Banner Graphic, Volume 18, Number 284, Greencastle, Putnam County, 9 August 1988 — Page 2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC August 9,1988

Passage of drought aid bill means relief for farmers

WASHINGTON (AP) With Senate passage of the $3.9 billion drought relief bill, the only suspense remaining about the measure’s final congressional approval is when it will happen. The Senate gave its assent Monday on a 92-0 vote. Just a few minutes earlier, the House cleared the way for expedited consideration of the measure, which could come as early as today. ‘THERE’S NO question about passage,” Rep. Kika de la Garza, D-Texas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said Monday. “It’s just by how many votes.” The measure the biggest

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federal emergency relief bill ever passed for farmers is aimed at the hundreds of thousands of farmers and ranchers who have been buffeted by one of the worst droughts in the nation’s history. Growers in the Eastern combelt and the Northern plains have been hit particularly hard. According to the Department of Agriculture, 43 percent of the country was suffering from severe or extreme drought in mid-July, the fourth worst percentage since the government began keeping the statistics in 1895. The highest measurement was made in 1934, when 61 percent of the nation’s

area was similarly parched. THE GOVERNMENT estimated last month that the country’s com crop will be down from a normal year by 29 percent, barley production down 42 percent, oats down 43 percent and spring wheat down 51 percent. The Agriculture Department has estimated that the government’s regular farm payments would be about $7 billion lower than expected this year not including the cost of this bill because of the drought. Supporters of the legislation say those savings will more than pay for the costs of the assistance. President Reagan is expected to sign the bill quickly. Department of Agriculture officials say they believe it will take about two months for the assistance to reach the farmers. THE LEGISLATION would let growers who lose up to 35 percent of their crops because of the drought keep the “deficiency payments” they have already received in advance. Normally, they have to repay the government if crop prices rise, as they have because of the drought. Farmers losing more than 35 percent of their crop would be entitled to an emergency payment of 65 percent of their expected federal subsidy or of the anticipated market price of the crop, up to SIOO,OOO. Those farmers, however, would have to repay their advance deficiency payments. Farmers would receive aid covering 90 percent of their droughtcaused damage for all losses they suffer beyond three-fourths of their crop. FARMERS WHO raise food animals, such as livestock and poultry, would get federal help in paying for up to half the costs of replacement feed bought during the drought if they normally grow their own. The dry weather has driven up the prices of grain that farmers must feed their herds. The measure would not provide assistance to food animal producers who normally buy their feed, rather than raising their own. The government would be allowed to sell its own low-cost feed to farmers, donate feed to producers unable to buy it and reimburse farmers for up to half of some of their feed transportation costs and their expenses for deepening their wells. DAIRY PRICE-SUPPORT levels would be raised in April through June 1989 by 50 cents, to sll.lO, for each 100 pounds of milk.

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A Soviet Blackjack bomber flies over the Kubinka airfield near Moscow during a recent visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci. The Soviet military unveiled its new top-secret

Computer to aid search for life

BALTIMORE (AP) Astronomers searching for radio signals from intelligent life beyond the Earth say circumstantial evidence is growing that humankind is not alone in the universe. Reports of the discovery of new planets and of the presence of complex organic chemicals on comets are “encouraging” Michael J. Klein, manager of NASA’s radio search for life, said Monday. RESEARCH ANNOUNCED at the International Astronomical Union’s 20th assembly last week showed the discovery of at least 10 planet-like objects in orbit of distant stars. Other studies showed that comets and cosmic dust particles contain the complex organic compounds that are thought to have been the chemical precursors of life. “That is the circumstantial evidence that life exists elsewhere,” Klein said. “We know now that the materials are there. It gives us a good feeling that we are on the right track.” Klein heads a project called the Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence, or SETI, that is planning to mount an intensified search for radio signals from civilizations that may exist on planets orbiting distant stars. PROGRAMS RUN by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Harvard University and others have listened for intel-

Teens make bad choices: survey

WASHINGTON (AP) Teenagers understand how AIDS is caught but don’t know how to avoid getting other sexually transmitted diseases. Many drink to excess, use drugs, eat badly, neglect to wear seat belts and ride with drinking drivers. A substantial number have seriously considered suicide. Those are the results of a survey, sponsored by health education groups and the Health and Human Services Department, which showed that teens often make wrong decisions about their health and safety even when they know better. DR. ROBERT E. WINDOM, assistant health secretary and head of the U.S. Public Health Service, called the results “somewhat dismaying.” “The results give us fresh insight concerning what our nation’s teen-

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bomber during the American defense chief’s four-day visit to Soviet military installations. (AP photo)

ligence-directed radio signals for more than 20 years, but only a small fraction of the vast universe and the many radio frequencies that must be monitored actually have been checked. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology for NASA, has proposed expanding the effort with sophisticated new equipment that would listen to tens of millions of channels at the same time. The equipment would be monitoried by a computer capable of identifying signals that could be sent by intelligent life. KLEIN SAID THE new equipment would be able to lode at 1,000 different stars that are thought to be similar to the Earth’s sun, locations that experts believe hold the best chance for the evolution of life. There also would be “whole sky survey” in many radio frequencies in which every portion of the heavens would be searched systematically. Searches in the past “have only scratched the surface,” said Klein. The new equipment would be 10 million times more thorough than present equipment, he said, noting, “In the first few minutes, we would be able to match all of the searches that were done before.” But even with the new devices, the job is immense, said Frank

agers know and how they act concerning health and sex-related issues but they also show that too many young people, even when they know better, don’t always make the right health decisions,” Windom said. A margin of error for the survey was not immediately available, said spokeswoman Lisa Clough, but about 11,000 eighth -and 10graders from a nationally representative sample of more than 200 public and private schools were surveyed. The survey, conducted in the fall of 1987, showed that alcohol and drug use continue to be problems among the nation’s young people. TWENTY-SIX PERCENT of the eighth-graders and 38 percent of the lOth-graders said they had had five or more drinks on one occasion during the two weeks preceding the survey.

About one in 10 adolescents said they had smoked marijuana during the past month, and one in 15 said they had used cocaine during that period. Most teens understand that acquired immune deficiency syndrome is transmitted by sexual

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Drake, chairman of a SETI committee of the astronomical union and an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz. “MANY PEOPLE THINK the project should succeed in the next year or two,” he said. “That’s probably not going to happen. The universe is so huge and the cosmic haystack so large, it will take us decades.” But Drake added: “The consequences of success are so great that it’s worth dealing with the problems.” The theory behind the SETI work is that because there are billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, the odds are good that the conditions that permitted life to evolve on Earth also exist elsewhere. If so, then intelligent life could have developed along the same lines as it did here on Earth. Civilizations that are equal to or more advanced than humankind would be sending out signals, just as occurs on Earth. The SETI project is looking for those signals. Klein said the federal budget now under consideration by Congress includes a $6 million appropriation for the enhanced SETI equipment. He said the total project would last 10 years and cost S9O million.

intercourse and drug needles. They know that condoms are effective in helping avoid AIDS and believe they should be used. But 47 percent mistakenly believe that there is an increased risk of getting AIDS when donating blood, and about half of the students are unsure or mistakenly believe that washing after sex reduces the chances of being infected. THE SURVEY NOTED that 2.5 million teen-agers are infected with sexually transmitted disease each year and that many teens cannot identify common early signs of the infections. A majority of those surveyed do not know that taking birth control pills is ineffective in avoiding such diseases. More than a third said they would not know where to go for medical care if they caught a sexually transmitted disease. Suicide is a leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24, the survey noted. Forty-two percent of the girls and 25 percent of the boys surveyed said they have “seriously thought” about committing suicide at some time in their lives. Nearly one in five girls and one in 10 boys responded that they have actually tried to commit suicide. THE SURVEY confirmed what many already suspected teens don’t eat right. Many of the teens said they ate foods high in fat and sugar or skipped breakfast. Sixty-one percent of the girls and 28 percent of the boys said they had dieted during the past year, and about half of the students who dieted used unsafe methods such as fasting. Others tried diet pills, laxatives or vomiting. About 56 percent of those surveyed said they did not wear a seat belt the last time they rode in a vehicle. About 44 percent of 10thgraders and 32 percent of eighthgraders said they had ridden during the past month with a driver who had used drugs or alcohol. And when they ride bicycles or motorcycles, 92 percent say they never wear a protective helmet.