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April 2019 Volume 6 Issue 2
A Student Publication of North Side High School
Vape Pens Have Dangerous Consequences By Alvaro Garcia Five students were arrested in February for bringing vape pens to school. Many of these pens are odorless and they are becoming more and more popular and dangerous. Vape pens/e-cigarettes are devices that heat a liquid into an aerosol that the user inhales. They contain nicotine or marijuana along with other harmful chemical additives. “They have been a problem all school year,” Dr. Trimble, assistant principal, said, “but when we got our first two felony arrests is when we realized it was very serious.” Students will get a felony arrest charge for taking the vape pens to school if it contains marijuana. School campuses are drug free zones, so students get up to a 3rd degree felony. Outside of school, if caught with a vape pen under age they get a citation. It is unclear why students bring the devices to school. “I don’t know; it doesn’t really make sense. I
guess because they just think they can get away with it,” Dr. Trimble said. “Any time they have drugs on campus it’s a higher degree punishment because all the schools are considered drug free zones. If someone is found with a vape pen with nicotine then the punishment is six days in OCI.” Not only can students get into a lot of trouble, but it can even hurt them physically. Earlier this year, a Keller man was using a vape pen and it exploded in his face. Vape pens can cause harm in explosions or when people use them, they damage their lungs. Vape pens that contain nicotine can be more addictive than regular cigarettes. “It actually destroys parts of the lung and you can’t get another set of lungs,” Ms. Jackson the school nurse said. “They are subject to explode while in your pocket which means your clothes catch on fire, so you catch fire. If they explode near your face, there is a possibility of losing your eye sight.”
By Diana Soto The North Side area is getting 3 million dollars for improvements from the city of Fort Worth. On February 19th there was a meeting held at the North Side community center. People from the neighborhood came to listen to Carlos Flores, City Council member for North Side. He gave a speech about the new improvements that will be done to North Side using the money. “It will bring a sense of security, a sense of helping the neighbors ex-
press what they want done in their neighborhoods,” Joanna Hudspeth, a neighborhood services liaison said. “It’s giving them a voice.” The 3 million dollars are funds that the city of Fort Worth distributes to neighborhoods. They examine each neighborhood to see which need the most improvementsworked. “Residents can’t get the money but there are some programs that they have to help them improve their homes or qualify for some utility assistance,” Hudspeth
Photo by Sarah Johnson. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teen_vaping_is_now_ getting_popular_due_to_discreet_vaping_devices.jpg
Improvements come to the North Side Community said.
The residents aren’t literally going to be handed the 3 million dollars. The city is only using this money to repair the more important things that will help the community as a whole. “The improvements focus on adding and repairing street lights, sidewalks, safety, and community center improvements,” Hudspeth added. “It will make it better and will have a positive effect.” The city wants to focus on all these things be-
cause they are what make up a community. There are many houses on the North Side that either have abominable sidewalks or don’t have any at all. People are likely to feel safer when walking on a sidewalk rather than walking on the street. “The project is already in motion; it started in January,” Hudspeth said. Slowly but surely, new improvements can be seen. They have already begun fixing lights, and even streets that are in poor conditions. There are some stu-
dents at North Side high school that have to walk to and from school every day. Sometimes these students might not want to come because they don’t feel safe walking around. But if the side walk or street lights were fixed, it might boost the chances of them coming to school. “I think the North Side neighborhood improvements will help our students be safer and be determined to come to school every day,” Antonio Martinez, the Principal said.