Lady Renegades call a wrap – Page 8
– Page 2
Single parents at Ohlone
– Page 5
Fremont, California
Vol. XXXVI No. 8
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Book demystifies drug test process By JEROME ENGELBERTS Editor-in-Chief
VP Nick Nardolillo and Board President Robert Brunton. Photo by Mojhgan Mohtashimi.
Board keeps status quo By OMER AHMED Opinion editor The Ohlone Board of Trustees voted to keep regulations regarding trustee membership and election processes the same during Wednesday’s afternoon board meeting. The decision was reached after more than a week of discussion following the possibility of Trustee member Dan Archer’s retirement. The 87-year-old trustee no longer says he plans to retire and will finish the final two and a half years of his term. Among the proposed changes were reducing the overall size of the board from seven member to five by removing one Fremont trustee seat and one Newark trustee seat, giving Newark and Fremont equal representation on the board and strengthening residency requirements.
Trustee member John Weed explained that he supported the change and said, “I think this would be a more effective and efficient board if it had five members.” Other trustee members disagreed with Weed. Board Vice President Nick Nardolillo expressed his view simply when he said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These sentiments were mirrored by trustee member Garrett Yee who was also concerned with losing diversity in the board. He said, “If we go from seven to five, we just eliminate two opinions.” During the meeting, Board President Bob Brunton said, “The board will be facing an election in November, so it reviews its policy in preparation.” Adam Berger, a legal analyst, was brought in to advise the board and provide answers to legal questions.
Berger explained that the board would have to provide plans and petition Alameda country for almost any change. “Much is governed by statutes and the board has little control over it,” he said. After receiving the board’s plans and petitions, the county would, at the very least, have to hold a hearing to get input from the public. They would then either approve or reject the board’s plan with no chance of modifying it. Still, Berger said, “These would be preliminary steps to a district-wide election.” After the general overview of the process the board would have to follow, Brunton told the other trustees, “What the board can do would take several months to do.” He went on to say the new rules wouldn’t be ready for the next election. The board’s vote was five to two in favor of keeping the current rules.
If you are one of the many students looking for a job, whether temporary or as a career choice, chances are that you will be tested for drug use (I mean, beyond the weekly tray of Mountain Dew®). No matter where you stand on the issue of recreational drugs, you may be at risk of testing positive and jeopardizing your chances for getting the job. (Did you know that a breathalyser test can show positive if you use OraGel - a medication for gum disease?) For those of you who think you have something to worry about, there’s a book called Passing Drug Tests, published in 2005 by Trafford, a Canadian publishing company. Written by ex-Ohlone College student Kenn A. Biscranium and Dr. Herb Kindler - obviously not their real names - it describes, interspersed with humorous and historical asides, how the drug screening process works, what you will be tested for and how, and how to not test positive. Make no mistake; this is no “cheating your way through a drug screening” book. Rather, it extols the virtues of healthy nutrition and cleansing toxins from your body through increasing your metabolism, managing your liquid intake, and spending time in a sauna. Dr. Kindler, who holds a BS in biochemistry and a PhD in analytical chemistry, provides the scientific data used to back up Kenn A. Biscranium’s methods. Kenn, who says he wrote the book to share his experiences about being subjected to random and mandatory drug tests, is very
Kenn A. Biscranium. Photo by Jerome Engelberts. much a health and fitness-minded person, and hardly what comes to mind when one thinks “stoner”. He merely feels that in many job application procedures, drug screening is gratuitous and irrelevant. After all, why should it be acceptable that someone can come to work after a night of hard drinking but not after smoking a controlled substance? The book, which is available from several reputable (and some not-quite-so-reputable) places in the Bay Area: Moe’s Books and Pegasus & Pendragon in Berkeley, City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, and closer to home, Devil’s Workshop in Niles, sells for $16.95 and provides a quick and easy read. Even with no intention of ever using drugs, legal or illegal, the book bestows some serious pointers on making the body healthier, which is always worth reading. More information can be found on the publisher’s web site at www. trafford.com.
DNA Sequencer used to determine genetic code By Thomas Hsu Staff writer Ah, a DNA sequencer - the “privilege of four-year research institutions, the dream of community colleges”. But, surprise for those non-biology students, Ohlone College has had one in their lab since early 2005. With the help of the machine, students are discovering their often-surprising ancestral origins - tracing their mitochondrial DNA may reveal, as happened in Professor Dr. Mark Barnby’s biology lab, that a Palestinian student actually has her roots in Europe. Although the Ohlone College’s
DNA sequencer is an educational model, containing only one capillary, the machine is the same as the ones used to map out the human genome and in crime investigation agencies such as the FBI. It is actually validated for use in courts. The ones Biology Professor Dr. Ralph Sinibaldi worked with in the biotechnology industry had 96 capillaries, allowing it to process many more samples at once. In Dr. Barnby’s lab, the sequencer is employed for two purposes: genome analysis, such as in the mapping of the human genome, and DNA fingerprinting, as in criminology.
One specific application, Sinibaldi explained, is the tracing of a student’s genomic origins. All humans are hypothesized to originate from a common ancestor out of Africa - a hypothetical “Lucy.” The African Diaspora resulted in largely isolated populations of people whose DNA mutated to be distinguishable from Lucy. Thus, comparing a person’s DNA to the DNA found in regions such as India, South Asia, Europe and North America can yield one’s racial origin. Despite society’s preoccupation with race, Sinibaldi commented, Continued on Page 6
Mark Barnby and the DNA sequencer. Photo by Mojhgan Mohtashimi.