So, what has been going on with your hero (that would be me lest I am mistaken)? I have been quite busy over at Casa d’Rush and here at the newspaper.
Why just last week I attended the first meeting of something that could be a grassroots campaign to sweep across the nation, no less. Yep, I went to the first meeting of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Our Youth. Speaking were Michigan residents Mary Tocco (pronounced like the thing some eat, taco) and Frank Granett. Tocco-mama is from the Traverse City area and she has spent decades researching why, in the last decade or so, there are so many kids with ‘chronic? diseases. The ever-dapper Frank is a local pharmacist who has just penned a book dealing with the epidemic of over prescribing narcotics to kids for attention deficit.
There were over 100 folks who attended the meeting last Tuesday night at Clarkston High School, including Lake Orion Schools superintendent Marion Ginopoplis.
Tocco is researching why there are so many youths with chronic ailments like autism, peanut allergies and even attention deficit when there weren’t before. She believes the staggering explosion of these types of illnesses in America is the direct result of not only crappy food and pollutants in our environment, but also because of the frequency and dosage of vaccines administered to our youth.
Granett, who is the founder of the Coalition Against Overmedicating Youth group, says Americans have been lead down the road of quick solutions for kids with attention deficit disorders. Through his research (and subsequent book), he believes before very potent pharmaceuticals are administered to children, a whole battery of tests need to be completed first, so the drugs are the last thing prescribed.
I am sure there will be more on this later. If you all are in to googling and want to know more, do it to Tocco and Granett. Both have books out. Let me know what you come up with.
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Back on the home front.
Don’s Folly (also known as his attempts at gardening) has been interesting. Whilst I have planted the usual suspects (tomato, pepper, garlic, onion, cucumber and been crops all in the 20 foot by 12 foot plot of soil in my backyard,) no sooner than I brought home my plants from Wojos in Brandon Township and planted them in that rich clay-like soil Goodrich is known for, then they were attacked. Rabbits, slugs, deer, earwigs — heck even the squirrels are thwarting my efforts at vegetable gardening. (I promise not to dwell on the silent war below the ground being waged by moles tunneling ‘neath my plants? roots.)
On the plus side, nobody has hindered the cilantro, oregano nor the patch of Ch-ch-ch-chia seeds I planted. The Ch-ch-ch-chia seeds are sposed to be rich in Omega 3s. And, if you want to know, I procured them from Lucky’s in downtown Lake Orion.
Donna Butara of Gregg’s Gourmet Cafe in Clarkston says I need to buy some green thing called Sweeny’s something or other from the Tractor Company in Ortonville. Says she, ‘it will keep the critters away.?
We’ll see.
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Back up to Oxford . . . after two successful years of hippy networking in Orion, Clarkston and Ortonville, looks like starting June 19, the Coffee Club will rear its long-haired head in the Gravel Capital.
Folks have been beating me up to start one there, so . . . we’ll see how that fares. Tentative plans are for bizness folk to gather at the Oxford Township Library from 7:30 to 9 a.m. for free networking. I have secured coffee from Goodrich’s own master roaster Kirk Walker (ABeanToGo). If you have not been to a Coffee Club yet (shame on you) but want to know more, go to www.CoffeeClubbers.com. That will take you to our Facebook page. You can read what others are saying.
If you can attend, that would be swell — if not, you can go to . . . the aforementioned Coffee Clubs.
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And lastly, I interviewed Janet Tait, a nurse of 40 years who also helps people with ‘healing touch.?
But, you’ll have to read next week to find out how that went.