Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 43

0 WEne 11C Sunday February 13 1977 Farmer's wish: Rain come to stay Hearings set on Bysimiess By WarrWoife plan to buy land Staff Wri The farmer from near Wincfl, was feeling kind of shpish about how he'd taken aftey8 9-year-old daughter that mqng. "She was ipping rope In the living roomNow that's not so bad, but shwas singing, 'Rain, rain, go awa and I got so damn mad I yelk something fierce, and she stan bawling and ran off to her ither," the farmer told a friend. IWMMMlTITlMMiMTIWIiWIWllllMtlT-'-'Mii "Now I know4tter than that. I don't know got into me," he id "Flthor i won't." t. 11 lain ui Concern about hether it'll rain enough this ye has put thousands of Minnta farmers on edge this wintt For some especially young farmers with big debts ther year of drought could dr them off the farm.

And a new report state Cllma-tologist Earl Kuciast and soil scientist Don BakCrc-m the University of Mlnneso is not going to put them at ease 1 "We think we're gtg to end up with an average spring and maybe an averaj summer," Kuehnast said Frids "Now, on the surface that sds pretty good, right? "But our calculationshow that normal isn't going tbe enough this year because th soil is so dry we've got abe. 2 inches of moisture when wage is about 6 at this time year that we can't posslbi catch up this year," he said. The report indicates th the entire state has less than rmal soil mositure. The dryness caused by a year-long drought ist year, following on the heel of two previous dry years. i The drought last year slrply reduced crop yields and lea number of agricultural bankeito estimate that most farmers' nancial condition worsened In 76 because their costs exceed! their income.

Kuehnast's and Baker's eimates mean that many farmers ho do receive normal rainfall ny end up with about 60 percemof an average corn crop and 50 rcent of an average crop of small grains, such as wheat an. oats, Kuehnast said. Their computations are baid on what happened in previous ears. They looked at past sprin and summer rainfalls and hov the crops did those years. "I want to emphasize that tis is Weather continued on page Staff Photo by Richard Olsenius The sparse snow in southwestern Minnesota was almost gone by the end of last week.

Real estate franchise gaining ground in area Railroad, college link up for profit stronger advertising and increased sales trainingj "They have' played a much more aggressive role in. image-building, largely because of us," Fugere said. Century 21 and two other national franchises that do not operate in Minnesota bespeak the changing face of the real-estate industry. Strong local brokerages have been increasing their share of the market while that of small independent agencies has been evaporating. For example, in 1976 the two largest brokerages in Minneapolis sold about 41 percent of the homes sold through the Minneapolis area multiple listing service-where about 75 percent of the area's homes are sold.

In 1975, the two Edina Realty and Bermel-Smaby Realty sold about 38 percent of the homes sold through that service. Fugere estimates that Century 21 members sold between 10 and 14 percent. The franchises are designed to bring the small, independent real-estate firms under the aegis of a central organization that provides a common name, common advertising and sophisticated sales and management training programs that allow them to compete better with the industry's lions. Century 21's franchises are brought In to a nationwide network of 3,200 offices and are expected to don the company's ubiquitous symbol a bright gold blazer. Franchises continued on page 12C By Al McConagha Staff Correspondent Washington, D.C.

Rep. Richard Nolan will begin hearings this week on a plan by a large investment firm and bank to make $50 million in top ahd available for investment by tax-exempt funds. The issue has become a highly charged one in rural areas. National farm groups, including Farmers Union and American Farm Bureau, have joined consumer and environmental organizations in opposing the proposal; Nolan, Sixth District Democrat, said the issue of large absentee farm ownership and unfair competition from tax-exempt land investors makes some rural people "very, very upset it does me too i He said the proposal; known Ag-Land has "become a rallying point and symbol'" for resistance to trends in American agriculture that distress friends of family farming. Nolan Is chairman of the House Family Farm Subcommittee.

Hearings will be Friday and Feb. 24. Ag-Land I is a proposal by Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, and Continental Bank and Trust Chicago. Judy Van Slyke, a public affairs official for Continental, said last week the firm is seeking Internal Revenue Service certification of the tax-exempt or tax-deferred status of the new investment plan. Continental wants assurance that tax-exempt funds, such as pension and profit-sharing plans, retain their tax status if they invest in a farmland ownership trust of which the bank is the trustee.

The proposal calls for Merrill Lynch to sell shares in the trust for a minimum of $100,000. The total value to be accumulated is not to exceed $50 million, Mrs. Van Slyke said in a telephone interview. Continental, which has extensive experience in farm management, will invest no more than 30 percent of the money in one state and no more than 15 percent in a single tract, she added. She said no investment would occur in Minnesota, North Dakota or South Dakota or other states which have statutes restricting ownership of agricultural land.

Land continued on page 13C 'Help Wanted' ads increased sharply during January "Help Wanted" classified advertisements in the Minneapolis Tribune and The Minneapolis Star totaled 25,139 in the first 28 days of January, up 5,120 or 25.58 percent from the same period a year earlier. Want-ad linage totaled 381,169 for the first 28 days of last month, up 113,853 lines, or 42.59 percent, from the same period In 1976. The want ads, placed by business! es and individuals seeking addi tional employees or replacement help, are considered an indicator of business intentions and economic activity in the UpJ per Midwest. -Z'P- By Lynda McDonnell Staff Writer You may have noticed over the past several months anilncrease In the number of billboards and television and radio advertisements hawking Twin Cities real estate. Gary Fugere takes a lot of credit for that.

A year ago he started the Century 21 real estate franchise in Minnesota with a bold advertising campaign that costs approximately $320,000 annually. The large local brokerages deny that they're feeling the pinch of competition from the upstart franchise, but Fugere thinks otherwise. While the franchise with 62 firms as members may not have Impinged on their sales, he believes that Century 21 has forced them to compete with 1 fc Burger King sponsorship of TV violence criticized Carter plan for tax form puts dent in Block stock New York Times Service By Lynda McDonnell Staff Writer When Western Nebraska Technical College inherited an old army base in Sidney, a decade ago, its administrators easily found uses for most of the facilities. The barracks became student apartments. The officers' club was transformed into a student center.

The fishing pond and indoor rifle range retained their original purposes. But the administrators' imaginations failed when confronted with the miles of railroad track and 13 large warehouses scattered about the campus near the Colorado border. The buildings were used in World War II to repair freight cars used to haul munitions. A few are a block long and two stories high. "We didn't know what to do with them," reported administrator Gary Green.

"They were so hu-mongously big. They just lay dormant." Until last fall, that is, when the school's white elephant turned Into its biggest bonanza since the U.S. Army granted It the campus. Burlington Northern officials visited the school to inquire about hiring welding students to work at a nearby freight-car repair center now under construction. Railroad continued on page 13C 1U 1 rv rt By Dick Youngblood Staff Writer Burger King, a large Plllsbry Co.

subsidiary, was one of 10 major advertisers criticized 5y the American Medical Assertion last week for supportig prime-time television shows tht contain the most violence. The Florida-based fast-fod i chain made the list during a 1-week survey of prime-time piv graming that ended Dec. 5 -despite a new policy adopted Pillsbury in October to curb support of shows containing "excessive violence." Burger King Chairman Art feose- wall said in an interview last, week that his firm has! been faced with "sort of a logistical problem" because its advertising contracts for the present television season were signed last spring. i But he said Burger King's advertising agency was Instructed last October to preview episodes of shows on which the, company was to advertise to ensure that they did not violate the new policy. "It's obvious, however, that they weren't being careful enough, said Ted Carpenter, executive director of the National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting, the Washington, D.C., public-interest group that conducted the survey.

Burger King was ninth 'on the list of 10 large advertisers named In a statement Issued last week by the American Medical New York, N.Y. President Carter's first "fireside chat" to the nation did not exert much of an impact, generally speaking, on the stock market. But it did put a dent the next day in the shares of H. R. Block, the nation's largest preparer of federal income tax returns for individuals.

The stock dropped 2 points to 19 in response to Carter's pledge to simplify the income tax form. Specifically, Carter cited a proposal for raising the standard deduction, which most taxpayers already claim, on next year's tax return. "This will also be a major step toward tax simplification," the president said from a chair in the White House library, "allowing 75 percent of all taxpayers to take the standard deduction and to file a very simple tax return, quite different from the one you will file this year," At the company's home office In Kansas City, Henry W. Bloch, president and chief executive officer, is taking things in stride. For one thing, the 54-year-old executive has received assurances from his mother, Mrs.

Leon Bloch, who celebrated her 83rd birthday last week. "The morning after the Block continued on page 16C i Association (AMA), which heped finance last fall's survey of television violence. The' AMA said it was contacting the 10 firms to emphasize that "TV violence is a mental health problem" and to urge them to "recognize the medical aspects of your advertising program and consider its impact on society. "If the programing a child is exposed to consists largely of violent content," said AMA President Richard Palmer, "then his perceptions of the real world may be significantly distorted and his psychological development may be adversely affected." Rose wall said last week that he was "in complete accord" with the AMA's concern, adding that Pillsbury's new advertising policy would be applied "as hard as we possibly can" when contracts for the next television season are signed. He would be disappointed, he said, if there were not a dramat ic change in the line-up of shows on wnicn Burger King appears next fall.

Burger King Continued on page 12C I would like more information. Please send me a copy of the prospectus relating to Gamble-Skogmo Notes. Town. Tnese securities are available through OHerman a Co mc to residents ot Arizona Califor nia Colorado Illinois inaiana towa. Kansas rvuemgan Minnesota.

btasKa Nevada New York North Dakota. Ohio. South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.