Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise
Alma, Kansas
October 3, 2002     Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise
PAGE 14     (14 of 24 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
 
PAGE 14     (14 of 24 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
October 3, 2002
 
Newspaper Archive of Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




Page 14 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Thursday, October 3, 2002 perverse. Farm law traditionalists, parroting in parts partisan rhetoric and anti-farm support dogma, shouted so long and hard against the old freedom to farm bill, they won back the most perverse aspect that historically has characterized farm bills. That is, when prices are good, the supports fail away. That doesn't sound per- verse until one realizes why prices are good. That means many good farms and farmers have nothing much to sell at any price. A leading private agrono- mist in southwestern Kansas earlier said this drought was going to. be very hard on family farms. Many is the farmer I've heard this fall talk about har- vesting "half a crop" on non- irrigated land. And we've documented in this space the rising numbers of bankrupt- cies and sellouts. Had we waited just one year before installing new leg- islation, as many wanted to do, farmers would have re- ceived far more support pay- ments than they will now. For wheat growers the difference is probably 60 cents a bushel or more. As of this writing, at least two familiar payments are lost to -- irony, irony -- higher market prices. Again, that would be great if there was anything to sell. So, with two support fea- tures knocked out, that leaves only one or two more. Many of-us have seen the charts. Even with widespread crop insurance, this year's farm bill is no match for the previous one in terms of sup- porting farmers with cash. That's why disaster aid was so important. Someday law- makers are going to under- stand that it is stupid to write farm bills without some pro- tection against poor yields being built into the legislation. Some other things get lost in the farm bill rhetoric each time we go through it. They include the fact that all the other so-called rifles in a farm bill add to many, many more billions of dollars than those paid out to producers. The food programs, for ex- ample, annually exceed by twice or three times what is paid to farmers. It is not un- common for the various food subsidies to cost around $30 billion. Do away with school breakfast, school lunch, WIC and food stamps, and see how long you last politically. Most of those users come from De- mocratic precincts or voter bases, and we never hear them complain about those expen- ditures. They did complain about EQIP (a manure control subsidy effort) funding to big farms and big companies, as well as to smaller ones, despite that money being destined to help proteefi water quality, an environmental issue one would think just about every- body, including most Democ- rats and most Republicans, would support. When what's good for a given political party overrides what's best for the nation, it is time to throttle those respon- sible. We need, as a nation, The view from Route #8 by Jim Suber production agriculture. We need, as a nation, clean water. We also don't want to receive starving children at school, so we feed them. Despite recent rain in some places, the drought continues. It is thought by some experts that it will persist two or three more years. Therefore, it might be wise to put some language into the current farm bill that provides more support for farmers who wind up with less, little or nothing to sell. And one more thing. It's all right to look after our fellow Americans first before worry- ing whether some provision in a farm support bill is going to offend a trading partner whose own subsidies are still triple what ours are. That would be Europe I'm talking about. We need to do what we need to do for us first. shorts. Impressionistic flashes collected while mind-traveling around... If Wallace County has a creek named Willow that still has water on its surface, then steps to preserve it as a na- tionai wonder might be in or- der. Forget the ballyhooed problem of stocked bass eating the hallowed Topeka shiners in it. Go for finding that stream's source. Wallace County has been one of the driest places on earth the last couple of years. One hopes the much- publicized $752 million in drought aid for livestock pro- ducers in parts or all of 37 states will help. Time will tell. The payments will go to some producers in only 40 Kansas counties. The thing is, many more counties than that are affected by dry weather, al- though eight more could be- come eligible... Here's another news flash: the drought isn't over, and even if it ended today, it would take a number of one-inch rains to restore normal levels of subsoil moisture, stream flows, reservoir elevations and pond holdings... • I don't ever want to make any individual feel bad, but sometimes stepping on toes is necessary. Sometimes small town businessmen are ex- tremely beleaguered by many forces, and they receive little assistance from the govern- ment. So when the govern- ment does something to try to help farmers, often the town cousins don't understand, at least not on an emotional level. So, if you're a producer, you might try not to complai9 or appear to be complaining in front of some of these mer- chants. On the other hand, the non-farmers in small towns still derive a lot of bene- fit if their farm and ranch neighbors are prospering... Good luck to the Washing- ton group that is trying to take away PETA's tax exempt status. At issue is a $1,500 grant PETA made to the North American Liberation Front, according to the Center for Defense of Free Enterprise. The ELF has been classified by the FBI as a domestic terrorist organization, a claim I made about PETA about a year ago after its leadership suggested in England that what America needed was a big outbreak of foot and mouth disease... If researchers at Tulane University and the University of Kansas are able to prove that Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and its variant, known as the human form of mad cow dis- ease, are really spread by a bacterium carried by insects, that could mean the diseases could be treated by antibiotics. Stay tuned... And finally, this is the sort of thing one thinks he saw or heard, but cannot quite come up with the definitive answer when asked: How much heav- ier are beef carcasses today than they used to be? Well, according to the Kansas Beef Council, carcass weights have increased an average six pounds each year since 1975. That would be 162 pounds. The average since 1997 has been nine pounds a year. The council says that each one- pound increase in carcass weight is the equivalent to nearly 1,000 more head slaughtered each week. So there you have it, a ready an- swer. The real issue, though, is how to keep it moving at a profit by increasing real de- mand. llllllll ~Letters to the Editor) All Letters to the Editor must be signed and will be printed exactly as written. They will be printed in the order they are received. They do not necessarily re- flect the viewpoint of this paper. Letters to the Editor are limited to 500 words per letter. Additional space will be charged the regular rate of advertisement. To The Editor, I have some questions for the #330 School Board Mem- bers and Superintendent Schmidt regarding quality education for our students. How many full and part- time employees does District #330 have? The number of out-of- district students attending our schools at the present time? There were 37 students ap- proved as listed in the board minutes; however, this was before deadline for enrolling. The State provides $3,870 per student. How much additional cost above this for our district to educate them? Could each student be asked to pay tui- tion if State aid is not covering their cost? According to the Topeka Capital~loumal report of August 11, 2002, due to the budget crisis, there is a Pay- To-Participate charge of $25.00 activity fee for the Em- poria High School students. Quoted also in article, "In Kansas, 29 districts at the end of 2001-02 school were using Pay-to-Play. This year the number may be between 60 and 90 schools". Lawrence High schools last years' fee was $25 for sports as well as extracurricular programs but since this was not meeting expenses the suggested $50 2002---04 for each The September Topeka new Kansas State Activities saying "We're that we have not bership dues. school pays to be KSHSA is $400 high schools; high/middle school How many Sporting Events participate in? On calendar, some listed almost ning as well sure sporting precedence over ricular activities I believe a program along skills provided Trade Schools, sentiai. There are tivities, Scouts, "Home Life" which ing experience also. I trust these be answered. S • t I! Because he and Andrew "Old were so close, james often referred to as Hickory." ~ KAW VALLEY QUAIL UNLI 19th Annual Sportsmen's Banquet & Auction T day, October 22, 200 Cocktails: 5:30 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m. Ag Hall, Kansas Expocentre Topeka, KS Tickets: $45.00 (banquet & membership) $25.00 (spouse &/youth tickets at the door INFORMATION Steve Damron 256-6639 Jeff Whisler 478-4003 Great Raffle Items Fun Door Prizes TICKETS Rusty's Midway Auto Taco CaS , r