Town idol's move causing uproar in Tennessee

UPDATE, Oct. 25, 2012: A move is afoot to get a new statue to replace this one.

There's no place like home for Minnie Pearl since a bronze statue of the Hickman County, Tennessee, native and country-music comedienne has been moved from its original location on the courthouse square in Centerville.

In 2005, Centerville resident Rod Harris spearheaded and helped pay for the 900-pound bronze statue of the icon with the help of an anonymous donor. But the donation came with a caveat: It was not to be moved from its spot in front of the courthouse's eastern entrance without Harris' permission -- a problem for officials trying to implement a $700,000 downtown renovation, since Minnie's location interfered with traffic. But Harris disagrees. "That particular position was the very best position," he told The Tennessean. "Minnie Pearl should be center stage, or she won't be there."

The dispute reached new levels over the weekend when Harris took matters into his own hands and hauled Minnie Pearl away in his truck. (Photo from the Hickman County Times, which is not online.) Now, folks in the county are wondering if and when Minnie will return, while Harris continues negotiations with the town 50 miles west of Nashville. "I'm right in what I done," he told The Tennessean's Clay Carey. "I had an agreement that was ignored."

The character of Minnie was created "in the late 1930s by Sarah Ophelia Colley [later Cannon], a Centerville native who studied drama at the exclusive Ward-Belmont finishing school in Nashville," Carey notes. "As Minnie Pearl, she became the first female member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1940, joined the cast of the long-running cornpone TV show Hee Haw in 1969, and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1975." (Read more)

Do 'isolated' and 'empty' mean that rural doesn't measure up? An incorrect implication, writer says

It's a rare item in The Rural Blog that can make your mouth water, your blood boil and your mind wander. But we have the makings of one, thanks to Curtis Seltzer, land consultant and "Country Real Estate" columnist from Highland County, Virginia.

The seminal source for his weekly piece was a recent story in The Washington Post, in which reporter David Farenthold told the engaging tale of how maple-syrup makers in the county were fighting to overcome climate change, lack of the younger generation's interest in their industry and the destruction of a major sap-to-syrup processing facility. Farenthold wrote, "The Allegheny Mountains cursed Highland with isolation but blessed it with a combination of weather, soil and sugar maples, creating an island of New England south of the Potomac River."

“‘Cursed with isolation?’ No one here thinks that," Seltzer, right, e-mailed Farenthold. "We are not isolated from the nation’s politics, economics, wars, culture, media and intellectual ferment. Four mountains and two-lane roads do protect us from many of the things about which reporters in the Post’s newsroom regularly complain.”

After his "knee jerk" message to the writer, Seltzer wrote, "His words got me to thinking: In what sense, if any, is rural America isolated and empty? And what difference does it make? We seem to be about as plugged in as other Americans with television, high-speed Internet and cell phones." We take exception to the Internet point, but endorse the rest:

"We are subject to the same laws, taxes, gasoline prices, global warming, interest rates, stock markets, foreign-policy adventures and telemarketers. It takes us less time than city folks to do many routine things like see a doctor, but more to be greeted at Wal-Mart or eat Thai, both of which are an hour’s drive away. Like many communities, we are isolated from blue-collar manufacturing and high-income, white-collar jobs. We are also largely isolated from gangs, drugs and sirens."

Farenthold also called Highland County "one of the emptiest" in the East. Seltzer wrote, "To casually characterize us as isolated and empty is, I think, implied code for saying we don’t quite measure up because rural is different. The increasing number of urban people moving to the countryside quickly understand that they have not entered a vacuum. Their neighbors are people — not quaint relics, not noble rustics. Like everyone else, we are individuals with good points, bad points, and all points in between. When off-hand descriptions marginalize the 50 million who live in rural America, harm is done. We become the outback other, zoo specimens that are interesting to observe but dangerous in the wild." (Encarta map)

Blood boil? Mind wander? Here's the mouth-watering part, from local Larry Merritt, 66, quoted by Farenthold: "It's like nothing you've ever experienced," he said. And it's nothing like that grocery-store stuff that pours out of the plastic lady's head. "If you order a filet mignon and end up with Spam." (Read more) And we are obliged to note that the 51st annual Highland Maple Festival will be held March 14-15 and March 21-22. For a more detailed report on the local industry, from Andrew Jenner in Lancaster Farming, click here.

Texas playwright Horton Foote has died at 92

Described as "the subtle prose-poet of small-town Texas" by Lawson Taitte of the Dallas Morning News, Horton Foote was a playright for rural America. Most of his plays took place in a fictional small town similar to Wharton, Tex., where he was born. His portrayal of southeastern Texas was a trademark of Foote's throughout a career that lasted nearly 70 years. (Associated Press photo by Kathy Willens)

"Generally his scripts dealt with ordinary people in recognizable, if stressful, family situations," writes Tiatte. "The dialogue was always spare and elegant, but frequently the plot went in a slightly quirky direction that kept audiences guessing." (Read more)

The Daily Yonder dubbed Foote "Rural America's greatest playwright." He won Academy Awards for his screenplays of To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies and won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for drama for "The Young Man from Atlanta."

If proposed Bible Park can't clear hurdles with local officials in Tenn., Ky. county may try to get it

UPDATE, March 6: The Lebanon City Council "voted unanimously to rescind all previous action on the Bible Park," J.R. Lind reports.

As arrangements for the proposed Bible Park USA near Lebanon, Tenn., bog down and head for a decisive vote, The Lebanon Democrat reports that Simpson County, Kentucky, on the states' border and Interstate 65, might be an alternative location.

"An official with the commonwealth's Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet told The Lebanon Democrat last week that state officials had met with Bible Park backers, but there were no offers or incentives on the table. Former Mayor Don Fox has repeatedly insisted that high-level Kentucky officials have been working to lure the park to the Bluegrass State," J.R. Lind reports.

Simpson County Judge-Executive Jim Henderson "said he had 'a lot of conversation' with park representatives, but that those meetings never became public and that he has had only 'cursory' discussions since the park tapped Lebanon as its home last fall," Lind writes. Henderson told him, "I believed they were willing to build a first-class project and as long as that were still the issue, I'd be happy to have them here." Henderson said those discussions had not been made public. "Our community as a community never knew," he said. "We were very careful about that." (Read more)

Lebanon and the Wilson County Commission plan to use bonds backed by tax-increment financing and a 5 percent privilege tax to support location of the park, on Interstate 40 east of Nashville. In December, the plan fell one vote short of commisison approval. Last month, a foe of the idea filed an ethics complaint against the commission over the issue. The developer, Entertainment Development Group, offered last week to "fund an economic study if that's what it takes to get bonding," Lind reported. (Read more)

And as long as we're giving you lots of links to Lebanon Democrat stories, here's one to a story about the paper's redesign.

'Organic' does not necessarily mean 'safe'

The national outbreak of salmonella from organic peanut products from Georgia and Texas has many wondering what exactly does "organic" mean. "Although the rules governing organic food require health inspections and pest-management plans, organic certification technically has nothing to do with food safety," reports Kim Severson and Andrew Martin of The New York Times. This may be somewhat of a shock for many shoppers who spend more to buy organic thinking they are making a safer food choice.

The Department of Agriculture is responsible for certifying foods as organic. To accomplish this they deputize "as official certifiers dozens of organizations, companies and, in some cases, state workers," write Severson and Martin. "These certifiers, then, are paid by the farmers and manufacturers they are inspecting to certify that the standards have been met. Depending on several factors, the fee can be hundreds or thousands of dollars."

In the case of the Georgia plants, a private certifier took nearly seven months to make the recommendation that the USDA revoke the plant's organic certification. "Some shoppers want food that was grown locally, harvested from animals that were treated humanely or produced by workers who were paid a fair wage," add Severson and Martin. "The organic label doesn’t mean any of that." (Read more)

Daylight time starts Sunday, earlier than ever

Daylight Saving Time will begin in the wee hours of Sunday morning, earlier than ever, under the energy bill Congress passed in 2006. The early start is especially notable as many areas are still facing snow and cold from a particularly brutal winter.

McClatchy Newspapers offer a useful time-line outlining the history of DST, noting that it was first promoted by Benjamin Franklin, and first used nationwide in the U.S. during the World War I. The article also includes trivia, such as this gem: "In 1999, a terrorist attack on Israel's West Bank was thwarted when the terrorists failed to take into account the switch back to standard time. The bomb went off an hour early, killing only the terrorists." (Read more)

But while DST lends itself to amusing anecdotes and complaints about shorter nights, it is also important to note the effects DST may have on safety, especially as children wait for school buses by rural roads.

Blog offers savings strategies for rural shoppers

With most people facing tighter budgets, advice on how to pinch pennies abounds, but much of the advice is geared toward coupon clipping and price shopping, advice that is not necessarily applicable to rural resudents with a lack of shopping options. The blog Engineer a Debt Free Life is tailoring its advice to such folks in a five-part series, "25 ways to save money and bargain shop in small towns and rural areas."

The first two parts of the series have been published, suggesting strategies like signing up for UPromise.com, the program that allows retailers to donate a percentage of purchases made by a UPromise patron to be applied to college costs, or asking if local stores will price-match coupons from larger chains. (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series)

Big broadband project in Vermont, denied capital by economic downturn, looks for stimulus money

"The economic stimulus package, which sets aside $7.2 billion for broadband initiatives, could provide a crucial lifeline to municipalities struggling to bring broadband access to millions of Americans who don't have it," Amol Sharma of The Wall Street Journal writes from Turnbridge, Vt., where an effort to get faster Internet access "shows how the financial turmoil has exacerbated the already daunting challenge of reaching the most sparsely populated areas of the country." (Photo by Lam Vo)

Turnbridge and 21 other Central Vermont towns joined together for a broadband project, which "has struck out with state authorities, big investment banks and wealthy individual investors," so now it's counting on the stimulus, Sharma reports. ""People are truly afraid their communities are going to die if they aren't on the communications medium that drives the country culturally and economically," project manager Timothy Nulty told Sharma. "It's one of the most intensely felt political issues in Vermont after health care." Sharma adds, "Nulty sees broadband deployment not just as a short-term job creator but as a long-term investment in critical U.S. infrastructure, the equivalent of rural electrification in the 1930s and 1940s."

In the Journal's Digits blog, Sharma notes, "Critics have attacked municipal Internet projects, calling them taxpayer-sapping money-losers and ventures better served by the private sector.
But if President Barack Obama is serious about wiring rural America with high-speed Web access, these efforts ... will play a key role." For Sharma's detailed story, click here. For his blog post and nice, three-and-a-half-minute video version of the story, here.

Obama appears unlikely to keep promise to hold national rural summit during his first 100 days

The White House "appears to be modifying a campaign promise that arguably helped propel Barack Obama into the White House," reports Howard Berkes of National Public Radio.

In October 2007, Obama promised voters in Iowa that he would hold a summit in the state on rural issues during his first 100 days in office. He was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls, but three months later, he won the Iowa caucuses and was on his way to the Democratic nomination. But now, 44 days after assuming power, his administration has still not made plans for a summit on rural issues and earlier supporters are growing skeptical.

Just after November's election, two key rural figures spoke out about the importance of rural vitality. Obama "made a very strong commitment on coming back to Iowa to hold a summit on the future of rural America," said Chuck Hassebrook of the Nebraska-based Center for Rural Affairs said in a November interview with NPR. Berkes also reports that Debby Kozikowski, vice chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party and founder of Rural Votes, a group that campaigned for Obama, is raising questions. "Keeping that promise is critical to moving rural economies and rural life forward," she told Berkes.

A week after the inauguration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, indicated the summit might not be held in the time frame promised. The White House indicated likewise this week when questioned by Berkes and The Rural Blog. While not directly saying the summit would have to wait, spokesman Shin Inouye said, “The greatest issue facing rural America, and all Americans, is the need to get our economy back on track. As he works to address this critical issue, President Obama is committed to hearing from and addressing the needs of rural America. In both the stimulus bill and his budget overview, his administration is taking affirmative steps to help strengthen rural America. He is working with his cabinet, advisors and Congressional allies to form a comprehensive rural agenda, and is planning on hosting a forum to discuss those ideas.”

Inouye is director of specialty media in the White House Office of Media Affairs. For Berkes' story, click here.

This 'Pickens plan' is for wild horses, and federal officials say it's problematic; money short, too

Last year, Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, proposed a sanctuary for the more than 30,000 wild horses and burros. This week she discussed her plan with a House subcommittee and said it would be good for the country while also saving the government almost a billion dollars over the next decade.

Despite being initially welcomed as a way to save the horses from euthanization, the Pickens plan is being regarded as "problematic," Matthew Daly reports for the Associated Press. "We really appreciate Mrs. Pickens' proposal, but it has presented some problems," said Ed Roberson, assistant director of renewable resources and planning for the Bureau of Land Management, which runs the wild horse program.

"Roberson said officials are willing to continue talks with Pickens, but face 'unique challenges' in trying to care for wild horses while keeping down costs that topped $36 million last year," Daly writes. The integration of private and public funds also has some officials concerned. The BLM says annual costs could grow to $85 million by 2012 if the program is not changed.

Pickens told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands the sanctuary would function as a "living museum" of the American West, while preventing the slaughter of thousands of horses. In addition to federal land use for the reserve, Pickens is seeking a federal stipend of $500 per horse per year -- $15 million per year for 30,000 horses -- in return for caring for them, which she estimated would save the government $700 million by 2020. Read more.

UPDATE, March 7: She had hoped to get foundaiton and other private support for the project, but "As the economy worsens by the week, Pickens says philanthropic donations are as dry as tumbleweed," reports Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post. "Pickens still intends to spend $25 million to $50 million to purchase land for the ecosanctuary, but the deal is unworkable without government help, said Lee Otteni, who is retired from the [BLM] and working on the project for Pickens." (Read more)

Senators offer alternatives to Obama plan to end direct payments to farms with sales over $500,000

Arguments against President Obama’s plan to limit direct payments to farms with more than $500,000 in annual sales mounted yesterday.

Keith Good of Farmpolicy.com and Charles Abbott of Reuters reported that two senators offers alternatives. Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin said the better approach would be shut off direct payments to grain, cotton and soybean growers on the basis of adjusted gross income, perhaps $200,000 or $250,000 a year. North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan argued that limit on payments to growers is the first step in curbing farm spending since there is effectively no limit now. Dorgan is a supporter of a $250,000 a year cap. Abbott notes, “Obama proposed a $250,000 payment limit too but it has gotten little attention.”

"The 2008 farm law set a $40,000 a year limit on direct payments and $65,000 a year for counter-cyclical payments but no limit on price supports," Reuters noted. "The limits on direct payments and counter-cyclicals can be doubled by a farm family because spouses are eligible for payments too."

FarmPolicy.com noted that Jerry Hagstrom and Chris Clayton reported for the subscription-only site DTN, “Under the WTO, direct payments and conservation payments are not classified as trade distorting, and for that reason, they garner more support by trading partners to be maintained. Loan-deficiency payments and counter-cyclical payments are considered trade distorting because of the way they move with price levels. Because of that, Grassley said, future farm programs are going to be more prone to look like direct payments than other programs being used right now and a cut in direct payments now would diminish any position in the trade talks.”

Supreme Court says environmental challenges to rules on public lands require personal impact

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 yesterday that environmental groups can no longer challenge "federal regulations on public lands unless they can prove they are themselves directly threatened by the proposed rules," report Sara Goodman and Dan Berman of Greenwire. The decision backs Bush administration contention that "environmental groups do not have the standing to sue the Forest Service on land management policies that might contradict congressional action," write Goodman and Berman.

At issue in the case, Summers v. Earth Island Institute, was whether the Forest Service had violated a 1992 law designed to ensure that "the agency considers public comment when it writes land and resource management plans -- when it enacted regulations that severely limited the rights of notice, appeals and public comment on certain projects that it deems to have little environmental impact," add Goodman and Berman.

In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer questioned the future ramificaitons: "Would courts deny standing to a holder of a future interest in property who complains that a life tenant's waste of the land will almost inevitably hurt the value of his interest -- though he will have no personal interest for several years into the future? Would courts deny standing to a landowner who complains that a neighbor's upstream dam constitutes a nuisance -- even if the harm to his downstream property (while bound to occur) will not occur for several years? Would courts deny standing to an injured person seeking a protection order from future realistic (but nongeographically specific) threats of further attacks?" (Read more)

States consider closing gun-permit information

As reported here several states are considering laws making confidential permits to carry concealed guns. That debate, which has pitted open-government proponents against gun advocates and has had its unsavory moments, escalated in Tennessee after The Commercial Appeal of Memphis "posted government records on the Internet that showed who had gun permits," reports the newspaper's Thomas Hargrove. Some who disliked that posted editors' addresses on the Web, causing some concern for the journalists' safety.

"The press wants to put a scarlet letter on these people," said Chris W. Cox, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. "This serves no public good. It's potentially dangerous to post these lists." Open-government advocates argue that a database of individuals with gun-permits allows the press to investigate state practices for issuing the permits. Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said journalists have used the database to show that state officials do "a lousy job" keeping gun permits from people with mental-health problems. "The fact that these records are public" allowed the press to prove that the Tennessee Department of Safety "was issuing permits to convicted felons."

Bills to end public access to gun permits have been filed in Alabama, Arkansas, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia. In Tennessee, the deck may be stacked against open-government advocates; 34 of the 132 state's legislators have right-to-carry permits. To read more and see a list of them, click here. To view the gun-permit database at The Commercial Appeal, click here.

Rural energy counties in West lag behind peers

A report by Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Mont., titled Fossil Fuel Extraction as a County Economic Development Strategy, has found that rural counties in the Western U.S. that do not depend on mining coal or drilling for oil and gas fare better than those that do. "Counties that have a large percentage of workers mining coal or drilling for oil and gas have weaker economies than counties without natural resources," reports Bill Bishop for the Daily Yonder. (Headwaters map shows energy counties in yellow and peer counties in blue)

Counties that are economically vested in mining and drilling have slower growth, more out-migration and lower rates of household income, the reports says. Energy producing counties "also had had a slightly less educated workforce, a greater gap between high- and low-income households, less ability to attract investment and retirement dollars and they created less economic diversity."

"The Headwaters researchers found that energy-intensive counties were like the hare in the race with the tortoise," writes Bishop. "Counties rich in oil, coal and gas race ahead when energy prices spike, but in the long run, the tortoise counties win the race." Energy counties certainly see a boom when prices for fossil fuels spike, but when booms end those counties go into decline. The recent drop in gas prices has seen this phenomenon occur in parts of the West.

The report says, “In counties that have pursued energy extraction as an economic development strategy ... the long-term indicators suggest that relying on fossil fuel extraction is not an effective economic development strategy for competing in today’s growing and more diverse western economy.” (Read more)

Obama targets Bush rule on endangered species

Another part of the eleventh-hour regulations by the Bush administration, rolling back environmental safeguards, is set to be undone. "The regulation lifted longstanding requirements that agencies contemplating actions that might affect endangered species consult with scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service and to take their guidance into account," reports Cornelia Dean of The New York Times.

President Obama announced a review of the Bush aregulation at an event to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Department of the Interior. The president said it was “false” to say people must choose between economic growth and environmental protection. Further claiming that, "agencies must return to the former practice of seeking and acting on scientific advice."

"A rider undoing the Bush change has been attached to the budget bill, and if it passes, the change would be undone," writes Dean. There is also a bill that would reinforce the Bush administration's changes. Republicans are claiming that reverting to the previous standards could slow many projects created by the stimulus package. (Read more)

Bring back the CCC, The Mountain Eagle opines

In the wake of the ABC News documentary, “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains,” many are looking for ways to improve the grave realities of life in parts of Appalachia. The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., suggests re-creating the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided labor for a wide range of projects during the Great Depression.

"When we get to dreaming about how to help change the lives of young men and women who are living without much hope today – stuck in poverty, nothing to look forward to, no obvious reason to stay in school, not much chance of finding a job, dealing and doing drugs because that’s what their peers are mostly doing – we don’t look back to the War on Poverty," the weekly opines. "We look back further, dreaming of a time when the federal government acted boldly and decisively to help millions of Americans who were down on their luck, and we dream about whether something like that could happen again."

The Obama administration has made clear its intention to create green jobs. Those types of jobs are a perfect fit for a CCC model, the Eagle argues, noting that the Regional Reforestation Initiative and the Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team have started a project to reforest old strip mines in Letcher County, which the Eagle serves. Unfortunately, "not much of the just-enacted economic stimulus seems aimed directly at rural Appalachia," the paper notes. "Regional joblessness is rampant, and thousands of young men and women are on the slippery slope of hopelessness." And while huge amounts of taxpayer dollars are spent to try to prevent the problems of Appalachia, $50,000 to $75,000 to keep a single drug abuser in jail for a year, not enough is being spent to treat the causes of the problems. (Read more)

EPA's done zip about widespread coal-ash threat

The collapse of an earthen dam that was holding back a billion-gallon coal-ash pond in East Tennessee brought the dangers of the waste into the public discourse. The December spill covered 300 acres, destroyed homes, polluted a water supply and a river. "But what happened in the Volunteer State represents just a small slice of the potential threat from coal ash," reports Kristen Lombardi of The Center of Public Integrity. "In many states — at ponds, landfills, and pits where coal ash gets dumped — a slow seepage of the ash’s metals has poisoned water supplies, damaged ecosystems, and jeopardized citizens’ health." (Billings Gazette photo)

In July 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified 63 “proven or potential damage cases” in 23 states where coal ash has polluted groundwater and damaged local ecosystems. In some cases contamination has resulted in multimillion dollar payouts to local residents whose drinking water had been contaminated by coal ash. Lombardi writes, "Despite the litany of damage, there’s no meaningful federal regulation of coal ash on the books; indeed, oversight of ash disposal — much of it stunningly casual — is largely left to the states."

According to a 2005 Department of Energy report, the latest data available, "there are 194 landfills and 161 ponds containing coal ash in 47 states," adds Lombardi. There are also an unknown number of abandoned coal mines which are used to store coal ash. The amount of coal ash appears to be increasing as the EPA increases emission standards requiring power companies to capture more particulates and metals.

Despite data that shows that there are 180 ponds and pits containing coal ash that are unlined or partially lined the EPA has yet to "designate coal ash 'hazardous' under federal waste laws — a key designation that triggers strict controls for handling, transporting, and dumping waste: power plants, for instance, would have to use expensive protections such as liners at disposal sites, or regularly monitor groundwater for any leaching," writes Lombardi. EPA analysis has concluded that coal ash sites pose a cancer risk from arsenic at 900 times safe levels. (Read more) To view an view an interactive map of coal-ash sites throughout the country click here.

Community newspapers cite data showing they're in much better shape than metro counterparts

Community newspapers continued to fare much better than their metropolitan counterparts in the last quarter of 2008, according to data gathered by Suburban Newspapers of America and the National Newspaper Association, the main national organization that includes rural weeklies.

The organizations surveyed hundreds of community papers and found that total advertising revenue was down 6.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007. That was a steeper decline than those reported in earlier quarters of 2008, ranging from 1.7 to 2.7 percent, making the annual decline 3.6 percent. But those figures were still far better than those for the U.S. newspaper industry, in which most revenue goes to dailies.

The Newspaper Association of America, the main interest group for dailies, reported revenue declines ranging from 13 to 18 percent in the first three quarters. "Glennco Consulting Group estimates an overall industry decline in fourth quarter advertising expenditures of 21 percent, and many large companies have reported declines in excess of 20 percent," NNA said in a news release.

Community newspapers "are not reducing staff in significant ways," the release said. "In fact, only half of the reporting companies had staff reductions in 2008, almost entirely through attrition. Indeed, with a focus on growth strategies, 26 percent of the reporting group launched new products in 2008." SNA President Nancy Lane said, "The declines in 2008 are clearly economy-driven. Community papers are affected by the current economic downturn but they are not in a crisis."

The survey tracked financial data for all publications except dailies with circulations over 100,000. Most SNA and NNA members have much smaller circulations. "Due to the wide variety of reporting procedures, only total advertising was tracked," the release said. (Read more)

Stimulus will clean up abandoned mines in West

"One of the nation's longest-running environmental eyesores is poised to become a critical jobs engine for the rural West," thanks to $105 million in the economic stimulus package, reports Scott Streater of Greenwire. "The Interior and Agriculture departments expect to set off a hiring boom among idled industry and agricultural workers whose charge will be to clean up thousands of abandoned hardrock mines that once formed the backbone of the region's economy, but whose greater legacy is one of toxic wastes and thousands of miles of contaminated rivers, creeks and streams."

The projects will be determined by the National Park Service, which will get $50 million; the Bureau of Land Management, which is getting $30 million; and the USDA's Forest Service, with $25 million. Never has so much money gone into hard-rock mine cleanup, and some question the efficacy of it, Streater reports. "Among the arguments made by critics is that such projects come with too many bureaucratic hurdles, including long lead times for environmental assessments and compliance with other provisions of federal law. But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters during a conference call last week that the Park Service and BLM will select projects whose environmental assessments have been completed." (Read more)

To keep track of stimulus spending, go to the government's www.recovery.gov site and the Stimulus Watchdog site of ProPublica, the "independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."

Bid to make transportation department in Georgia less parochial draws opposition from rural officials

"Newspapers in rural Georgia have begun exploring the implications of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s effort to consolidate the state’s various transportation agencies," reports Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "His legislation would diminish the role of the board that governs the state Department of Transportation, whose members are selected by congressional district. Funding is also spread out among those 13 districts."

In an opinion piece published in Georgia papers, Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson called the DOT parochial and a “tangled web of bureaucracy that makes it virtually impossible to hold anyone accountable.” That brought a retort from Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, who told the Tifton Gazette, “I know everyone in the metro areas of the state is frustrated with traffic, but it doesn’t mean we should crucify the DOT.”

The issue also arose at the other end of the state, at a meeting of the Dalton City Council, where "officials expressed concern Monday about proposed changes in state transportation planning and funding," reports Charles Oliver of The Daily Citizen. He quickly noted that a local lawyer is one of the 13 board members.

Since this is our first blog item from The Daily Citizen, we pass along one of our favorite newspaper staff biographies: "Jimmy Espy is executive editor of the Daily Citizen. He is available for speaking engagements, lectures, bar mitzvahs and cockfights."

Shutdown of his mine led Ky. legislator to file bill reducing required emergency medical staffing

Remember that item we ran last week about the Kentucky legislator who benefited directly from coal mines and is pushing a bill to reduce the number of mine emergency technicians at a mine from two to one? Turns out he filed the bill after one of the mines was shut down briefly for not having any technician on duty, reports John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Cheves writes, "In an interview Monday, Hall confirmed that Kimara was mining his coal when it was cited, but said that it would be unfair to blame him for the actions of his contractor. However, the incident does prove how hard it is for small mines to reliably find two of the state's 4,565 certified METs to work on a crew at any given time, Hall said." Steve Earle, a United Mine Workers of America official and lobbyist, told Cheves, "I think Mr. Hall clearly has a conflict of interest here. He needs to drop this nonsense and pull this bill."

Cheves also adds this new tidbit about another legislator from the Appalachian coialfield: "Another lawmaker, House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, is a paid consultant to Beech Creek Coal, giving Hall advice about coal markets." (Read more)

Kentucky license plate shows support for coal

Kentucky residents have a new way to show support for the coal industry. Borrowing a theme from West Virginia, the Bluegrass State is offering a "Friends of Coal" license plate, and officials say it has already proven extremely popular.

The state requires 900 applications before a specialty license plate will be produced, a process that can take three years. This plate got those applications in only five months, perhaps because the industry promoted it. “The process was extremely quick," said Dave Moss, the director of governmental affairs with the Kentucky Coal Association and a board member of Friends of Coal, told John Middleton of the Harlan Daily Enterprise. "We had 1,179 people signed up for the plate when we turned it over to the cabinet.”

Moss says the license plate provides an opportunity for people to show their support for the industry and for miners, even when they do not have family members working in coal. Harlan County Clerk Wanda Clem told Middleton, “The miners deserve to be honored for their work. They really provide a great service, and they deserve all of the recognition they get." The specialty plates cost $34, compared to $21 for the standard license plates. (Read more)

New York offering gas cards to rural job seekers

To help rural job seekers in their search for employment, the State of New York is offering gas cards worth $25 to $50 to offset transportation costs. Residents in 34 counties will be eligible for a total of $250,000, which will be allocated to individual counties for distribution.

The program hopes to counter difficulties created by distance and lack of public transportation. "Unemployed workers in our rural counties face unique difficulties in their job hunt," said M. Patricia Smith, New York's labor commissioner. "Often they must drive long distances simply to apply for a job, attend an interview, or work on their resume at our One-Stop Career Center. All that driving costs money."

Jim Stinson of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle notes that the general requirements are that "a recipient must be unemployed, actively looking for work, and be registered at and working with the One-Stop Career Center." The One-Stop Centers are public programs offering free job search support and training. The cards will be offered until the end of June, or until the program's money runs out. (Read more)

Rural superintendent explains how kids' brains work, and local weekly passes it on to the public

Education is the great hope for economic development of poor rural areas, but that has become a rote statement with not much deeper understanding of how education works -- especially early-childhood education, which experts say must be expanded if many poor children are to achieve their potential. Educators need to explain that, and rural journalists need to report it.

The Coalfield Progress of Norton, Va., understands that, so its latest edition has a great story headlined "Brain not wired for modernity: Schools chief offers insights during workshop." (Progress photo by Melanie Lane) Staff Writer Jodi Deal reports on a speech by Wise County Schools Superintendent Jeff Perry at a teachers' workshop that was open to the public:

"Eighty percent of what humans do is based on subconscious instincts, urges and thought processes, Perry told the crowd. Learning a little more about what’s happening and why can help teachers tailor lessons to take advantage of the way the brain works, not work against it. The same knowledge can help parents relate to their children, and could even come in handy for routine interaction between adults."

The story, less than 900 words and an easy read, is a good example of how newspapers can help develop more detailed understanding of important issues. The Progress site is subscription-only, but the story is posted on the site of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, here. It includes a sidebar with basic and interesting facts about the brain.

Rural broadband needs addressed by stimulus, but poor city residents say it shortchanges them

Rural residents are not alone in a lack of broadband access, but while they're reaping benefits from the stimulus package, critics say others are being left behind. They worry that the urban poor are being ignored.

The stimulus dedicates $250 million to service and training in cities, compared to the $7.2 billion set aside for rural areas. Cecilia Kang writes for The Washington Post that "interest groups say the amount is not enough to help an estimated 21 million low-income people get online." While rural areas suffer from a lack of broadband options, urban areas face the problem of paying for service, rather than a lack of access.

Judith Theodore shuffles between public libraries in Washington, D.C., so her oldest child can use a computer on homework and she can look for a job. She notes that her son received his first failing grade after the library's networks crashed. "The Internet is becoming as important as electricity and gas," she said. (Read more)

Coalition lobbies against more ethanol in gasoline

An unlikely coalition of interests is opposing the idea of raising the amount of ethanol in gasoline as a way of boosting the market for the fuel. "Automakers, makers of outdoor equipment and some environmentalists - oppose allowing gasoline with 15 or 20 percent ethanol," reports Philip Brasher of The Des Moines Register. Even some in the ethanol industry see the plan as impractical because it would raise the ethanol limit in some but not all cars.

"Under a proposal being studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the higher blend would not be allowed for use in models more than a few years old or in equipment such as chain saws or lawnmowers, because of questions about whether they would be harmed by the higher ethanol content," writes Brasher. EPA has said that it will take considerable time and research to determine what effect higher levels of ethanol will have on all vehicles.

Car makers, engine manufacturers, oil refiners, environmental groups and the American Lung Association have warned the EPA and Congress against relaxing restrictions on ethanol without extensive research amongst fears that it will increase air pollution and damage car engines. But raising the limit could be a temporary fix for the ethanol industry whose struggles have been well documented since gas prices began falling. (Read more)

More deadbeat dads (and moms) are a sign of the times; small daily lists names and amounts owed

The poor economy has seen a rise in the number of parents delinquent in their child support payments. A report by Paul Glasser of The State Journal in Frankfort, Ky., circulation 10,000, found that 72 local individuals in Franklin County, population 46,000, owed as much as $55,499 and as little as $271 in payments. And using the state open-records law, he listed the debtors and the amounts. We've never seen a newspaper do that, but it sounds like a good idea; might even make some pay up.

"A total of about $1.4 billion in child support payments are owed in 325,000 cases across the state," writes Glasser. Franklin County Attorney Rick Sparks says payments are down 1 percent. "Simply put, people just aren't working," he told Glasser. "We have seen a lot of requests to modify, reduce or hold child support payments in abeyance."

Frankfort is the state capital and government is the county's major employer, but it also has some industries. A few have closed in the last year, putting many out of work and making it more difficult to pay child support. Between June and December 2008 the county attorney's office was able to collect 56 percent of the $2.9 million in child support obligations. (Read more)

Smoking ban hurts social life at small-town bars

"Small-town and working class bars are supposed to be a bit irreverent, dimly lit places to escape the bully boss, pending divorce or the drudgery of a Working Joe life," Douglas Burns of Carroll, Iowa, writes for the Daily Yonder. "Smoking is a part of this for many Iowans – or it least it was (legally) until last July 1, when bars were included (by one vote in the Iowa House) in a sweeping indoor smoking ban."

Some view a smoking ban in rural Iowa bars as a disruption of the social life of many small communities, Burns reports. Bar owners in many rural communities say they have seen as much as a 40 percent drop in business, and attribute that drop to the impact of the smoking ban. "Unlike in the suburban chain eateries or urban centers," Burns writes, "there isn’t a replacement class of patrons flocking to the fill the stools left behind by dispirited smokers."

Paul Lasley, a co-investigator of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll and chairman of the sociology and anthropology departments at Iowa State University, said that the anger being directed at the smoking ban may be part of a larger problem. “I suspect that part of that is the acknowledgment that it’s not the same anymore,” he said. (Read more)

High court hearing coal case that could set rules for judicial recusal, argue against judicial elections

UPDATE, March 3: The Associated Press reports, "The court's four liberal justices and the conservative-leaning Anthony Kennedy all expressed support for a ruling that the Constitution's guarantee of a fair trial could require judges not to participate in a case in which there was a likelihood of bias." (Read more)

The Washington Post offers a good one-two punch on the question of electing judges, especially appellate judges in big-money races, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case closely related to the issue: The appeal of a 3-2 ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court in which one justice refused to disqualify himself though the winning party, Massey Energy Chairman Don Blankenship, was largely responsible for his election.

Backing the loser, Virginia coal operator Hugh Caperton, "are a number of unlikely compatriots -- Wal-Mart siding with the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, for instance," reports the Post's Robert Barnes. The center's James Sample told him: "It's about the fundamental responsibility of the judiciary: a fair hearing before an impartial arbiter. ... This is a fact-bound, multi-factor, worst-of-the-worst scenario; if any sort of floor exists for due process, this is the best case to plumb those depths." A Post editorial put it another way: "If ever there was a case that illustrated why electing judges is a bad idea, it is the one out of West Virginia."

Blankenship argues that he "made lawful contributions to and on behalf of now-Justice Brent Benjamin," Barnes notes. "As in other political causes he has supported, he has a right to his political views about who is best to serve on the West Virginia Supreme Court. And there is no evidence that Benjamin had anything to gain financially from the dispute between Caperton and Blankenship, the only reason for recusal the Supreme Court until now has recognized."

Most of those on the other side "worry about the role money now plays in judicial elections," Barnes reports. "Wal-Mart joined with Lockheed Martin, Pepsi and other corporations on Caperton's side, telling the court in a brief that requiring Benjamin's recusal 'would signal to businesses and the general public that judicial decisions cannot be bought and sold.' Justice at Stake, a judicial reform group that has been sounding the alarm about the role of money in judges' races, notes that the amount of money raised by state supreme court candidates from 2000 to 2007 was almost $168 million, nearly double that raised during the 1990s. Former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor is among those sharply critical of those elections.
The Justice at Stake brief, joined by Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and a host of others, warns the court that it would 'weaken state reform efforts' to find no 'constitutionally significant threat to equal justice' in the case." However, "no one proposes a clear line for what level of support" should be found to require judges to withdraw from cases. For more of Barnes' story, click here.

The Post editorial concludes, "States should consider barring judges from considering cases involving litigants or lawyers who were directly or indirectly responsible for campaign contributions beyond a certain limit. More fundamental, states should consider abolishing judicial elections in favor of an appointment system that distances jurists from politics and fundraising." (Read more)

New senator from N.Y. tries to broaden appeal beyond her rural congressional constituency

Appointed Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who represented a largely rural, white and Republican congressional district, is trying to win over new constituents in New York City and other urban areas who can't accept the fact they have a senator who has a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association.

"She has tried to assure voters -- and colleagues -- in Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn that a lawmaker from a rural GOP House district can represent a broader, more urban constituency," wrotes Lois Romano of The Washington Post. "While she says her views aren't necessarily changing, there is no question that she is tweaking them as she goes."

"I will always protect hunters' rights. Always," Gillibrand told Romano. "I will always protect the Second Amendment. I will make sure every American has the right to own a gun. . . . That's very different from how do we protect our communities from gun violence, how do we reduce gang violence, how do we make sure we have a strong trafficking law to make sure criminals don't have access to guns? ... I do not support the NRA's agenda. I support my constituents' agenda."

New York's senior senator, Democrat Charles Schumer, came to her defense: "She is going to be able to evolve without being seen as a flip-flopper. ... When I was a congressman, I never voted for a farm subsidy. Now I do because I have constituents who have farms. That's what the system is about." (Read more)

Acadiana banks turn up noses at U.S. cash, rules

A bank in Acadiana, the Cajun country of Louisiana, has become the first to give back federal bailout money, saying the strings attached by the Treasury put it at a competitive disadvantage. IberiaBank of Lafayette will buy back the $90 million in stock that the federal government added, it said in a press release.

While the bank declined to elaborate on its reasons, one of its Lafayette-based competitors suggested why last week. MidSouth Bank said in a release that it was considering returning the $20 million it got because of "potential changes to the Capital Purchase Program," which was related to the Troubled Asset Relief Program but "for healthy community banks." (Encarta map)

MidSouth said it held 14 meetings in Louisiana and Texas "to get the word out to the business community that it was lending money to help stimulate the economy," then President and CEO Rusty Cloutier concluded that "It's looking more and more like the federal government wants to treat this like it was a needs-based issue, and we didn't need the money."

Cloutier laid it out: ""They're talking about attaching all sorts of strings to the money, so banks have been sending it back," he added. "The Treasury needs to stop listening to the special interests of the 'too big to fail' banks that got us into this trouble and break them up. And at the same time it should back away from community banks and let us do what we're supposed to do with the TARP funds -- lend the money."

"Clearly the bailout isn’t popular, and the bankers are unhappy about the added compensation limits and public pressure to lend," writes Paul Kiel of ProPublica. "Under the new limits passed by Congress earlier this month, the five most highly compensated execs at IberiaBank would have seen their bonuses limited. ... About 162 banks have announced that they won’t be taking the Treasury’s cash, according to the investment firm Keefe, Bruyette, and Woods, but this is the first time that a bank has taken the money and then given it back. A sign of things to come?" (Read more)

Rural students responsible for big increase in enrollment in online college courses in Kentucky

In rural counties without a college, especially a public one, online courses are often the key to getting a higher education. Online enrollment is booming in Kentucky, which recorded "a nearly 25 percent increase in students taking online classes over the last year," reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"That's twice the rate of increase for colleges nationwide, according to survey figures from the Massachusetts-based Sloan Consortium, which tracks distance-learning trends," higher-education reporter Ryan Alessi writes. "The 10 counties with the highest percentage of their college students enrolled in online courses were all outside major urban areas."

"The stereotypical student in online courses is a 37-year old mom from a rural area," Allen Lind, vice president for information and technology at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, told Alessi. Online students tend to be "older than the fresh-out-of-high-school crowd and are balancing work, school and family," Alessi reports. (Read more)

'The war has started' over Obama ag-subsidy cuts

Philip Brasher, Washington correspondent for The Des Moines Register, suggests the economic and political impact of President Obama's plan to end direct payments to farmers with more than $500,000 in annual sales: "An estimated 81,000 farmers nationwide would lose their payments." What are direct payments? Click here.

"The cut would save the government about $9.8 billion over 10 years, roughly the amount the administration wants to increase nutrition spending," Brasher notes. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, right, says the savings would be used to boost nutirition programs and fight juvenile obesity. "If you had a dollar -- one dollar -- where would you put it?" Vilsack asked. "Would you give it to a child for more nutritious eating? Would you give it in a direct payment to a high-income (farm) operation?" (Gannett News Service photo)

Vilsack is a former governor of Iowa. The state's Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, said he had never liked the idea of direct payments, but his Republican seatmate, Charles Grassley, told Brasher that payment limits should not be based on sales. "I'm a farmer, and I know that gross income or sales revenue does not reflect your ability to pay," he said. "Just because I sell a lot of corn doesn't mean that my input costs to grow that corn weren't even higher." Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said likewise. (Read more)

Other farm programs would be cut, as we first reported here yesterday. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told Kara Rowland of The Washington Times that the programs set by last year's Farm Bill shouldn't be reopened now. Such comments were predictable, but the cuts in farm programs were "the most specific" mentioned in Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Rowland writes. That suggests he will fight for their adoption, and American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman seems to see it likewise, telling Brasher, "The war has started."

In his weekly video address today, Obama did not include the farm lobby among "the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long," but said, "I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward, I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November. That is the change this budget starts to make, and that is the change I'll be fighting for in the weeks ahead." To read his text, click here. To watch the address, click here.

Pilgrim's Pride to shut three more plants, leaving hundreds more contract growers in financial lurch

The chicken-processing company Pilgrim's Pride, which is in bankruptcy protection, announced today that it would close its plants in Douglas, Ga., El Dorado, Ark., and Farmerville, La. That will mean permanent layoffs for 3,000 workers and possible bankruptcy for contract growers who have gone into debt to build large chickenhouses to raise birds for the company.

Pilgrim's Pride, based in Pittsburg, Tex., said it would provide assistance to laid-off workers, but of the chicken farmers, its press release said only this: "Approximately 430 independent contract growers who supply birds to these three plants also will be affected." At least 300 were affected by earlier plant closings, we reported this month.

Female farm owners in Iowa push conservation

"Of Iowa’s 30.7 million farm acres, 47 percent are owned by women," reports Mark Clayton of The Christian Science Monitor. "But a growing share – 20 percent – is now owned by single women, many of them older, with a far different take on farming than their male counterparts. About three-quarters of the land owned by single women is rented out to mostly male tenant farmers." Dozens are turning out for a series of meetings in Iowa on “Women Caring for the Land” to learn more about farmland conservation and how to deal with their male tenant farmers.

According to more than 800 Iowa farm women who recorded their views on farmland ownership in 2006, conservation is their biggest priority. Women have a “clear and strong consciousness about land-health issues and respect nature intrinsically – not for its productive value, but because it sustains life,” the report found. From left: Laura Krouse, Linda Halsey, Carolyn Palmer, and Margaret Doermann of Iowa want their tenant farmers to care for the land more. (Photo by Mark Clayton)

Conservation does not seem to be as high a priority for Iowa's male farmers. Denise O’Brien, a full-time farmer who nearly became Iowa’s first female secretary of agriculture in 2006 said, “I hope women will feel empowered to say: ‘I want a waterway, buffer strips, and trees on my farm.’ When women say that today, men pretty much roll their eyes and think that they don’t know enough to make these decisions.” (Read more)

Stimulus, budget seek to fund 50,000 new police

As reported here, in last year's budget President Bush gutted the Office of Justice Programs, which oversees state and local anticrime grants such as the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. President Obama's stimulus plan and budget provide funding to resurrect those programs, with the aim of hiring 50,000 new police officers. Stacey Barchenger of the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore., reports that "Uncertainty about how it can be spent and strings attached to some portions of the money has police agencies taking different approaches."

The COPS program was created during the Clinton administration. The Obama version is slightly different. It no longer requires "police agencies to pay millions in local dollars to tap federal hiring grants," writes Kevin Johnson of USA Today. "It gives police agencies nearly unfettered access to $1 billion over three years for hiring up to 6,000 officers as many departments face cuts." (Read more)

The White House budget narrative for the Justice Department says, "Supporting the hiring of police nationwide will help states and communities prevent the growth of crime during the economic downturn." Some criminal-justice analysts say more police do not necessarily mean less crime.

Oregon is making preparations for the grant money. State Justice Commission Executive Director Craig Prins said, "The money might be designated to any of a number of specific projects, which could include community corrections, drug courts or drug response and prevention teams." (Read more)

W.Va. governor is fighting state's 'hillbilly image'

ABC's "20/20" documentary "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" was shot in Eastern Kentucky, not West Virginia, but Diane Sawyer said it represented the economic and social ills of Central Appalachia in general, and Tony Dokoupil writes in a Newsweek Web-only story, "Chances are that the stigma of these hoary Appalachian stereotypes will tar West Virginia far more than its less mountainous neighbor."

"That's because while we know Kentucky for Louisville, bluegrass and basketball, West Virginia's perceived backwardness has been one its most durable cultural memes — an unshakable label for a state that lacks a big city, a famous musical heritage or championship team to offer as an alternative," Dokoupil opines. "That may soon change. Shedding the state's hillbilly image has become a personal crusade of Gov. Joe Manchin," right.

Manchin, in his second term, "has authorized a multimillion blast of cash and marketing aimed not only at rehabilitating the region's reputation, but also stemming a three-decade exodus of the state's best and brightest residents," Dokoupil reports. "In the next few weeks he will announce a "Come Home to West Virginia" spokesperson — the face of a new campaign to cast the state as a destination for families, entrepreneurs and young leaders." Dokoupil errs by calling the Democratic governor a Republican; perhaps he was misled by Manchin's strong pro-business attitude. He notes that the state's "Wild, Wonderful" slogan had changed to "Open for Business."

He is skeptical that Manchin can succeed: "While you and I can reinvent ourselves by revamping our Facebook page, West Virginia's overhaul may require a deeper, more delicate approach, not least because many of the state's stereotypes are both longstanding and rooted in at least some fact." He recounts those facts and Manchin's "zero-tolerance policy on the ongoing pop-culture slander of his state," then ends with an illustration that makes Manchin look like, well, a hillbilly:

The annual Road Kill Cook-Off in Pocahontas, for instance, features dishes you're unlikely to see at your local restaurant, including intestine-challenging "flat cat," "bumper bruised bear" and "deer schmear fajitas." The mere mention of it puts a hard edge in the governor's voice. "Are they still running that s––– down south?" he asks an aide in disbelief, before adding: "Well, I tell you what, if you see [the organizer], kill the son of a bitch."

Soft paper obsession is hard on the environment

Americans are obsessed with soft toilet paper, so much that brands such as Cottonelle Ultra, Quilted Northern Ultra and Charmin Ultra increased their sales by 40 percent in 2008. Here's the rub, so to speak: Soft paper is made from standing trees, not recycled material, drawing ire of environmental groups.

"The country’s soft-tissue habit — call it the Charmin effect — has not escaped the notice of environmentalists, who are increasingly making toilet tissue manufacturers the targets of campaigns," reports Leslie Kaufman of The New York Times. (Times photo)

While most of the trees used in making soft paper come from farms, some are harvested from old-growth forests. Those trees are vital for absorption of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, environmental groups note. They also point out that creating paper from recycled material uses less water, and creates less waste tonnage than making paper from trees. (Read more)

As rural-urban boundaries blur, so do interests, creating potential for collaboration, writer says

We reported here that President Obama created a White House Office of Urban Affairs but appears to have no plan for a rural counterpart. Jason Gray writes for the Daily Yonder that while White House policy appears biased toward urban areas, breaking down the rural-urban divide is the best way to create a more prosperous country.

"The small but growing number of rural-urban collaborations emerging across the country suggests that people realize that a collaborative framework is in everyone’s interest," writes Gray, a North Carolina writer-consultant. "These small seedlings are responding to the realities of rural and urban America for the 21st Century. Understanding and acting on this shared fate will go forward, but the Obama administration needs to realize now that important opportunities will be lost without federal leadership."

The boundary between rural and urban areas is becoming increasingly blurred and federal policy needs to address this change, Gray writes, noting that about half othe nation’s rural population lives in a county that is part of a metropolitan area. "Keeping rural and urban interests separate misses the point," he writes. "Advancing both the interests of the cities and the countryside requires us to see how the two work together."

A report Gray helped prepare, “Our Shared Fate: Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide Creates New Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity”, is providing insight on what the policy could look like. "Places we used to recognize as discrete and distinct – neighborhoods, communities, cities, suburbs, towns, counties, and rural areas – now have fluid boundaries with system interconnections and interdependencies that challenge our traditional policy making," the report says. "We are beginning to realize that we need to develop a more nuanced understanding of place – including what is ‘rural’ and what is ‘urban’ – in America." (Read more)

Agriculture primer for consumers contains too much story, not enough substance, reviewer says

In Farm to the Table: What All Americans Need to Know About Agriculture, author Gary Holthaus' emphasis on narrative overshadows the goal of his book, Kentuckian David Mudd writes in a review for the Daily Yonder. Mudd concedes that Holthaus' 2006 University Press of Kentucky book, recently issued in paperback, provides "succinct" information on the current agricultural landscape, and compelling evidence that big agricultural operations are not sustainable long-term, but says other writers provide similar information with less extraneous information.

"Story-telling is a worthy skill in a writer of books. But the urge can get out of hand and become seriously off-putting in nonfiction," writes Mudd. "In From Farm to Table, we must hike through five chapters before getting to what we really 'need to know.' For example, will the U.S. be able to go on feeding itself as ever-rising energy costs erase the rationales for mega-farming and long-distance transport of agricultural products? That's a compelling question, even for people who don't give a fig about farming." (Read more)

S.C. teen, rural town in spotlight after letter urging stimulus money to salvage her school

Dillon, S.C., population 6,300, and one of its students themselves on the receiving end of the national attention this week, after President Barack Obama read parts of a letter by eighth-grader Ty'Sheoma Bethea in his speech to Congress. Bethea, a 14-year-old at J.V. Martin Junior High School, urged Congress to pass the stimulus bill in order to help out her financially struggling school, writing in the part Obama quoted, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters." In his campaign, Obama had pointed to the plight of rural schools in South Carolina.

At the speech Tuesday, Bethea sat next to First Lady Michelle Obama and watched as the president read her words, after which, Fitzgerald writes, "the audience of congressmen, Supreme Court justices and others erupted in a standing ovation" for her. (Associated Press photo)

The story has a journalism angle. Howard Witt, a Southern correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, told Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher that he went to Dillon a few weeks prior to report on how the stimulus package would affect the school, which he described in an article as "a decrepit facility where the roof leaks and winter classroom temperatures hover in the 50s." When asking students their thoughts on the package, "Ty'Sheoma and one other student were the only ones who seemed to have a clue about the bill," Witt said. Following the conversation, Bethea went to the public library to write the letter, which made its way to the White House. For Witt's Feb. 11 story, click here; for Fitzgerald's, here.

UPDATE, March 1: Frank Rich writes in The New York Times that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke grew up in Dillon. "The school’s auditorium, now condemned, was the site of Bernanke’s high school graduation. Dillon is now so destitute that Bernanke’s middle-class childhood home was just auctioned off in a foreclosure sale. Unemployment is at 14.2 percent." Rich blasts South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who opposes Obama's stimulus package and is refusing its money: "He accused the three Republican senators who voted for it of sabotaging “the future of our civilization.” In his mind the future of civilization has little to do with the future of students like Ty’Sheoma Bethea." (Read more)

Appalachian papers' lessons from documentary: the need to dream, the need for local action

"What lessons should we take" from the ABC documentary "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" and its follow-up reports and viewer reaction? The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg, Ky., asks that question in an editorial this week, and answers it by pointing to the closing comment of University of Kentucky historian Ron Eller: “There are ways to think about the future in the mountains in different kinds of ways than we’ve thought about it in the past. We just need to be willing to dream.” (Encarta map)

It's a good time for dreaming, the editorial argues: "Central Appalachia is a proving ground for the future of the United States. The problems that afflict the region today are the consequences of having been an economic colony ever since the first trainloads of local coal went off to power the industrial revolution that profited so many others. If Appalachia is hopeless, then the rest of the United States can’t be far behind – because the industrial revolution is history, the banking system is in rehab, and the mighty country that Appalachian coal miners worked so hard to make possible is in big trouble."

As for the show and journalism's role, the weekly says, "This newspaper, along with many other organizations and individuals, has been trying for decades to call attention to the underlying economic and political reasons why so many people in our beautiful, beloved corner of the world find themselves living lives of quiet desperation. But there’s no denying the power of a national network television program to get the public’s attention – at least briefly – on a scale that no newspaper can ever hope to match. Whether you admired Sawyer’s 20/20 special or hated every minute of it, we should all say a prayer of thanks that there are still television news organizations with the resources and the will to spend nearly two years putting together such a powerful program." (Read more)

Earlier this week, Samantha Swindler, right, editor of The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., wrote, "The difficulty in doing a piece like Sawyer tackled is stereotyping and marginalizing problems when you’ve got less than a hour to work with. And while I think she did a good job portraying what life is like for the most unfortunate children of Appalachia, I would have liked to have seen not only a broader look at health problems, but a broader look at the vast differences in the region’s towns and rural areas. Because, as we know, there are two very different Appalachias." The show made that point, very briefly.

Swindler notes the divide between the very poor in the isolated hollows and the middle class who live in county-seat towns much like those in the rest of America. "Why is there such a great divide? Why do we accept it as inevitable? . . . How many of you Corbinites support foreign charities and decry the problems of inner cities, yet objected when media pointed out the problem in your own backyard? . . . Once we move past anger that our deepest embarrassments were broadcast to a nation, what are we going to do about it?" (Read more)

Obama budget would cut 'corporate' ag subsidies, abolish direct payments and other programs

President Obama's budget would cut farm subsidies. The budget's fact sheet for the Department of Agriculture says the proposal "targets aid to family farmers -- rather than corporate megafarms," and Obama said in his speech to Congress Tuesday night, "In this budget, we will ... end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them." That echoed Obama's campaign rhetoric and other statements about limiting the definition of a farm.

A more detailed budget narrative says the budget calls for a $250,000 limit on commodity program payments and "reflects the president's commitment to fiscal responsibility by reducing direct payments to the largest farmers, reducing crop insurance subsidies, eliminating cotton storage credits, eliminating funding for the Resource Conservation and Development program, and reducing program funding for overseas brand promotion."

Direct payments to producers with annual sales of more than $500,000 would be phased out over three years. The narrative notes that such payments were started in as a supposedly temporary measure in the 1996 Farm Bill but were renewed in 2002 and 2008. "Large farmers are well positioned to replace those payments with aternate sources of income from emerging
markets for environmental services, such as carbon sequestration, renewable energy production, and providing clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat," and the Agriculture Department will help develop those markets, the narrative says.

American Farm Bureau Congressional Relations Director Tara Smith told Tom Steever of Brownfield Network that $500,000 in sales is relatively small. “If you look at soybean farm, for example, that has $500,000 in sales, by the time you take out cost of production, that farmer actually only nets only $36,000,” she said. “To be nickel and diming those kinds of farmers, we have some significant concerns with that.” (Read more)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has suggested that "wealthy landowners, who don't do much more than make telephone calls to inquire about production decisions, shouldn't be eligible for government payments," Bill Tomson writes for Dow Jones Newswires. Vilsack told reporters recently that he was "particularly interested in suggestions that would help ... target the payments to farmers that really need the payments and to ensure the payments are not being provided to ineligible parties."

Others say that cutting farm subsidies could have disastrous effects. In a letter to Vilsack, Oklahoma Rep. Frank Lucas, ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, wrote, "At a time when the USDA recently reported that U.S. net farm income is down 20 percent from last year, it is irresponsible to even think of eliminating the one stable form of support for our producers." (Read more) "A plunge in commodity grain prices since last summer is shrinking profits across the farm sector, making it even more politically dicey for farm-state legislators to go along with any cuts in federal aid," note Brody Mullins and Scott Kilman of The Wall Street Journal.

Crop insurance subsidies would be reduced for "both insurance companies and farmers," the budget narrative says. "Over the last several years, subsidies for crop insurance companies have grown rapidly without improving program coverage or customer service for farmers. Current subsidy levels exceed what is necessary to encourage farmer participation and they do not constitute a sound value to taxpayers." The RC&D program was started in 1962 "to build community leadership skills," the narrative notes. "After 47 years, this goal has been accomplished," and state and local councils "are now able to secure funding for their continued operation without federal assistance."