AlO-Lancastw Farming, Saturday, July 11, 1992
OPINION
Agencies Must Pay
Compensation
The U.S. Supreme Court recently ordered that a state regulat
ory agency must pay compensation to a private landowner for its
“regulatory taking” of his private land. The court ruling means
that if land use is regulated for the public good, the public must
bear the economic burden of restrictions, not the landowner
alone.
This decision reaffirms that property rights are guaranteed by
the Constitution. Dean Klechner said the ruling is “a clear-cut
victoiy for all Americans, including America’s farmers and
ranchers.
This is especially important in the way the restrictive wetlands
regulations are administered. In the future, regulators will have to
be very careful about what they decide is in the public’s interest.
If they decide to restrict property rights with regulations, they’ll
need to figure out how to pay for it.
In the past, farmers have been subjected to government regula
tions that diminish the land’s value and the ability of the farmer to
use the land. In some cases, the value of the land has plummeted
at the stroke of a regulator’s pen, leaving the farmer without the
resources necessary to earn a living and without the assets earned
over a lifetime.
Owners receive compensation when their property is taken
through eminent domain. Now compensation will be mandated
when private property is taken through regulatory action. We
applaud.
Farm Calendar
Pennsylvania Ayrshire Breeder
Field Day, Maulfair Acres,
Fredericksburg.
International Floriculture Short
Course, Cincinnati Convention
Center. Ohio.
Sunday, July 12
Exchange Group from Oklahoma
Arrives; Citizenship Washing
ton tours leave Lancaster.
Landisville Weed Science Field
Day, Southeast Pa. Research
Center, Landisville.
Pa. Purebred Dairy Cattle Associa
tion Judging Conference,
Clinton/Centre counties, thru
July 14.
Susquehanna Holstein Club bam
meeting, A 1 Longacres Farm, 8
p.m.
Derry Township Ag Fair, New
Derry, thru July 18.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Fair,
Pocono Downs, thru July 18.
Holstein Club Bam Meeting, A 1
Animal Housing Expo, Lebanon
Area Fairgrounds, thru July 15.
Weed Science Field Day,
Rockspring.
Lebanon County Ice Cream Day.
Ice Cream at the Park, Bland’s
Park, Tipton.
Woody Ornamental Plant Identifi
cation Course, Lehigh County
Ag Center, Allentown, 10
a.m.-4 p.m., repeats July 15,21,
and 22.
Focus On Tree Identification,
Farm and Home Center, Lan-
Animal Housing Expo, Lebanon
Area Fairgrounds.
Adams County Holstein twilight
meeting, Jeff King Farm, York
Springs, 7 p.m.
Lehigh Valley Beekeepers’ Asso-
'<* i-
ciation, Leser Lake, Jacksonvil
le, 7 p.m.
Dairy Twilight Meeting, Pleasant
Acres Farm of King family,
Bedford County Holstein Club
picnic. Marrtinsburg Memorial
Park, Martinsburg, 7 p.m.
Lycoming Co. Fair, Hughesville,
thru July 2S.
Summer Nursery Picnic and Edu
cational Program, Acorn Ridge
Nursery, Doylestown, 4
p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Northumberland County Wool
Pool, Furman’s Warehouse
(Old Freight Station),
Northumberland.
Pa. Young Fanners Summer Con
ference and picnic, Blue Moun
tain H.S., Schuylkill Haven, 8
a.m.-6:30 p.m., banquet at Blue
Mountain Banquet Hall, Sum
mit Station and July 18.
Farm Forum
Editor:
The description of the new state
budget as a Senate-amended
House version is misleading.
Make no mistake there were
three budgets before the Legisla
ture this year: a House version, a
Senate version, and the Gover
nor’s proposal. The budget that
was signed was written by the
Pennsylvania Senate.
The Senate version provided
the lowest funding for the Depart
ment of Agriculture, while the
Governor’s proposal would have
provided the most.
The Governor reluctantly
signed the Senate budget so that
the Commonwealth could operate
without disruptions. He used his
line-item veto power to scratch
.To Read
“The Covenant
Of the Wild”
Animal Rights continues to be a
growing movement in the United
States. Agriculture needs to deve
lop a positive response to this
movement
The book, “The Covenant of the
Wild” by Stephen Budiansky,
offers a very good essay on how
animals became domesticated and
how agriculture evolved. The
author used archaeological and
behavioral research data to deve
lop his thesis that animals chose to
be domesticated.
Budiansky takes a look at nature
and discusses man’s role in nature
and how the human-animal bond
evolved over time. He was bom in
Boston and was graduated from
Yale. Budiansky is currently a
senior writer for U.S. News and
World Report.
He became interested in the top
ic through his experiences as a
small sheep flock owner near Fre
derick, Md.
This book will give you good
insight to how agriculture evolved
and how man and animals benefit
from each other. Any major book
store will special order this book
for you.
To Be Prepared
For An Emergency
An emergency may strike at any
time. The difference between sav
ing or losing a life could depend on
how a phone call for help is made.
By your telephone, keep a list of
emergency phone numbers. These
numbers should be easy to read
and visible. Beside the numbers
1992 Keystone Chapter Soil and
Water Conservation Society
annual meeting, Penn State
Annual Menges Mills Historic
(Turn to Pag* A 36)
out $73 million in order to insure
that essential services could con
tinue and that a balanced budget is
maintained during these difficult
economic times.
There are many outstanding
issues left to be resolved, and the
Governor is asking the Legislature
to immediately begin work on an
acceptable supplemental spending
bill. The Governor’s line vetoes
make it possilbe for the Legisla
ture to correct the spending plan
without raising taxes. I urge the
members of (he House and Senate
to enact that supplemental budget
when developed.
Sincerely,
BOYD E. WOLFF
Secretary of Agriculture
should be written directions to
your home. Include address, land
marks, mileage distances, and road
names.
At the time of an emergency, be
emotionally prepared to give the
following information: 1. Type of
emergency. 2. Number of victims
involved. 3. Directions to the
emergency. 4. Treatment that has
already been provided.
Stay on the phone until the dis
patcher discounts. Today’s com
munication’s equipment, if pro
vided enough time, is able to iden
tify where a call is being made. If
the emergency site is isolated,
have someone meet the emergency
response personnel and direct
them to the scene. Make sure your
address is easily visible from the
road.
When seconds count, your abili
ty to call for help the correct way is
crucial.
To Attend Animal
Housing Expo
Are you thinking about build
ing, remodeling, or expanding
I AND NONE ELSE
July 12,1992
Background Scripture:
Zephaniah 1 through 2.
Devotional Reading:
Proverbs 14:26-35.
Unless you are partial to
cosmic-size “destruction deibys,”
the picture that the prophet Zepha
niah draws is not a pretty one. The
whole book bearing his name is
based upon his expectation of the
terrible “day of the Lord” which,
with the exception of a small
remnant, will bring universal
destruction: “I will utterly sweep
away everything from the face of
the earth,” says the Lord...” I will
cut off mankind from the face of
the earth’”(l:2,3)
There are lots of doom-laden
prophecies in the Old Testament,
but none more sweeping and
devastating than these by Zepha
niah: “In the fire of his jealous
wrath, all the earth shall be con
sumed; for a full, yea sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants
of the earth”(l;18b).
WORDS OF DOOM
What was behind these words
of doom? Zephaniah spells out
God’s judgment upon the morality
of all people in general and the
people of Judiah in particular.
There is a long catalog of private
and corporate sin: the adulteration
of devotion to God, the adoption
of pagan ways, rampant material
ism and greed, and galloping mor
al decay. Whenever people flaunt
their evil in the face of God, the
potential for the Day of the Lord
grows stronger.
At the hear of Zephaniah’s con
demnation. however, is the under
lying arrogance that characterizes
many of the people. This is not
just a matter of the corrupt things
they did, but of the sinful persons
they became. The key to all of this
is a disastrous pride. Some of
these people assume that their
financial wealth will exempt them
from God’s judgment. But God
says through Zephaniah: “Neither
their silver nor their gold shall be
able to deliver them on the day of
the wrath of the Lord”(l:18)
your animal housing facilities? Do
you have questions about storing
and handling feed and manure,
animal traffic and handling, ani
mal comfort, ventilation, or con
struction materials? Do you want
to know who the providers are of
various supplies and services, how
to get your plans approved, and
how to secure necessary funding?
If so, you will want to attend the
Animal Housing Expo, sponsored
by Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion and local agricultural indus
tries, onJuly 14and 15at the Leba
non County Fairgrounds. The
program will be the same each day.
Speakers will be discussing site
selection, remodel or build new,
environmental requirements for
dairy, swine and poultry, manag
ing manure, regulations affecting
animal housing, and what the
banker expects. In addition, there
will be exhibits and sample build
ings to visit. Plan to attend and
learn the latest in animal housing.
Feather Prof s Footnote: “It
takes months to find a custom
er . . . seconds to lose one."
What God is looking for is true
humility, not the arrogance he
finds at every level of society.
That arrogrance finds is ultimate
expression in these words: This is
the exultant city that dwelt secure,
that said to himself, “I am and
there is none else"(2:15). You
may have to read that a few times
to grasp its meaning. It is the ulti
mate of ego gone rampant It is
simply another way of saying: In
this world there is only one who
counts Me.
WHO IS SECURE?
Lots of people today believe
that and, to the best of their ability,
live it out in their lives. Not only
individuals, but groups can exhibit
this arrogance. Zephaniah men
tions ? whole city; “That is the
exultant city, that dwelt secure..”
(2:IS). There will be nothing over
which to exult on the Day of the
Lord and no one should be so pre
sumptuous as to feel “secure.”
God also despises the depreciat
ing remarks that are meant to
undermine his reign among peo
ple. “I have heard the taunts of
Moab and the revilings of the
Ammonites, how they have
taunted my people and made
boasts against their territory”
(2:8). Even the people of Judith
have made disparaging remarks
about God “those who say in
their hearts, “The Lord will not do
good, nor will he do ill” (1:12b).
These people of Judah think of
God as one who either does not
care or who is impotent to do
anything.
Actually, there are lots of us
today who, although nominally
Christian, take pretty much the
same attitude. We do not deny the
reality of God in fact, we might
be scandalized if anyone should
do so but we speak or act as if
God were of no consequence in
this world, as if sin will forever go
unpunished and without consequ
ence. That is truly the ultimate
blasphemy. Better to deny God
than to underestimate Him as if
“I am and there is none else.”
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stwnrrmn Enltrprkt
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copyright 1992 by Uncutor Forming