« T c ?? ^ X'O — — >. -w C V5 O ’<- ■ - rS ~ « 'S c - 1 v2 "S -S "' .s b c . ^ C ^ I ° ^ •2 Qcl^. I s « " '5 2 " ^ bC »,- c .S o< SCJ2 o O JS 3 *; 3 ■ down-home program n u 2 Coupon clipper fights for stash ^ ' c ~ ^ £ &• >- 3 _C ^ ^ S -o b -2 ^ _ ~ 2 : §-5-'2 <: i ^ ‘S' 1- •3 a t § o "2 ^ H 2 ^3 -c -CHS*; 2 a> S r“ © Sj KAMU-FM offers a new prog ram this month for lovers of down-home type entertain ment. "A Prairie Home Com panion" is aired live via satellite on Saturday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. "A Prairie Home Compan ion" features humor and music, and is written and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The broadcast originates at the World Theater in downtown St. Paul, Minn. Host Keillor welcomed KAMU to the listening audience on last Saturday's broadcast. Each segment features musi cians performing traditional jazz, bluegrass, western swing, ethnic and old-time music on in struments including zithers. harpischprds, fiddles, dulcim ers and mandolins. "A Prairie Home Compan ion" is broadcast weekly to more than a hundred public radio sta tions across the country. In addition to Keillor's humor and musical entertainment, listeners hear weekly reports from Lake Wobegon, home of program sponsors Powdermilk Biscuits, Jack's Auto Repair, the Sidet rack Tap and Bertha's Kitty Boutique. '7azz Alive" has been moved to Friday nights to make room for "A Prairie Home Compan ion," and an extra hour of jazz has been added on Fridays. Other new offerings from KAMU include "The Brazilian Hour" on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., featuring jazz and pop music from Brazil. Dr ama lovers can listen to "Earplay" at 6:30 Tuesday nights, and "Mindwebs," a sci ence-fiction series, on Wednesday. Monday night, black musi cians of the Big Band Era per form on Bobby Bryant's "The Black Cats Jump" at 9 p.m. Thir teen new shows have been pro duced in response to the recep tion of the first series. At 12 p.m. Sunday, classical fans can near "Concert Guitar," hosted by Larry Snitzler. The program features some of the finest performers and compos ers from around the world. United Press International CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Rebecca McGhee had no trou ble keeping the baby when she and her husband split up. But she still is fighting for cus tody of their discount coupons. "When I left my husband, I took my baby and a couple of boxes and walked out the door," she said. "He has my coupon crates. I'm going to get a court order to get them back. I've talked to my lawyer. We're asking for custody of my coupons." Mrs. McGnee is no casual collector of coupons. She and about 100 or so other women in West Virgi nia's capital city belong to a club that scouts for, clips, compares, and swaps the coupons that allow them a few cents off on an endless string of consumer goods, from toilet paper to Easter bunnies. "I only have about 150 coupons now," she says, somewhat forlornly. "But my mother counted hers the other night, and she has 2,300. She netted $600 last year." Mrs. McGhee isn't sure how much money she has salted away with coupons. "But I didn't have child support for five months and because of those coupons, I managed to feed my daugh ter," she said. Coupon advocates leave few stones unturned. They roam doctor and dentist offices, looking for well-worn magazines long discarded by patients. "And we keep the streets and parking lots clean," she said. "Parking lots are good places to pick up candy wrap pers. Say a candy company is offering a dollar off for eight wrappers. Postage costs you 18 cents, but you're saving 82 cents. No telling what I would find if I had enough nerve to look through garbage cans." At the end of each week, Mrs. McGhee invests half a day updating her files of coupons before meeting with fellow coupon clippers. "We clip them all, whether we need the item or not," she said. "Maybe my baby doesn't need diapers any more, but somebody's baby does. I take what I can't use to the meetings. We just pass them around and you take whatever you want." Too much candy rots the brain Junk foods cause bizarre behavior United Press International CLEVELAND — A Cleveland Clinic pediatrician says he fears many youngsters are gorging themselves on high-calorie "junk" foods and beverages that could overload their systems and affect their behavior. Dr. Derrick Lonsdale says some behavior frequently accepted as typical of teen-agers really might be symptoms of what has become popularly known as "the junk food phe nomenon." Lonsdale calls it marginal malnutrition. He says it is a hid den problem that probably affects a lot of young people. The results can include a wide variety of functional symptoms ranging from headaches to per sonality changes, Lonsdale said. "I think it's going unrecog nized," Lonsdale said. "I think it's being treated as neuroses, nervousness, just plain bul- Iheadedness or, 'It's his person ality, you know, he's growing up/" The problem actually might be one of a diet tipped seriously out of balance by "junk foods," said Lonsdale, who heads the biochemical genetics section at Cleveland Clinic's Center for Children and Youth. "I'm referring particularly to what dieticians and nutritionists call naked or empty calories," he said, "the high-carbohydrate foods which don't contain any vitamin or mineral supportive qualities at all. "I really believe that the most dangerous aspect is the high- calorie drinks they're taking, the carbonated beverages, things like powdered sweet drinks, the fruit drinks," he said. "All of these things are being taken by a number of children and adolescents in absolutely fantastic amounts," Lonsdale said. "I think the record I've seen was 98 gallons of cola in two months." Added to that, he said, is the wide assortment of generally sweet "filler foods" — snack items and candy that fill grocery store shelves and many cup boards and refrigerators at home. "I think the problem is that kids are hungry, and that's a normal phenomenon. They should be," Lonsdale said. "But they come home from school, they indulge this natural taste for sweet things," he said. "Eveybody's telling them there's no danger attached to this fast energy." There is a danger, Lonsdale said. "Scientifically we have reason to believe that this apjproach to diet is changing the balance of neurological trans mission, which is the hallmark of the function of the brain and the central nervous system," he said. "It means that the quality and the quantity of nutrition can change your behavior. That's the bottom line." In addition to the excessive intake of calories, he said, youngsters whose diets bulge with junk foods don't get the vitamins and minerals needed to allow the body to properly bum up what is being eaten. "They're getting a discrepan cy between the calories they take and the vitamins and min erals that should support them in order to carry out the oxidat ing process," he said. "The process is very much the same as an internal combus tion engine which uses a spark plug. If you have a high calorie inhke and a poor spark plug, you're going to choke the en gine." Lonsdale published a paper for the American Journal of Cli nical Nutrition last year in which he described 20 patients with "marginal malnutrition" and labeled junk foods as a factor in many of the cases. Lonsdale said patients he has treated have exhibited symp toms such as hyperactivity, headaches, trouble in sleeping, chest pain, nervousness, vomit ing and rude and aggressive be havior. The behavior can be extreme, Lonsdale said. "One kid put his first through a plate glass window," he said. "Another actually dove through a plate glass window." Lonsdale traces the "junk food phenomenon" to the fact that "we simply don't sit down to family meals as civilized peo ple. It's catch as catch can." Many teen-agers skip break fast and may or may not eat lunch — which in many cases is simply loaded with "empty calories" anyway, Lonsdale said. Some even skip a well- balanced evening meal, he said. "They're using their own taste buds, if you will, to guide them in what they eat," Lons dale said. The solution is simple he said — a well-balanced diet, with a vitamin supplement if neces sary. "Get rid of the damn junk food," he said. "If you catch it and recognize it for what it really is, it's readily reversible. In other words, it's eminently treatable, and it doesn't require one aspirin even." FOCCIS Editor Cathy Saathoff Cartoonist Scott McCullar Focus will accept any items submitted for publication, although the decision to publish lies solely with the editor. Deadline is 5 p.m. the Thursday before publication.