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Page 12
The Wabaunsee County Signal.Enterprise, Thursday, November 21, 2002
The view from
Rural Route #8
by Jim Suber
wet.
Water issues fascinate
most folks: on the Plains and
western prairie, probably for
good historical reasons.
We just don't take water for
granted, as a rule, because
there seems either to be a
chronic looming shortage or a
smothering occasional flood
much of the time.
Add on modem regulations
and expenses to comply -- and
in areas where it's really in
short supply -- and you have
an ongoing story.
The latest edition of The
Kansas Lifeline magazine put
out by the Kansas Rural Water
Associatioq has more than a
dozen items, ranging from let-
ters to technical articles to
stories on wind power and
health care.
The letters are virtually all
appreciative of the help the
association workers gave to
this or that rural water district
or municipality.
They came from all over
and were about a wide variety
of circumstances. They came
from: Pottawatomie No. 4 rural
water district (RWD); Lyon
County RWD No. 1; City of
Clay Center utilities superin-
tendent; Crawford County
RWD 1; Kansas PRIDE; City of
LaCygne; City of Plainville;
City of Harveyville; City of
Madison; City of Morrill; City
of New Strawn; Atchison RWD
No. 6; Leavenworth Water
Dept.; City of Enterprise; City
of Highland; City of Valley
Falls; City of McLouth; City of
Horton; Johnson County RWD
No. 7.
You can tell that our little
places in America where peo-
ple must have water often call
on a support system to help
solve what are often big prob-
lems arising from crises.
One of the articles was a
terrific story about how Valley
Falls during the drought threw
a weir across the Delaware
River to back up, enough of
that trickle this summer to
supply the town's intakes. A
lot of people and agencies were
involved and it was interesting
to read that the city was as oi
mid-October "still working
with the Corps of Engineers to
obtain a permit for the instal-
lation of the weir."
When it comes to running a
town out of water altogether,
you call the rock haulers Rrst.
Sometimes common sense
wins, but the release of water
from Kansas reservoirs right
now to sustain certain levels
on the Missouri River should
be challenged by state offi-
cials.
Meanwhile, the Tuttle
Creek reservoir dam hasn't
improved its condition on its
own, but the flow of informa-
tion and the timetable for re-
ports apparently has slowed
down, according to a report in
the KRWA's magazine. It ap-
pears the State of Kansas is
questioning, too, whether it
should have to pay for any
portion of dam system repairs.
Back to rural and small
town systems for a minute:
The USDA Rural Development
office in Kansas approved $30
million in fiscal 2002 for a
dozen projects through the
water and waste disposal pro-
gram. The thing is, there were
29 applications for more than
$70 million in requests for
loans and grants.
Water in the modem world
soaks up a lot of money, eh?
Prof. Hart.
An unexpected pleasure it
was to hear from Prof. John
Fraser Hart, about whose
1957 booklet on America's
farms and ranches I had writ-
ten a few weeks earlier.
I had asked in a rhetorical
fashion what Dr. Hart, at the
time a geography professor at
the University of Indiana,
would say now if he saw "so
much good growing ground
under buildings and pave-
ment."
He has plenty to say, but it
might not be what we'd expect.
At 78, he still teaches -- 175
undergraduates this fall --
college geography, and he's
been at the University of Mifi-
nesota since 1967. He was at
Indiana for 12 years and be-
fore that the University of
Georgia. A native Virginian,
Hart served aboard an aircraft
carrier in World War II's Pa-
cific theater as a training offi-
cer/ navigator.
Hart was amused that my
earlier column assumed he
was no longer active, or even
on this earth. Not only has he
kept up, he has written a
number of books and papers
about our nation's farming
and ranching. He also has a
strong message these days.
He has determined that
many Americans, including
myself, have been grossly
misled by greatly exaggerated
reports of the rate of demise of
farm and ranch acreage at the
hands of urban and suburban
sprawl and other non-farm
uses. Yes, net losses are oc-
curring, but not nearly to the
extent we are told, and not at
an even rate across regions.
Moreover, some new vegetable,
orchard and vineyard acreages
have sprouted to replace much
of that lost to developments.
In his July, 2001, Geo-
graphical Review article titled
"Half a Century of Cropland
Change," Hart explodes the
myth that the nation is losing
farmland at an unacceptable
rate. He reveals gigantic sta-
tistical errors and poor sam-
piing procedures in earlier
studies, and exposes groups
who want us to believe a crisis
is at hand, and why they want
us to believe so we'll bow to
their growth control plans. He
understands how each of us
has personal knowledge of
farms converted to shopping
malls. We rarely see, however,
and hardly hear about acrea-
ges being put into production.
A good example is Florida
citrus. After several freezes in
the 1980s, citrus farmers lost
200,000 acres and the citrus
belt moved southward 40
miles, we were told at the
time. What we didn't hear
about later was that Florida by
1997 had 44,000 more acres
of citrus than it did in 1982,
just before the worst freezes
struck.
Part of the problem was a
clerical error that placed
367,850 rural acres in the ur-
ban column and 6,500 acres
of urban land in the rural col-
umn. The error was magnified
many times by statisticians.
Hart examines the numeri-
/
cal and style differences be-
tween the statistics and pres-
entations by the National Re-
sources Inventory and the
numbers from the exhaustive
Census of Agriculture, which
sends each farm operator a
detailed survey form, and
which uses precise definitions.
Hart makes the point that of-
ten those who lament the loss
of farmland and open space
not only fail often to identify
sources, but they also use
terms such as "rural land,
farmland, agricultural land,
cropland, fertile land,open
space and countryside" as if
they were synonymous. They
There are many controver-
sial teachings In the Bible.
Certainly one of them would
have to be Paurs words con-
cerning men and women in I
Timothy 2:8-15. There he
says, "I do not permit a
woman to teach or to have
authority over a man; she
must be silent. " (v. 12)
Christians have generally
disagreed on how this teaching
should be appropriated:
> Some Christians won't
even permit women to teach
Sunday school. For many of
us this would decimate our
ministry to children.
> Liberals tend to deride
such teachings, which is not
an option for those of us who
believe that "all scripture is
God-breathed" (II Timothy
3:16).
> Most Christians will
agree that women should not
be clergy. Some will also not
permit them in certain lay
ministry functions (elders,
deacons, etc.].
> On the other hand, many
Christians will allow women
to hold all offices - pastoral
and otherwise - tending to
view Paul's words as response
to particular needs within the
church in Ephesus that Timo-
thy was leading (I Timothy
1:1-3).
Just why does Paul sound
so restrictive here, when in
other churches the norm is for
women to be teachers,
prophets, and ministry lead-
ers of various sorts? (Romans
16:1-2, Titus 2:3-4, Acts 21:9,
Acts 18:24-28, I Corinthians
11:5, Galatians 3:28}. Much of
the debate has led to finger-
pointing. But I would suggest
that rather than women Judg-
ing men for being too patriar-
chal, or men judging women
for lack of submission, that
instead we look at this teach-
ing through the lens of self-
examination (Matthew 7:3-5).
If that is done, then there is
much for both men and
women to learn regarding the
practice of Christian worship.
I see four qualities that are
stressed:
1. Passionate Prayer - The
Bible says that men every-
where should be in prayer (I
Timothy 2:8), with hands
lifted up. This is important in
a world where people are en-
couraged to "be strong" and
not express themselves. Little
wonder that our prison popu-
lation is so high. If people do
not express themselves in pos-
itive, spiritual ways then tl at
energy will come out in nega-
tive ways.
are not, he says, and only the
words "farmland" and "crop-
land" are defined closely
enough at the national level to
be of value for analysis.
Hart used the total acreage
of cropland in each county of
the United States to examine
how total cropland changed in
the last half of the 20th Cen-
tury.
His determination is that
the cropland area of .the
United States dropped from
478 million acres in 1949 to
431 million in 1997. That's a
net loss of 47 million acres in
48 years, but little of that was
lost from the Corn Belt.
A message from
members of the
Wabaunsee
County
Ministerial
Alliance
2. Focused Faith - The Bible
discourages wearing Jewelry
and expensive clothing to
church (I Timothy 2:9-10),
since focus on personal ap-
pearance can be a distraction.
The focus of worship should
be on God the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, and lives of
good works are conducive to
this practice.
3. Listening & Learning -
New Testament teachings tell
women to learn in silence and
submission (l Timothy 2:11,
Luke 10:38-42), much as the
men have been doing for cen-
turies. This practice is re-
tained in churches all across
the world, where Christians
gather before their pastors to
be instructed in Biblical
teachings. These days it seems
like everyone has an opinion;
a little more "silence and
submission" would probably
make the world a better place.
Popular author Stephen Covey
has said, "Seek first to under-
stand, then to be understood. "
4. Appropriate Authority -
The Bible warns against plac-
ing wrong people in positions
of authority (I Timothy 2: 12).
Paul uses the Genesis creation
account as an example of the
disastrous consequences of
misplaced leadership (I Timo-
thy 2:13-14). Good spiritual
leaders are an important re-
source in any church. Their
placements should be made
carefully, with much prayer.
Churches in America may
not agree on the appropriate
roles for men and women un-
til Jesus returns. As long as
these four traits are present,
however, we will still be mak-
ing an impact for the Lord's
work in our country.
Andrew McHenry, Pastor
Maple Hill Community
Congregational Church
All Lettere to the Editor
must be signed mad will be
printed exactly u 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.
Dear Editor,
Wabaunsee County's Vet-
eran's Day Parade and cele-
bration in Eskridge on Monday
were fantastic tO
giving thanks to otuc,
fighting and
freedom. The weather
ated and the sun
and warm glow to
program. Basking i£
was preferable as
joyable.
Now, I wish to
and everyone
way to make such a |
tion possible led by
way to the Flint
Many, many hours of
hind the scenes are
make such an affair j
smoothly as it did
us to watch in utter
ment. All ages were
to honor our vets by
contests, essays
music.
Following the
rade, the program
was an added
touching poem on
which overlay the
horseback with the
Anthem singer,
poun and Martin
saddles, both are
Gilbert is not only
horseman, but also
who conveyed our
song from his heart.
very good modern
was used with the
print Mary Clark's
young son in
same photo with
erans with our
Flags. I hope you
those priceless
the work and love
into the project.
America!
The City
proud to have so
people to organize
affair and to draw
help from sincere
helpers from the entire'
That is something for
to be proud of in out
nity. And, to have
namic veteran,
county to be the
Col. Wayne
every person can be a
not every vet can be
speaker! But
He has made his
ety and is able to
feelings to others.
Thanks to all for a
to our appreciation
was time to give
of the workers, you
job well! By the way,
too late to donate for
as well as for
The coalition does
money-raising to~
throughout the year
sor this project.
Dear Editor,
As we prepare for
Thanksgiving Day
it is a special time to
the bounty most of
everyday. It is a
member that our
products used to
clothing, housing
and other products
daffy basis didn't
in a store.
thanks to a
nership of farmers
ers, processors,
truckers, shippers,
ers, wholesalers arid
National
has been proclaimed
by the President
States to
cessful
rural and urbari
This
food and fiber
of the world.
Therefore as we
family and friends
that we count
blessings the vital
partnerships that
so much to improve
ity of our lives.
have made the
rich agricultural
that are gifts
S
Maple
F