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Show AM D A I I Y HERALD Thursday, September 23, 2004 Sierra boarding school teaches fat Charges dropped control ABC's of the kids weight Muslim m spy case Bilen Mesfin THE Kim Curtis THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The military on Wednesday dropped an espionage charge against a Muslim interpreter accused of spying at the camp o for terror detainees at Bay, Cuba. The development marks the third Guantanamo spy case to fall apart this year, despite vows by Attorney General John Ashcroft and military officials to prosecute the men for jeopardizing the nation's security. The charge against Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi was dropped in exchange for his guilty plea to four "minor infractions," said defense lawyer Donald Rehkopf Jr. Specifically, he admitted to taking two photos of his workplace and lying about taking those pictures. He also brought a classified document home without locking it up, which led to a guilty plea to a charge of "conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline." The judge, Air Force Col. Barbara Brand, approved the . plea deal during a hearing Wednesday at Travis Air Force Base, about an hour northeast of San Francisco. His sentence was not yet announced. Al Halabi, a naturalized American who was born in Syria,' was accused of trying to deliver messages from detainees at Guantanamo to his SAN FRANCISCO , Guan-tanam- . homeland. He was arrested last July as he headed to Syria to get mar- ried. Before he was sent to Guan tanamo Bay for temporary duty, Al Halabi was a supply clerk at Travis Air Force Base. The most serious charge remaining was attempted espionage, carrying the potential for life in a military prison . With that charge dropped, it is possible he could be sentenced on the remaining charges to time served. Al Halabi spent nearly a year in custody and remains confined to the base. Al Halabi was one of four men accused of spying at the Navy base in Cuba. Suspicions were raised when Al Halabi and his superior officer and chaplain, Capt. James Yee, also a Muslim, spoke Arabic while socializing together at the base. All charges against Yee, including espionage, were dropped this spring. Charges also were dropped last week in the case against Army Reserve Col. Jackie Fan-- , who was accused of trying to take classified material off base. The fourth case, against civilian translator Ahmed Mehalba is pending in federal court in Boston. He is accused of hying about carrying classified material in his garment bag. Kevin Barry, a former mili-tary judge, says the government overreacted in all four cases. "They saw a conspiracy, they saw spying, treason virtually, when most of what was going on was apparently quite innocent," Barry said. "Some of those law enforcement folks can see a conspiracy if two people are talking on the ASSOCIATED Ijilff PRESS REEDLEY, Calif. Required exercise at 7 a.m. sharp. No per sonal televisions or computers. A cafeteria bereft of potato chips and candy bars but full of u good-- f vegetables. Mai Mahedy's new school has tons of rules that other teens would find intolerable. But Mai, 16, embraces the lengthy list of do's and don'ts. She hopes it will finally help her overcome the one problem she says has plagued her since she was 10 her weight. d The teenager started her junior year this September at the Academy of the Sierras, a new yearlong therapeutic boarding school for overweight adolescents. "This is definitely the last resort before surgery," Mai said. The school combines a strict eating plan and a ramped-u- p activity schedule with counseling and college prep courses to attack students' problems from several angles. Students'say it all happens in a supportive atmosphere, without the taunting and teasing that made life hard for them in other schools. The academy, which has just a dozen students but expects 25 by year's end, is billing itself as the ultimate solution for teens like MaL whose ranks have swollen in recent decades. A May report by The Internation-- . al Obesity Task Force estimated that 10 percent, or 155 million, of kids worldwide between 5 and 17 are too heavy. Almost 45 million of them are obese, which generally means 30 percent or more over ideal weight. In the United States, about a third of young people are overweight or obese, and diabetes is z, 3K- e or-yo- t . phone." might need it most. According to Gail Woodward-Lopeassociate director of the University of California-Berkeley- 's Center for Weight and Health, many overweight kids households' are from and tend to be Latino girls and boys and black girls. Aware of the financial hurdle, Craig said the school hopes to offer scholarships in six months, and students can also apply for loans. Mai's parents, who sent her to this town southeast of Fresno from Naples, Fla., are paying mostly out of pocket, with health insurance covering around a third of the cost. They just want me to lose the weight so I can have a better life," Mai said, taking a break recently from a daylong orientation held in the sweltering SanJoaquin Valley heat. The school's inaugural class has kids from across the country, ranging from 80 to 250 pounds overweight; among them is a boy who weighs about J As- - 4k V- - i ' Associated Press QARY KAZANJIAN Terry Henry does pool exercises on Sept. 12 in Reedley, Calif., at , the Academy of the Sierras, a new yearlong therapeutic boarding school for overweight adolescents. on the rise, too. Experts say fat children face low and are more likely to be targeted by bullies. Private schools and summer camps and to some degree, are trying to public schools offer healthier meals. But the Sierras' founders say its comprehensive program will reach beyond short-terweight loss to alter students' lifestyles. "We're almost making them professors of successful weight loss," said Molly CarmeL the school's deputy clinical director. A spokeswoman with the National Association of Independent Schools, an umbrella of 1,200 day and boarding schools, said she was not aware of any similar programs. Neither was the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, geared toward kids with emotional or behavioral self-estee- d, m problems. Ryan Craig, the academy's chief, said the parent company, Aspen Education Group, has poured $5 million into renovat500 pounds. campus, a foring the mer psychiatric hospital near Wearing pedometers to help the Sierra Nevada. It has a staff count daily steps, seven students began the morning with a of 25 and can handle 70 stutwo-mil- e walk. After a short dents. Further renovation will make room for up to 150. lecture, the recreation director told them to take another short The school is designed for walk to jolt them awake. needs. students' special large Dorms have steel beds and solid "Oh, God," groaned Terry chairs, toilets are attached to Henry, already the class clown. The rigorous schedule is dethe walls and a digital scale can a sedensigned to jump-star- t weigh up to 800 pounds. Aimed primarily at 13- - to tary lifestyle that has turned when it who are more than 30 kids into comes to activity, said clinical pounds overweight, the school director Daniel Kirschenbaum. costs a hefty $5,500 a month "At home, I just sit around in line with most therapeutic and eat a lot," said Jamie boarding schools but about Schleif er, 15, who had already twice the cost of typical prep boarding schools. That can put , tried Curves, a fitness center, and the Atkins diet to whittle the Sierras academy out of d frame. her reach for many children who 68-ac- re 207-poun- Biotech grass 'gene flow' underscores growing concern among fanners ment published a study showing that genetically engineered grass found its way into conventionally grown grass some 12 miles away in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The study led to renewed calls for tighter gene flow regulations, especially from farmers who promise customers that their products are free of genetically modified materi- Paul Elias THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO California rice farmers are worried Japanese customers will boycott their products if genetically engineered rice is allowed into the state. And in Hawaii, organic papaya farmers are outraged because traces of genetically engineered papaya are showing up in their harvest. . Biologists call it "gene flow." It's how plants have swapped genetic material through cross pollination since life first appeared. But for people who choose to grow crops without genetically altering them, this natural biological exchange is a threat when bioengineered organisms are involved. This week, already heightened tensions between the biotech industry and its foes peaked when the U.S. govern al. More farmers are reporting finding trace amounts of genetically modified or otherorganisms wise mingled with their organically grown crops. Those are potentially devastating discoveries because organic consumers generally demand that food they buy be free the higher-price- d of biotechnological adulteration. The problem, like the weather, respects no boundaries. A NAFTA watchdog group said in March it had found genetically engineered corn in Mexico despite that cross-pollinate- d biotechnology country's ban. Meanwhile, consumers in Japan, Europe and elsewhere demand all their crops are grown conventionally. Farmers who can't make those biotech guar- antees risk losing those markets. U.S. labeling rules allow for trace amounts of genetically engineered material in organic products. Still, organic growers and other growers fear market perception will turn against them if customers perceive that gene flow isn't being controlled. That's why many rice farmers in California opposed a biotechnology company's plan this summer to increase the acreage it devotes to rice spliced with human genes to produce medicines. The state government refused to let the company expand. It's also why organic growers in Hawaii earlier this month symbolically dumped 20 genetically engineered pa payas into a trash bin labeled with a "biohazard" sign. Papaya genetically engineered to resist a virus were commercially grown for the first time in 1998 and are widely credited with turning around a moribund industry devastated by disease. But the bioengineered variety is not the only papaya grown in Hawaii. "We are finding widespread contamination and farmers are concerned," said Noli Hoye of the Hawaii group that organized the protest. "Once these genetically engineered crops are released commercially, they can't be contained." An increasing number of scientific studies show evidence that genetically engineered crops are creeping into conventionally grown fields, including the grass study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Union of Concerned Scientists in February found trace amounts of ge : anti-biote- . netically engineered seeds of corn, soy and canola mixed in with seeds that were supposed to be conventionally bred. "We are concerned about gene flow," said U.S. Agriculture Depart ment spokeswoman Meghan Thomas. But she said the USDA's regulatory reach extends only to experimental crops. Once biotech crops are approved for market, as papayas were in 1997, the government's oversight essentially ends. in othThe levels of er studies were found to be minuscule and industry leaders say gene flow concern is overblown. "Organic acreage has really boomed at the same time biotech acreage has boomed," said Chris Horner, a spokesman for Monsanto Co. "With good agricultural practices there is no reason these two technologies can't cross-pollinati- FOR HIGH DEFINITION LAS IK Catamt&LaCenterdM iMb fife (jfflOTfflfffe Utah's Onfy CustmViuIntralASIKCenter Research: Red Baron's brain injury likely led to his death , Ia9lkutah.com IntraLASHC ... I w3u iQiiWL But new research suggests that his death spiral may have begun Scott Charton THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLUMBIA, Mo. History books say that The Red Baron, ,,..,,,.-.,.r- v the legendary World War I German flying ace, was shot out of the sky and died in April 1918. h o . ri f - ',' :- J: - We pick up your old fridge. 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