Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 9

fit I nirm Birmingham Post-Herald Tuesday July 26 1994 Features Comics B2 Television B3 Metro B4 i- ts: Estrogen arthritis drugs can delay taken by helps victims who wander and listed suicides a find their way home the University of Administration A study of nearly Vi ion vets by VA i says 35000 Army indicate menopause are 40 percent less likely to develop the illness Encouragement also cones from Duke University in Durham NC with tentative findii iings that pec Jersey Overall nearly 60 percent of 140 By Don Kirkman Seri ppi Howard Newt Scrrie The female hormone estrogen and anti-arthritis drop may prevent or delay the onset of disease researchers say The possibility has been proposed by medical inves-' tigators at the University of Southern California who claim that women who take doses of the hormone after tt that Vietnam vets who were badly hit or suffered more than one combat wound are more likely to commit suicide than vets of the same era who serve in Vietnam The findings which contradict earlier studies showing that Vietnam vets had the same suicide rate as other veterans were announced at a recent meeting of the Society for Epidemiological Research People who have advanced Alzheimer's disease are being helped by a program developed by the Alzheimer's Association Called Safe Return the program 100 ve'been identified and returned home because they were carrying Safe Return identifications Safe Return provides an identity bracelet iroo-on clothing labels wallet ID cards and registration in a nationwide computer program The program's toll-free 800 telephone number is linked to 17000 law enforcement agencies Registration with local Association chapters costs $25 Call your local Association chapter or (800) 272-3900 Two-thirds of the elderly oppose Dr Jack Kevorkian's physician-as- who take anti-arthritis drugs tably cortisone and aspirin are less likely to contract The drugs seem to delay the disease's early symptoms Both research groups caution that their findings are preliminary and people take the medications to prevent The studies wow reported in Remedy magazine The risk of suicide by Vietnam veterans Increases with the severity and number of combat wounds the people surveyed said they favor assisted suicide but the attitude of the elderly is a sunrise pollster Dr Thomas Cavalier! said "The elderly may be more likely to reject it because they are closer to the possibility of terminal he noted The poll also showed 66 percent of women favor assisted suicide and only 50 percent of men Seventy percent of those who opposed it were Catholic If a child is still thumb-sucking at 4 years of age parents and a physi- dan should step in and end It researchers at Mayo Clinic say no question that prolonged thumbsucking can significantly alter a teeth and face Drs Brent Larson and Eric Johnson warn The most common problems are protruding and poorly spaced teeth and a narrow upper jaw The best way to aid thumb-sucking is to encourage the child to stop Putting bad-tasting medicine on thumbs work they say Larson suggests children make a calendar and place stickers on days when they suck Dm Kirkman science editor of Scripps Howard Newt Service writes this column weekly NBC execs expanding IT i-vii 1 is John Herrod: An underdog with attitute By Darin Powell Fori-Hmld Reporter John Herrod knows a lot of people in Birmingham like him He mind a bit 1 not our job to be Herrod sa By Stephen Battaglio BPITht Hollywood Rcpartw LOS ANGELES NBC News President Andrew Lack laid out his plans to turn the Wednesday night newsmagazine into a third edition of and move the news division closer to producing a nightly prime-time program Meeting with TV writers during the weekend Lack said he was already prepared to go ahead with a fourth and fifth hour of newsmagazines all ot which would carry the title NBC News insiders believe a fourth edition can go in as soon as one of new fall shows dies in the ratings The gobbling up of more primetime hours by the news division is not likely to have many fans at NBC Entertainment that sense NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield told The Hollywood Reporter necessarily agree with it but I understand Lack said using the NBC' name on all of the newsmagazine hours is a way of taking the recognizable franchise and it out rather than trying to continue to create yet another new newsmagazine that really very new and have anything particularly original to The move had been rumored for some time Earlier this year NBC tried to woo Dianne Sawyer into joining the network reportedly offering her an anchor role on a proposed five-night-a-week newsmagazine hosts Stone Phillips and Jane Pauley will take over the 9 pm Wednesday skit from anchors Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric Lack said Brokaw and Miss Couric will join other NBC News stars Bryant Gumbel and Maria Shriver as to the program The reporters and producers of will be absorbed into the staff executive producer Neal Shapiro said all staffers will be retained while some may be reassigned due to overlapping responsibilities Shapiro said having all of the newsmagazines under a stole banner will also Ip eliminate competition between magazine shows and stars who often chase after the same exclusive stories and interviews Lack also said NBC has reached a long-term agreement with British-based ITN for the exchange of news material Lack told the TV writers he is leaning against the idea of the broadcast networks rotating their coverage of the upcoming OJ pson trial Lack said hen with CBS News executives about a rotation during Simpson's preliminary hearings just enjoy managing my own he said like to make our own editorial decisions about what serves our viewers and NBC and NBC News the As news director (and a reporter) for WBMG-42 news Herrod is one of the driving forces behind what is easily the most controversial newscast in Birmingham WBMG has gained attention over the past year for its combative style of reporting a style that often ends with public officials slamming doors in faces included Herrod contends that what he and Channel 42 are 'doing is simply good reporting asking tough questions ana doggedly pursuing stories He accuses the other local newscasts on WBRC-6 and WVTM-13 of be-shallow slick and in his words "devoid ing shall of jouraa Critics staging successful bid for higher ratings Jennifer ZdonPost-Herald WBMG-42 news director John Herrod has become something of a local celebrity for getting doors slammed in his face by government officials Herrod a vocal critic of the news shows on competing stations insists that broadcasts do not sensationalize the news own ways became infamous First was a series on problems at the Birmingham Zoo Nest came stories on city officials getting free tickets to sporting and cultural events WBMG also turned the cameras on itself and its competitors in essence making the station part of the story There was a series on why city officials talk to WBMG and another conceived and reported by Herrod on the quality of local TV news in Birmingham Depending on your point of view it was either daring or arrogant Has the approach been successful? Herrod admits it boosted ratings But it has gotten attention good and bad Recently Herrod went down to The Fish Market restaurant to interview owner George Sards for a story Sards had some questions for Herrod too people watch you as much as Gunnel 6 and Sards asked Herrod explained that viewing habits are hard to tweak The other two newscasts have had market dominance over WBMG Vest Sards wanted to know about style I feel like he told Herrod relentless pursuit sometimes you turn some people This is typical Whether or not people like for even watch) the newscast its reputation draws a lot of questions Herrod is happy to discuss it He admits that sometimes the station may be too strident overdoing the pursuit of a story rather go too far that way than too for the other he says Herrod is also blunt when dlsussing his competition He calls a recent Channel 13 series on adultery which drew protests born viewers "possibly one of the worst newcasts ever seen" At other times I of both focal gests that they are too cosy with local government too reliant on consultants and too Herrod interviews restaurant owner George Sards for a recent story on WBMG-42 Sards took the opportunity to aek some questions of Ids own about the news style But in 1980 the TM movement acquired a television station in San Bemadino Calif Herrod went to work there first as a cameraman then as a reporter He discovered that reporting was what he loved From there Herrod went on to jobs as an anchorman and news director at stations in California and Texas Four years ago he came to WBMG as news director and fell in love with Birmingham had my preconceptions about Birmingham that it was a place of ugliness and hatred with civil rights he says then I flew in and found this beautiful dty filled with great people and was had a fairly traditional approach to the news The station's young and tow-rated newscast born in 1987 struggled to keep up with its higher-profile better-staffed competitors continued to run after events we continued to chase police and he says at the end of the day we'd took up and the stations across the street seemed to be beating Finally he ut down with station general manager Hoyle Broome They decided to change news focus No more running after fires and accidents No more quick soundbites News would focus on Birmingham City Hall and other government Birmingham City Council members have accused the station of having a personal against them and many nave stoi talking to the station "I think they iws coverage in the sense that they take i issue and blow newscoverai an issue and blow it out of proportion this Coun-earlier cilman Eddie Blankenship said earll year But Herrod says his style is not biased or sensationalistic think what journalists ought to be doing We try to get reporters out every day to City Hall and the County Commission ana all the places TV reporters hate to go You know why they hate to go? Because most TV reporters hate to think How did this 44-year-old vegetarian and father of three become the enfant terrible of Birmingham journalism? Herrod got his love for politics and lively debate while growing up in Louisville Ky His father an avid reader enjoyed politics and encouraged political discussion at the dinner table After attending Indiana University Herrod eventually wound up in New York teaching transcendental meditation a i centers Soon came a string of stories that in their fortunate enough to get the job During first two years WBMG busy frmn event to event lieving meditation technique made popular St the Maharashi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s had no plans to go into journalism tare to HERROD page B4 Alcohol and drugs load to a life of disgrace man says dow ot my car to ask if I knew I was 34-year-old man who has spent the spent If you'll fool and using drugs sooner or later it will eaten up with them My worst pain was being locked up in' prison when my parents needed me My mother was dying in the hospital and I was given a pass so I could see her for the last time I was shackled like an animal and brought to her bedside for a final farewelL Four years later again shackled years later Dear Ana Landers: I am a last eight years incarcerated in the New York correctional system I started drinking and doing drugs as a teenager For those young haul in such huge benefits when some of the elderly are trying to survive on less than $600 a month? Please print this Aim like an answer Annoyed la Arizona Dear A la I read the same news release and was as baffled as you are If anyone from the Social Security Administration has an explanation for this horrendous Inequity I would like to hear it Gem of the Day: When you go to a restaurant always ask for a table near a waiter You can write to Ann Landers' at PO Box 11562 Chicago IIL 60611-0562 and I am grateful I will be released soon and will go directly to the cemetery to visit my graves and ask them to forgive me The bigger question is: How do I forgive myself for bringing such disgrace to my family? I hope every teenager who reads this will realize that they run the risk of being in my place if they continue to mess with drug's I too thought it could never happen to me Staten Island NY Dear New York: Here's your plea I hope sqmebody listens Dear Abb Loaders: Once again a total stranger' knocked on the win Thanks for letting me blow off steam Sycamore IIL Dear Sycamore: Thanks for blowing the steam in this direction Your letter is another reminder that the only exercise sane people get is ruining their mouths and jumping to conclusions Dear Ana Landers: I'm sending you an article from the Mesa Aria It says the Social Security 1 ministration spent $32 million on employee bonuses last year The largest bonus went to an executive who had been on the job less than three months His annual salary was more than $100000 How come government workers I have handicapped license plates1 This response was know there were special plates for handicapped Then the idiot had the nerve to ask is wrong with I told him it was none of his business Please Ann let people know that in some states the car owner may opt fra license plates instead of a window placard And tell them too that it is extremely rude to demand that ia total stranger reveal his or he medical history I was total to see my father on his deathbed He died the next week and I was not permitted to attend his foneral I describe the feelings I liv with daily My wife has stood by me people who read your col- umn and think this cannot 'happen to thern Ifet me assure them that it can If they continue drinking I i i.