Aug 24 Indy Complete Singles

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The following are the highest volume water users (in gallons) for the scal year from

Oct. 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2005, according to the city of Amarillo:

Tyson Fresh Meats 133,494,166

Xcel Energy 102,420,416

Owens-Corning 26,885,916

Texas Department of Corrections 19,267,333

City of Canyon 18,216,666

Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital 7,025,833

ASARCO 6,902,500

Northwest Texas Hospital 5,485,333

Plains Dairy 4,175,333Craig Retirement Community 1,634,866

Total 325,508,362

Top water users by gallons

Volume 1, Number 19 Thursday • August 24, 2006

F R E E W E E K L Y

Ratliff part ofthree-artistexhibit at theLemmons

Nuclear power plant may requirea tall water order

page 3

When Amarillo de-veloper GeorgeChapman pro-

posed a 2,700-megawatt nuclear power plantto be built near Amarillo, ques-tions ew faster than promisesthat take wing with a multibil-lion dollar project.

While much of the attentionso far has centered on the even-tual jobs the deal could bring toAmarillo, questions have arisenabout how the two nuclear re-actors would becooled and wherethe water would

come from were the plant to be built.

On Tuesday,Chapman preferredto only talk aboutthe quality of histeam on the project,General Electric,which would sup-

ply the two boilingwater reactors; theengineering andconstruction rmBechtel, and Toshi-

ba and Hitachi. Hisconcern now is tomove as quickly as

possible.But in an Aug.1 phone conversa-tion, Chapman saidhe expected to re-ceive help from thecity of Amarillo on water andwould seek support from otherentities.

When asked about water forthe reactor, he said, “Oh, I thinkthe city got that. I think we gotthat all covered.”

“We want both the chamberand the economic development

board to support this thing,” he

said, adding he also wants thecity of Amarillo’s support.

“We need to get our agree-

ment with the AEDC (AmarilloEconomic Development Corp.)and we’ll be off and running,”he said. “Until I get somethingdone with the AEDC, my handsare tied.”

But, based on other interviewsand information, Chapman is atthe early stages of such a proj-ect.

To date, the Nuclear Regu-latory Commission has only aletter of intent to seek an appli-cation for an early siting permit

for a plant in theAmarillo vicin-ity, said Scott

Burnell, an NRC public af -fairs ofcer.

If the agencywere to grantthat permit,Burnell said, hewould expectChapman toseek an operat-ing permit “soonafter that,” pos-sibly as early asmid-2008.

A two-unitreactor wouldrequire “a sig-

nicant body ofwater” to pro-duce the steamneeded to gen-erate electricityand to cool the

reactor cores, Burnell said.Typically, nuclear power

plants are built near large riv-ers or lakes, although the PaloVerde plant near Phoenix usesrecycled wastewater.

The conversations with thedevelopment agency startedabout a year ago, said RichardDavid, AEDC president and

chief executive.Oddly, the agreement the

AEDC approved on Aug. 16does not directly name Chap-man or his Amarillo Power inlaying out an offer to help withnancial incentives.

Instead, the memorandum

that was forwarded to the CityCommission for its approval of -fers the incentive to any quali-ed license holder, a conditionthat the AEDC did not imposeon previous big-ticket propos-als.

Those incentives could in-

clude tax abatement and up to$50 million from economicdevelopment sales tax and rev-enue bonds so long as the proj-ect meets job-creation and othereconomic development criteria.

page 4

By Greg Rohloff The Amarillo Independent

continued page 7

David Fairbanks talks with The Amarillo Independent about the water usage for a nuclear powerplant. (Photo by Ralph Duke)

BECOMING

A DAD OF

DESTINY

Fairbanks said

his calculationsindicate thatwater usage couldbe as much as 38percent greaterthan for a coal-fueled power

plant operating inthe area and 177percent greater

than a “combinedcycle power

plant,” such asMustang Station,

which serves arearural electriccooperatives.

Mail-orderreaches newmagnification

by focusing onlittle ol’ DNA

page 7


3/8

An Independent AttitudeThe Amarillo Independent • Thursday • August 24, 2006Page 2

An icon in Amarillo re-turned Saturday night.

Shortly after 10 p.m.,with a crowd counting

down the seconds,Center City andXcel Energy of -cials relighted the

newly restored signon the ParamountBuilding.

The event, whichwas part of the11th Annual PolkStreet Block Party,was the highlight of the evening,although the party continued.

My wife and I went to the partyto distribute The Amarillo Indepen-dent, enjoy the music, sample thefood, people watch and, yes, seethe sign on the Paramount Build-ing blaze again in all its refurbishedglory.

We went for ourselves and I didn’t

take a notebook or notes because Ididn’t plan to write anything aboutthe event. This was to be a time toenjoy being in Amarillo and take

pleasure in a signal event.But the evening turned out to be

so much fun and had such signi-cance to the community that it bearscomment.

When the event began, under thethreat of clouds and the risk of rainthat never came, crowds were light

but built as the evening wore on.Throughout the evening, people

seemed mellow.In fact, the crowd was well be-haved and, as far as we could tellthen, there were no incidents. The

block party was a far cry from someof the Mardi Gras events I experi-enced growing up in New Orleans.In the 1950s, attending the paradeswas a family outing.

But by the time the late 1960srolled around, things were gettingout of hand. No worries here. Evenat the lighting of the sign, the crowdwas orderly and it was a pleasure towatch.

Then, there was the entertainment.Our tastes ran more toward the

Martinis and Chase ‘N’ Scales, butthat doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoyknowing other bands were satisfyingother musical tastes. Just listening tothose musicians was worth the priceof admission — and bought ahead

of time, the $8 tickets were a modestfee, at that.

In addition to the Paramount, asimilarly vertical sign now gracesthe new Acapulco Restaurant, at thecorner of Eighth Avenue and PolkStreet. And joining some of the oldstandbys, like Café Marizon and Zen

721 will be Randy’s of WildoradoII and Victor Leal’s new restaurant,Paco’s Tacos Fresh-Mex Café.

Burberry’s and Bodega’s, whichhave been on the street a while, were

joined a few months ago by MayfairClub and Butlers.

The food and drink offerings werealso satisfying. We didn’t take noteof all the names of the food stands,except for Nu-Castle Diner’s mov-able feast. We remembered it for theribbon fries and because the diner it-self is one of our regular lunch stopsduring the workweek. We knowthe kitchen crew from Burberry’swas also serving and Acapulco was

open, but we wonder about the otherrestaurants that could have struttedtheir stuff but didn’t.

It was also gratifying to see thediversity of people attending theevent. The variety of races, different

styles of dress and many membersof ethnic groups were obvious. Thearea’s diversity was clear. Amarillomay be on its way to becoming a

bit more cosmopolitan, especiallyif events similar to this continue todraw people downtown.

And downtown will be the key-

stone for that progress.Revitalizing downtown won’t be an overnight job and the taskforce working on the plan knows it.Events like the block party go a longway toward the goal, however.

Meanwhile, the way I add all thisup, Center City and its executivedirector, Beth Duke, need to be con-gratulated for such a superb job withthis event. So should all the workersand volunteers who helped CenterCity and Duke put on such a goodshow. We know whom to thank forthe weather.

In April, Duke was inducted intothe Panhandle Press Association

Hall of Fame.We hope she takes this sugges-tion in the spirit it is given: That theParty Planner Hall of Fame, if thereis one, needs to keep its eye on her.

We can’t wait until next year.

GEORGESCHWARZ

Publisher/Editor — George Schwarz

[email protected]

News Editor/Writer — David Bowser

[email protected]

Business Manager — Dedra Stevens

[email protected]

Business Correspondent — Greg Rohloff

[email protected]

Production — Troy Foos

[email protected]

Voice: (806) 331-5066 Fax: (806) 331-5096Ads – [email protected]

Calendar – [email protected]

News – [email protected]

The Amarillo Independent is published by The AmarilloIndependent, L.L.C. weekly 52 times per year at 301 SouthPolk St., Suite 320, Amarillo, Texas 79101.

Unsolicited submissions, including but not limited to articles, artwork, photographs and résumés, are not returned.

© 2006 The Amarillo Independent, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Four new businesses willmove into the Para-mount Building over the

next few months, according toa news release issued Saturday

in conjunction with the PolkStreet Block Party and therelighting of the Paramountsign.

Two of those are long-estab-lished restaurants and two arewell-known businesses, ac-cording to the release.

Randy’s of Wildorado II willoccupy 5,500 square feet andoffer lunch and dinner service.Owners Randy and OrvillaAllred said they were targeting

a Thanksgiving opening.Paco’s Tacos Fresh-Mex

Café – a new concept of Leal’sMexican Restaurant — willtentatively be open for break -

fast, lunch and dinner. Theyare planning to open aroundthe rst of the year and willoccupy 4,500 square feet.

“The lighting of the historicParamount sign at the PolkStreet Block Party by MayorDebra McCartt will literallylight the way for a thrivingdowntown retail and entertain-ment district by attracting ma-

jor local capital,” the releasequotes Bill Ware, one of the

owners of Downtown AmarilloDevelopment L.P., as saying.

Ware’s partners include his brother, Richard, and Mc-Cartt and Associates, whose

partners are Joe Bob McCartt,Gene McCartt, Alan Rhodesand Kevin Nelson.

“We are excited about therevitalization of downtown,”Orvilla Allred said. “Randyand I both as children enjoyedPolk Street so much when wewere kids. We’re excited forall of the growth going on inAmarillo and especially down-town. A large percentage ofour customers are from Ama-

rillo and we’re hoping that thisnew location will make it moreconvenient for them to dinewith us.”

Paco’s Tacos Fresh-Mex

Café is planned as an upscale,fast-food concept, accordingto Victor Leal, the owner.

“We chose to open this new-concept restaurant in The Par -amount Building because it tinto a dream that I’ve had forthe past 12 years,” Leal said.

“This will be an upscale,hip and funky restaurant likeyou’d see in Austin or Dal-las, but with the charm of thisgreat, historic, building.”

Paco’s Tacos will feature astreamlined menu with tradi-tional favorites like beef andchicken fajitas and some newitems like pulled-pork tacos

and vegetarian fare such asMahi or Tilapia tacos, Lealsaid.

The café will also feature ahot-sauce bar with eight or 10sauces made fresh daily.

Other innovative items willinclude a fresh juice and coffee

bar offering Internet access.Leal will introduce bicycle

delivery to downtown ofces.Customers will be able to

fax or call in their orders onlunch menu items, which will

be delivered to them promptly,Leal said.

Two corporate business en-

tities, Admarc Southwest, aregional advertising and mar -keting rm, and Real EstateConcepts, a locally owned realestate brokerage company,have announced their reloca-tion to The Paramount Build-ing.

Those rms will bring the building to a 100-percent-leased capacity, Ware said.

Molly Hood Davis, vice president/account managerfor Admarc, said, “We’re very

pleased to be a part of the revi-talization of downtown Ama-rillo and to be in a location

with such historical signi-cance.”Patrick Stahl, partner of

Real Estate Concepts, said,“We were in need of morespace due to growth. We wantto be a part of this downtownrevitalization because we likethe fun, energetic, urban cul-ture that downtown brings aswell as the history of The Para-mount Building.”

OPINION

Two restaurants to open in Paramount BuildingNew location, new concept touted


4/8

Page 7Thursday • August 24, 2006 • The Amarillo Independent

As I frequently y there isa lot of time to gaze out of the

plane window and think aboutthings. Maybe it’s the spiri-tuality of the moment or theserenity of the sky? But I seemto come around to questions ofmy life, which for me revolvearound my family and my roleas a father. You see, whenyou have realized the hurt and

pain you caused to your sonsand wife because of a torrid

workaholic personality, you vow to become a Dad ofDestiny each day.

To Think About....

What is a Dad of Destiny?• First, being a great father. You’re always look -

ing for ways to become a better dad. You have a

steadfast commitment that doesn’t waiver duringdifculty.

• Second, working to strengthen your childrenand family. This is the real everyday stuff of beinga good husband and father. You serve your family inhumility; you seek to know your children and guidethem in achieving their potential.

• Third, engaging in the moral, ethical andspiritual development of your children (and grand-

children). You are intentional about modeling andspiritual development.

• Finally, encouraging other children. Knowingthat the outcomes for unfathered children are grim,you reach out to encourage other children in anywalk in life.

Action Points for Dads of Destiny

• Building a strong family begins with a steadfastcommitment to love your children’s mother.

• Commit yourself to pray for your children (andgrandchildren) every day.

• Look for opportunities where you can impact thelives of children who need a father gure.

I challenge each man to become a “Man of Des-tiny” and realize You are the Difference. Kids NeedDads....why? Because they say So!

DAVE CLARK

Are you a dad of destiny?

A Father’s Cry

The plant would have to

meet other restrictions aimedat ensuring that the projectwould be viable.

Mayor Debra McCartt saidthe actions taken to date arethe beginnings of a processto “open a door” to considernuclear power as an alternativeto coal and natural-gas-red

power plants.McCartt said Chapman has

not indicated a location for the plant to the city, although theAEDC recommendation on -nancial support for a nuclear

power plant project stipulates

that the plant would qualify forthe $50 million in incentivesif it were located in Potter,Randall, Carson or Armstrongcounties.

Through several months ofdiscussion on the project, Mc-Cartt said her understandingwas the proposed plant woulduse less water than a similarlysized fossil fuels plant.

“To date, that’s my under -standing,” she said.

She has heard little reac-tion from the communityabout Chapman’s proposal,reiterating that the incentive

agreement is intended as anattraction for whoever gets anoperating license.

In this early stage of the process federal ofcials arelooking for communities thatwould accept such a plant, themayor said.

She said the proposal isworth considering as a way toreduce the country’s depen-dence on fossil fuels, whichinclude imported oil.

But others wonder aboutthe water requirements at this

point.

A water-usage number is notavailable from GE.Water needs are specic to

each individual plant and theAmarillo project would not befar enough along to know withcertainty, said Claire Zurek, nu-clear marketing spokeswomanfor GE Energy in Wilmington,

N.C.But David Fairbanks, an

Amarillo consulting engineerwith more than 30 years expe-rience in power plant design

and operations, including con-ventional and nuclear plants,looked at the project to esti-mate water usage, starting withthe plant’s projected output.

Fairbanks, in drawing up arough approximation, workedunder the assumption a nuclear

power plant would use cool-ing tower technology similarto the Xcel Energy Harrington

Station northeast of Amarillo.Among other factors includedin the calculations were the

plant’s operating capacity andthe amount of solid particleswithin water drawn from theOgallala Aquifer.

His calculations were drawnas if he were preparing to de-fend them in a presentation to acommercial client, so they tendto be conservative.

Fairbanks said his calcula-

tions indicate that water usagecould be as much as 38 percentgreater than for a coal-fueled

power plant operating in thearea and 177 percent greaterthan a “combined cycle power

plant,” such as Mustang Sta-tion, which serves area ruralelectric cooperatives.

A 2,700-megawatt nuclear power plant using two boil-

ing water reactors could useas much as 46,000 acre-feetof water a year if it were to be

strictly water cooled, accord-ing to Fairbanks’ estimate.

One acre-foot is about325,851 gallons.

In comparison, Amarillo res-idents use about 47,000 acre-feet of water a year, whichworks out to about 42 milliongallons a day, although the

peak daily usage this summerwas as high as 81 million gal-lons.

The top 10 water custom-ers for the Amarillo’s waterutility, by comparison, used325,508,362 gallons for the

scal year from Oct. 1, 2004through Sept. 30, 2005, ac-cording to an auditor’s reportto the city.

While all those numbersseem large, water plannersnote that irrigated farming usesmuch more water.

By 2010, the earliest likelydate projected for operation ofa nuclear power plant, irriga-tion use is projected at 1.7 mil-lion acre-feet of water, Fair -

banks said.C.E. Williams, general man-

ager of the Panhandle Ground-water Conservation District,

said Chapman has not ap- proached the district about theavailability of water.

That lack of contact surpris-es him, Williams said, becausethree of the four counties listedin the AEDC agreement are

part of the conservation dis-trict.

If the 46,000 acre-feet ofwater proves to be an accurateestimate of the plant’s waterneeds, Amarillo Power musthave rights to 46,000 acres ofland to comply with conserva-tion district rules.

Those rules call for an acreof surface land for each acre-foot of water withdrawn.

“That’s a signicant amountof water, but I can see whereit could be put together,” Wil-liams said.

Roy D. Williams, presidentand chief executive ofcer ofWAATTS Inc. of Amarillo, areactor design and DOE regu-

lations consultant, said hethinks that some of the waterneeds could be reduced by im-

provements in cooling towerdesign.

Additionally, he said, shar -ing the city’s wastewater thatnow goes to cool its nearby

power plants could reduce theneed for groundwater.

But Xcel Energy, which re-ceives about ve billion gal-lons of water a year of the re-cycled wastewater, uses all ofits allocation, said Wes Reeves,company spokesman.

Chapman has not inquiredabout a water-sharing arrange-ment, nor has he contacted

the company for any kind of participation in the project,Reeves said.

One other potential source ofwater for a plant is Mesa Wa-

ter, which controls water rightsto about 200,000 acres in thenortheastern Panhandle.

But, spokesman Jay Rossersaid, Mesa Water founder andchief executive Boone Pickenshas not spoken with Chapmanfor about 10 years.

The reactor design thatChapman is inquiring aboutusing is now being used in Ja-

pan, where four are producing power, Zurek said.

Two more units are underconstruction in Taiwan and onemore in Japan, where anothernine units are planned.

Although GE does not puta price tag on its nuclear reac-

tors, Zurek said the industrystandard is in the $2 billion to$3 billion range per unit.

— George Schwarz contrib-uted to this story.

continued from page 1

Nuclear plant: Might use as much water as Amarillo

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On Tuesday,Chapman preferredto only talk about

the quality of histeam on the project,

General Electric,which would supply

the two boilingwater reactors; the

engineering andconstruction frm

Bechtel, and Toshibaand Hitachi. Hisconcern now is to

move as quickly as

possible.


5/8

There’s a simple reasonEric Ratliff became anartist.

“I wasn’t good atmath,” Ratliff said.

A graduate of Randall HighSchool, the 22-year-old is theyoungest artist in a three-manshow at Lemmons Gallery inSunset Center this summer.

He said he’s had a great dealof encouragement from the oth-er two men in the show, MardyLemmons and Rick Peters.

“It’s a denite privilege to bein the show with them,” Ratliffsaid.

But he’s also had encourage-ment from others in the artcommunity.

He sold a painting at theTexas Association of Schools ofArt show this year.

“I had this Texas State profes-

sor buy one of my paintings,”Ratliff said.

Ratliff said he’s always beeninterested in creating. He enjoysthe creative process, but admit-ted that he’s still learning.

“I’ve only done it about veyears now,” Ratliff said.

He also said that he expectsto be learning for the rest ofhis life and he’s still growing.When he stops growing andlearning, he said, his life will beover.

Ratliff had been painting ina small room at the back of hishouse across the street from

Sunset Center when it began itsmetamorphosis into the city’sconcentration of artists.

He went to Ann Crouch, theartist behind the conversionof Amarillo’s rst retail mallto an art center, and talked toher about studio space. Afterlooking at some of his art, shedeveloped the necessary nan-cial arrangements and Ratliffmoved in.

He said he’s expanding hissubject matter at the moment.

“I’m trying to progress from

gures to gures with objects,”Ratliff said.

Many of his gures are bold.An early self-portrait has Ratliffstaring intensely at the viewer,

but more recent works can bor -der on the whimsical. Almostall of them have a shared themeof humanity.

He came across a stack of black and white photographs atan antique shop not long agoshowing a family in the 1950s.

In one, a woman and smallgirl were dressed up on a coldEaster morning posing for afamily photograph in front oftheir house before going tochurch. There’s another of thelittle girl on a giant saddled rab-

bit at a tourist stop.Ratliff did a couple of paint-

ings based on the photographsand found that the reaction fromalmost everyone looking at theworks was that they had pic-

tures like those in their family photo albums.

They connected with thesubjects, Ratliff said.

He said he’s considering do-ing a series.

Many of the forms are basedon black and white images. Heuses photos as references.

“Everything is painted from a black and white image,” Ratliffsaid, “and I did my own colors.”

He said the black and white presents the form, but the colorscome from his imaginations.

“I mostly paint,” he said.While he now thinks in color,

Ratliff said it hasn’t always been so. It’s taken a while toreach that point. He said he’slearned many things over the

past few years. One of them ishow to relax.

He admits that his earlierworks tended to be morestructured. He said that he oftenoverworked them, refusing tolet them go, yet couldn’t reachwhat he was striving for.

“I got so into overworkingmy paintings that I decided itwas really a bad thing,” Ratliff

said.College really helped him

realize that being spontaneousand letting his creativity oware the best way to create, hesaid.

“It denitely took a long

time to say I’m done,” Ratliffsaid. “Sometimes it comes a loteasier.”

His more recent works stillshow the same style, the sametechnique, but they ow better,he said.

“I can see a progression,”Ratliff said.

Yet the technique is not thatdifferent, but workow is easier.

“I spent a year on some ofthose works, at least,” Ratliffsaid.

Ratliff, like many artists inSunset Center, is nocturnal. Heusually works nights, alone anduninterrupted. The time passesquickly, he said, when he’sworking.

“Once you get back there inthat back room,” Ratliff said,“the time disappears. I’vewalked out of here, and it’s

been light.”He said he keeps no clock in

the studio because he doesn’twant to know what time it is.That’s a distraction.

Like many artists, he paintsover some canvases, unhappywith his rst attempt.

Carefully examining a life-sized painting of a gure he’sstill working on, Ratliff notedthe work beneath, which he’s

painted.“All my stuff is really mul-tilayered as far as how manytimes I write my name on andthen come back,” he said.

He’s still debating his nextstep.

Having nished AmarilloCollege, Ratliff said he wants togo on to the university level.

He’s looking at moving onto another college in the state.Perhaps Texas State Universityin San Marcos or the Universityof North Texas in Denton.

Ratliff has taken the summerand may take the fall to develophis individual talents beforemoving on.

The three-man show is hisrst major exhibition.

The night before his openingat Lemmons Gallery in SunsetCenter, he was working on hislatest painting. He wasn’t surewhether it would make theshow.

“It could come togethertonight,” he said, gazing at the

canvas.Ratliff said he’s gotten a lot

of positive comments on this particular work.

“I guess I need to get it donetonight,” he said.

He said he has been well re-

ceived so far by those who haveseen his work.While he is relatively new to

the art scene, his work will befamiliar to some in Amarillo.One of the exhibitions he’s hadwas at Roaster’s.

A bold painting based on a photograph of Angelina Joliegreets visitors to one of thesmaller galleries at Sunset Cen-ter where a number of the artistsshare space.

His studios are in the rear ofthe space since he has worksin progress in each of the fourrooms in the back of the gallery.He also uses part of the space toframe his work.

Ratliff said he hasn’t beenable to nd someone to framehis work the way he wants itdone, so he stretches his owncanvases and frames them.

“I try to do it all,” he laughed.Too often, he says, the frame

shops want to show off theirframes instead of the paintingswithin the frames.

The Amarillo Independent • Thursday • August 24, 2006Page 4

By David BowserThe Amarillo Independent

Artist adds color to own imitation of life

Amarillo artist Eric Ratliff’s work is part of a three-man exihibition during August at the LemmonsGallery in Sunset Center. (Photo by David Bowser)


6/8


Dr. Steven Jones,

president ofAmarillo College,visits with PaulaKerger, presidentand CEO ofPBS, and PrenisWilliams. Kergerwas visiting thePBS station atAmarillo College.(Photo by Ralph Duke)

Top, Polk Street begins to fll up early with people attending the2006 Center City Block Party. Bottom, left to right, Mayor DebraMcCartt, Wes Reeves, Amarillo Historical Preservation Foundation,Elayne Shults, donor and Center City Board Member and Beth Duke,Executive Director, Center City, prepare to light the Paramount signat the 2006 Center City Block Party. (Photos by Ralph Duke)

Thousands of people attend the 2006 Center City Block Party as the historic Paramount Theatresign is lit over Polk Street. (Photo by Ralph Duke)


7/8

The Amarillo Independent • Thursday • August 24, 2006Page 6

Kind of catchy: Direct-to-consumer tests claim mutation detection

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The Amarillo BuildingWest Texas RXWestern BowlWolin Avenue BarbershopWTAMU JBK

And more to come!

Discover Te

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programs - that are not person-alized at all. They risk spend-ing hundreds to thousands ofdollars for generic medical

advice — like “Stop Smok -ing” — that they can easilyget elsewhere free.

More important, unless testresults are interpreted by atrained genetic counselor, peo-

ple risk getting misinforma-tion, said Dr. Jeff Milunsky,director of Clinical Genetics at

the Boston University Schoolof Medicine Center for Hu-man Genetics.

There are hundreds ofmutations in two well-known

breast cancer genes, BRCA1and BRCA2, for which reli-able commercial tests exist.

A woman could be told thatshe didn’t have the commonmutations, but might still bea high risk from less commonmutations or a different riskgene altogether, he said.

The Federal Trade Com-mission does watch out foruntruthful advertising claims,

but has not been aggressiveon DTC genetic testing, Javitt

said.Thanks to a law called the

Clinical Laboratory Improve-ment Amendments of 1988,the government regulates thelaboratories that conduct theactual genetic testing, but

the law does not address theclinical validity of the teststhemselves.

Indeed, only about a dozengenetic tests have been re-viewed and approved by theU.S. Food and Drug Adminis-tration, according to a reportto the Senate committee on

July 27 by the GAO (Govern-ment Accountability Ofce.The FDA considers a genetictest to be a medical deviceonly if it is manufactured as afreestanding “kit” and sold toa lab.

Most current genetic tests — including those used bymainstream labs — are manu-factured by in-house clinicallaboratories, in which case thelab itself decides whether thetest actually measures what it

purports to measure.To see how DTC tests may

impact buyers, GAO inves-tigators purchased four teststhrough the Internet and sup-

plied the testing companieswith 12 DNA samples actuallytaken from one 9-month oldgirl and an unrelated 48-yearold man, but described ascoming from multiple people.

The results, in some cases,

were laughable. One siteclaimed that its expensive di-etary supplements could repairDNA damage, which no pillhas been shown to do. Othersoffering supposedly person-alized results told smokersto quit and non-smokers tocontinue to abstain.

In particular, the GAOcautioned against tests that

purport to tell, by a sampleof DNA, that the consumershould buy “personalized”dietary supplements that couldcost $1,200 a year, when thesame ingredients could be

purchased at a local store for$35 a year.

Despite such concerns, themarket for all types of ge-netic testing is likely to soar.A Harris poll in 2002 showedthat 80 percent of adults thinkgenetic testing is a good thingand half said they would wanta test for a serious medicalcondition even if there wereno way to prevent or treatit. The poll also showed that

people are willing to spendhundreds of dollars out of

pocket to get genetic tests.Given that demand, the big

issue, said Kelly Ormond, im-mediate past president of the

National Society of GeneticCounselors, will be mak -ing sure that consumers getthe right tests, that the testsare valid and that results areinterpreted by trained geneticcounselors.

That’s a tall order sincethere are only 2,000 to 3,000trained genetic counselorsin the United States, whotypically have Master’s leveltraining, plus another 1,500 orso physicians and some nurseswho specialize in genetics.

And that, said Ormond,means that consumers who optfor the DTC genetic testingmust be extra savvy. Beforehanding over your creditcard number, ask the Internetcompany what its test means

— will it show you have aclear susceptibility to a certain

disease, or just a pattern ofclues that may or may not bemeaningful? Is there data toshow that if you have a “bad”gene that you will get sicklater in life, or is that gene justone of many risk factors?

And think carefully aboutthe privacy issue. If you aretruly at risk for a seriousdisease, chances are you’ll seea doctor and that informationwill wind up in your medicalrecord anyway.

But that issue is tricky. Ifyou are asked by an insurancecompany if you’ve had such atest and you answer “no,” thatwould be fraud.

continued from page 3

“It’s a buyer beware marketplace now,”said Gail Javitt, law and policy director ofthe Genetics and Public Policy Center at

Johns Hopkins University.

No shameless self-promotions allowedBut you have to find an actual story somewhere


8/8

A

cademy-Award-winning author Michael Blake will be in PerrytonFriday and

Miami Sat-urday to sign his new

book, “Indian Yell.”Blake, author of

the book and screen- play, “Dances withWolves,” will be at thePerryton campus ofFrank Phillips Collegeat 7 p.m. Friday andat the Roberts CountyMuseum in Miamifrom 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.Saturday.

“Indian Yell,” Blake’s rst nonction book, covers some of the epic battles

between Native Americans and the U.S. military in thewestern United States following the Civil War.

Blake will also read from his other books, including“Dances with Wolves,” “The Holy Road” (Dances’ sequel)and “Marching to Valhalla.”

According to his Web site, Blake was born on July 5,1945, at Fort Bragg, N.C. His family traveled to Texas

before settling in Southern California where they movedconstantly from town to town and Michael Blake movedfrom school to school. His writing career began at WalkerAir Force Base, assigned to the Public Information Ofceas assistant editor of the base newspaper, The Strategian.

He pursued his writing as a student journalist at the Uni-versity of New Mexico.

On leaving school in 1970, he continued to write for periodicals. In the seventies he attended lm school inBerkeley, Calif., and began to write screenplays.


‘Dances With Wolves’ author to sign new book in Perryton, Miami

For years now, worried patients — and even

just the medically curious — have been

able to glimpse their potential health futurethrough genetic testing.

And until recently, the nearly 1,000 genetic testson the market have been available mainly throughthe mainstream medical establishment — clinics,hospitals and doctors’ ofces — and have been cau-tiously interpreted for lay folks by trained geneticcounselors.

But that is changing rapidly with the advent ofdirect-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing, a booming

and controversial subset of the $6 billion genetic test-ing and molecular diagnostics business.

Because of its potential to mislead consumers — orat least waste their money — the DTC genetic testing

industry is generating concern among doctors, patientadvocates and, most recently, the U.S. Senate SpecialCommittee on Aging, which held a hearing late lastmonth entitled, “At Home DNA Tests: Marketing

Scam or Medical Breakthrough?”“It’s a buyer beware marketplace now,” said Gail

Javitt, law and policy director of the Genetics andPublic Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University.“While the public believes genetic testing is subjectto government oversight, that is largely not the case.”

To those who market such tests, like Ryan Phelan,CEO and founder of DNA Direct in San Francisco,there’s a huge benet to being able to mail off a DNAsample (a cheek swab or a few drops of blood) and

The gene scene sprouts an entirely new strategy at homeSpecial FeatureBy Judy ForemanFeaturewell Syndicate

continued page 6

Marketers grasp the niche, whether DNA tests or ‘repairs’

The results, in some cases, were laughable.

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