Experts recommend limiting
youths’ hours watching television

August 27, 2005

MEGAN VARNER
Index-Journal senior staff writer

Whether it’s cartoons on Nickelodeon, sports on ESPN, music on MTV or movies on HBO, one thing is for certain.
America’s children are spending more and more hours in front of the television — and some experts fear those hours are anything but time well spent.
According to KidSource Online, an organization created by concerned parents to raise awareness about youth issues, the typical American child spends an average of three to five hours a day watching television. The Web site states that those high figures could lead to academic, health, social and behavioral problems.
“The most significant damage occurs in the earliest years, from 6 months to 2 years old,” said Stephen Jurovics, president and founder of LimiTV, a North Carolina-based organization dedicated to curbing television consumption by American youth.
“This is when brain development occurs, and research indicates their brains get wired for (fast-paced) television opposed to the (slower-paced) natural world. This could be a reason for ADD or ADHD.”
Jurovics, who said his Web site LimiTV.org has reached national and international audiences, added that, though program content also can affect a child’s mental and physical development adversely, “it is really the amount of time children watch TV that is detrimental to them.”
In 1999, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on health issues, released what its Web site says is “one of the most comprehensive national public studies ever conducted of young people’s media use.”
The nationwide study, titled “Kids & Media @ The New Millennium,” surveyed 3,000 children, age 2-18, about their use of media, including television, video games, radio and computers.
According to the study, children spend an average of five hours and 29 minutes a day using media, with more than three hours of that time dedicated to television. The study also shows that boys and minorities are the biggest media consumers. Nearly 100 percent of those studied lived in a home with at least one television, with a majority of children residing in homes with two to three television sets.
Quan Evans, 10, a sixth-grader at Westview Middle School, said he watches close to five hours of television a day during weekdays, but that number may jump to nearly 10 hours a day on weekends. “I like watching TV if I’m bored,” he said, adding that he knows that too much television can be “bad for you.”
A consumer guide on the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site lists that boredom is a common reason why children turn to the television.
“The decision to watch TV is influenced by several factors, including the lack of any preferred or required alternative activity, fondness for particular programs or characters, habit or mood,” the guide, compiled by the department’s Office of Research, states.
Jurovics suggests that parents help their children fight that “boredom” by working with them to build an age-appropriate television schedule — with no more than 10 hours of viewing a week — and by guiding them in other activities, including interacting with friends and family, playing outside or reading at the library. He said his organization advocates little to no television for children under age 4.
“There are a million things kids like to do,” Jurovics said.
Pinecrest Elementary School second-grader Ryan Templeton, 7, said he watches only one to two hours of television each day, and like 53 percent of those children surveyed in the Kaiser study, Templeton also has access to a television in his bedroom.
“I watch all kinds of movies and television, but not rated-R (movies), and that’s a good thing,” he said. “I like to watch TV because it has a lot of funny things.”
While 49 percent of the children surveyed for the Kaiser study said their household had no set rules about TV watching, Templeton said he and his mother have a few guidelines.
“One rule is if you are ready to go to school, then you can watch TV (in the morning),” he said. Like Templeton, Woodfields Elementary School third-grader Montana Smith, 8, said she also has television rules at her home, including no television during dinner and no television after bedtime.
“I try to keep (the television) on, but my mom won’t let me,” she said, laughing.
Nearly 60 percent of the children in the Kaiser study said their television remained on during meals, with more than 40 percent claiming the television was on in their home for a majority of the day.
“(The television) is on at supper because we usually don’t eat at the table. We just eat in the living room,” said Matthew Quarles, 10, a fifth-grader at Woodfields.
Though studies have shown that television can affect grades adversely, Quarles said he believes some television can be beneficial.
“I’m a good student and I study a lot,” he said, adding that he finishes his homework before he turns on the television. “It can be good for you if you’re watching shows about school or education.”
In fact, the consumer guide compiled by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Research suggests that educational programs might be responsible for children entering kindergarten with larger vocabularies than earlier generations.
But Jurovics cautions that parents still must be mindful of the amount of programming their children watch.
“Even eight hours of the best programming is still too much a day,” he said.

GHS defense stops EHS

Robinson scores 3 touchdowns as defense holds Vikes to 110 yards

August 27, 2005

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports writer

Behind a stifling defense and an unrelenting ground game, the Greenwood High School football team made it eight in a row over crosstown rival Emerald.
The Eagles racked up 228 yards rushing, 152 in the first half alone, to knock off the Vikings, 27-0, Friday night at J.W. Babb Stadium in the Greenwood city championship.
Senior tailback Robert Robinson rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way for Greenwood, with fellow-senior quarterback Armanti Edwards getting 73 yards on the ground and 98 through the air. Junior fullback Zack Norman rounded out the Eagles’ rushing totals with 46 yards and a score.
The Eagles’ defense limited the Vikings’ new spread offense to 110 total yards and made life difficult for Emerald senior QB Dan Wideman, who completed 10 of 23 passes for 82 yards. However, Wideman was also sacked three times and picked off once and because of the sacks and several bad snaps recovered for losses, he was limited to 2 yards on 18 rushes.
“I thought we played well offensively in the first half and defensively, we played well the whole football game,” Greenwood coach Shell Dula said. “We had two nice drives in the first half and we also had two nice drives in the third quarter. We were able to run the football and we thought coming in that we could run the football.
“Defensively, I thought coach (Jimmy) Towe (the Eagles’ defensive coordinator) and his staff and an excellent plan and our kids executed it well.”
For most of the first half of the opening quarter, the Eagles only maintained offensive possession for about six seconds, thanks to a fumble on the team’s first play from scrimmage.
However, the Vikings couldn’t do much with the more than 5 minutes they had, as each of their first two possession ended near midfield, each on a pair of bad plays.
After marching into Greenwood territory on its first possession, Emerald’s opening drive ended after two straight rushing plays netted minus-3 yards, setting up a long third-down play, which resulted in an incomplete pass.
The Vikings recovered the Robinson fumble on their own 42-yard line. After picking up a pair of first downs, the drive stalled after two big losses on consecutive plays. A bad shotgun snap cost the team 12 yards, which was followed by an Anthoine Lagroone sack on Wideman for a 10-yard loss, forcing a fourth and 32.
“Coach told us to put pressure on him from the beginning,” Lagroone said. “Our plan for the whole game was to come out with a full blitz on him.”
A fair catch on the Vikings’ punt placed the ball on the Greenwood 31. Two quick running plays - a 13-yard gain by Zack Norman followed by a 30-yard pickup from Robinson - gave the Eagles a first and 10 on the Emerald 26.
Three plays later, Norman took the handoff and ran to the right side of the field for a 17-yard score. Clay Baldwin’s kick gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead.
“Greenwood is just a good football team, that’s the bottom line,” Emerald first-year coach Mac Bryan said. “They’re physical and they’ve got strength. I think our defense did some good things, but we hurt ourselves with penalties. And offensively, we did the same thing. We didn’t execute effectively enough to move the ball against a defense of that caliber. You can’t have hit-or-miss offense against that type of football team, but I think they had a lot to do with that.”
Greenwood looked to double that early in the second quarter, but one of the Eagles’ three first-half penalties ended that thought. On second and 7 from midfield, Armanti Edwards rolled right and threw a screen back to tight end Alex Sellars. After a few key blocks, two rules illegal by the officials, Sellars was in the end zone.
So, instead of a 14-0 lead, the Eagles faced a second and 27 and would eventually punt.
Greenwood got that score back later in the quarter though.
After a three-and-out series from the Vikings, the Eagles took over at their own 40. Edwards kept the drive alive, converting a third and 14 with a 24-yard scamper.
But like most of the first-half possessions, the drive appeared to have grinded to a halt. But on fourth and 4 with Baldwin lining up a 26-yard field goal, Emerald was flagged for a neutral zone infraction, giving the Eagles a first and goal from the 5.
Two plays later, Robinson pounded in for the 1-yard score. Baldwin sent the PAT through for a 14-0 lead, a score that both teams would take into the halftime break.
The Eagles would nearly double their advantage before the close of the third quarter, getting a pair of short-yardage touchdowns from Robinson.
Greenwood took the opening possession of the half and methodically marched the ball 73 yards in 4:56 for the score.
A couple of big plays from the senior Edwards put the team deep in Emerald territory. On second and 3 from the Emerald 44, the Eagles’ QB faked the handoff and darted up the middle for a 20-yard pickup. After a five-yard penalty pushed them back, Edwards floated a pass to Xavier Dye, who ran under it in time for a 27-yard gain.
Robinson crossed the goal line from the 2 on the next play to put Greenwood up 20-0.
The senior tailback scored from 3 yards out on the Eagles’ next possession, which benefited from two 15-yard penalties on Emerald. Robinson’s third touchdown along with Baldwin’s third PAT gave Greenwood a 27-0 lead.

Opinion

Backlash builds against a media-driven protest

August 27, 2005

A backlash apparently is building against the anti-war efforts of Cindy Sheehan, the woman who started a protest near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Sheehan, as everyone should know, lost a son in Iraq. She has received international publicity by calling the president everything from a liar to fuehrer. That is, of course, a comparison to Nazi mass murderer Adolf Hitler, the fascist who was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews.
Thanks to the extensive and out-of-proportion media coverage given Sheehan, in South Carolina and elsewhere, it apparently presented a golden opportunity for old-time, long-in-the-tooth anti-war protesters from the Vietnam war era. In fact, they have pretty much taken control of the protest to exploit the situation and add fuel to the hatred that defines so many Bush opponents.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED, though. Members of Sheehan’s own family publicly disagreed with her. Not only that, her husband filed for divorce. Some blamed her for using the death of her son for politics.
Now there is a group called “We’re Not With Cindy,” or something similar. They are busily building support for the president and staging protests of their own in opposition to Sheehan and her left-wing supporters.
What’s it really all about? There has to be one primary concern for a lot of people. Is the anti-Bush crowd, in general, working to create strife in an attempt to divide Americans? Do they want to use our freedoms to undermine those freedoms? It may sound like a wild-eyed conspiracy thing, but it wouldn’t be the first time people have tried that.

AFTER ALL, IF EXPLOITERS of the Sheehan situation could influence us to eliminate or even restrict the freedoms we all enjoy, they could become an asset to every anti-American thug in the world. They’d also become an impediment to people who want to create and sustain their own democracies.
There are, to be sure, those who agree with Sheehan, but they do it because they honestly feel that way. They are not part of any effort to exploit a sure thing for political gain or some word ending in “ism.” To the contrary, there are those, certainly, who take every opportunity to rub America’s nose in the dirt.
Fortunately, more people are beginning to see through the smoke thrown up by the Sheehan crowd. That’s encouraging.

Editorial expression in this feature represents our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.

Obituaries

Elbert Arnold

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Services for Elbert Arnold are 10 a.m. Sunday at Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home, Greenwood, S.C., conducted by the Rev. Bernard White. Burial is in Evening Star cemetery.
Pallbearers are nephews.
Flower bearers are nieces.
The family is at the home of a sister, Ruby Mae Arnold, 104 Gregg Court, Hodges, S.C.
Percival-Tompkins Funeral Home is in charge.

Josephine F. Evans

ABBEVILLE — Josephine Finley Evans, 86, of 618 Church St., died Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 at Abbeville County Memorial Hospital.
Born in Abbeville, she was a daughter of the late John and Belle Clark Finley. She retired from Milliken Abbeville Plant.
She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.
Graveside services are 4 p.m. today in Melrose Cemetery.
The family is at the home of Fred and Nancy Peeler, 504 Church St.
Harris Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.harrisfuneral.com

Thomas Goldman

Thomas F. Goldman, 68, of Eden Gardens, widower of Joyce Ann Miller Goldman, died Friday, Aug. 26, 2005.
Born in Ninety Six, he was a son of the late John Curtis and Flora Marie Pitts Goldman. He was a graduate of Ninety Six High School and retired from the Air Force, serving during the Korean conflict. He was a member of the D.A.V. and Ninety Six Church of God.
Survivors include a daughter, Patricia Eileen G. Dobbins of Greenville; two sons, Robert E. Goldman and Thomas L. Goldman, both of Greenwood; five brothers, Kenneth Goldman, Donald “Rock” Goldman and Ted Goldman, all of Ninety Six, Dean Goldman of Greenwood and Ned Goldman of Albany, Ore.; nine grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Services are 2 p.m. Monday at Harley Funeral Home, conducted by the Revs. Roy Burroughs and Ronald Chavis. Burial, with military rites, is in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Pallbearers are Leonard Goldman, Luke Goldman, Tim Goldman, Ted Goldman Jr., Kip Goldman, Joey Goldman, Mike Goldman and Ronnie Goldman.
Honorary escorts are members of the D.A.V., along with Ted Wyndham, Giles Daniel and Bruce Goldman.
Visitation is 7-9 Sunday at the funeral home.
The family is at the home of a brother Ted Goldman, Ninety Six-Epworth Highway.
Harley Funeral Home is in charge.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.harleyfuneralhome.com

Sandra Day Rice

Sandra Virginia Day Rice, of 115 Sunnyside St., widow of Curtis N. Rice, died Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005 at her home.
Born in Newark, N.J., she was a daughter of the late Robert and Beatrice Day Watts. She was a member of Hebron Baptist Church, Clinton, and served as superintendent of the Sunday School. She was a nurse at Self Memorial Hospital.
Survivors include two sons, the Rev. Gregory Rice and Ian Rice of the home; three daughters, Dr. Priscilla Rice of Levittown, Pa., Jacqueline Rice of Raleigh, N.C., and Stephanie Rice of Charlotte, N.C.; a brother, Virgil Day of Newark; three sisters, Delores D. Mathis of Newark, Willie Mae Day and Gloria Day of Clinton; and four grandchildren.
Services are 2 p.m. Sunday at Hebron Baptist Church, conducted by the Revs. Ralph Hawthorne and Gregory Rice. Burial is in the church cemetery.
The family is at the home.
Beasley Funeral Home, Laurens, is in charge.