Newspaper Page Text
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
It is a bad time for organic believers
By DENNIS T. A VERT
and ALEX A. AVERY
It's a bad moment for
believers in the mystical won
ders of organic and natural
foods. Deadly E. coli bacte
ria, lurking in spinach from
one of the biggest organic
farms in America, just killed
one woman and hospitalized
at least 29 other people with
kidney failure. In all, the
contaminated spinach sick
ened nearly 200, in at least
23 states and Canada.
Meanwhile, several
California kids are on kid
ney dialysis with permanent
organ damage from the same
virulent strain of E. coli
0157: H 7 after consuming
raw, un-pasteurized milk or
colostrum from the Organic
Pastures Dairy of Fresno.
Tragically, the victims
were all seeking greater
OIL
From page 4A
need to save a toad, a mouse,
a bird, a fish etc.”
It is time to put the wel
fare of the Nation ahead of a
toad, a mouse, a bird, a fish,
etc. Species have died off
and others have appeared
every year since the age of
life; the environmentalists
and the Democrats need to
get a grip and move on.
Also, the standard prac
tice of “leasing and paying
royalties” for the explora
tion and marketing of oil is
not going to help us solve
the oil crisis.
In case some citizens have
missed the dots, the owners
of our “home” oil well heads
IMPACT
From page 4A
costs associated with devel
opment and the demands
that arise from that devel
opment should be paid by
those demanding the servic
es and those providing those
services. He is correct that
all costs would eventually
be borne by the purchaser
and that is quite proper.
In the case of the city of
Perry, the number of already
approved subdivision lots
(and Perry seems to only
be interested in approving
PUD zoning) will outstrip
the additional wastewater
treatment capacity already
planned.
That cost is at $900,000
and is coming from SPLOST
funding. That means that
citizens, who may never
benefit from that expan
sion and who have not
requested Perry wastewa
ter treatment, are paying
for services on behalf of
developers who reap larger
profit margins from dense
ly developed subdivisions.
It is true that one of the
great costs associated with
development is the demand
for education for children.
Currently, the county pays $
10,000 per student per year
to provide educational ser
vices.
That means that a family
moving into the county with
two children will receive $
20,000 of services before
they pay the first property
tax payment to the county
and that will be woefully
short of the total value of
services they receive.
It should be noted that
residential development is
a money loser for govern
ments. (This is well docu
mented by UGA Professor
Jeffrey Dorfman in his
paper entitled “The Fiscal
Impacts of Land Uses on
Local Government.”)
Commercial and industrial
development provides a posi
tive cash flow to government
but, unfortunately, our devel
opment authority is unable
to bring new industry into
our county. Interestingly,
Bibb County seems not to
have the same difficulty.
Impact fees can provide
immediate cash to offset
the costs of development
caused infrastructure needs.
Further, there is no valid
study that shows impact fees
having a negative effect on
growth. Typically, a slow-
food safety and the promised
health benefits of vegetables
and milk produced the “old
fashioned way.”
Earthbound Farms, which
grew the contaminated
spinach, is being sued by
a shocked family of organ
ic believers in Ohio. Three
family members were sick
ened, and one daughter has
permanent kidney damage.
Earthbound Farms adver
tises that it sells “Food for
Life,” and says “It’s just
plain healthy to include lots
of organic vegetables in your
diet.”
That certainly rings hol
low today.
Now the farm’s parent
company has recalled huge
batches of spinach sold all
over the country under a
variety of labels.
“We will do whatever is
necessary to help protect the
sell the oil to our and their
own refineries at the “world
market” prices which are
not determined by actual
supply and demand as much
as OPEC production policy,
royalty payments, United
States government competi
tive interference, and pos
sible “off shore” collusion
by the oil companies. Note
there are no internation
al antitrust laws and our
“international” oil compa
nies can not only manipu
late any given “leased” oil
field throughout the world
to ensure the highest price;
they can “sell” the oil sev
eral times among wholly
owned or through other oil
companies foreign subsid
iaries; thereby increasing
the price before the oil even
ing of growth is associated
with the ebb and flow of the
normal business cycle and
decreasing demand caused
by other factors.
The Brookings Institute
performed an analysis of the
affect of Impact fees and
determined that the revenue
source is beneficial in many
ways.
Their Executive Summary
can be found at www.atwit
send.us and scrolling to the
bottom of the home page
and clicking on their study.
Mr. Evans feels that the
county commission race is
only about placing a candi
date on the commission who
is in favor of Impact fees.
Actually, there are many
other issues affecting the
race for county commission
er.
They include examining
implementation of a prop
erty tax freeze; no public
funding or assistance for
a conference or conven
tion center; providing more
code enforcement for the
county; halting the destruc
tion of private and public
waterways by development
that consistently violates
federal and state require
ments; requiring replanting
of trees cut for development
as a method of keeping the
county off the federal non
attainment list; providing
county-wide land use regu
lations to prevent commer
cial development encroach
ing upon quiet residential
neighborhoods (an end to
spot zoning and protection
of citizens’ privacy); placing
a commissioner on the com
mission who is not tied to the
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health and safety of the con
sumers,” said an Earthbound
spokesperson.
Does that mean
Earthbound will stop fertiliz
ing its leafy vegetables with
cow manure? Most conven
tional farmers fertilize their
food crops with “chemical”
fertilizer, and put their live
stock manure on feed crops
like corn.
Organic farmers reject
chemical fertilizer. Instead,
they compost raw cattle
manure for some weeks,
hoping that will kill any
dangerous organisms that
could contaminate the food.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
In the old days, when
organic produce came from
a few little farms, an occa
sional sick customer was no
big deal. Often, the victim
refused to believe organic
food could cause the illness.
leaves a foreign port or a U.
S. well head.
To the pseudo economic
gurus, I will point out the
demand is virtually un-elas
tic in the U. S. which means
“our” international oil com
panies can multiply OPEC’s
prices anytime they wish by
“intra” selling to one anoth
er off shore and point to the
“last sale” price paid by the
refineries as proof of “high
oil prices” and subsequent
high gas prices.
To resolve this competi
tive and pricing problem,
oil companies developing
our “public land” oil fields
should be wholly owned U.
S. companies and exclude
the current U. S. or other
“international” oil compa
nies.
real estate industry (three
members of the current
commission sit on boards of
banks that finance develop
ment and the commissioners
approve development) or any
other business interest that
might create the appearance
or actuality of a conflict of
interest; and many others.
By the way, the combined
governments of the city of
Columbus and Muscogee
County do not use Impact
fees to cover infrastructure
costs.
They use a percentage
of the ICC and currently
charge $ 50.00 a square foot
for a building permit. Hence,
a 2,000 square foot house
building permit would cost
$ 10,000.
Given opponents of
Impact fees argument that
an increased cost like that
would not be accepted by
consumers, it should be that
development in Muscogee
County has come to a halt.
It hasn’t.
Currently, there are 5,000
home sites approved for and
awaiting development.
The reason for that is sim
ple: Purchasers perceive a
value in moving to the county.
That would remain the case
in Houston County as well.
Oh, lest I forget, Muscogee
County is also under a prop
erty tax freeze and it hasn’t
affected the turnover of
housing units. It is amazing
what some governments can
do while others like Houston
County can only think of
reasons to do nothing.
David Wittenberg,
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But so many people now
believe the organic hype
that organic farms have got
ten big and corporate and
the manure-related consum
er epidemics make national
news.
Organic Pastures ironical
ly boasts that raw dairy foods
are an outstanding source
of nutrients and “beneficial
bacteria.” Unfortunately,
it’s also a source of danger
ous bacteria.
The organic dairy claims
“Raw milk strengthens the
immune system.” And that
organic raw milk has “many
enzyme-based pathogen-kill
ing systems.” Apparently
not enough of them.
“It has been theorized,”
says the organic company,
“that the combination of
grass feeding, no antibiot
ics used, no hormones, and
low levels of grain used in
All barrels produced by
these oil companies should
be sold to the U.S. refiner
ies, on a “cost plus” basis
(2-4 percent top price) over
operational and distribution
costs, regardless of the world
“market price”.
All refineries must buy
their total requirements
from the “public land” oil
companies, as far as “public
land” oil companies capacity
permits, before purchasing
oil from other world sourc
es and paying a 20 percent
transportation excise tax.
If “public land” well head
oil companies have excess
oil production capacity after
satisfying the oil refineries
requirements, the “public
land” well head companies
can sell oil in the world mar
Study finds HOPE has great impact
Special to the Journal
A new study by economists
at the University of Georgia
Terry College of Business
reveals that the lottery
funded HOPE Scholarship
has increased enrollment
at the state’s colleges and
universities, but its great
est effect has been on the
decision of where - rather
than whether - to attend
college.
The study, published in
the October issue of the
Journal of Labor Economics,
also found that the scholar
ship reduced the number of
Georgia students attending
out-of-state institutions,
has made Georgia institu
tions more competitive by
increasing SAT scores of
incoming freshman and
has increased the num
ber of students attending
historically black colleges
and universities.
“Before HOPE, only a
small fraction of college
financial aid was allocated
on the basis of merit and
most of it by individual
institutions,” said study
co-author Christopher
Cornwell, professor of eco
nomics. “But in the last
decade state governments
have established a range
of large-scale merit schol
arships, most of which
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the diet cause a change in
the cow’s immune system
and rumen. This change in
physiology inhibits pathogen
development in the (organic)
milk.”
That isn’t even a theory.
It’s a marketing lie, designed
to wring a higher price from
the consumer for a product
that’s condemned by health
authorities because of its
inherent dangers.
The FDA says drinking
raw milk is playing Russian
roulette with your health.
Such milk-borne diseases
as tuberculosis and undu
lant fever were epidemic in
the days before pasteurized
milk.
Now the E. coli pathogens
revealed the lie again.
The Sierra Club and the
Natural Resources Defense
Council are trying to blame
“factory livestock farms”
ket equal to perhaps 20 per
cent of the oil barrels sold
to U.S. refineries the pre
vious twelve months. Also,
the ownership of oil well
head companies, the refiner
ies, and the gasoline retail
ers should be entirely sepa
rate and the antitrust laws
among and between these
entities must be rigorously
enforced.
The Democrats have con
sistently stopped the “first
step” for our journey to oil
sufficiency.
The Senate Democrats
killed the ANWR oil explo
ration bill and Jim Marshall
followed Pelosi’s and the
Democratic obstructionist’s
policy against our oil inde
pendence by voting twice
against ANWR bills in the
have no means tests. Almost
invariably the model for
these initiatives is Georgia’s
HOPE Scholarship.”
Cornwell, along with
associate professor David
Mustard and former doctor
al student Deepa Sridhar,
compared enrollments at
Georgia institutions with
other states in the 16-mem
ber Southern Regional
Educational Board. They
found that between 1988
and 1997, the period imme
diately before and after
the HOPE scholarship was
implemented, freshman
enrollment increased by
2,889 students per year, or
15 percent. Viewed another
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MIL BBEWICTL, JR.
for the 0157 in the cattle
manure. But a recent Swiss
study found organic cows
have as much 0157 as other
cows.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture says it’s found
the deadly 0157 in every
cattle herd it’s tested.
Our objective should be to
get the manure away from
our food crops. Organic and
natural aren't safer, or more
nutritious: Just more expen
sive, and far more danger
ous.
Dennis T. Avery is Director
of Hudson’s Center for Global
Food Issues, where Alex
Avery is Director of Research
and Education. Alex’s new
book, The Truth About
Organic Foods, is due in
October from Henderson
Communications. Readers
may write them at Post Box
202, Churchville, VA 24421.
House. ANWR and per
haps other Alaskan terri
tory, is crucial to our oil
independence. Our Nation
should not require OPEC’s
benevolence for oil and I
do not understand why the
Democrats insist on sup
porting OPEC and a few
oil companies control over
the cost of our Nation’s oil
the energy. Then complain
about the results! It is time
for the Democrats to step up
and help solve the Nation’s
energy needs ... or get the
hell out of the way!
Bottom line, we need to
move on this issue, but not
in the “business as usual”
manner!
Roger Young, Warner
Robins
way, however, 85 percent
of HOPE recipients would
have gone to college even
without the scholarship.
When Georgia implement
ed the HOPE Scholarship
in 1993, one of its goals
was to increase retention
of the state’s best students.
The researchers found that
the scholarship reduced the
number of students leaving
Georgia to attend college
elsewhere by 560 students
per year.
Freshman SAT scores, a
measure of student qual
ity, increased by nearly
40 points statewide after
HOPE was implemented,
the study found.
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