Alarmed middle school teacher sounds warning about danger vaping presents to students

Vaping and our kids

As an educator I have never felt so helpless.

I can tutor, teach, re-teach, call home, motivate and evaluate, but how do I keep students from their vape?

The vaping industry has taken over our middle schoolers’ lungs, lives and longevity using flavors akin to lip smackers and candy.

The worst flavor of all for my students of 13 is CBD or THC. “THC and CBD, another active ingredient in cannabis, are heated up as oil in vape pens before being converted to vapor to smoke” (Northwestern Medicine).

In 2019, the National Youth Tobacco Survey detailed that more than 10 percent of middle school students had vaped in the previous 30 days. This was before we sent them home for a year to learn at their leisure.

Northwestern Medicine detailed the dangers of vaping, highlighting the long term effects of one’s ability to breathe efficiently – even more concerning due to COVID-19’s impact on lungs.

How do I stand in front of 20 kids, relay the rules of algebra or the poetic words of Langston Hughes, knowing a large percentage of them are using my bathroom pass to chemically tune me out? How do I counteract cotton candy flavored anything?

Tucker Murray, Lexington

Decision short-sighted

I am disappointed and angered that our city leaders have apparently decided not to pursue expansion of our convention center and the trio of luxury hotels, offices, restaurants and other businesses.

This is a decision that our city will suffer from for decades. We will continue to miss out on larger conventions with attendees in our hotels and restaurants. We will continue to miss events like hosting the NCAA basketball tournament because we do not have enough hotels for teams to separately occupy.

Developer Ben Arnold was willing to provide significant private monies with this plan. He had worked on it for years with the city. For our new local politicians to thumb their nose at this chance to change the future of our city makes me angry.

We will continue to have less convention space than Greenville, Charleston, Charlotte, even Florence. We will lose significant business because of this short-sighted decision. What a shame.

Ernie Lawhorne, Columbia

Social work offers options

Putting their violent 25-year-old son in jail or kicking him out of the house -- not a great set of choices for a West Columbia resident.

Frightened, the parents dialed 911. West Columbia police responded and gently informed them of their alternatives: either evict their son or let him go to jail.

Fortunately, the West Columbia Police Department has a third option.

A six-year partnership between the West Columbia Police Department and UofSC’s College of Social Work, the West Columbia Outreach Program is operated by social workers and provides referrals for West Columbia residents when their needs go beyond the scope of officer duties.

This West Columbia resident, who suffered from a brain trauma, accepted the opportunity to talk to a social worker. Intervention was provided. The outcome improved.

This call was one of 36,000 yearly, with a third of those calls related to mental health and substance use disorders.

The program is free to taxpayers and is entirely run by licensed social workers and master level interns from UofSC’s College of Social Work.

March is Social Work Month. Social workers empower vulnerable populations to overcome life’s challenges.

Join us in recognizing the social work mission.

Rhonda DiNovo, LMSW, Columbia

Improve nuclear safety

As we follow the news about Ukraine with sorrow and fear, we are reminded of the dangers of nuclear power and the connection to nuclear war. The control of nuclear plants by Russian forces has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

Unfortunately South Carolina is also vulnerable to nuclear disasters. We have seven operating nuclear reactors in addition to a fuel fabrication facility and a nuclear weapons plant.

There are concerns that the Duke Energy Oconee Nuclear Plant in Seneca lacks adequate protection from a major flooding event or an earthquake.

We have an opportunity to lessen the threat of nuclear meltdown by improving the safety of nuclear power plants and transitioning to clean renewable energy and energy efficiency. The threat of a nuclear meltdown at nuclear power plants is similar to the threat of nuclear war; however, Duke Energy can do its part to prevent nuclear catastrophe in South Carolina by protecting the vitally important cooling system at the Oconee nuclear power plant.

Priscilla Preston, Columbia