By ALYSIA PATTERSON and MARTHA WAGGONER,Associated Press Writers - Wednesday, November 18
SANFORD, N.C. – The father of a 5-year-old girl whose body was found off a rural North Carolina road regrets giving the girl's mother a chance to raise their daughter, even though she seemed to be getting her life together.
The girl's father, Bradley Lockhart, said he had a one-night stand with Antoinette Davis and mostly brought up their daughter before letting Davis take care of her.
A month later, Shaniya Davis was dead, her body dumped off a rural road and her mother accused of selling her for sex.
"Lord, I come to you with open arms and it is hard. It is hard," Lockhart said Monday night as he stood among a crowd of about 500 gathered in a store parking lot for a vigil. "Don't give up on me and don't give up on Shaniya. She's right there with you."
On Monday, searchers discovered the girl's body off a rural road, nearly a week after her mother reported her missing from a mobile home park in Fayetteville.
Fayetteville police said Tuesday that additional charges will be filed in the case, though they did not offer more specifics. An autopsy was being conducted to determine how Shaniya died.
Hundreds of volunteers who helped look for Shaniya left the search area dejected, unable to bring her home to her father, 7-year-old brother and the dolls she so loved.
"I still feel kind of sick to my stomach," said Angela Jackson, 27, of Sanford, who has a 2-month-old daughter and searched for consecutive days.
A dog trainer who was there when Shaniya's body was found said Tuesday that searchers initially overlooked the area because they saw only deer carcasses in trash bags.
Jeff Riccio of Tarheel Canine Training Inc. said his team returned to the area after getting information that Shaniya's body might be near deer carcasses. The searchers found the body Monday afternoon underneath thick vines.
"It was nothing that anybody wants to see, but I'm glad that it's over for her," Riccio said. "It was very hard for me to see that."
Shaniya's mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis, is charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse. She was calm and quiet during a court appearance Monday, providing one-word answers to the judge's questions. She requested a court-appointed attorney and did not enter a plea.
Her sister, Brenda Davis, 20, said she does not believe the charges.
"I don't believe she could hurt her children," said Brenda Davis, who spoke with her sister at the jail Sunday. Davis' aunt, Yvonne Mitchell, said the mother had two jobs and would never harm Shaniya.
Authorities also charged Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, with kidnapping after they said surveillance footage from a Sanford hotel showed him carrying Shaniya. Authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl, though his attorney said he will plead not guilty.
Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance declined to talk about additional charges. She also would not comment on a cause of death or the condition of Shaniya's body, except to say that investigators planned to retrieve it about 100 feet off the road.
"Detectives have been running off adrenaline to find this little girl and to bring her home alive," Chance said. "You have a lot of people in shock right now."
Shaniya's father said he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He had pleaded for her safe return.
Lockhart told The Associated Press on Saturday that he and Davis never argued about him raising Shaniya, and Cumberland County courts had no record of a custody dispute. He said he did not know McNeill.
Davis struggled financially over the years, but she recently got a job and her own place, so Lockhart said he decided to give her a chance with their daughter.
"I should've never let her go over there," he said Saturday night.
Body Care: Why You Should Take Care Of Your Body and Your Health
 | People who were following the plan regularly filled their plates with bacon, cheese, high fat meats, mayonnaise... Atkins is refining that strategy. Learn more. |
By: Shannon Clark
The popular "Atkins Diet" used to be known by many as the steak and eggs diet, where you basically ate as much protein and fat as your body could handle while disregarding carbohydrates from your diet and overlooking where your fat was coming from.
People who were following the plan regularly filled their plates with bacon, cheese, high fat meats, mayonnaise - basically anything that was protein and fat. The more the better.
The theory behind this was that because protein and fat are both more satiating, you wouldn't be as hungry and therefore wouldn't take in as many total calories and would see a weight loss. Furthermore, since you weren't supplying your body with any carbohydrates, you would have a higher chance of staying in fat burning mode (since carbohydrates cause an insulin spike and put a halt to fat burning).
The problem however that came about as a result of this diet, was that many people started worrying about their overall health, particularly with respect to heart disease and high blood pressure as it is well known that high saturated fat intakes can aggravate these conditions.
So now, Atkins has revitalized their approach. They are no longer just focusing on foods that are high in protein and fat, but are taking a more well rounded approach to their diet guidelines and touting the importance of healthy carbohydrates and fats combined with protein.
| RELATED ARTICLE | ||
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How The Diet Is Laid Out
The Atkins Diet still is composed of four different phases, the first one being the most strict and intended to kick start weight loss while the last one guides you along the path of healthy weight maintenance.
Body Care: Why You Should Take Care Of Your Body and Your Health
By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com
Updated: December 31, 2006
Relaxation Techniques Lower Stress Health People Stress Strain Ways to Reduce Stress
If your health fails, it can overshadow everything else that’s going on in your life. From relatively minor health issues such as aches and pains, lethargy, and indigestion to major health problems that can threaten your existence, health can really impact happiness and stress levels. Making a commitment to taking on healthier habits this year can have a far-reaching payoff: you’ll feel better in everything you do. Here are a few healthy habits that carry a big impact:
- Eat A Helthy Diet For The Right Reasons: Rather than eating right for the promise of looking better in your jeans, you should make a commitment to eating foods that will boost your energy level and keep your system running smoothly. This is because what you eat can not only impact your short-term and long-term health, it can affect your stress levels. If you're hungry ur malnourished, you may be more emotionally reactive to stressors, or may not have the reserves to handle what comes up as efficiently as you would if you were operating on a full stomach of healthy food. Watching what you eat can be a stress management tool as well as a health preserver.
- Make Sleep A Priority: Make a commitment to get enough sleep at night. If you haven't gotten adequate sleep, you may be less productive, less mentally sharp, and otherwise more prone to the effects of stress. Carve out a full eight hours, avoid caffeine after 2pm, and adopt a calming technique such as meditation, and let your body restore itself each night. You’ll feel better all day.
- Watch What You Put Into Your Body: Avoid putting unhealthy substances into your body; nicotine, excess alcohol, and even excessive caffeine can take a toll on your health in the long run, but also make you feel lousy overall in your day-to-day life. Find healthier ways to manage stress, and you'll enjoy double health and stress management benefits!
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Health Care: It ain't Over 'till it's Over
posted by Scott Gurvey, New York Bureau Chief at 1:31 PM on 11/10/09
So it's on to the Senate. And if you think it was tough getting health care reform through the House, wait until the self-proclaimed "world's greatest deliberative body" gets hold of it.
In the end, majority rules in the House. So while the process of making law resembles the making of sausage, in the end, something usually comes out. If HR 3962 were to become law, most Americas who do not have insurance will no longer have to choose between death and destitution if a serious illness arises; Americans now insured through group plans arranged by their employers will no longer have to fear being thrown to the wolves running the market for individual insurance policies if they lose their group coverage; and Americans swimming in the individual coverage pool will no longer have to fear being denied coverage or priced out of the market due to a previously existing condition, or having coverage rescinded if a claim is made. We will all be free of the fear of running into a life-time cap which means a catastrophic illness leads to bankruptcy.
This is not to say the House bill is perfect. It is to say that it is a start, a compromise which brings the United States out of the wilderness and into the community of developed nations which guarantee a basic level of access to health services to its citizens. It is significant that HR 3962 had the support of AARP and the American Medical Association. Both required compromise and their support is cautious and qualified to be sure, but still indicative of the urgency of the problem of health care reform.
One can be sure that going forward AARP will be particularly vigilant to insure that the changes in Medicare, which faces major funding cuts as part of the reform legislation, achieve cost savings through elimination of bureaucracy and fraud while maintaining the level of care America's retired deserve.
The AMA, for its part, predicates its support for HR 3962 on the passage of HR 3961, a standalone bill that would spend $210 billion (latest CBO score) to cancel the Sustainable Growth Rate Formula cuts and pays for it by adding the full cost to the deficit. That will be a tough sell in both houses. But almost every year since Medicare was enacted, Congress has stepped in to block the cuts in Medicare reimbursements mandated by the formula. It's time to get rid of it completely and deal with the fiscal impact some other way.
Just to demonstrate how close this vote was, an eleventh hour change dealt with a ban on the use of taxpayer money to pay for abortions. Even though the provision already exists for other Federal programs, this hot button issue enabled abortion opponents to add stronger limits, as they apparently held votes necessary for passage.
Over on the Senate side, the compromise and wheeling-dealing are often not enough. Nor does the majority rule. You won't find it in the Constitution, but the rules of the Senate allow a member to take the floor and hold it until he keels over from exhaustion. This filibuster has been used to delay or completely block legislation, most notably laws designed to protect the civil rights of citizens.
Already Senate opponents of health care reform vow to keep the legislation from even coming to a vote. As the great sage Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'till it's over."
So it's on to the Senate. And if you think it was tough getting health care reform through the House, wait until the self-proclaimed "world's greatest deliberative body" gets hold of it.
In the end, majority rules in the House. So while the process of making law resembles the making of sausage, in the end, something usually comes out. If HR 3962 were to become law, most Americas who do not have insurance will no longer have to choose between death and destitution if a serious illness arises; Americans now insured through group plans arranged by their employers will no longer have to fear being thrown to the wolves running the market for individual insurance policies if they lose their group coverage; and Americans swimming in the individual coverage pool will no longer have to fear being denied coverage or priced out of the market due to a previously existing condition, or having coverage rescinded if a claim is made. We will all be free of the fear of running into a life-time cap which means a catastrophic illness leads to bankruptcy.
This is not to say the House bill is perfect. It is to say that it is a start, a compromise which brings the United States out of the wilderness and into the community of developed nations which guarantee a basic level of access to health services to its citizens. It is significant that HR 3962 had the support of AARP and the American Medical Association. Both required compromise and their support is cautious and qualified to be sure, but still indicative of the urgency of the problem of health care reform.
One can be sure that going forward AARP will be particularly vigilant to insure that the changes in Medicare, which faces major funding cuts as part of the reform legislation, achieve cost savings through elimination of bureaucracy and fraud while maintaining the level of care America's retired deserve.
The AMA, for its part, predicates its support for HR 3962 on the passage of HR 3961, a standalone bill that would spend $210 billion (latest CBO score) to cancel the Sustainable Growth Rate Formula cuts and pays for it by adding the full cost to the deficit. That will be a tough sell in both houses. But almost every year since Medicare was enacted, Congress has stepped in to block the cuts in Medicare reimbursements mandated by the formula. It's time to get rid of it completely and deal with the fiscal impact some other way.
Just to demonstrate how close this vote was, an eleventh hour change dealt with a ban on the use of taxpayer money to pay for abortions. Even though the provision already exists for other Federal programs, this hot button issue enabled abortion opponents to add stronger limits, as they apparently held votes necessary for passage.
Over on the Senate side, the compromise and wheeling-dealing are often not enough. Nor does the majority rule. You won't find it in the Constitution, but the rules of the Senate allow a member to take the floor and hold it until he keels over from exhaustion. This filibuster has been used to delay or completely block legislation, most notably laws designed to protect the civil rights of citizens.
Already Senate opponents of health care reform vow to keep the legislation from even coming to a vote. As the great sage Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'till it's over."
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