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Common Sense - May 27, 2010
Morrow issued sixmonth suspension from taekwondo Lexi Pace staff writer After a screening on Feb. 14, senior Emilia Morrow was suspended from Taekwondo for six months, as she tested positive for two types of diuretics: hydrochlorothiazide and chlorothiazide. This drug screening was endured by Morrow after her silver medal performance at the U.S. Open for the bantamweight division in the sport; forcing her to relinquish her medal in addition to her suspension. Because of its select participation as compared with many sports, the rules and regulations regarding drug illegalities of taekwondo are particularly obscure. Unless athletes reach the Senior National Team level, they remain relatively uninformed as to which substances are banned by the USA Drug Administration (USADA). “Being ignorant to the USADA rules, I did not know—as I know many other athletes wouldn’t have either—that I needed to declare any medications I am taking to USADA prior to the competition,” Morrow said. Morrow’s personal doctor prescribed the diuretics that she had taken. Both of the diuretics were taken for personal health reasons that were completely unrelated to her performances in taekwondo. Due to the obscurity of the sport, relatively speaking, as well as the rules and regulations set to it by the USADA, Morrow’s doctor did not know that these substances were banned to the sport. “A month [after the drug test] I got a
letter in the mail explaining that I tested positive for two illegal substances found in the diuretic,” Morrow said. The whole experience was unfamiliar for Morrow, as this was the first drug test she has ever endured. The testing was specified to only silver medalists at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas this year, thus Morrow was tested at the competition in February. The resulting suspension of six months began at that date, taking Morrow out of the core competitions for this year— Nationals, Olympic Team Trials, World Championships and the Pan American Games. “I honestly feel that six months is extremely harsh,” Morrow said. “This was my first time being tested and I was unaware of the rules. The drug was prescribed by my doctor and obviously had no affect on my performance during the competition.” Morrow, a hopeful for the Taekwondo Olympic Team, is affected by the suspension in the sense that, as stated, it takes her out of contention for the biggest contests for this year. The US Olympic Committee (USOC) has proposed that Morrow become a spokesperson for them, in order to spread knowledge to other athletes about the processes USADA impose for other sports that may have unclear regulations reguarding drugs. “I never expected anything like this to ever happen, as I’ve never really seen it happen to any other athlete,” Morrow said. Morrow hopes to compete in future events and is trying to stay positive. “All I can do is continue training and stay positive,” Morrow said, “although it is hard watching everybody compete while I’m on the sidelines.”
MCPS to terminate LC policy from LC POLICY, page1 and has had an adverse effect on African American and Latino students in particular. Under the new plan, students who accumulate unexcused absences must undergo an intervention with school administrators to determine why they are missing classes. With the new LC policy, there are many fears among teachers, administrators, and parents, that students will be more likely to skip school. In response, Maxey advised school administrations to campaign for the importance of attendance. “I think taking away the loss of credit policy is good because no one intentionally wants to lose credit in a class. However, it could be a bad thing because now people could take advantage of this and purposely be late to class,” junior Rachel Soberman
said. Although a student is now unable to lose credit in a class, consequences including a parent conference, the right for teachers to deny students the opportunity to receive credit for work done in class, and detention will be enforced. As with the previous LC policy, teachers are not required under the new policy to allow students to make up work missed due to unexcused absences. “I am extremely pleased that the loss of credit practice will be removed from our schools,” Student Member of the Board Timothy Hwang said. “This will allow our focus to return to the importance of students attending school and address the causes for lack of attendance, rather than the bureaucratic paper documentation for loss of credit.”
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Immigration laws spark conflict Arun Raman staff writer On Monday, April 19, the Arizona Senate voted 17 to 11 to approve the Arizona Immigration Law SB1070. This immigration law requires police near the border of Mexico to investigate whether people are in the United States illegally. Arizona has an estimated population of 460,000 illegal immigrants. Since Arizona contains the biggest border adjacent to Mexico, many immigrants come to the U.S. through Arizona. The law makes it a misdemeanor for a legal immigrant to be in Arizona without carrying legal documents required by federal law. Police are obligated to make an attempt to verify a person’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien. Police are required to arrest any person who is an illegal alien or not in possession of legal documents. A person arrested cannot be released without proof of immigration status. “The immigration law is completely reasonable,” junior Michael Dwyer said. “Penalties in other countries are harsher; America is too lenient. [This law] will keep people from coming here illegally and will help our national security.” There are four forms of identification that a person can present to prove that he/ she is here legally: (1) a valid U.S. driver’s license, (2) a valid non-operating identification license, (3) a valid tribal enrollment card, or (4) any valid federal, state, or local governmentissued identification. If none of the four forms of identification is available, a first class offense is a fine of up to $100, in addition to court costs, and up to 20 days in jail.Following offenses can result up to
30 days in jail. “Arizona’s law requiring police to demand immigration papers from suspected illegal immigrants is discriminatory, unAmerican, and unconstitutional,” junior Chris Klingshirn said. “[The new law] will lead to the harassment of legal immigrants.” While some people are in disagreement with the law in Arizona, others agree with the terms of the bill. “Although these immigration laws are discriminatory, it is not all bad,” junior Justin Stuart said. “If citizens in Arizona are outside, they’re likely to have a form of identification with them in their wallets to show police officers” As a result of the law, many people have staged protests n Arizona’s capital, Phoenix. According to Fox Nation, the Los Angeles City Council view “Arizona’s action similar to Nazi Germany and the beginning of the Holocaust, as well as the internment and deportation of Japanese Americans during World War II.” “This is a country of immigrants and a country of laws,” social studies teacher Nia Cresham said. “To ignore basic fundamental freedoms, like liberty, based solely on what a person looks like to a law enforcement officer is a violation of our Constitutional rights and liberties. Those liberties guarantee citizens freedom from government persecution - and while some of the victims of this law may not be citizens, they are still entitled to basic human freedoms.” Cresham also acknowledged that from this debate comes an opportunity to learn and to question our choices as a country. “I think [the new law] is forcing people to think about it and to take sides. While this can be divisive...I am hopeful that it will help in the long term as we evaluate ourselves by how we treat the weakest in our society,” Cresham said.