AlO-tancaster.Farming, Saturday, October 11,2003 OPINION Trial Lawyer Industry Bigger Than Revenues Of Microsoft, Intel, Or Coca-Cola Editor’s note: We are a litigation-happy society, and this report proves it. This editorial is reprinted permission of the PMA Bulletin, published by the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, Sept. 29 issue. Website is www.pamanufacturers.org. A new study of the U.S. lawsuit industry reveals that total tort costs now exceed $2OO billion per year, or more than 2 percent of America’s gross domestic product. The report, which was released last week by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, extrapolates that as suming an average take of 19 percent in fees the nation’s trial law yers rake in roughly $4O billion per year. For perspective, $4O billion is double the annual revenue of the Coca-Cola company and 150 per cent of the annual revenues of Microsoft or Intel. James R. Copeland, director of the institute’s Center for Legal Poli cy, says in the study’s introduction “while our figures on the size of the lawsuit industry are estimates due to the industry’s lack of transparency those estimates are sparingly conservative.” Among the study’s other findings: • Even as the U.S. economy has stagnated and the stock market has plunged, the lawsuit industry’s revenues have continued to sky rocket: in 2001, the last year for which data is available, U.S. tort costs grew by 14.3 percent. • Over the last 30 years, tort costs grew at a compound annual rate of 9.1 percent; by comparison, the U.S. population grew by 1.1 percent annually, the consumer price index grew 5 percent annually, and the gross domestic product grew 7.6 percent annually during the same pe riod. The entire report is available online at www.TrialLawyerslnc .com. Saturday, October 11 New York State Boer Goat Show, Cornell University Livestock Pa vilion, Ithaca, N.Y., (315) 363-7545. Pruning of Woody Ornamentals, Lancaster Farm and Home Cen ter, Lancaster, 9 a.m.-noon, (717) 394-6851. S.E. Ohio Beef and Forage Field Day, Ohio Ag R&D Center, Cald well Branch, 8:30 a.m.-12;30 p.m., (740) 432-9300. Autumn Discovery Day at Ohio Ag R&D Center, Wooster Campus, 9 Editor: The Water Resources Planning Act requires the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to update Pennsylvania’s State Water Plan to determine how much water we have, how much we use, and how much will be available in the fu ture. There is no cost to you to regis ter or report your water usage. Pennsylvania’s water manage ment plan had not been updated in more than 25 years, and did not address which areas had crit ical water needs. Since 1900, resi dential water use has increased from 5 gallons to 62 gallons per person per day. Total water use in Pennsylvania has experienced drought conditions during 8 of the past 10 years. Act 220 requires all who with draw or use 10,000 or more gal- a.m.-4 p.m., (330) 263-3761. ADADC New Jersey State Meeting, 4-H Center, Bridgewater, N.J., 6 p.m., (973) 875-7445. York County 4-H Horse Club Benefit Horse Show, York County 4-H Center. Maryland Chapter of Walnut Coun cil Workshop, Tree Farm, Queenstown, (301) 972-0848. Anselma Preservation and Educa tional Trust Annual Membership Meeting, Mill at Anselma Visitor Center, 10 a.m., (610) 917-0447. (Turn to Page A 32) 7 --rik />■ ♦ Farm Forum ♦ « * *✓ v 1 V: %•& lons of water per day to register and then periodically report their water withdrawal and usage to DEP. Users of fewer than 10,000 gallons per day are asked to reg ister voluntarily, to help DEP get as complete of a water plan as possible. Reporting your water usage does not establish water alloca tion or withdrawal requirements. It is merely for planning purpos es, and does not give DEP au thority to regulate, control or re quire permits for the withdrawal of water. Furthermore, the Act expressly prohibits any require ments for metering homeowner wells. Public water suppliers, hydro power facilities and individuals who use or withdraw more than 50,000 gallons of water per day (Turn to Page A 32) To Carefully Feed This Year’s Corn Silage Each harvest season it is impor tant to evaluate the quality of your com silage and adapt your total nutrition program to balance what is coming out of your silo. This is especially important this year, when many farmers who normally use com binders harvested their com with choppers. Many of these machines were equipped with ker nel processors and it is important to understand that this will make very different silage than what you may have been feeding in the past. Lancaster County dairy agent Beth Grove reports that silage that has been chopped with a processor on the harvester has up to 7 per cent more energy than what is found in unprocessed silage. Stud ies have shown that cows fed pro cessed silage may increase milk yield by as much as 1-3 pounds per day. With processed silage you are THE RIGHT WAY TO GLORIFY GOD Background Scripture: 1 Peter 2:11 through 5:142:10, Devotional Reading: Galatians 5:16-25. It is difficult in our country for us to understand that historically the normal status of a Christian in society is that of an alien. That is how 1 Peter addresses his readers: “Beloved, 1 beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the pas sions of the flesh that wage war against the soul” (2:11). Although they may not use the term “alien,” other New Testament writers indi cate that the Christian is most like ly not to “fit in” comfortably in any society. The reason is not that Christians enjoy being outsiders and take a perverted pleasure in being re garded as aliens and exiles, but that invariably the gospel proves offensive to the ways of the world. Normally, the only way for Chris tians to get around this barrier is to talk about the gospel, but not do it. I think that all too often our society molds Christians in their values and actions and not the other way around. In as much as we do not stick out like “sore thumbs” in our daily world, it is pretty accepting of us. Lancaster Farming An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper • PDA Friend of Agriculture Award, 2003 • Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992 • PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000 • Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the Northeast Farm Communicators likely to see far fewer cobs left in the bunk and less grain in the ma nure of the herd. Hopefully, your processed silage was not cut too finely. Effective fiber is very impor tant in a ration with processed si lage. Grove cautions that, depending on your herd’s ration, you may need to cut back on energy from grain to prevent health problems. It may be necessary to adjust the amount of grain in the herd’s diet when feeding processed silage; too much energy/grain in the diet can cause acidosis, cows going off-feed, and laminitis. Grove reports one dairy farmer in Virginia who started feeding processed com silage several years ago was able to cut 3-5 pounds of grain out of his 23,000 pound herd’s ration. The total program included feeding more silage and roughage. Consult with your nutri tionist or dairy extension agent for suggestions on feeding this new crop. To Plant Cover Crops Most farmers need to empty their manure storage units during the fall season. This means these crop nutrients are applied to cro pland at a time of year when they are not needed by a growing crop. Therefore these nutrients are vul nerable to being lost to the environ ment because of soil erosion and leaching. Winter cover crops are a valu able tool farmers can use to pre vent this economic loss of valuable nutrients and prevent the environ mental damage also caused. If you are applying manure to crop land this fall, plan on planting a small grain cover crop such as rye. The rye will take up the available nitro gen and hold it in the plant, pre venting its loss to the water supply. If the rye is harvested the nutrients will be utilized as high quality feed. ‘Saving’ God! Christians in Africa and Asia, however, are much more aware that being a disciple of Jesus Christ means alienation. In both these continents, Christian values and behavior are much more likely to elicit condemnation, ostracism, and even violence. In Africa and Asia the only places in the world today where Christianity is truly growing being a Christian means sticking out, not blending in. Some Christians believe that we are called to be in continual battle with our society. It is assumed that they must “save” God from hea thens, agnostics, and atheists. Imagine worshiping and serving a god that has to be saved by his human followers! Is it arrogant to assume that human beings have the power to eject God from our schools, cities, and nations? And is it not equally arrogant to think that we have the power to put God back in those places? God does not need for us to go to court or take up arms to keep him in our society. Nor does God need for the govern ment to let him into schools. That is not to say, then, that the Christian is called to blend into our societies, but that the way of affec ting the milieu in which we live is by making the gospel work for all to see. Too often we fail in making our mark in the communities, not because the dice are loaded against us, but because we don’t live the gospel, either as individuals or as churches. We wouldn’t have to worry and argue about the consti tutional barrier between church and state if we really made our churches lighthouses instead of for tresses. If the rye is killed or plowed in the spring, the nutrients will become available to the following crop. The rye will also prevent nutri ent loss by slowing soil erosion. Rye can be planted as late as Novem ber, but the earlier it is planted, the more nutrients it will take up and the more yield it will produce in the spring. To Be Thankful For A Safe Harvest The volunteers who manned the Com Harvest Aid hot line and the Lancaster County farmers who were assisted by custom harvesters to bring in their storm-damaged crop would like to pass along their thanks to all who provided help. As of this writing there have been no machinery-related injuries, which is something to be thankful for considering the stressful condi tions during the harvest. The chal lenges included 24-hour operation, volunteers who do not regularly work together, sometimes muddy conditions, some operators with limited experience with large equipment, and a tangled crop. One man was injured critically in a fall and he and his family will appreciate your thoughts and pray ers. Since the silage harvest is nearly finished, the Com Harvest Aid hot line is no longer manned, but a voice mail is available if you have a request. The number for the voice mail is the same as the hot line, (717)768-4670. Quote Of The Week: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ” Albert Einstein Glorifying God How should we get the gospel across to the world around us? The writer of 1 Peter says, “Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” I’m not suggesting that Chris tians are not involved in doing “good deeds,” but that usually these are eclipsed by other images of the church that are hardly com plimentary to God. For Roman Catholics, the continuing headlines about abusive priests are what the “Gentile” public sees regarding Christianity. For Protestants, our squabbles over blessing homosexual unions probably outshines the good works our churches are perform ing. (Does the world conclude that Christianity is chiefly about sexual ity?) Yes, we are called by God to re sist the values and behavior of our societies, but we need to resist in the right way: “Maintain good con duct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God ” (2:12) and “Above all hold unfail ing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (4:8,9,11). Is that really the image that the world sees in us? Do we really glo rify God? Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 —by— Lancaster Farming, Inc A Stemman Enterprise William J. Burgess General Manager Andy Andrews, Editor Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers