News Headlines: Gas Pipeline Threatens Historic Adventist Site (and More!)
Gas Pipeline Threatens Historic Adventist Site. A potato field once owned by Leonard and Elvira Hastings of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, who lived through the Great Disappointment of 1844, has been on many Adventist heritage tours. The current owner, who found the tour buses stopping near his property mystifying, now faces challenges from a proposed gas pipeline. From Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, “New Ipswich: NED route on sacred land?“
Life on the Line Back on the Air. Loma Linda University Health’s program Life on the Line begins its second season with the story of a baby born with gastroschisis, a life-threatening congenital defect in which the large intestine protrudes through an opening in the abdominal wall. The half-hour documentary titled “Rough Beginnings” will air on nearly 300 public TV stations in more than 125 markets. From the Press Enterprise, “Baby with birth defect featured in TV documentary.”
91-year-old Former Adventist Elder in Cocaine Bust. Australian Federal Police arrested 91-year-old Victor Twartz in Sydney after finding 27 packets of soap that tested positive for cocaine in his luggage. The cocaine has a street value of $1.3 million. Earlier in his life, Twartz had been an elder of the Woollahra Seventh-day Adventist church in New South Wales, Australia. Twartz may have been duped into carrying a package for people unknown to him. From Daily Mail, “Australian Federal Police charge 91 year old man for importing four kilos of cocaine.”
PUC Offers Lower-cost Online Nursing Program. Pacific Union College is offering a new, fully on-line program for registered nurses to get a Bachelor of Science degree, costing about 45 percent less than PUC’s traditional on-campus nursing program. Designed for California-licensed registered nurses, classes for the on-line program start Aug. 31. From Napa Valley Register, “Pacific Union College Launches New Online Nursing Degree.”
Ben Carson Defends Previous Use of Fetal Tissue. After clearing the first major viability hurdle–qualifying for and participating in the first Republican debate–in his bid to become president of the United States, Seventh-day Adventist retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is defending his use of fetal tissue in research conducted in 1992. Carson, who has condemned Planned Parenthood in for its seemingly callous discussion of aborted fetuses, revealed in undercover video, Carson said there is nothing that requires using fetal tissue. That was before news broke of Carson’s own use of “human choroid plexus ependyma and nasal mucosa from two fetuses aborted in the ninth and 17th week of gestation.” From Washington Post, “Ben Carson: No apologies for 1992 fetal tissue research.”
Jamaica’s Gleaner Publishes Op-ed on “Backward Adventists.” The Gleaner, Jamaica’s largest media company, published an opinion piece entitled “Those Backward Adventists” denouncing the Adventist Church’s ordination vote at the San Antonio General Conference Session. It’s author, Professor Carolyn Cooper is a teacher of English language and literature, and a self-described post-Adventist. The article gained a great deal of publicity among Jamaican Adventists. From the Gleaner, “Those Backward Adventists.” Here is a letter of response to the editors, taking umbrage with Cooper’s description of Adventists as “stupid” and “backward”: “Anti-Adventist Virtue, Cooper Coarse And Arrogant.”
Pam Dietrich taught English at Loma Linda Academy for 26 years and served there eight more years as the 7-12 librarian. She lives in Redlands, CA.
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