Newsnight Maryland; Hfr1

Yeah. The pokémon phenomenon a look inside the craze tonight. Plus teenage coed sleep overs and a growing concern over the safety of childhood vaccines. Is news Mike Maryland. We have Camilla Karnak and Jeff silken. Good evening everyone. Tonight we're bringing you some of the most popular NEWSNIGHT Maryland stories. We begin tonight with the pokie Maan phenomenon. They started moving into America's homes about a year ago and now there probably isn't a pre-teen or parent of want to around who hasn't had a close encounter with pokémon cards games videos dolls clothes the pocket monsters are showing up everywhere and even in a movie. So what is behind the pokie Maan popularity. Bob Etheridge found out. Maybe you weren't looking too closely so you might have missed the moment last spring when the monsters invaded your home. But if you've got elementary and middle school aged kids

there's a pretty good chance they'll have taken over in the space of less than a year the Japanese pocket monsters have become the hottest thing since Beanie Babies. Probably a lot hotter too a lot of pre-teens They're the latest obsession. To most parents they're a mystery on the one hand a brilliant piece of cross marketing on the other. Pokémon originated in Japan about three years ago and began showing up in the States about a year after that. But it was with the recent introduction of the card game that the craze really took off. So yes. This is definitely not your father's marble game. Navigating the sophisticated strategy of a pokémon contest in which opponents try to change characters with names like geo dude and ball bazaar can tax the intellect of anyone over 14. Try to follow this. There are

240. So if they're how aggressive. They were almost as much money and time. Apart from their usefulness as game pieces their cards are the object of intense trading buying and selling. I think Wall Street think Internet stock picture Gordon Gekko. In short. There are different sets like the first. Two different parts. Some of the normal that you see. Did we mention the Gameboy game. Right. Sure. Sure. Yes besides Big

Brother facing at level 20 that you can choose. The second set of cards is the gen set. That are meant to be found in the jungle. These sets of cards. Have the same kind of problem are there were not how graphic forms. And then there are Japanese cards. Which isn't exactly said it's like all the different kinds and there are about 7 different sets of Japan and that sort of got a mixture of them. Besides the board game and game boy player pokémon are appearing in all manner of media TV cartoons T-shirts stuffed toys temporary tattoos posters a soon to be released feature length movie. Soon you'll be seeing this little creature painted on the sides of airliners. It's estimated pokémon is already a five billion dollar business when card trading pits began springing up on school playgrounds.

Some districts started banning them which are many different cards and have only one of the many popular and I have. Straight a lot I've been treated with him but I do trade all the time. I mean this when I traded last year almost all these in my deck were trading card what happens if you take school if you take them to certain schools you're busted. Like my old school show what elementary. Was a. Few days the first few days kids brought him in. They were fine but then. Some got their stolen a good friend of mine. That they had banned him. Some adults believe they see a dark side to pokémon in California a group of parents are suing the Nintendo corporation claiming the cards are encouraging gambling among their children. Others wonder whether kids are learning how to swindle their peers in card trades whether it's a good natured outlet or potentially harmful obsession in all of its manifestations is indisputably a

master stroke of marketing. Don't you guys find this complicated. I found it really complicated when I first started playing and I would like to know what's going on it's like I read the instruction and I was like I don't care. As you may recall the pokémon movie released back in November was widely panned but it was a big hit. Take a look inside your home or apartment. Is your place balanced harmonious and relaxing. Well if not it can be according to the ancient Asian principles of function way. This elegant turn of the century townhouse is one of several homes selected for a holiday house tour in the autumn behind Federal Hill section of Baltimore. But as lovely as it is the front entrance does not have good function way. When I arrive the first thing I notice was this large planter sitting on the top step and the symbolism there in funk Shway is that it could be slightly blocking some of the cheese or a vital life energy that could come in the

front door. And function way. Energy is everything. And it talks about the movement of energy across the earth around our homes through our bodies. This inner G is symbolized by five elements in the environment. Water wood fire earth and metal. All energy has two polarities. Active passive. Receptive active. And it's a balance between these two polarities of energy meaning active and receptive. The five elements are different ways that these two forms of energy the active and passive can further be identified functionally came to the United States about 15 or 20 years ago but is only in the last 5 years that it's become popular. I think that as people begin to get busier and busier we've been looking for ways to make a balance with that and that's what functionally

is all about making balance in all of the different areas of our lives. With this in mind Hope begins your consultation with the owner of the town house interior designer Cindy brush Cindy this is a very nice architectural feature to have rounded columns as opposed to square columns which functionally feels cuts into the energy of the room here it lets CI roll very gently around the column and the fact that you have mirrors above your fireplace as your door fireplaces in this room. Is another very good friend to a balancer. Actually the mirror doubles the amount of energy there in that part of the room. Now whenever you are sitting in this club chair it's a good idea to have the shutters closed if you're going to be sitting there for a while. It's seen as creating a nice protective backdrop for that chair as opposed to sitting in front of a window that's open. There's a little bit of your subconscious that would stay caught up in fight or flight syndrome like what's going on behind my back.

Actually when you come in the front door you can see right up the stairs and that's not considered ideal fun Shrike. Again the benefit of French way is that it always offer solutions. So functionally I would say the energy is rushing straight up the stairs and not circulating as much as it could on the first floor. And the same when a person comes down the stairs the energy has a tendency to want to run right out the front door especially since the door has a window in it the glass in the door. So all that we need to do is have a little let a glass crystal on the chandelier or you could replace the chandelier with a leaded glass crystal chandelier. You know what would be perfect what a mirror. Mirror would rule any other light around and that would look really great better looking perhaps a plant like you had a perfect perfect. It's wonderful to have moving water both in the home and outside of the home and tabletop fountains have become very popular I see them in almost every mail order catalog that comes to my home now. But

it's especially wonderful here in this home because. There is a pond in what's called the wealth corner of the far left area of this property has moving water and water is associated with money. During the consultation Cindy finds out that her sheep dog Bentley is good because animals keep the energy moving in a home. Well I think obviously there's a lot more to it than I thought. So I'm excited about learning about that. It's something I want to study something I want to take to my clients bring to myself and I've always loved nature of love always love the positive energy and I think that's probably what funks weighs about as I learn I hope that's what it's all about and I think it is many times people very much like the way they've decorated their homes and I say that they've got a really good cake and punctuation some extra icing on the cake. Now functionally literally means wind and water. It's an ancient Chinese

study by the way of the natural environment. That's what we've been working diligently on in their office. You noticed. Beautiful. Lovely. Well reading writing in vaccinations every school year means parents will be taking their children to the doctor's office or a clinic to get immunized by law the children must be up to date with all their shots by the time they enter first grade. But there has been growing concern among parents and advocacy groups about the safety of many of these vaccines in fact some groups now believe there's a connection between autism and vaccines. The U.S. Department of Education has reported a one hundred seventy three percent increase in autistic children between 1992 and 1998. NEWSNIGHT Marilynn correspondent Yolanda Vasquez takes a look now at the vaccination program. Brock's was three very sad. Yeah I went to see. Who are his the Cookie Monster. There ARE YOU CAN THEY DID TOO. Who's every one that you are.

Melissa and Jeff Childers enjoy reading books to their six year old daughter Candice even though she can't understand a single word that they're saying. She has brain damage and epilepsy but his diagnosis palsy because they had to give her a diagnosis. Back in 1994 when Candace was just 15 months old Melissa took her daughter to their pediatrician for routine vaccination. She was given the MMR vaccine for measles mumps and rubella within a week and a half. Candace went into a grand mal seizure and ended up in a coma. They thought it was maybe Herpes Simplex 1 HIV everything was negative. And about three weeks into the hospitalization they came in the neurologist and said it was from the MMR vaccination. This is among a growing number of children who have experienced severe adverse reactions from vaccinations that are mandated by the federal government. For years vaccines have protected against diseases that once killed or disabled thousands of children. But as of late there have been an increasing number of reports concerning the safety of many of these

vaccines particularly the newer ones. Nothing is 100 percent foolproof. You have to as a parent weigh the risks against the benefits. Dr. Michelle leverage director of Baltimore County's Public Health Department says that by law children are required to be up to date with their vaccinations by the time they enter school. Do they have any problems after their last child. No no no problem no fever or nothing. But keeping track of your child shot records can be a tedious task. The early 90s 10 doses of new vaccines have been added to the list of routine immunizations. Today's kids get three shots of hepatitis B. Five of DTP three B or polio shots two MMR one varicella and three wrote a virus vaccine bringing the total to 21. So as we add these new vaccines we are protecting children more in terms of keeping them from getting diseases that can cause premature death or disability. But again we are increasing the number of immunizations or

shots that children are going to have to get. And parents need to be aware of the fact that these are necessary. One vaccine that's come under fire is the hepatitis B vaccine which prevents liver cancer. The initial recommendation was for to be given at birth. But now babies must wait until they're six months old to get their first Hepatitis B shot after low levels of mercury were discovered in the vaccine. We know that by 6 months of age the amount of mercury that a child can tolerate is much greater than that at birth. And so that vaccine wasn't pulled because it's been extremely effective. But the the the onset of the initial vaccination was delayed until between two and six months of age. Another vaccine that's caused some concern is the rota virus vaccine which prevents infant diarrhea. It was introduced in 1998 but last month that all health officials suspended the use of the vaccine after receiving several reports of babies suffering from a serious bowel obstruction.

In this case I think it was a very responsible thing to do that even though there was no proof that this vaccine was linked to this intestinal condition there was enough concern that instead of just saying oh it's no big deal we'll go ahead and give the vaccine the decision was made to look at it further. I congratulate the FDA for taking a proactive stance on this I think it. I think these kinds of actions by the FDA will instill confidence in vaccines and in the vaccine system and I look for more action like that. Barbara Loe Fisher is the president of the National Vaccine Information Center a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education. Everyone wants to believe the vaccines are totally safe and effective and the truth is that vaccines like any drug carry an inherent risk of injury or death. The controversy has been about how big is that risk with each vaccine. Barber's organization played a major role in bringing about a safer version of the DTP vaccine called the AP. But unfortunately the old vaccine is still on

the market. So parents don't know when they go into that doctor's office. If they don't ask they may get the old more reactive version. So they need to ask for the safer DTP vaccine. BARBOUR believes more research needs to be done before new vaccines all reproved as well as take a closer look at some of the current vaccines. In the meantime he says parents need to arm themselves with as much information as they can particularly monitoring your child after vaccination you need to know what signs to look for that your child is having a reaction so that you can report that to your doctor if your doctor doesn't take you seriously get that child an emergency room. But if you don't know how to recognize a reaction you don't know how to help prevent a vaccine injury. The children wish they had the information they needed to prevent their daughter from becoming disabled. I think they should've made them more aware when they should have known I mean be our first. We had no idea that what the consequences could be. I think they should let people know how to get these vaccines exactly what could happen. Candace's condition has become so severe that children have had to hire a full time nurse to care

for their daughter. Let me give the kid OK. Five years after the MMR at this so they're still not sure how Candace ended up this way and health officials have no concrete answers and they still have no clue what how. I just don't understand. So we're very angry we just want we just want to help parents and kids we don't want them to go through what we had and how so it's just turned our life completely upside down. For NEWSNIGHT Maryland I'm a lot of office. A growing number of young women are jumping into sports that traditionally have been male dominated mixed gender sports are also becoming more common. There's not Marilyn corresponded Benita Billingsley introduces us to a female athlete who's the only girl on her high school wrestling team now. Wrestling. Some call it one of the last male dominated sports.

But now more and more females are muscling their way in. Three girls signed up for this statewide wrestling club at Oakland Mills High School in Columbia. Including a. 17 year old Deena glisten. The only girl wrestler on the Oakland Mills to be. A really competitive and I like just the one on one contact knowing that you have to meet a better person there when they have to work harder for it. Growing up Dana and her two sisters have always loved competitive sports but her parents say they never imagined one of their pretty little girls would grow up to traded ballons beads for battling boys. Just came home one night walked in the door walked up the steps and said Oh mom by the way I signed up for the wrestling team and my wife said Oh I don't know what a girl's wrestling team and in route to a room called over her shoulder. They don't last a couple of days she'll find out how tough it is and you know well that was four years ago and she still hasn't quit.

It was just something that someone kind of dared me to do. And I figured I would try anything. And I went out the first couple days and I liked it a lot. So I just stuck with it. And Dean is pretty good. She's already earned about half a dozen medals including beating more than 20 competitors last year to win the girls national championship. The popularity of girls wrestling is on the rise in many parts of the country. Dina's father says he hopes that happens in Maryland too because he thinks it's such a good discipline for boys and girls. If there were enough girls involved they could have their own teams. Until then Dean as coach says boys just have to deal with coed wrestling and take it like a man. If they lose to a girl pony it's not because they lost to certain sex it's that you lost so many who worked harder had more experience and more math. Yeah yeah. Yeah. It takes courage to wrestle anybody. You got to suck it up and keep going. A couple of times male competitors have forfeited rather than wrestle against Dana but

she's rapidly gaining respect as she moves with ease between sweating and sometimes bleeding to primping and preening. Cause it's a regular girl i do their thing you know I just happen to be wrestling is one of the things I like and I think any female that goes through what it takes to be a blast left the discipline and work ethics it takes to achieve in this sport it deserves an opportunity not to be criticized. And just to be respected her mother even thinks that it's OK you know the grandmothers are still a little bit hesitant but you know if she likes that then I'm happy for this wrestling club. Give Dino the rare opportunity to wrestle against other girls in the state. But this lady pioneer says she does love the sport and she's willing and able to be an equal opportunity competitor. I'm going into Billingsley reporting for NEWSNIGHT. Marilyn. What do you think about teenage coed sleep overs. This recent trend has some parents of high school students on edge. NEWSNIGHT Marilynn correspondent yon Damascus

shows us how one family handles the coed sleep over dilemma. Let me teach you how to French and that's really cool. Watch. This is the ugliest lookin thing I ever saw. Remember when sleep overs were just you and a couple of girls getting together for a night full of fun. Myself I chose. Not to. Ask. Me. I've. Learned a lot. Well that part hasn't changed as seen here in the movie Grease but something else that they can't really hear much helpful. What is a proxy if you think the idea of guys crashing an all girls slumber party is something you'd only see in the movies. Think again. Last month 17 year old Jill Feeney had her first coed sleep over. It's my senior year I want to have fun you know. Being with my friends is a big part of having more than a dozen of Jill's closest male and female friends were invited to stay the night after this year's homecoming dance. Needless to say

Jill's parents weren't exactly thrilled with the idea. Maybe something's going on between couples that you know shouldn't be archaic law that was a concern but after. Breaking with other parents who had had coed sleep overs at the bar Deans felt a little bit more comfortable opening up their home for an all night soiree we gave them the space and the freedom to do an outdoor deck. Type already down the basement. The newer games television cards lots of laughter and it seemed to go real well. But I mean I remember there was always dances that we went to when we were younger and the kids. There have been places where you could go to hang out to have fun with their friends. And I think it's good that you can bring him and your home and trust them and like with if it's a good group of kids no troublemakers and wife and I met a lot of nice kids. Every one of them sat in comp time and fed to us to make sure there wasn't anything going on. Jill's mom slept on the couch upstairs and would come down to the basement periodically to check on the

kids. As with any kind of sleep over parental supervision is not only important it's essential. Erin Sheldon remembers how difficult it was trying to convince her parents to let her have a coed sleep over her mother Lori finally agreed. But Erin says she can understand why some parents might not approve. Personally I think they're afraid of sex. Things because I mean it's boys and girls but we don't see it that way. Like I have guy friends. We come over. I don't have it it's just like school like you seen with school you don't the same thing just at somebody's house. Most teens if they've been going out a long time I can accept that I think they probably won't be having sex. I feel better that she can talk to me about it or ask me questions about it. And I think when they're older they have already done it and I just don't think they're going to be doing it in our house with a bunch of kids there. Put it that way. As popular as coed sleep overs have become. Jill says not all parents are as accepting of the idea as her parents were which is good news for Jill's 14 year old sister

Ashley. I'm sure she will want one. Now big sister. So now you know we're going to be prepared for that bag. The bar Deans admit that coed sleep overs aren't for everyone and you should discuss your concerns with your child before making a decision. In Baltimore Maryland pretty much for me to get my kid. What else do you have to get. Down to drink. Did you know that 100000 car crashes are caused by drivers drowsiness or foot every year. And federal safety officials say that number has been rising in recent years. NEWSNIGHT Maryland senior correspondent John all the xan takes a look at new research on who is most likely to fall asleep at the wheel. You're looking at a shift worker on the way home in morning rush hour. And he sleeps. Oh is he sleeping. And this night shot is in the car of a young college student on the way home on a school break. He's not doing very well either

and yet neither one would consider perhaps not driving they have places to go. That is the problem says Elizabeth Baker of The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In many cases people feel that they need down a belt to get around to get a job to get to school to get to the grocery to just carry on their lives. And so they hit the road when they really need to hit the sack. Non-truth that happens to all of us at one time or another. Baker says that's because of our 24/7 existence busy all the time and we always need to be where we need to be when we need to be. Shift workers are among the most vulnerable the new research shows because our body clocks never can really adjust to the topsyturvy hours. And I work in the 7:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. shift that I make it worse and makes it worse. What do you do about it. Well caffeine helps.

It's not surprising perhaps that business travelers and truckers Also we're all vulnerable to behind the wheel catnapping. But as it happens young males also are very prone to drowsy driving because they tend to stay up late sleep too little and drive at night. The student was among research subjects who agreed to have cameras mounted in their cars. The researchers also found that usually drivers don't recognize when they're too sleepy to be on the road and they are not able to predict when they might doze off either. And there's only one sure cure for drowsy driving. This man has it exactly right. You pull to try to get. One of us stop or something like that. We travel a lot with RV and we travel to Tennessee last year and I like traveling. And when it's time to pull over. We pulled in one of those rest stops and I would lay down for error too. Of course there are some people who just will not be stopped. Open the windows wide a lot of fresh air through or wrong answer the experts say now and then it's a research and other research shows that other

types of countermeasures like playing the radio loudly opening the window don't have much effect. So we're not recommending those as any kind of even short term countermeasure if you feel you absolutely must keep going Baker says. At least get out of your car and get some caffeine into your system. But even caffeine only goes so far. Highway engineers have come up with their own attack on behind the wheel those rumble strips along the shoulder of the road. You are you always start to drift off. You'll notice the more and more now there's been a 30 to 50 percent decrease in run off the road accidents on those highways and the shoulder rumble strips when Rommel's drivers are just to prevent immediate disaster. There is a problem. There's only one real solution. The best remedy is to sleep in Baltimore I'm John all Bush on news by Maryland and thanks for watching have a great night. That I if you have a comment on tonight's edition of NEWSNIGHT Marilyn. Please e-mail us at NEWSNIGHT at NPT dot org. Or call our

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