The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 26, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 3, 1986 Page: 2 of 8
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PHARR PRESS
JUNE 3, 1986
PAGE 2
EDITORIALS /OPINION
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OVER THE EDGE
By Edwin Feulner
On December 4, 1985, Iowa farmer Dale Burr shot his wife, his banker,
and the tenant-farmer who rented eighty acres from him, before turning
the 12-gauge shotgun on himself.
News of the rampage startled the community of Hills, Iowa, where
the 63-year-old Burr had lived all of his life—and was spread across the
land courtesy of the evening news.
The media called Dale Burr’s deadly rage “a tragedy waiting to happen,”
implying that there were many more Dale Burrs out there in Farm America
anxiously waiting for the government to pull them out of their financial
difficulties. Farm activists echoed this line, predicting more “over the edge”
behavior unless Washington provided debt relief for economically ravaged
U.S. agriculture.
But an in-depth article in the May issue of Inc. magazine on what
really happened that cold December in Iowa’s Johnson County reveals that
the Dale Burr story is far more complicated than a simple story of hard
times, a cold-hearted banker, and a desperate farmer who lost control.
It also indicates what was obvious all along; that the federal government
cannot prevent tragedies such as these, no matter what it does. More on
that later.
According to the Inc. report, Dale Burr almost always kept to himself.
He was known for harvesting late and working alone. Even with a half-
million-dollar debt, Burr owned more than 600 acres, most of it inherited,
and would inherit another 120 when his mother died. He still had a positive
net worth and could have walked away from the farm a wealthy man,
had he chosen to sell.
People in Hills, Iowa, didn’t see Dale Burr as the typical embattled
farmer. His problem was simply one of poor management. As the Inc.
article explained, “It wasn’t just the unharvested corn under the snow or
the ramshackle bam; signs of sloppy operation were everywhere. The yard
by the shed, for example, is carpeted in com, spillage left on the ground
after hauling.”
One neighbor commented that he could make a living just on the grain
Dale Burr lost as a result of his sloppy operation.
And the supposedly evil banker? John Hughes, president of Hills Bank
& Trust, was no more the tight-fisted stereotypical banker than Burr was
the farmer. Not only would Hughes let you go the limit on loans, he
was one of the most caring lenders in the state, a colleague said. In fact,
bank records show that he had no intention of foreclosing on the Burr
property. The bank was even planning to finance Burr’s operational needs
for the 1986 crop year.
Why then did Burr’s wife tell her sister-in-law shortly before the
shooting that “They’re going to put Dale in jail.”? Why did Dale Bun-
think the bank was going to foreclose? Where did the half-million dollars
in borrowed money go? What pushed Dale Burr over the edge?
He wasn’t the only U.S. farmer confronting hard times. But maybe
Burr felt more powerless than most to do something about it.
This brings us back to the government’s role in the Dale Burr tragedy.
The conventional wisdom is that the government hasn’t been doing
enough to help U.S. farmers. In fact, the opposite is probably the case:
the feds have done too much, and that’s why so many farmers are in
financial trouble.
THE PHARR PRESS
The PHARR PRESS dedicates itself to report the items
of interest to the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area, as well as
tl mding communities. The S is
published every morning in Pharr, Hidalgo County,
Texas, by the Pharr Publishing Co., Inc. The offices of
the PHARR PRESS are located at 319 S. Cage, Pharr,
Texas. Mail can be received at P.O. Box 710, Pharr,
• Texas 78577-0710. USPS 429-660. Post Master,
please send form 3579 for change of address.
ARNOLDO MATA
Editor
PAT VILLARREAL
Advertising Manager
PETE ZUNIGA
Photographer
"UnVoxClamantisInDeserto”
JUAN CARLOS MORALES
Publisher
EDITORIAL POLICIES
The PHARR PRESS welcomes all comments
on its news stories, editorials, and general
content. We will gladly publish any guest
editorials on any topic, provided that they are
cleared for grammar, spelling, style, and libel
prior to printing. Please contact the Editor for
this.
The PHARR PRESS also welcomes any letters
or other written comments for our ”Speaking
Out” letters column. Such letters should be
brief and to the point. All letters will be
published as space is available and provided they
are signed, with a legible address, and telephone
number when possible. Unsigned letters will
not be considered. Please address all letters to
the Editor, PHARR PRESS, P.O. Box 710,
Pharr, Texas 78577-0710.
JOSIE MATA
Graphics
GEORGE WATTS
Sports
Lower Gas Prices May Hurt America In The
Long Run And Damage Future Production
GUEST EDITORIAL
By: Leonard G. Bower
Director of Policy Analysis
American Petroleum Institute
In Greek myghology, sirens
were sea maidens whose
irresistible singing lured sailors to
their distraction. For the United
States, today's siren call is the
current deluge of cheap oil. It
can lead the nation down a
dangerous course unless
Americans resist the temptation to
succumb to a false sence of
energy security.
Lower prices at the gasoline
pump are providing many
benefits to consumers, but that's
not cause for losing sight of the
need for U.S. energy production.
Today's global oil glut is a
temporary condition.
Complacency over current energy
supplies could lead to
government policies that slow
development of the United States'
petroleum resource base.
The United States could well
face another energy crunch before
the end of the century -- and quite
possibly within the next three to
five years. The decline in oil
prices is bringing drilling for new
U.S. supplies to a near-standstill.
The number of active drilling rigs
exploring the new U.S. oil and
natural gas supplies, which was
close to 2,000 at the end of 1985,
had dropped to 809 by the second
week of May; that was the lowest
weekly domestic rig count in the
past 37 years.
Not only are fewer new wells
being drilled; marginal producing
wells are being shut in -- many,
probably forever. Shut-ins occur
because the value of the oil
produced is not sufficient to
cover the costs of maintaining
production.
"Stripper" oil wells (producing
less than 10 barrels a day) are
particularly vulnerable. A survey*
by the National Stripper Well
Association earlier this year
indicated that about 100,000 of
the nation's 460,000 stripper
wells would be shut in at oil
prices of $15 a barrel or less.
This would reduce dortiestic oil
production by some 300,000
barrels a day. And, because
environmental regulations
typically require secure plugging
of inactive wells, it probably will
be uneconomic ever to reopen
most shut-in stripper wells.
Expert projections made even
before the recent prices decline
agree that, as the nation
approaches the year 2000, there
will be a steady increase in U.S.
oil consumption, an inevitable
decline in domestic oil reserves
and production, and a sharp
increase in oil imports.
The projections also agree that
oil output in regions outside the
Middle East will peak before the
end of this century and then start
to decline, while world
consumption continues to grow.
The recent sharp decline in crude
oil prices will accelerate these
trends. This will provide OPEC
nations around the Persian Gulf
with an expanding market for
their abundant supplies.
Estimates reflecting the
potential effects of oil prices on
production include the following:
* The American Petroleum
Institute (API) recently released
results of a survey which shows
drastic drips in petroleum
industry activity in the United
States if the price of oil fails to
rise above $15 a barrel by 1991.
At that price level, the survey of
U.S. oil companies indicates that
domestic production of crude oil
would be only 6,200,000 barrels
a day in 1991, compared to an
average of 8,900,000 barrels a
day last year. This would be a
drip of more than 30 percent. *
* If the price did not climb
above $15, which is slightly
higher than recent world prices,
the survey indicated that by 1991
natural gas production in the.
U.S. would be fropped 22
percent; exploration and
production expenditures by the
petroleum industry would have
fallen 54 percent; the toal number
of domesti wells drilled would
have declined by 59 percent; and
32 percent of all U.S.
petroleum-related jobs would
have been lost.
* The U.S. Energy
Information Administration, in its
latest Annual Energy Outlook-,
suggests that domestic oil
production could decrease by as
much as 3.8 million barrels a day
by 1995.
* A prolonged reduction in
prices would also encourage
U.S. oil demand. An API
assessment indicates that U.S. oil
consumption could grow to 23
million barrels a day by 1995,
more than 50 percent above the
current level.
Together, these possible
developments indicate that U.S.
oil imports could tripple to 15
million ban-els a day in 1995. By
itself—not counting increased
demand for oil in other
countries—that would sop up
OPEC's current excess
productive capacity. Based on
experience from the 1970s, the
stage would be set for another,
possible steep rise in oil prices.
All of this has serious
implications for U.S. energy
security and the nation's factories
and farms, which ran on energy.
This country will leave itself open
to grave economic and security
dislocations if it becomes >
unnecessaryily dependent on
imported oil. Domestic resources
have to be found and developed
in preparation for the time when
world oil dupplies will be much
tighter thean they are today.
However, as a mature
producing area the United States
will have to run fast just to
maintain current levls of domestic
oil production diraing the rest of
the 1980s, and to avoid a major
drop in output in the 1990s. The
United States will also have to
continue importing oil. but by
efficiently developing domestic
resources, the nation will be less
dependent than it otherwise might
be—and better prepared to
withstand another oil shock.
Long lead times are necessary
to explore for, discover and
develop oil and gas fields in new
areas. In the complex work of
petroleum exploration, the
industry cannot be turned on and
off like a spigot. A continuous
process must be maintained to
replace used-up reserves and test
new geological formations. The
only way to turn estimates of the
nation's remaining oil reserves
into reality is by drilling. And,
after new field is discovered, it-
can often take eight to eleven
years to develop it and bring the
oil to market.
Common sense dictates,
therefore, that the government
remove unnecessary restraints on
domestic energy production and
avoid new ones. Public policies
should allow oil companies to
explore and drill on onshore and
off shore government lands that
possess energy potential, avoid
discriminatory taxation of the
petroleum industry, and complete
the deregulation of natural gas
wellhead prices.
The year 2000 is now less than
14 years away. The nation is
closer to the 21st century than to
such events of the recent past as
man's first step onto the moon in
1969 and the world's first human
heart transplant in 1967. If
Americans want to strengthen
themselves against a new energy
shock before the end of this
century, they must realize that the
siren song of cheap oil today can
mean greater reliance on insecure
imports tomorrow.
Teachers Thinking Twice
About Staying In Field
AUSTIN—Four in ten Texas
teachers are seriously considering
leaving the profession; despite a
severe teacher shortage,
three-fourths balk at
recommending teaching as a
career; and almost one-forth of
the teachers moonlight to
supplement their salaries,
according to a teacher survey
released this week by the Texas
State Teachers Association.
The survey, "Moonlighting,
Salary and Morale: The Texas
Teachers' Story," has been
conducted every two years since
1980 to track die conditions of
teaching in Texas public
schools.
The survey was conducted for
TSTA by Dr. David L. and Karen
L. Henderson. Dr. Henderson is
a professor of education at Sam
Houston State Univeristy in
Huntsville. He teaches
educational research, computer
literacy, and teaching methods.
Karen Henderson is the
mathematics coordinator for
Hunstville Independent School
District.
Eighty-three percent are
dissatisfied with the career ladder
and the most common reason for
leaving is now working
conditions rather than salary as
found in the three previous
studies.
In previous surveys, "money"
was listed as the main reason for
leaving by 50 percent in 1982.
That number dropped to 17
percent in 1986. At the same
time, stress, burnout, paperwork
and administrative hassles has
risen steadily from 24 percent in
1982 to 68 percent in 1986.
Two-thirds of the teachers
support mandated negotiations
with the local school board.
The profile of the Texas
Teacher in this survey is 41 years
old, earns $24,601 after teaching
14 years and is married to a
spouse who also works.
A little over half of the teachers
surveyed support "no pass, no
play."
The 1986 Survey is the first to
reflect teaching conditions since
House Bills 72 and 246 were
implemented.
TSTA President Charles Beard
said the survey was "on target"
with the comments he has
received from teachers
throughout the state.
"The message is clear that the
Texas Legislature has to act in
this next session to reduce
paperwork and give teachers a
meaningful voice in local school
district policies, as they relate to
the teachers’ classrooms," Beard
said.
The Texas Education Agency is
predicting a shortage of 15,000
teachers when shcool opens next
fall.
IS YOUR CHILD’S
SAFETY SEAT
INSTALLED
CORRECTLY?
Your child’s safety
depends on your
willingness to use the
safety seat correctly
. . . following the
manufacturer’s in-
structions ... and to
use it every time
your child rides in a
car.
THERE'S ONLY ONE
WA Y TO INSTALL
A SAFETY SEAT.
CORRECTLY.
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Mata, Arnoldo. The Pharr Press (Pharr, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 26, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 3, 1986, newspaper, June 3, 1986; Pharr, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth866886/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Pharr Memorial Library.