ASL's Priscilla Harris issued the first battle cry in the war against Mountain Dew mouth with a legal brief titled "Undoing the Damage of the Dew,"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/12/221845853/mountain-dew-mouth-is-destroying-appalachias-teeth?ft=1&f=1001&utm_campaign=nprnews&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=twitter

'Mountain Dew Mouth' Is Destroying Appalachia's Teeth, Critics Say

by Eliza Barclay

September 19, 2013 2:03 PM

 

 Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

 

Appalachia has a distinct culture of sipping soda constantly throughout the day. "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time — even at a public health conference," says public health researcher Dana Singer.

 

 

 

Obesity. Diabetes. By now, we've all heard of the health risks posed by drinking too much soda.
But over in Appalachia, the region that stretches roughly from southern New York state to Alabama, the fight against soda is targeting an altogether different concern: rotted teeth.
 
Public health advocates say soft drinks are driving the region's alarmingly high incidence of eroded brown teeth — a phenomenon dubbed "Mountain Dew mouth," after the region's favorite drink. They want to tackle the problem with policies, including restricting soda purchases with food stamps (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and currently under debate in Congress).
"We are using taxpayer dollars to buy soda for the SNAP program, and we are using taxpayer dollars to rip teeth out of people's heads who can't afford dental care and are on Medicaid," says Dana Singer, a research analyst at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department in Parkersburg, W.Va., who wants to see stricter regulations on sales of all sugary beverages in the region. "It makes no sense to be paying for these things twice."
 
The beverage industry has repeatedly challenged claims that its products are destroying teeth. But dentists beg to differ.
 
"I see erosion from the acids in the drinks, and decay from the sugars," says Steven Ghareeb, spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry and a practicing dentist in South Charleston, W.Va. "They go hand in hand many times, and they're equally bad. I would definitely attribute these problems to drinks." Both sodas and energy drinks, he says, "are more damaging than food."
 
Dentists have also found that the effects of soda on teeth are strikingly similar to the effects of methamphetamine or crack on teeth, as I reported in May. Drinking more than a soda a day raises the risk that acids found in many soft and energy drinks will eat away at your tooth enamel and its pearly white color.
 
Back in 2009, Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law, issued the first battle cry in the war against Mountain Dew mouth with a legal brief titled "Undoing the Damage of the Dew," which explores how the drink became ingrained in the region's culture. Since then, she's been leading the charge to come up with policies to tackle the problem.
 
Harris says that dental problems are especially bad because dental care is harder to get in Appalachia, which includes many of the poorest and most remote communities in the country. Many people don't trust the well water in their homes because of pollution concerns and probably drink more soda because of it, she says. She's received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the problem.
 
And there's another reason why soda mouth is so pervasive in Appalachia, Harris says: the region's distinct culture of sipping soda constantly throughout the day. Singer adds, "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time — even at a public health conference."
 
The drink is also native to the region. Mountain Dew was invented in Tennessee, before PepsiCo bought the brand.
 
"What Mountain Dew has going for it is that it's high in caffeine and high in sugar," Harris says, adding, "Students tell us it tastes best, and it's a habit."
 
While Harris says that there aren't a lot of comprehensive surveys of dental health in Appalachia, signs of a rampant problem are unmistakable: Some 26 percent of preschoolers in the region have tooth decay, and 15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds have had a tooth extracted because of decay or erosion. That's according to calculations by Singer, who is working with Harris.
 
The elderly are affected, too. Some 67 percent of West Virginians age 65 or older have lost six or more teeth owing to tooth decay or gum disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
Singer says one of the best opportunities to curb the problem is targeting programs like SNAP, which allows recipients to buy soda. According to a 2012 study by Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the federal government is spending $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion on soda purchases through SNAP.
 
Under current guidelines, any kind of soda of any size can be purchased with a SNAP card — even Mountain Dew, which has 170 calories in a single 12-ounce can.
 
Various states, from Florida to Tennessee, have proposed bills that would restrict the use of SNAP to buy soda, sugary treats or other unhealthful foods. Singer says she would like to see West Virginia and other states in Appalachia try this approach.
 
Basic education, says Harris, is also needed: "We also just need to let people know that you can drink these drinks safely, but they can also do harm."
 
 
 
 

ASL Celebrates Gaynell Fowler's 95th Birthday

The Appalachian School of Law unveiled a portrait of Gaynell Street Fowler (second from left) in honor of her 95^th birthday. It will hang beside the entrance to the office of Dean Lucy McGough (third from left). Joining the celebration were Gaynell’s granddaughter Lucy Williams Bowman and daughters Pamela Fowler and Dawneda Fowler Williams.

To celebrate the 95^th birthday of longtime friend, Gaynell Street Fowler, the Appalachian School of Law unveiled a portrait of her at a surprise party on Tuesday, September 24, 2013. Approximately 100 students, faculty and staff gathered to wish her well. Shown here with (from left)  granddaughter Lucy Williams Bowman, Dean Lucy McGough, and daughters Pamela Fowler and Dawneda Fowler Williams, Gaynell was born on September 23, 1918, while her father was in Germany fighting in WWI. The oldest of 10 children born to Mae McGlothlin Street and Willie Arthur Street, she was one of only four girls in Buchanan County to attend college (Mary Washington).

Gaynell married a coal miner, Boyd Fowler, when she was 19. They eloped because her father thought coal miners were uneducated with little future. Mr. Street offered them the job of running a General Store he owned in Big Rock, VA. Their first home was a room in the back, separated by a curtain Gaynell made to separate it from the store. She handled the accounting, and Boyd returned to the mines. Eventually, he started a trucking company then obtained a coal lease and opened his first mine. Gaynell kept the books and managed the payroll, ultimately doing all the accounting for 400 employees. She continues to handle her payroll and banking transactions using only a calculator.

Always active in her community, Gaynell is a charter member of the Grundy Women’s Club, having served as president as well as regional offices. Her daughter, Dawneda, describes her as “the ultimate hostess, a great cook, gracious and hospitable, even in absentia.” The first ABA site team that evaluated ASL stayed in her home. The little girl who rode a horse behind her daddy, riding down the creek bed to see her grandparents, has traveled the world: Key West to Alaska, Mexico to Canada , Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

She is a generous donor to education and programs that help young people. Her financial support, usually given anonymously, was instrumental in assuring a successful start to the Appalachian School of Law. Her current interests include launching the Law School’s Natural Resources Law Program. She views donor support as an investment, the return on which is better-educated individuals, and expects accountability from those who steward and receive her gifts. She loves Buchanan County, and, Gaynell, WE LOVE YOU!

 

 

ASL Kicks off Natural Resources Law Program with Symposium at The Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center

http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_318e5fba-24cc-11e3-b010-0019bb30f31a.html

McDonnell says Virginia should be East Coast energy hub

                                                                                                                                                                  Photo by: Taylor Burgess

                                              Dan Caldwell,Gov. Bob McDonnell and Pat Baker




BY ALLIE ROBINSON GIBSON | BRISTOL HERALD COURIERTriCities.com

ABINGDON, Va. — Virginia could be the East Coast energy hub, Gov. Bob McDonnell told a group of lawyers, law students and energy industry representatives Monday.The governor spoke at the first biennial Natural Resources and Energy Law Symposium, hosted by the Appalachian School of Law and organized under the governor's administration. It was held at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center.
 "It makes perfect sense here in Southwest Virginia to be a national leader and international leader, when it comes to the future of energy," McDonnell said. "Especially when it comes to coal and natural gas and the other tremendous resources that you have down here. I have tried hard over the last couple of years to stake out the claim that Virginia is the East Coast hub or capital for energy. And rightly so, when you look at the God-given natural resources we have here in Virginia, from the marvelous reserves of coal and natural gas [to] the tremendous new technologies that are being developed in biomass and off-shore wind."

McDonnell said he thinks the state is poised to become a long-term leader in energy innovation.
"The more that America can become energy-independent, that is, using all of its resources here rather than importing things from other countries, the less likelihood we have to get into foreign entanglements that may not serve the long-term interests of America well," he said. "That's to me why this kind of seminar and these kinds of gatherings to focus on expanding America's energy footprint with red, white and blue homegrown energy, particularly using the resources that are found in Southwest Virginia, are so vitally important."

He said he doesn't think the rise of natural gas, which is cheaper to produce than coal, will necessarily end the need for coal as an energy producer.

"Coal is mined now in 23 states," the governor said, adding that Virginia is among the leaders in both volume and technology when it comes to coal production. "Forty-five percent of the energy that is generated in America still comes from coal. That is a remarkable number."

He said Southwest Virginia is an economic driver, not only for the region but across the state.
"And that's why looking at developing all these God-given natural resources here and making sure that we've got people that understand the law dealing with natural resources, to be able to make the regulatory structure work better here in Virginia ... is so important to the energy industry in Virginia," McDonnell said.

The conference kicked off the Appalachian School of Law's natural resources law program.
McDonnell said it would take everyone – lawyers, those in academia and the workforce – to develop and continue to grow energy opportunities in Southwest Virginia.

"I think this is a critically important issue, not just for national security but also for economic prosperity in Southwest Virginia and all over our state," he said.

 

 

ASL’s 17th Annual Golf Tournament fields 81 players

 

ASL’s 17^th Annual Golf Tournament fielded 81 players at Willowbrook Country Club on Saturday, August 17, 2013. They enjoyed perfect golfing weather, with temperatures in the 70s and an overcast sky.  In the morning rounds, the Sheriff’s Office team of Rick Jackson, Harold Keen,  Kegan Bostic, Jimmy Blackburn and Officer Williams took first place in the Championship Flight; the Sheriff’s Office team of Ray Foster, Cody Billiter, JR Stanley, Mike Thompson and Heath Harrison won first place in the First Flight; and West River Conveyors team of Joe Gary Street, Jerry Shields, Harold Gillespie, Jerry Looney and Curtis Mullins were first in the Second Flight. Anonymous donors sponsored both teams of Sheriffs and one of Virginia State Troopers.

In afternoon play, The Street Law Firm’s team that included Tracy Stallard, Jonathan Dennis, Eddie Dean Stiltner and Rayburn and Robert Minton won first place in the Championship Round. Leading the First Flight was the Wells Fargo team of Mike Rife, Bryan Boyd, Sean Matney, Todd Owens and Lawford Birchfield. Winning first place in the Second Flight was Dr. Terry Wright’s team including Dillon Quarles, Pat Larkin, Matthew Bower and Steve Walters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sports and Entertainment Law Society would like to invite you all to Sports Law Night on Saturday October 5th, 2013 from 8PM to 12 AM.

  

The Sports and Entertainment Law Society would like to invite you all to Sports Law Night on Saturday October 5th, 2013 from 8PM to 12 AM.

 The event will be held in the student rec room downstairs in the Appellate Courtroom. The cost will be $5 per person which covers food and beverage costs. The college football tilt (Ohio St. at Northwestern) will be shown on the flat screen and we will have some leisure games for your enjoyment. Any questions can be submitted to rjames14@my.asl.edu

ASL Professor Pat Baker quoted in the Washington Post

“Patrick Baker, an Appalachian Law School professor who teaches oil and gas law, said the Virginia lawsuits are likely a harbinger of more to come as energy companies scramble to tap natural gas in shale formations from upstate New York south to West Virginia.”

But that’s only one of several great quotes.  Here’s the complete article:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/big-day-looms-in-us-case-pitting-2-energy-companies-vs-va-property-owners-over-gas-royalties/2013/09/07/2d6843d6-17c2-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend