The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 36

36J Dickinson farmer stresses involvement I By BILL HUMMELL HOPE Solutions to the problems faced by American farmers today are not coming without involvement at the grassroots level, according to Hope farmer Larry Abeldt. True to his word, Abeldt is a man who- is involved so much so that one wonders how he finds time'to manage his own operation. Abeldt was one of a few persons from around the country invited recently by USDA Secretary Bob Bergland to serve the Advisory Committee on Export Sales Reporting. "A lot of people say that the farm situation won't improve until government gets out of agriculture," Abeldt said. "Well, that seems impossible now.

So the next best thing is to get involved and try to influence decisions as much as possible." The export advisory committee, Abeldt said, actually has its roots in the 1973 Russian grain sale. "Very few people, especially producers, knew of that sale until the prices were already up on the board and the market was already up," he said. "So then; Congress passed the 1973 farm bill which said that all major grain sales, excess of 100,000 metric tons, had to be reported on a daily basis, by 3 p.m. 'of the following day. "The export reporting council will the present export sales reporting requirements and discuss alternatives strengthen and improve the system's effectiveness.

And it will give us a running account of grain stocks so we will be caught in a short-supply situa- No newcomer This appointment is by no means the first involvement in the politics of agriculture for the 33-year-old producer. He has w'orked for the Foreign Agriculture Service, a segment of the Department of Agriculture which works in overseas Imarket development and keeps tabs on world crop situations. In conjuction with the Foreign Agriculture Service, Abeldt has been on the of the U.S. Feed Grains Council, a private commodity group, for three years. That council, working in development of corn and sorghum markets, is the sister organization to Great Plains Wheat.

Abeldt also is chairman of the Kansas Grain Sorghum Production Association, immediate past-chairman of the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission, and a member of the commodity pricing committee with the Agriculture Council of America. And last year, when the American Agriculture Movement quickly became a major force in agriculture, he served as Northeast Kansas representative for AAM. Rewriting the book According to Abeldt, changing economic philosophies are one key to solving many of the problems of agriculture. "The only tool we are using today regarding the agricultural economy is the same one we were using 25 years ago, and that is the economics book," Abeldt said. "It's hard to get economists and farmers to agree, but we need to rewrite that economics book.

"It's a bad attitude when they say that the farm economy isn't so bad that there is a three percent return in farming and the inflation factor is driving up the value of farm land. Well, the farmer might see some gains in 40 or 50 years, but when a young man is getting a three percent return on his in- vesments and he is paying eight or nine percent in interest, he has a hard time getting by from year to year." Another key is the development of more overseas markets. Two years ago, Abeldt was one of 60 American businessmen and producers who traveled through Asia with the feed grains council. He is optimistic of the possibilities of developing foreign markets for U.S. feed grains.

"There is a lot of potential in Asia now and in Eastern Europe in the next few years for feed grains, much more than for wheat," he said. "Most of those countries have become pretty much self-sufficient with rice and other grains which are staples in their diets. But they need feed grains." Influencing decisions Finally, becoming involved and trying to influence decisions is of great importance to the future of American agriculture. "There are real problems facing the American farmer today, and you can't blame it all bn the President or the secretary of agriculture," he said. "They have a lot of advisors, and sometimes the advice they get isn't too good." This situation augments the importance of speaking out and influencing the decision-making process.

"Farmers have been complacent too long," Abeldt said. "But that is changing now in the younger farmers. Many of these young men have gone to college and they are highly educated. They are becoming involved. They realize that they need to spend about as much time with marketing and legislation as they do with production.

These are important parts of their business." Abeldt gave the AAM much of the credit for strengthening the farm voice. "AAM has developed a lot of farm impact, and agriculture will never be the same because of it," he said. "This is good. People are becoming interested and active, and changes will be made." In the meantime, however, farmers are going to have to contend with some serious problems, the solutions of which are not immediately apparent. "I'm not real optimistic on the grain situation at this time," he said.

"We need time to work our way out of our surpluses. I see that the USDA is still predicting a record corn crop this year, and that is going to be tough to utilize." Labor shortage One major problem of which few people are aware is the labor shortage on the American farm. "Help is a problem," Abeldt said. "Some economists have said that agriculture drove labor away from the farm with over-capitalization and mechanization. But that just isn't so.

Farmers have had to replace labor with capital. "They say that there is 6.8 percent unemployment in the country today, Involved Larry Abeldt and his wife, Nadine, are pictured on their farm near Hope in Dickinson County. Abeldt was appointed recently but I can't find anyone who wants to work on the farm. But the wages are comparable, we furnish a house and pay the utilities, and working conditions are better than in most factories." Abledt strongly opposed President Carter's recent attempts to fight inflation and to stabilize the American dollar. "The Carter anti-inflation plan has been tried many times in the past 40 or farmer to the Advisory Committee on Export Sales Reporting.

(Journal Photo) 50 years and it hasn't worked," he said. "It might have been unpopular, but he should have vetoed the recent tax cut legislation. You can't fight inflation and cut taxes at the same time. It just won't work." Abeldt predicted that the raising of interest rates to stabilize the dollar would have a drastic effect on the American farmer. "That plan will Jkill' many farmers with the high interest they are going to have to pay," he said.

"The best way to stabilize the economy is to replace the dollar with what we can take out of the ground. If we would get parity prices, or even close to parity, for our crops, we culd stabilize the dollar and cut the trade deficit in three years. "Now we are buying foreign oil at 100 percent of parity and selling grains at 50 or 60 percent of parity. It doesn't make sense." Hopes to slow down Abeldt himself plans to stay involved in the fight for improvements to the farm situation. But he hopes to slow down somewhat so he can devote more time to his own operation and to his wife, Nadine, and two young sons, Aaron and Joey.

"I'm going to help all I can," he said. "We can't give up. But I have to slow down some. I was gone too much last year. I spent a tremendous amount of time last winter with AAM.

"I just can't say I guess that's my biggest problem." Other members of the Advisory Committee on Export Sales Reporting are Dale E. Hathaway, assistant secretary of the International Affairs and Commodity Programs; J. Dawson Ahalt, acting chairman of the World Food and Agricultural Outlook and Situation Board; Kelly Harrison, general sales manager; William Dunavant Dunavant Enterprises, Memphis, Paul Farris, Purdue University; Merlyn H. Groot, grain and livestock producer, Manson, Iowa; Joseph Halow, member of the North American Export Grain Association, Washington, D.C.; Louis Johnston, Indiana Grain, In- dianopolis; Ralph S. Newman, American Rice, Houston; Gary L.

Seevers, Commodity- Futures Trading Washington; George L. Seitz, Amcot International Bakersfield, Robert J. Wager, American Bakers Association, Washington; Samuel H. Washburn, grain and livestock producter, Fowler, and Winston L. Wilson, grain producer, Quanah, Texas.

The committee already has met twice in Washington and will be meeting six more times around the country. It is to have its recommendations and a final draft completed for Congress by the first of January. Children safe at Stockton; missing mother feared dead By LINDA MOWERY STOCKTON Lucille and Leon Baxter of Stockton are caught between two emotions happiness over the recovery of their two grandchildren and fear their daughter may be dead. "We're very happy to have the kids here," Mrs. Baxter said Friday.

"It's been a long, hard pull." But the drama isn't pver for the couple. The Baxters, who operate a grade A dairy farm near Stockton, learned of the disappearance of tkeir daughter, Marie Watson, more than a year ago. 'According to Baxter, her car was found behind a restaurant in Emmett, Idaho, where she had been living with her second husband. On the seat were Mrs. Watson's purse and billfold.

"There's no indication she's alive and there are indications she's not," he said. "She had two paychecks coming and she had received a letter day before she disappeared that she had re; ceived a job she wanted very badly. There was no reasdn for her to leave. I'-J'All she had were the clothes on her back. We 'know she couldn't have had more than $1 with her in'money." t-With their daughter's disappearance, the Baxters also learned their grandchildren Sandi Kae, seven, and Jack, nine were with Mrs.

Baxter's step-sister, Dorothy Rogers, and her husband, Michael. "Our daughter was having some problems and called Dorothy because she was always saying how much she loved children," Mrs. Baxter said. Mrs. Watson was attempting to regain custody of 7 the children when she disappeared, her mother The Baxters went to an Idaho court and began custody proceedings themselves, only to find last May that Michael and Dorothy Rogers had left with the children.

Thus began a search which only ended about a week ago. The Baxters, who had hired a private investigator to find their daughter, asked him to hunt for the children. Fliers with pictures of Dorothy and Michael Rogers and the two children were sent throughout the Western United States. School officials were notified. At one time, the missing couple was reported to be in Salina, but the lead eventually proved worthless.

"At one school, four little boys came to me and said they had seen them in Salina," Mrs. Baxter recalled. "When I got there (to Salina), it was suggested I put it (the flier) in the newspaper, but I was afraid I would chase them away if I did. "We also went from truck stop to truck stop (passing out fliers) and a lot of other things, including telephone calls." Temporary custody The children were discovered only recently in Mountain Pine, Ark. The Baxters, who have custody of the children in Idaho, were given temporary custody of their grandchildren by Arkansas authorities.

How Sandi and Jack were found, they're not sure: "The detective got a tip and he found the children," Baxter said. Added his wife: "We don't know where the tip came from." The Stockton couple went to Arkansas to claim the children and also take charge of two of the Rogers' adopted children, Michelle, nine, and Rocky, 12. Baxter said he and his wife are "reasonably confident" they will receive full custody of the children because "we have a lot of faith in our judicial system." The children, they added, appear content with their new life. "It seems to me they're doing real good for all they've gone through," Mrs. Baxter said.

"Their teachers say they're doing fine and the older boy (Rocky) is ready to go out for basketball." Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter vow they will continue the search for their daughter, whose disappearance has Idaho authorities puzzled. "This case is so complicated I don't even know where to begin the folder is so thick," Gem County Sheriff Bill McConnell said Friday. Foul play, he added, is possible but "that's as far as I can go.

We have no concrete evidence she was done away with." Idaho authorities have conducted a search for Mrs. Watson throughout the United States and Canada. McConnell said there are indications the woman may have obtained false identification papers prior to her disappearance. Also, Dorothy Rogers, the last person known to have seen Mrs. Watson, told authorities the Baxters' daughter got into a car with an unidentified motorist after the women's automobile went off the road near Emmett, the sheriff said.

"She (Mrs. Watson) has a history of disappearances," he continued. "She'd be gone for three months or six months and when she got ready, she would let her folks know where she was." Rogers is being returned from Arkansas to Idaho, where he is charged with the rape of another adopted daughter, now about 14 years of age, McConnell said. The girl, who ran away from home and appealed to Gem County authorities for help, has been placed under the supervision of a state agency. So far, Mrs.

Rogers free. McConnell said Idaho authorities have not decided if she and her husband will be charged with abduction of the Baxters' grandchildren. Reward is offered in vandalism case AGRA A group of angry businessmen has offered a $500 reward in an effort to halt a rash of vandalism which has caused more than $1,700 in damage in the past month. Phillips County Sheriff LeRoy Stephen said most of the damage occurred last week when vandals went on a rampage, breaking plate glass windows. Chunks of cement were thrown through windows at the Library, City Office, the Agra Grain Company and a service station.

The previous week the local hard- Schlafly to speak Nov. 14 at Hays HAYS Phyllis Schlafly, one of the leading opponents of the women's rights movement, will appears Nov. 14 at Fort Hays State University. The 10:30 a.m. lecture, sponsored by FHSU Special Events Committee, will be in Sheridan Coliseum.

Tickets will be available at the door. Mrs. Schlafly, a conservative newspaper columnist and author, will speak on "One View of the Feminist Movement." She is a member of the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women and has debated with many advocates of the Equal Rights Amendment. ward store had glass broken. "It's unknown if the incidents are connected, but they probably are," Stephen said.

"We have no leads. No one saw or heard The sheriff said last week's vandalism was the third time for the service station. "One time someone threw a hammer through the window." Anyone with information should call the Sheriff's office. Stephen said all replies will be kept confidential. Agra, with a population of about 250, is 10 miles east of Phillipsburg.

Two join CCG faculty COLBY Two persons have been hired to fill faculty vacancies at Colby Community College. Margaret Heekin began her duties teaching in the cow-calf program earlier this month, and Rebecca Scott will start as a practical nurse education instructor at CCC's Norton campus in January. Both women were hired to fill vacancies created by the resignations of former faculty members. Ms. Heekin has assumed instructional duties from Don Woodburn, now on the faculty at Auburn University in Alabama.

Ms. Scott will fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Sheila Martin. Road from Mexico to America is rocky for many aliens tl A.VTT A i A. By CAROLYN SAYLER "We come to this country with a big zero and we really have to do our best," said former South Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Cao Ky, now a resident of the United States. His words also describe aliens from Mexico.

Typical was a boy who arrived in Udall in a boxcar after traveling 2,000 miles. His family had contributed $150, but it had provided little money was stolen and the 17-year-old existed on handouts in a migrant underworld. He little left but expectations of a better life when he found a job in Kansas. Also part of a subculture more than half a century later was a girl traveling with companions on a freight train toward a vague destination of Kansas City or Chicago. She reached Herington where an accident brought the plight of the juvenile illegal alien to the attention of residents.

The girl was standing on a coupling between boxcars when her foot was caught in the moving parts and was cut. At Herington Municipal Hospital where the teen-ager was taken Mollie Gonzolas, an employee, was called to interpret. "She was the most terrified thing I've ever seen," said Mrs. Gonzolas. The girl, 16, remained under treatment there for a month and then Mrs.

Gonzolas and her husband offered to help her apply for immigration papers and invited her to stay in their home. "We thought she was going to stay, but all at once she goj homesick and wanted to go back to Mexico," Gonzolas said. The Immigration and Naturalization Service transported the girl back to her mother's home. Because no agency was legally responsible for her medical care, the hospital assumed the costs. In Lyons, Juan Lopez places a phone call once a month to his family in Mexico.

It costs about $25, but he is able to afford it because he is employed in the oil fields at Chase. I Lopez, who lives with his wife and small son, has become a legal resident after moving back and forth across the border for six years. He is 22. He was 16 when he made his first trip, paying a "coyote" $120 to trans- port him, along with four others, in a small trailer pulled by a station wagon. He was told the smuggler "used to be in immigration." Lopez worked briefly on a farm, then returned to Mexico.

His next crossing was two years later. In a sequence the immigration service reports indicate may be typical, he crossed the border at 6 a.m., was apprehended at 10 a.m., was deported to Mexico at 3 p.m. and was back in the United States at 4 p.m. He walked across the bridge from Jua- rez to El Paso, escaping notice of officials. The boy who was robbed, the girl who was injured while freight-hopping, and Juan Lopez share a common experience, but details reveal wide differences in time and circumstances.

The victimized boy is Jim Martinez, Hutchinson manufacturer and former mayor. He came with legal documents, paying an $8 "alien head tax" at the border. His immigration occurred 54 years ago. The girl arrived in Kansas last May and Lopez' story is current. Liberal quotas in the post-Mexican Revolution years helped bring workers to the beet fields in Western Kansas, to railroad jobs or to the salt mines of Hut- chinson, Lyons, Little River and Kanopolis.

By contrast, present law limits immigration from Mexico to 20,000 a year, virtually excluding the teen-agers' legal entry, and includes a system of preferences designed to protect employment for the American worker. The quota has little to do with actual migration, government figures suggest. According to estimates, there are 8.2 million illegal aliens in the country. About a million come each year and nearly 90 percent are from Mexico. An unemployment rate of 50 percent and a population growth rate of 3.5 percent a year in Mexico propel the exodus.

"They're starving to death down there," a U.S. Border Patrolman said..