From the daily archives: "Friday, May 25, 2018"

Our Neighborhood Veterans

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by Jim Houck, Jr.

Specialist 4th Class Thomas Eugene Joy

173rd Airborne Brigade

Tom Joy was born on December 5, 1948, at Annie M Warner Hospital Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Austin L. and Catherine E. (Walter) Joy, and was taken home to live with them on East Main Street in Emmitsburg. Tom is the youngest member of his family, having five sisters and two brothers. Tom and his siblings went to St. Euphemia’s Elementary School and went on to graduate from St. Joseph’s High School. Baseball was Tom’s favorite sport, and he loved playing the game. He also played basketball while attending high school. He enjoyed fishing and hunting (ask him about chicken hunting) with the friends he went to school with—Terry Myers, Mike Orndorff, John Sherwin, and Eddie Pryor—and he still hunts and fishes with most of them. Tom, Terry, Mike, Eddie, and a few other friends and classmates went to Trenton, New Jersey, over Christmas vacation one year to some classes to see what it would be like to become a priest. While there, they attended a party and met some girls, thereby deciding to forget the priesthood and go for the girls and fun, instead. Tom also liked doing donuts in a Volkswagen at the old carnival grounds and hitting phone poles; however, he could never fool his dad with his faulty explanations of why the dents were in the VW. Tom, like so many Emmitsburgians, worked at Mount St. Mary’s College (not yet co-ed or a University at that time), washing pots and pans while attending high school.

Tom joined the U.S. Army while in high school and wasn’t to report until July of 1967. Yet, shortly after graduating high school in 1967, his recruiting officer contacted him and asked him to report early in June because they didn’t have enough numbers for that month. Tom agreed to report early. Tom and his friend, Eddie Pryor, left at the same time for basic training to Fort Bragg, and from there to Fort Ord for military police training, and then on to Fort Benning, Georgia, for jump school and paratrooper training. He made five jumps while there. Tom was sent to the southern part of Vietnam after his training was completed as a military policeman. He was assigned to help guard prisoners of war. Tom said if you heard the bang and the whoosh whoosh whoosh sound, it meant outgoing mortar, but if you heard whoosh whoosh whoosh, find cover fast in a bunker before the bang because that meant it was incoming. When he first got to Vietnam, he was assigned to a tact corporation center that was a big area with wire all around it. If any dignitaries were there, they were in this one hooch. If there was incoming fire, he went in and woke the dignitaries to get them into a bunker, so no harm came to them. On his first night on watch, sure enough, incoming fire started coming in, so Tom went to the hooch. It was pitch black in there, and he felt around but someone was in the cot, so he hurried to get the heck out of there and find a bunker for himself. In his next bunker, he felt around for hand grenades and shells. When he discovered that he had jumped into an ammo bunker, he said it didn’t take him long to get out of there. Tom recalls a time he got into hot water because he didn’t shave, even though not shaving was allowed. His CO told him he was an MP and he wanted him to shave every day and to report to him after duty. Tom did, and the CO said to get a shovel and dig a 6 x 6 x 6 hole. He dug the hole and the CO came to inspect it. He said Tom did a nice job, then told him to fill it back in. With that punishment, Tom learned his lesson and shaved every day thereafter. Tom was honorably discharged from the army in 1970.

He met Ruth (his soul mate and wife) and they started dating. One day, they were in Thurmont, and Tom said he was hungry. So, he parked in front of Charlie and Pete Angel’s Sweet Shop. He asked Ruth to hold out her hand. She thought he was giving her a ring, but he handcuffed her to the steering wheel—as a joke—while he went in and ate. She thought they were toy handcuffs and tried to pull out of them. But the harder she pulled, the tighter they got since they were his MP cuffs. By the time Tom came out of the Sweet Shop, they were causing Ruth a lot of pain, and she was so mad at him. Despite the tricks he pulled on her, Tom and Ruth were married, and have two beautiful daughters: Lisa (born on Tom’s birthday) and Tina. Tom and Ruth lived above Green’s Bakery on West Main Street in Emmitsburg by the dough boy when they first got married. A few years later, they moved to Emmit Gardens, where they still reside today. Tom went to work for Moore Business Forms after he was discharged from the Army. He retired from there in May of 1997, after thirty-six years of service. He is enjoying every minute of his retirement.

Tom is a life member of the VFW and the AMVETS and Post Commander of the AMVETS Post 7 Thurmont, as well as a member of Post 7’s Honor Guard. Tom plays a part in most of the functions. He also belongs to Post 121 The American Legion Emmitsburg. Tom does a lot of volunteer time at St. Catherine’s Nursing Center in Emmitsburg and at Martinsburg W.V. Veterans Administration. He is also a social member of the Vigilant Hose Company in Emmitsburg. Tom and Ruth’s children and grandchildren— Samantha Star, Nicholas Scott, and Mathew Jacob—all live nearby, and they enjoy family functions together. I have been told when you go to a ball game, everywhere you look, there are Joys filling the seats. Tom loves a good joke, but when it comes to volunteering and helping Veterans, he is dead serious. I hope you have had as much joy reading this article as I had in writing this article. I wish Tom and the entire Joy family a happy and fulfilling future.

Note: This column that I wrote about Tom was originally published in The Catoctin Banner in August of 2012. Tom hasn’t changed much, except for getting a little older and being elected as Post 7 AMVETS Commander. Wait a minute…there was the time in 2014 when Tom and his wife, Ruth, were both voted in as AMVETS of the Year! Tom is still very active with Post participation and volunteer work for the Veterans and the community. Folks, if you meet Tom on the street or at the grocery store or in a restaurant (Tom hangs out at Post 7 AMVETS, a lot), please say hello, shake his hand, and thank him for all he does. Tom Joy is a Veteran and a “great human being,” and I am so proud to call him a friend.

Pictured from left are Jim Houck, Jr., Ruth (Tom’s wife), and Tom Joy. Tom won the AMVET of the Year Award, Ruth won the AMVET Auxiliary Member of the Year Award, and Jim Houck, Jr. won the AMVET Son of the Year Award.

The Supermarket Gourmet

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by Buck Reed

Chili Nation

The exact origins of chili are muddled at best. The only sure thing is that it is an American dish that is only made in Mexico for tourists. In most Mexican culture, chili con carne is considered a vile dish served and eaten in the United States, from California to New York. So, I do not believe anyone would dispute our claim that this is an American dish.

Chili can find its origins all the way back to the 1600s, where a nun, Sister Mary of Agreda of Spain, said she ministered to the American Indians, who never even met her. She never left Spain, but it is said that she would go into lifeless trances for days, in which she claims she brought spiritual guidance to a faraway land. The Indians of North America called her spirit “The lady in Blue.” She is credited with being the first person to write out a recipe using antelope meat, onions, spices, chilis, and tomatoes. Every great dish should have a mystical element in its history. If we only could have worked in how Excalibur was used to chop the meat in the first chili.

Chili eventually found it’s way to the New World, and firmly found its place in the cattle drives of the 1850s. Dried beef was mixed with dried chilis and spices and formed into bricks that could easily travel and be rehydrated into a hot meal on the long drives. By the 1860s, the Texas penal system adopted chili to feed the inmates a cheap meal. Criminals would actually rate a jail house by the quality of the chili they served.

By the 1880s, Latino women would sell bowls of homemade chili, kept warm over mesquite fires from brightly colored carts. These women were dubbed “Chili Queens” and were considered a must-have for both a quick lunch or a late-night meal after a night of drinking. By the 1930s, they were put out of business due to poor health standards. A resurgence of the Chili Queens started in the 1980s, when San Antonio began doing historic reenactments, with a festival dedicated to them held in May.

The Chili Queens were quickly replaced by chili houses all through Texas, as well as the surrounding states. As this was the Depression, nearly every town had an establishment, and chili, being a cheap dish to produce, got many people through the hardest times. In these one-room houses, with little more than a counter and some stools, a bowl of chili was served with all the crackers you could eat.

Cincinnati made its mark on chili in 1922, when Athanas Kiradjieff, also known as Tom, made a chili with Greek spices and served it over spaghetti. Five-way chili is served layered with cheese, onions, and kidney beans, and served with a side of hot dogs.

If you want proof that Chicago is the home of dirty politics, you can look no further than its treatment of chili and its origins. First, they spell it with two “L’s” to more closely resemble Illinois. And in a shameful and immoral move, Illinois State Senator Karen Harasa introduced Resolution No. 89 in the Illinois General Assembly, which proclaimed Illinois to be known as “The Chilli Capital of the Civilized World.” Texans are still pretty angry about that one.

Ask Dr. Lo Modern Day Stressors – What to Look Out For

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by Dr. Thomas K. Lo

Stress has been with us since the beginning of time. Every era has faced its share of stressful situations.  Today, stress can be work, family, personal conflicts, and demands on our time and money. All of these stressors can take a toll on our health.

Stress affects everybody differently. For some, it is an upset stomach. For others, it can be recurring headaches, back pain, or muscle stiffness. Still others respond with nervous twitches and allergic reactions and sensitivities. Regardless of the response, your nervous system is involved, especially the autonomic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system controls most of your body’s internal functions, such as your heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, hormonal changes, detoxification, digestion, elimination, and immune response, just to name a few.

What stress factors affect people today? Other than some kind of trauma or genetic inheritance, most conditions can be attributed to one of the following stressors:

 

(1) Structure. Poor posture, prolonged sitting, an accident, or even an old injury can lead to spinal stress. Chronic pain and muscle tension can cause you to experience nervousness and irritability. The chiropractic approach to stress is to help normalize the function of your nervous system by removing interferences caused by the vertebral subluxation complex or spinal joint dysfunction.

 

(2) Scars. Scars act like an energy capacitor, storing nerve signals as they pass through. When it is full, it releases the nerve energy randomly and in an uncoordinated manner, creating havoc. Mind you, 80 percent of the autonomic nervous system is on the skin. Everyone has at least one scar: an umbilicus (belly button). Injuries, tattoos, skin piercing, and surgery provide us with more scars.

 

(3) Toxins. Chlorine, food dyes, food preservatives, pesticides, plastics, drugs, tobacco, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, and synthetic vitamins are just a few examples of possible exposures to chemical toxins.

 

(4) Heavy Metal Poisoning. Heavy metals are not widespread, but also not uncommon. Mercury, aluminum, arsenic, lead, and silver are the more common metals we see in our office. Copper has been linked to Alzheimer’s, and Mercury has been linked to Autism. Excess Iron and aluminum can come from cookware and vitamins.

 

(5) Immune Challenge. Bacterial, fungal, yeast, viral, and parasitic infections cause inflammatory responses. According to Dr. Rozen, one of the founders of American Academy of Anti-aging, infection is a major factor that accelerates the aging process.

 

(6) Emotions. Remember the old saying, “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” Words can hurt a lot! Words can literally break somebody’s heart.  Name-calling and cyber bullying sometimes hurt so much that it can drive someone into suicidal or homicidal actions. Just look at the sharp increase of campus shootings, both in colleges and high schools.

 

(7) Allergies, Sensitivities, and Intolerances. Allergies occur when the immune system triggers immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to bind with an allergen protein, resulting in the release of large amounts of histamine. An allergic reaction can occur throughout the body: respiratory system, digestive tract, skin, eyes, ears, throat, or cardio-vascular system.  Ninety percent of food allergies are triggered by eight foods: milk products, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, fish, shellfish, and soy.

Sensitivities cause symptoms similar to allergies, but reactions are slower and milder. It can take hours or even days before symptoms appear. IgA, IgG, and IgM are thought to be involved. Sensitivities may contribute to chronic conditions, such as fibromyalgia, fatigue, arthritis, depression, sinusitis, Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), migraines, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), attention deficit disorder (ADD), rashes, and more.

Food Intolerances mean the immune system is not directly involved and reactions are not life threatening, though health and quality of life can be affected.  Symptoms include indigestion, bloating, fatigue, migraines, memory problems, toxic headaches, constipation, and IBS. Common intolerances are lactose and gluten.

 

(8)  Nutrition. Real (whole) food, as designed by nature, enables the body to repair itself and become healthier. “Whole food” is defined as “food that has undergone very little processing.” The nutritional value of food can be diminished by the following factors: microwaving, food coloring, genetic engineering, synthetic additives, preservatives, flash freezing, hormones, antibiotics, poor soil conditions, harmful chemicals, and heavy metal contamination.

 

(9) Electrical Pollution. Your body’s electromagnetic field can be thrown off balance by the interference of modern day gadgetry and household appliances’ electromagnetic frequencies, resulting in poor health, ranging from insomnia to cancer.  If you buy a cell phone now, most likely you will see a warning on the user manual saying “this device may be hazardous to your health.” The other unlikely sources may include your automobile, x-rays, fluorescent lights, power lines, and cell phone towers.

The Advanced Chiropractic & Nutritional Healing Center incorporates a holistic approach to your health care needs. We evaluate, treat, and assist you in attaining maximum possible health, while handling the real underlying health issues. If you are interested in getting your stressors under control, call the Frederick office at 240- 651-1650 for an evaluation or call and register for our Free Nutrition Seminars. Check out the website at www.doctorlo.com.