safety the Sierra Club and Clean 
Water Action created with several 
Michigan Representatives, includ-
ing Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor). He 
said he is hopeful for future invest-
ment in renewable resources that 
will help mitigate the dependence 
on oil.

“We know that we can do more 

to protect our air and water by 
investing in renewable energy 
technology,” Clark said as the pro-
testers cheered, “and so we need 
more investments like that in the 
state of Michigan.”

Kaucheck emphasized that an 

oil spill affects more areas than 
the environment and discussed the 
effects a spill would have on public 
health. Sprag talked about how an 
oil spill would impact the economy.

“A spill here puts longstand-

ing economies at risk. It puts the 
economy we share together at risk. 
It puts this great part of the world, 
with 20 percent of the world’s 
freshwater, at risk,” Sprag said. 
“We do not need oil cleanup jobs, 
we do not need respiratory special-
ist jobs at the hospital, we need jobs 
to pull out that pipeline. We need to 
rethink our economy. We need to 
get this thing back on track.”

At 3 p.m., the protesters all 

called Snyder’s office with their 
grievances in an effort to overflow 
his phone lines.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D–Mich.) 

did not attend the protest but heard 
of it while at the Policy Conference 
on Mackinac Island. Peters, who 
sits on the Senate Commerce Com-
mittee, which oversees the federal 
agency that oversees pipelines, said 
he sympathizes with the protesters 

3

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

Poll finds implications on child mental health

Mott’s survey 

finds 60 percent of 
parents fail to report 

severe emotional 

behavior in children

By SANJAY REDDY

Daily Staff Reporter

For years, there has been a 

stigma associated with behav-
ioral and emotional issues such 
as temper tantrums, anxiety, 
homework trouble and attention 
deficit. In particular, parents 

sometimes are reluctant to dis-
cuss these issues with medical 
personnel when their children 
exhibit such behaviors. A new 
University poll confirms this 
reality, and sheds light on its 
implications.

C.S. 
Mott 
Children’s 
and 

Women’s 
Hospital’s 
National 

Poll on Children’s Health found 
that many parents of children 
ages five to 17 fail to notify doc-
tors when their children exhibit 
severe emotional behaviors.

Sixty percent of parents who 

were polled stated they would 
only speak to a doctor if their 
child was extremely sad for 
more than a month — which 

is an indicator of depression. 
However, only half said they 
would contact doctors if their 
child was showing excessive 
temper tantrums or was more 
worried or anxious than usual. 
Moreover, only 37 percent said 
they would tell their doctor if 
their child had trouble organiz-
ing homework.

Matthew 
Davis, 
profes-

sor of pediatrics and internal 
medicine, directed the poll and 
said parents sometimes don’t 
bring awareness to these issues 
because they think doctors can’t 
help. He said doctors are indeed 
able to help and that more par-
ents need to realize this.

“Although some parents may 

not see their child’s medical 
doctor as a source of advice or 
information about behavioral 
health, it turns out that many 
pediatricians and family physi-
cians are very ready and willing 
to help out,” he said.

Other common reasons par-

ents cited were that they did 
not believe these problems were 
“medical,” and they would rath-
er handle the issues themselves.

Sarah 
Clark, 
associate 

research scientist in the Depart-
ment of Pediatrics and an asso-
ciate director of the poll, said 
parents should learn from this 
poll.

“Parents need to think about 

two situations to explain to 
the doctor when we are talk-
ing about the behavioral and 
emotional health of their child: 
When something is out of the 
ordinary for the child him/her-
self, and when the child is out of 
step with his or her peers,” she 
said.

Clark said doctors should 

learn as well.

“Doctors need to create a 

space and cues that indicate to 
parents that these are issues 
that they can tell them about,” 
she said.

five years ago.
“When Enbridge’s Line B rup-

tured near Kalamazoo in 2010, 
residents there suffered from neu-
rological, respiratory and gastro-
intestinal problems, and a third of 
the families in that area had to be 
relocated,” Kaucheck said. “Let’s 
be real, Enbridge has a shaky track 
record, from 1996 to 2013, Enbridge 
has 1,244 reported spills, leaks or 
releases. Just last summer, they 
were found in violation of require-
ments for the very pipeline we’re 
here to discuss.”

Her statement elicited boos 

against Enbridge.

The last time an event of this size 

was held by the Oil and Water Don’t 
Mix Coalition regarding Pipeline 5 
was when hundreds of protesters 
met in St. Ignace in 2013.

The major organizers set up 

tents. Protesters encouraged pass-
ersby and event attendees to sign 
a petition to remove the pipe-
line, carried signs that said, “Shut 
Down Line 5 Pipeline,” umbrellas 
that read “Save My World, Save 
My Water,” and chanted along the 
roadside.

LSA junior Harry Freedman is 

interning with Clean Water Action 
over the summer and manned 
a tent at the protest. He said he 
was shocked when he learned the 
extremity of the issue.

“When I heard all of the details 

on it, I was astounded and disap-
pointed that it still exists and that 
we have legislation that allows 
businesses to use loopholes to their 
own advantage,” Freedman said. 
“It’s such a dangerous thing.”

Lee Sprag, a representative from 

the Ottawa Indians, led the pro-
testers in a traditional Ottawa wel-
come song with his drum. Several 
representatives from local tribes 
also spoke during the event.

During remarks at the protest, 

Nick Clark, organizer and mem-
ber of the Oil and Water Don’t Mix 
Coalition, said protesters were 
signing in, tweeting using the 
hashtag #shutdownline5 and send-
ing postcards to their represen-
tatives as well as demonstrating. 
Some Clean Water Action members 
such as LSA senior Molly Lefanow-
icz, who is a canvasser for the orga-
nization, said that after the protest 
they planned to inform commu-
nity members about the issue and 
encourage them to sign postcards 
that the organization will send to 
their representatives.

“We came up for the day to help 

out at this event and also we’re 
going to canvass in communities,” 
Lefanowicz said. “We’re going to 
knock on doors and let them know 
what’s going on and how they can 
get involved.”

Clark said he was interested in 

seeing the Pipeline 5 status report 
from Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) Pipe-
line Task Force, which is sched-
uled to be released in the upcoming 
days. Clark also condemned state 
Rep. Ed McBroom (R–Vulcan) for 
signing House Bill 4540. The legis-
lation has been introduced into the 
House, and would amend the Free-
dom of Information Act to effec-
tively exempt Enbridge, if passed 
— thus rendering records regard-
ing the pipeline inaccessible to the 
public. 

However, Clark said he still has 

faith in the legislature, highlighting 
the four-bill package for pipeline 

PIPELINE
From Page 1

 

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

High school robotic team champions of FIRST Robotics demonstrate their 
robot that stacks crates at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac 
Island on Wednesday.

ROBOTICS DEMO

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

See HEALTH, Page 8

