to cook, put the
dashboards (crusts) of their pizza
slices out into the yard so the
Sasquatch would have something to
eat. They were tossing pizza bones
to a possible Sasquatch.
Jebediah Johnson claimed that
a Sasquatch wouldn't come near
a barber pole. That probably was
because it had had a close shave
once.
Perhaps someone had dressed up
as a prank. Disguise is the limit.
Jerry Johnson said it was wear-
ing sunglasses and a Pioneer seed
com cap.
A Sasquatch expert came down
from the cities. He had the world's
largest privately-owned collection
of blurry photographs that might
have been either a Sasquatch or a
maple sapling.
When you see something like
that, a possible Sasquatch, even if
it's not really something like that,
there is nothing more important.
We see what we see. We see
what we want to see. We see what
we thought we saw.
Some folks can make a celebra-
tion out of possibilities. That's not a
bad thing. Something that could be
is a constant part of our lives.
We believe in ghosts. We see
them in the skeletal remains of old
farm places. Abandoned dreams,
discarded hopes, and bovine-free
barns. Times change. Maybe it was
time to believe in a Sasquatch.
Life can be a washboard road.
It rattles us. Each road has a high
spot. Sometimes the high spot has a
Sasquatch.
Having a Sasquatch so close
filled people's minds with thoughts
of faraway phones.
People drove around looking.
Some employed searchlights. We
shared a common goal--to see a
Sasquatch, yeti, Bigfoot, or abomi-
nable snowman.
Just as the Native Americans
made use of an entire buffalo,
every bit of our imaginations was
used.
Neighbors talked to neighbors.
Coffee and cookies were shared.
This went on for weeks. It wasn't
seen a second time. It wasn't a 24/7
Sasquatch. It became something
that faded into local legend.
No one got a photograph. It
may be difficult to believe, but not
everyone carried at least three cam-
eras in those days.
Had someone been able to snap
a picture of the sasquatch, I'm sure
that it could have been seen that
it was wearing a tattoo reading,
"Born to be wild."
I'm not sure if it was a real
Sasquatch or not, but every com-
munity needs a good Sasquatch
sighting now and then.
©A1 Batt 2014
71622 325 St.
1-1, MN 56042
http://albatt.net/
Sentinel Tribune
Thomas Merchant
Junette Merchant
Joan Spielman
(ISSN 8750-3905)
Managing Editor
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