Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Just when a person thinks he has heard it all, another item of news comes floating through the airwaves.

I think it was Fox News, which was doing another woe is the country piece, and the context of the story dealt with the fact that the “Depression-like” economy has now hit our college campuses.

Whenever I hear a politician or newsperson refer to conditions in America in the year 2008 as similar to the 1930s, I want to ask if any of them have ever read the classic novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” or, for that matter, most any literary effort involving the Depression years. The comparison is so removed from reality that is is probably not worth the mention but I did.

The gist of the news piece in question was that the economy is so bad, college students are being forced to cut back on the consumption of beer.

I'm not joking. Fox did a 90-second story on that topic, and at first I thought it was tongue-in-cheek, but that was not the case.

I suspect that there are those universities with a student population, when faced with gassing up the sports car, reducing the use of their cell phone, selling their laptop computer or, Lord forbid, cutting out a trip to the pub, would fret over a reduced amount of consumption.

All I can say is I'm glad I went to college when I didn't have a sports car, cell phone or laptop because my choices were easy. I didn't have to give up anything, if you get my drift!

In fact, I used the coin toss method for my choices. If the toss came up heads, I went downtown. If it was tails, I tried to find a date, and if the coin stood on edge, it was then that I would study.

I do have a bit of advice which would result in a bit of savings, and that is to fill that sports car with ethanol. As I write this column this morning, the difference between E-10 and regular unleaded is 15 cents per gallon.

Interestingly, as the price of fuel begins to drop, it is no longer a daily story, as it was on the way up. Sort of like the corn market. I'm not certain why a drop from $7 to $5 for a bushel of corn is not as important as it was when the price was advancing, but the food versus fuel thing has somewhat fell out of favor in most newsrooms.

I am watching to see if my 18-ounce box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes reduces in price as much as it increased when corn was going up. After all, is not the price of cereal directly related to the price of grain? Something to think about.

Speaking of grain and prices, if my dad said it once, he said it a hundred times, “Give us a little rain in Lyman County and we will grow crops with the best of them.”

As the Hank and Marie clan stood and visited during our annual trek to the Reliance Cemetery, always a part of our annual Woster reunion, all I could think about was what a difference a year makes, especially if it rains a bit.

Actually, that is the case in much of our state, especially the western half, which has, after several years of hard-core drought, received the kind of rains they wish for and so often lack in that part of the country.

Whenever I write about or verbally comment on the wonderful crops, it should always be added that our entire state benefits when our food producers harvest 60-bushel wheat or 150-bushel corn and that is magnified tenfold when the market price is better than average.

I must also add the required caveat, lets not get too excited until we have it all in the bin.

Regardless, as we wander through the summer of 2008, so far so good is about the best way to put it.

Regular readers of this column know that I try with every issue to remember and thank those who are serving in harm's way and the families who worry and wait their return.

I have had numerous letters, e-mails and comments thanking me for remembering, mostly from those who are waiting or have waited. I appreciate that a lot.

In fairness, there has also been correspondence from those who are unhappy with the “every issue” reminder and that is OK too. The freedom-given right to express opinions is what this country is all about and one of the reasons our military does what it does.

I want to expand just a bit on my thank you. It is becoming quite apparent that the efforts of those “who serve” are finally reaping some rewards in that most difficult arena and hopefully the world will benefit from our efforts.

Should we have gone into that spot in the first place? I'm not smart enough to know, but in hindsight, the answer would probably be no. There may have been a better way.

However, as Hank used to say about second guessing, “Boys, I ain't never been wrong the next day.”

Did our D.C. leadership mess up the effort for a couple of years? I strongly believe that we did, but again second guessing comes easy for people like me.

Should we continue in Iraq and Afghanistan? Here is where it gets problematic for most of us because we have no access to intelligence.

All I hope is that we do it right if we do. I also hope that if you know someone who served or is serving that you find a way to say thanks!

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