On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) i Joyce Bupp How lucky can one person get? My flood of good fortune arriv ed via the regular daily mail deliv ery, stuck between three bills, a cattle sale flyer, two magazines and assorted, paper-wasting, trash-can-feeder junk. But these weren’t “junk” pieces of mail. No indeed. Both my sources of wonderful luck were on official certificates, with fancy edging, done up in the style of a graduation degree. One was a “certificate of notification.” the other a “certificate of guaran tee.” Impressive, huh? The fanciest one stated in offi cial-looking print that yours truly is the “registered holder of this Certification of Notification,” which was coming by first-class mail no less. And drum roll; please as part of a national pro motion, I was receiving a “SPEC TACULAR 7 DAY/6 NIGHT DREAM VACATION” to Florida and the Bahamas. Hot diggety. Who couldn’t use a “spectacular 7 day/6 night dream vacation?” Plus, if I called within 72 hours, a bonus “mini-vacation, including 3 exciting days and 2 nights in Magical Orlando.” How could I pass this up? The call went through, amaz ingly, on my second try to the toll free phone number. What the • Agricultural • Commercial • Residential Partial In-Ground Tank Featuring Commercial Chain Link Fence (5’ High - SCS approved) • Retaining Walls • Bunker Silos • Manure Storage, Etc. LET OCR EXPERIENCE WORK FOR YOU-ESTABLISHED SINCE 1979! Sizes And layouts To Your Specifications We Work Hard For Customer Satisfaction! heck, it was lunch time anyway; hearing the rest of the story on this “spectacular vacation” might be entertaining. Across the table. The Fanner fixed a “What in the world are you doing now?” look on me. “Consumer research,” I ex plained. The perky voice at the other end went through a line of questions after pulling up my number on the computer, confirming my address. Was I married? Was my husband there? “No,” I lied, irritated to even be asked such an irrelevant question. “How’d you get my name?” She produced a vague response about random demographic selection re lated to purchasing power of hold ers of a couple of well-known, na tionwide, credit-card companies. This line went on for about six or eight minutes, with a pitch about the glorious Pompano Beach resort and all the enjoyable diversions offered by the cruise to the Bahamas, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc. Finally, the hook on the dang ling, baited fishline: “You can claim this spectacular vacation with the small promotional fee of only $199 per person ...” I hung up. Before she could ask for a credit card number. Now, on to the “Certificate of INC. 430 Concrete Ave., Leola, PA 717-656-2016 Study Shows More Kids Rely On Shaky Welfare System UNIVERSITY PARK, (Centre Co.) A Penn State study shows that rural and urban children are relying more heavily on a welfare system that’s doing little to relieve poverty. ‘The ameliorative effects of public assistance are not as great as people think,” says Leif Jensen, an assistant professor of rural sociolo gy. “Nonetheless, more so than urban poor children, those in rural areas may be going without bene fits they need and deserve, espe cially if we consider children as the innocent victims of poverty. “The welfare-policy debate Guarantee,” stating “One of the following awards is yours!” “AB SOLUTELY GUARANTEED ... for your participation in our National Promotion.” These awards included: A Jeep Wrangler or $lO,OOO in cash, $3,000 U.S. savings bond, a “World Class Vacation Adven ture!,” an entertainment system or $l,OOO in cash. Though I tried several times more consumer research the toll-free number was always busy. “If busy, keep calling,” it stated right at the bottom of my Certifi cate of Guarantee. Since they gave me only 48 hours, someone else has surely claimed my Jeep Wrangler by now. Too bad. But, this good luck must be hereditary. Just yesterday, our son related how he had been offered a free gift from a fishing magazine. And all he had to do was send in three bucks ... Authorized Dealer For KEYSTONE CONCRETE PRODUCTS • H-Bunks • J-Bunks • Trench Silo Walls • Hog & Cattle Slats needs to recognize that public assistance has always been more effective in relieving child poverty in urban than rural America.” Jensen and David Eggebeen, an associate professor of human development, analyzed U.S. Cen sus data from 1970, 1980 and 1990. Their study was published in the journal Rural Sociology. The researchers focused on poor families with children and found that the percentage of family income from parent’s earnings declined continuously since 1969. At the same time, the percentage of family income from public assis tance rose, even though the inflation-adjusted dollars received from public assistance declined. This pattern of rising reliance on welfare and declining reliance on parental earnings was seen among both two-parent and female headed families. The trends were sharpest in rural areas, although poor rural families continued to rely more on earnings and less on public assistance compared to poor urban families. The researchers say that rural poor children were less likely by about IS percent in each decade —to receive public assistance than their urban counterparts. Jensen and Eggebeen say that in 1990, 21.1 percent of rural child ren lived below the poverty line, compared to 18.2 percent of urban children. “An implication is that welfare is not as effective in rural Ameri- FISHER’S PAINTING & ' FISHER’S PAINT OUTLET STORE QUALITY PAINTS @ REASONABLE PRICES pblnt * ■ all types of interior & exterior up J PAINTING ■ SANDBLASTING ■ ROOF COATING ■ RESTORATION & WATERPROOFING ON STONE & BRICK BUILDINGS HOUSES? - BARNS - FENCES - FACTORIES - ETC. Specialists In Sand Blasting/Spray Painting Farm Buildings, Feed Mills, Roofs, Tanks, Etc. With Aerial Equipment WE NOW REPAIR SPRAY GUNS AND PUMPS 4056 A Newport Rd., Kinzers, PA 17535 717-768*3239 On Rt. 772 Across From Pequea Valley School 'Brush, %p[[ Or Spray ■ We U ‘Do It 'Either Way Jar Jobs Large Ot Small • Our Men Will (Do It MI Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 22, 1995-813 ca,” Jensen says. “Rural children are a group at higher risk of pover ty, yet their parents are underutiliz ing one of the main programs to help them.” the study also indicates that public assistance offers only mod est ability to improve the status of poor children, with rural young sters at a disadvantage. In 1969, for instance, 14.9 per cent of rural children with pre welfare income below half the poverty line were brought out of “deep poverty” when public assis tance was factored in, Jensen says. In contrast, the corresponding effect for urban children was 33.2 percent. The researchers say that their findings about the effects of public assistance suggest the need for strategies that improve employ ment opportunities for low income families. “Policies to increase job oppor tunities must include efforts to make work pay a living wage,” Jensen says. “Regardless of whether the minimum wage is raised, it should at least be pegged to the rate of inflation to keep pace with the cost of living.” The study suggests that employ ment initiatives would have mbit immediate and beneficial effects on rural poor children, Jensen says. Poor rural parents have a stronger attachment to the labor force com pared to urban parents, and there is evidence they are more likely to shun public assistance, he says.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers