Auburn University

Thursday, June 14, 2007

NOTE ON FORMATTING: When stories are transferred from the Web, certain punctuation marks and other marks in this report don't carry over and result in symbols and other formatting errors. To see or print the story in full without these translation errors, simply click on "full story" at the end of each item."
Total Clips: 10
Headline Date Outlet
RTS may get bus GPS 06/14/2007 Independent Florida Alligator, The
AU attracting more honor students 06/14/2007 Opelika-Auburn News
Patrick Lee grilled during high school journalism workshop 06/14/2007 Opelika-Auburn News
Leaders meet at AU over water supply 06/14/2007 Montgomery Advertiser
Fire ants: Get rid of these stinging pests yourself 06/14/2007 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
UA seeks 8 percent tuition increase 06/14/2007 Tuscaloosa News, The
Tagged: Specialty Tags More Popular Than Ever 06/13/2007 TimesDaily
Family Success Center targets relationship health 06/13/2007 Gadsden Times, The
Lake Martin residents aim to keep water clean 06/13/2007 Montgomery Advertiser
Weather observers offer glimmer of hope 06/13/2007 Southeast Farm Press

RTS may get bus GPS
06/14/2007
Independent Florida Alligator, The
Devin Culclasure

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**In this story, an AU student comments on AU's new Global Positioning System for buses.**

Allie Butterworth, an Auburn University senior, said she used to play a guessing game with her unreliable 7:30 a.m. bus. But after a Global Positioning System was installed to track buses, Butterworth said she noticed a huge improvement in service.

By spring 2008, UF students may enjoy the same luxury, said Jordan McBee, UF Cabinet secretary for Parking and Transportation.

The system would allow students to see the location of some Regional Transit System buses on a Web site or their cell phones, using a GPS tracking device, McBee said.

The buses might also feature a passenger counter that will show how crowded each bus is, but McBee said he's still working on those details.

Student Body President Ryan Moseley and Student Body Treasurer E.J. Walicki started looking into the GPS idea as soon as they came into office, McBee said.

McBee and Moseley met with representatives from RTS, UF Transportation and Parking Services and Sprint Nextel on May 30 to discuss the system, McBee said.

But the system is still in the planning stage.

He said he plans to weigh proposals from Sprint Nextel and TransLoc Inc.

McBee said he hopes to meet in the next month with TransLoc Inc., who supplied the systems to Auburn University, North Carolina State University, Emory University and Yale University.

He said he should know within the next month what buses will carry the system, how long it should take to implement and how much it will cost.

Early estimates put the price at $10,000 to $15,000, he said.

McBee said the system could save students 10 to 15 minutes of waiting and allow them to wait somewhere safer than the street for hourly buses, he said.

It could also help RTS decide where it should assign resources, he added.

Jesus Gomez, RTS transit director, said that that GPS is only a small part of RTS's plan to implement technology on buses.

According to RTS records, other projects include adding improved radios, surveillance equipment and computer software to RTS buses over the next five years.

Butterworth said the system should also help UF students because it keeps bus drivers on time and away from unscheduled breaks.

"The whole system was completely unreliable before," Butterworth said. "Now it's pretty cool to see when and where the bus is coming."
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AU attracting more honor students
06/14/2007
Opelika-Auburn News
Amy Weaver

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Auburn University wanted more high-achieving students and now they got them.

The Honors College at AU is expecting more than 450 incoming freshmen in August. That’s at least 250 more students than the previous high of 254, according to the college’s new director Dr. Jim Hansen.

Hansen, who is also a professor of history, attributed the significant increase to an initiative started by the Board of Trustees last fall to admit more of Alabama’s brightest students. With the support of President Ed Richardson, AU’s scholarship fund for the 2007-08 academic year rose to a school record $15.5 million, including more than $2 million for the state’s top high school students.

Besides the new merit-based Spirit of Auburn Scholarship Program, Hansen said AU, including the Honors College, increased its recruiting efforts around the state.

The effort worked as 1,288 students were named Spirit of Auburn Scholars, including 184 Presidential Scholars. In addition to tuition for four years, those scholars are awarded a one-time $1,500 technology allowance and the Auburn Academic Guarantee, which includes automatic admission to the Honors College and an enrichment experience valued at $4,000 during their junior year. A number of Founders (541) and University Scholars (563) may have also met the requirements and have been offered admission to the college, according to the Scholarship Office.

With about 1,050 students in total, Hansen said the Honors College is still a small fraction of Auburn’s roughly 23,000 total population. AU’s Honors College is still smaller than other Southeastern Conference schools and land-grant institutions, according to Hansen, but it’s much larger than the 3.2 percent it used to be.

“We were a very small honors college,” he said. “But now we are going to be a bit bigger.”

The growth may not be big by some proportions, but Hansen said it was enough to deny some students a room in the honors dorm at the Quad Residence Halls this fall. Hansen, who has only been director since August, but teaching honors courses for 20 years, said it’s too early to gauge what future enrollments will be like and how it will impact housing and curriculum.

“As long as the university is going to sustain this new scholarship program, maybe the level we are at now is the level we need to maintain,” he said. “No matter what, we need to offer a quality product.”

That’s where Hansen came in. As director, it became his mission to ensure the college could deliver everything its students would expect. He instituted some changes to the curriculum, including adding more sections of current honors courses and adding some new ones.

“We hope this will satisfy not only the incoming class, but the class that’s already here,” he said.

Although the vast majority of honors courses are attended entirely by honors students, Hansen said he developed a hybrid version where honors and non-honors students take the same class together, but the honors students have slightly different objectives. The concept will be tested in six courses this fall.
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Patrick Lee grilled during high school journalism workshop
06/14/2007
Opelika-Auburn News
Bever Harvey

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Auburn University senior defensive back Patrick Lee was a bit nervous heading into a press conference held on campus Wednesday.

Lee wasn’t sure what questions he would face from the group of new faces sitting in the AU Sports Complex auditorium.
This time it wasn’t a postgame interview before members of the media he was attending. Instead, it was a mock press conference held during the sports information session of the fifth annual AU Department of Communication and Journalism’s High School Journalism Workshop.

The free workshop, coordinated by co-directors Dr. Jennifer Adams and Assistant Professor Nan Fairley, provides up to 20 high school students the chance to experience journalism and other communication-related fields firsthand.

This year, students enrolled in the weeklong program come from across Lee County and other cities in Alabama, as well as from Georgia, South Carolina and Maryland.

So far, students attended a crash course in writing, editing and design and photojournalism.

They also met the members of the staffs at the AU newspaper The Auburn Plainsman, Opelika-Auburn News, The Corner News and WRBL. The sports information session Wednesday was led by AU Department of Communication and Journalism Program Director Dr. John Carvalho, who gave students tips on how to conduct interviews and approach their subjects.

Start with the easy, noncontroversial questions first and end with the tougher ones, Carvalho told the workshop attendees. And leave out your opinions, he added.

The key to being a successful sports writer, Carvalho said, is to remain objective and to maintain professional distance from the people you interview and get to know on your job.

“Be careful getting too close to the athletes you cover,” Carvalho said, who has worked as a magazine sports writer. “You’re there to represent the fans, but you’re not there to be a fan. Don’t be a cheerleader. That’s not your job.” Good sports writers tell readers something they didn’t know about an athete, Carvalho said. “For me, as a journalist, I enjoy articles that let me really get to know something different about an athlete not only on but off the field,” he told the students.
Students in the workshop were given articles and AU media relations information about Lee before the mock press conference. They came ready with questions for the fifth-year AU football player, who now attends graduate school at the university.

They asked Lee everything from what he does before games - he buys sour worms at a gas station in LaGrange, Ga., and eats them on the AU bus on the way to the Tiger Walk.

To who the toughest receiver was to cover on the team and during games - AU’s Rod Smith and Louisiana State University’s Craig Davis. “He put me on my heels one time,” Lee recalled about Davis, adding, “I need to get him back for that.”

Several of those who are attending this year’s journalism and communication workshop also participated last year, including Kendarius Porter, a rising senior at Loachapoka High School and Alex Klingelhoeffer, a rising senior at Severn School in Severna Park, Md.

“I think I was much more comfortable this year, having done it before,” said Alex, who is interested in becoming a sports writer for print media. “The most fun has been getting to know people and experiencing different lifestyles and different ideas.”
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Leaders meet at AU over water supply
06/14/2007
Montgomery Advertiser

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Scientists, industry leaders and government officials will gather today and Friday at Auburn University to seek solutions to growing problems with the availability, quality, protection and utilization of the nation's water supply.

The conference, "Bridging the Gap Between Science, People and Policies," will examine the impact of water resources upon individual health, food production, homeland security, economic growth and recreation.

For more information, call the AU Water Resources Center at 334-844-6147.
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Fire ants: Get rid of these stinging pests yourself
06/14/2007
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Annie Addington

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**Kathy Flanders, ACES extension entomologist and associate professor of entomology and plant pathology at AU, is quoted in this story.**

Since they were introduced from South America into Mobile, Ala., more than 75 years ago, imported fire ants have steadily spread through the Southeast and parts of the Southwest.

The little pests, with their ruthless stings, have become ubiquitous throughout Georgia and Alabama, and entomologists and extension agents say there's no getting rid of them now.

But if you have fire ants in your own backyard, they're actually much easier to control using do-it-yourself methods than some other varieties of non-stinging ants -- like the Argentine ant, which forms larger colonies with multiple queens.

Still, because fire ants are aggressive and likely to attack in numbers, injecting venom that leaves behind pustules or blisters at the sting site, they are hardly welcome backyard guests.

The first step to controlling them is, of course, identifying them. Georgia and Alabama play host primarily to red imported fire ants and to a hybrid of the red and the black imported fire ant. But rather than looking to coloration or size, which vary among worker fire ants, watch for their fluffy mounds, which often pop up after a heavy rain, and their stinging habits as their signature characteristics.

"There are a few other ants that we have in the southeast that can sting, but they are nowhere near as common as the fire ants," said Kathy Flanders, extension entomologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and associate professor of entomology and plant pathology at Auburn University. "So if you find ants that are building large mounds and that sting and have different sizes of workers, chances are that you've got imported fire ants."

But hosting a few mounds in various corners of your landscape isn't necessarily cause for alarm. Flanders and Russell County extension coordinator Ted Gilbert both recommend leaving fire ant hills alone if you just have a few, they're not bothering anyone and no one in your family is allergic to the sting. It's better, they say, to avoid applying chemicals to your lawn for what may only be a temporary solution to the problem -- since winged queens can fly back to the property and recolonize in a matter of months.

Control strategies

But if you're feeling plagued by fire ants in the home landscape, now may be the time to take action. In general, June and October are the best months for applying baits, Flanders said, because by these times most of the spring or fall mating flights have already occurred.

For homeowners with a significant number of fire ant hills, experts like Flanders and Gilbert endorse a two-part method of control.

First fire ant bait is broadcast, according to product recommendations, across the entire yard. Worker ants out foraging for food will bring the bait back to the nest. Then a few days or weeks later, a follow-up contact insecticide or bait is applied to any remaining nuisance mounds.

"What really frustrates people is when they try to control ants solely using individual mound treatments," Flanders said. "If the queen isn't killed the mound pops up again a few feet away, as the colony relocates. And colonies that hadn't built a mound would be missed because they were not treated."

Under the two-step method, though, fire ants will be controlled for four to 12 months, depending on which bait is used, with little or no environmental impact on non-target organisms, Flanders said.

The cost of various fire ant control products varies widely, and the most expensive products aren't necessarily the best, she said.

The strongest chemicals also may prove less effective in the long run.

"The slow-acting baits provide longer lasting results because they can reach a larger number of ants," said Gilbert, who will coordinate a fire ant control demonstration in Phenix City's Southside Park on June 28.

Some homeowners opt to leave all pest-control problems, including fire ants, to the experts.

Difficult to control

Justin Knox, vice president of operations for Knox Pest Control, said that a little more than half of the pest control calls Knox receives are about Argentine ants, pharaoh ants or fire-ants -- but the vast majority of those calls are about Argentine ants, which prove much more difficult for homeowners to control without professional help.

Fire ant control is a manageable do-it-yourself project, Knox said, provided you're willing to invest a little time and research in the effort.

Because fire ants can only be controlled and not permanently eliminated, it pays to understand a bit about their biology. One reliable resource is eXtension's Imported Fire Ants Web site (+ants), which was launched at the Annual Imported Fire Ant Conference, which both Flanders and Gilbert attended in late April in Gainesville, Fla.

According to the eXtension Web site, the above-ground mound that you may see in your yard is just a small part of a fire ant nest. The below-ground portion of the colony can extend 1 to 3 feet deep. Fire ants can move their nests both horizontally and vertically to regulate temperature and moisture conditions.

Ants on the move

This is why fire ant hills seem to pop up out of nowhere after a heavy rain: The ants are working to move away from excess water in their tunnels.

And you're more likely to see those tell-tale mounds if you live in a new neighborhood or a rural area, Flanders said.

"If someone has built a new house out in the country and they have five acres of pasture around, that would be very good source for queens to come flying in," she said. "New neighborhoods tend to have lots more fire ants than older, more established neighborhoods that tend to have more other varieties of ants that compete with the fire ants."

If you are trying to control fire ants in your yard, your ultimate target is the queen. A queen can live for seven years and produce as many as 1,000 eggs per day, according to eXtension.

Worker ants -- which build the mound, care for the queen and brood, defend the colony and forage for food -- generally live for just 60 to 90 days. But it is the worker ant that will most likely carry any bait dispersed across your lawn to the queen.

Still, even if you succeed in killing a queen and eliminating one colony of fire ants, you're likely to be revisited by the pests some time in the future. That's because winged male and female fire ants go on mating flights, usually when temperatures are between 70 and 95 degrees. The female lands, breaks off her wings and searches for a place to establish a new colony.

Since newly mated queens can often fly long distances, even recently treated landscapes can be reinfested. And a recently treated yard can make the perfect landing spot. In a fire-ant-infested area, fire ant workers from local colonies can kill more than 99 percent of new fire ant queens, so a queen is most likely to succeed in an area where all the other fire ants have been eliminated.

Don't take action

That -- in combination with the potentially negative environmental and health effects of applying insecticide to your yard -- is part of why Flanders recommends against taking action against a few fire ant hills that aren't particularly problematic.

"You can get rid of the ants in your backyard but these winged queens are eventually going to fly back in and reinfest the area," she said. "If you don't have many of them in the yard and they're not bothering you then the best thing to do is to just do nothing."

While homeowners are tackling fire ant problems one yard at a time, scientists are working to keep fire ant populations in check across much broader geographic regions.

Death by decapitation

Gilbert said one biological enemy that has been released as a means of fire ant control in Alabama since 1998 is the phorid fly, a gnat-sized South-American insect sometimes called a decapitating fly because of its gruesome method of laying eggs inside fire ants. The developing maggot burrows into the fire ant's head and eats the inside of the head, until the head falls off and a new phorid fly emerges -- and the cycle of egg laying and decapitation begins again.

The flies, which have also been released in Georgia, are gradually spreading on their own, but they are not commercially available to homeowners hoping for some immediate fire ant control.

The best biological control method for fire ants, according to eXtension, is to preserve native and exotic species that compete with them for food and nesting sites. And limiting use of insecticides can help keep those native ant populations healthy.

"The more natural enemies we have that attack fire ants, hopefully they will become less competitive and other kinds of ants will co-exist with them and help keep their numbers in check," Flanders said.

"We're not going to ever eradicate them but we hope these natural enemies will reduce the overall level of fire ants."

IF YOU GO

What: Fire ant control demonstration

When:10 a.m.June 28

Where: Southside Park (on Sandfort Road) in Phenix City

Details: Russell County extension coordinator Ted Gilbert, along with other extension agents, will provide information about fire ants and tips on fire ant control and do a demonstration of how to apply fire ant bait.

Cost: Free

More information: 334-298-6845

YOU HAVE FIRE ANTS IF...

They build a mound of fluffy, worked soil, particularly a few days after a heavy rain.

The mound has no opening in the center like most ant mounds, because imported fire ants leave and enter the mound through underground tunnels.

They are small, only about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, and vary in size. Many other ant species are uniform in size.

They are aggressive compared to other ant species. If a mound is disturbed, usually hundreds of fire ant workers will swarm out and run up vertical surfaces to sting.

Source:
+ants

FIRE ANT FACTS

** Most people who are not highly allergic to fire ant stings develop welts and pustules. Fire ant stings can be fatal to those who are severely allergic. Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction include excessive swelling, itching, shortness of breath, thickening of the tongue and sweating.

** Although fire ants do prey on flea larvae, chinch bugs, cockroach eggs, ticks, and other pests, the problems they cause usually outweigh any benefits in urban areas.

** A secondary effect of fire ants is the misuse or overuse of insecticides applied in an attempt to reduce their populations. This can lead to surface runoff water contamination.

** A fire ant queen can live for 7 years and produce as many as 1,000 eggs per day. A mature colony can contain up to 400,000 sterile female worker ants. Worker ants build the mound, care for the queen and brood, defend the colony, and forage for food.

** Fire ant control products are often criticized because they control fire ants for a while, and then the fire ants come back. This is because there will always be new, winged fire ant queens looking for somewhere to start new colonies.

S ource: +ants

Endit

Contact Annie Addington

at 706-494-6663 or

Copyright © 2007 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
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UA seeks 8 percent tuition increase
06/14/2007
Tuscaloosa News, The
Jones, Adam

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Click here to enlarge. As expected, University of Alabama administrators will ask trustees Friday to raise tuition for the coming academic year.

The proposed rate increase of 8 percent for all students and more for those in the UA School of Law is expected to add $10.7 million to university coffers."This increase allows us to build our infrastructure and attract the resources needed to provide a high quality of education and fulfill our mission,' said Cathy Andreen, UA spokeswoman.

For two semesters with a full-time course load, a student from Alabama would pay $5,700, up $211, if the increase is approved by trustees. Students from outside the state would pay $16,518, up $612.

In-state law students would pay $11,190, close to a 15 percent increase, under the plan while out-of-state law students would pay $22,170, an 11.4 percent increase.

President Robert Witt has said that annual tuition increases, coupled with more money from state taxpayers, sustains momentum gained under his plan to increase enrollment, the number of high-achieving students, research and UA's rank among the nation's universities.The university will get almost to 16 percent more, or $26.8 million, from the state education trust fund in the next fiscal year.

In the past four years, UA's state allotment has increased 56 percent from $126 million to the $197 million approved a week ago.

If trustees approve the tuition increase, UA will remain less expensive than Auburn University in cost for Alabama residents.In April, Auburn's trustees approved a 5 percent tuition increase, meaning that students will pay $5,834 this fall. But with a tuition of $16,334 for two semesters, out-of-state students at Auburn will pay less than their UA counterparts. Click here to enlarge. UA is less expensive than several southeastern schools in the U.S. News & World Report's annual list of top 50 public institutions, including Clemson University and the flagship institutions in Texas and Virginia, according to data supplied by the university.

However, UA costs more than the universities of Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, as well as Georgia Institute of Technology."Our tuition levels are below most of our peers, and students and parents continue to see the value of an education at the University of Alabama,' Andreen said, citing a record number of applications and climbing enrollment.

The past few years, the tuition increase has been coupled with an employee pay raise, and that should hold this year.

However, because of delays in the Legislature, UA administrators finished presentations and papers explaining tuition and predicted budget changes later than normal and were not available Wednesday, said Kellee Reinhart, UA System spokeswoman.

Reach Adam Jones at adam.jones@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0230.
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Tagged: Specialty Tags More Popular Than Ever
06/13/2007
TimesDaily
Michelle Rupe Eubanks

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**AU license plate sales are mentioned in this story.**

David Harris is passionate about taking his two sons fishing, so much so that he was willing to buy a specialty car tag to support the statewide initiative.

But with a third child to care for, the cost to fund his passion was prohibitive.

At $50 a pop for Harris' specialty tag and his wife's Choose Life tag, Harris chose to downsize to the standard plate when he renewed his tags at the end of May.

"We feel strongly about these causes, and we'll probably renew them next year," Harris said. "But, right now, we need the money for other things."

With more than 50 choices for specialty tags, from supporting the arts to supporting the Cahaba River Society, drivers in Alabama can show their allegiance to any number of causes.

Couple these tags with the growing number of generic tags that owners can purchase a decal for, and the list keeps growing, all the while generating thousands of dollars for their individual causes.

Lauderdale County License Commissioner Mickey Haddock stops short of saying that there are too many choices, but "it probably means some of these causes get less money."

Getting a designated specialty tag is no easy task for an organization. After years of going through a legislative process, groups must appeal to a legislative oversight committee, of which Haddock is a newly minted member.

"There are organizations out there that warrant these tags," he said. "Ovarian cancer is one that's trying, and, of course, the money would go there, but there are others who will apply who I don't think warrant a plate. NASCAR drivers' tags come to mind."

There are two categories of plates in Alabama.

One is generic tags for which the organization has guaranteed to the committee a sale of 250 tags statewide at $50 each. These tags have a space for a decal in support of the organization.

Square dancers and letter carriers are two plates in this category.

The second category is for a designated plate and requires the sponsoring organization to sell 1,000 tags at $50 each to qualify for the state to print it. In this group are the Forever Wild and Agriculture tags.

The organizations have a year to meet their goal, and, if they don't, Haddock said they can always try again.

Regardless of the tag, $41.25 of the $50 price goes to the organization. The remaining money is divided among the Alabama Department of Corrections for manufacturing the plates, the Alabama Department of Revenue, county licensing officials and the Penny Trust Fund.

Haddock said a breakthrough in specialty tags took place when the state gave the go-ahead to develop and sell university tags.

In the years since, the University of Alabama and Auburn are now getting more than $2 million each year for sale of their specialty plates.

Of the 26 state-run colleges and universities in Alabama, the University of North Alabama comes in 13th among tag sales.

"We've set up an endowment to let the earnings accumulate," said Steve Smith, UNA's controller. "We've been earning well, but we reached a point where we were able to perpetuate (the fund) in case something happened and no one bought the tags."

Even with the plethora of specialty tags available -- more than 80 -- personalized tags are by far the most popular, bringing in more than $29 million in the past 12 months. All of that money goes straight into the state's general fund budget.

Helping Schools tags are also popular among motorists.

Becky O'Kelley, of Killen, upgraded her standard plates to the Helping Schools tag because the $15 for it goes directly back to the district she chooses to support.

"I've got two grandkids in Lexington Schools, and they need all the help they can get," she said. "Right now, $50 is too much, but I'd rather my money go to the schools."

Perhaps the most popular tag, however, has been the God Bless America tag, a tag developed by state Rep. Ken Guin, D-Tuscaloosa, and an option for motorists who want an upgrade they don't have to pay for.

"A lot of people coming in to renew their tags are getting the God Bless America tags," said Emily Pressley, an assistant chief clerk in the Colbert County Probate Judge's office.

In fact, the tag has been popular across the state, and local offices are already into a third shipment of the tags.

Sherri Phelps, in the state controller's office, said the tags are free to consumers as a standard plate because they have allowed the Department of Corrections to test the new digital equipment that creates the flat imprint of letters and numbers across the metal.

One downside, however, is that they can't be personalized.

"Tags are good for five years, and the next plate will be released in 2009," she said. "We have an extra year on the standard plates so we could save money for the digitizing equipment."

Although Phelps said she's unsure what the tag will look like, she's fairly certain it will have the state's signature "Heart of Dixie" motto embedded in a small red heart, a tradition that began in 1955.

Staff Writer Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@timesdaily.com.
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Family Success Center targets relationship health
06/13/2007
Gadsden Times, The

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**This notice of a program kickoff mentions that the program began with an $8.2 million federally funded grant to Auburn University.**

The Family Success Center will have a kickoff Friday for a new program called the Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative.

The program began with a federally funded grant, written by Auburn University.

The Family Success Center is one of seven sites in the state that received a portion of the $8.2 million grant.

"The point is to provide educational classes for the community," said Alicia Harrell with the center. "Family is the key to a healthy community and healthy children."

Six free programs are being offered to address the needs of various types of relationships.

The programs target all ages, from the "Relationship Smarts" class for teens to the "Mastering the Magic of Love" class targeting married or pre-married couples.

The Family Fun Day and Kickoff will be at the community park on the corner of South Ninth and East Chestnut streets.

The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Admission is free.
Call Harrell or Tony Horn at 547-6888, ext. 109.
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Lake Martin residents aim to keep water clean
06/13/2007
Montgomery Advertiser

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**This story cites AU as helping to conduct chemical and biological tests on the lake water and to monitor water quality.**

When Dick Bronson and his wife searched for a second residence that would eventually become their retirement home, they had only two requirements: They wanted warm weather and to be on a lake.

The fresh, clean water of Lake Martin lured the Michigan natives, who had traveled the world when Bronson was in the Army, to Alabama, and more specifically, to Lake Martin.

Ever since he purchased his Lake Martin home in 1979 and retired there in 1984, Dick Bronson made it his commitment to keep the lake's water as clean as he had found it.

He knew a job like that would be a bigger job than he could do unless he got help, and he found plenty of it.

He formed an organization called Lake Watch, an organization to ensure the quality of the lake's water.

"I formed it 15 years ago in 1992," he said. "It is an all-volunteer, non-profit environmental organization. Our interest is water quality, our niche I suppose, and environmental education."

Concerned about pollution from drainage pipes and other sources posing a threat to the lake, The Lake Watch of Lake Martin worked with state organizations and Auburn University to conduct chemical and biological tests on the lake water and continued to monitor water quality.

The group also has coordinated educational seminars and events.

"We are basically interested in protecting and preserving the clean waters of Lake Martin," Bronson said. "We have probably 300 members."

On its Web site, www.lakewatch.org, Lake Watch boasts that with more than 700 miles of shoreline and more than 40,000 surface acres, Lake Martin is rated as the cleanest and most beautiful lake in Alabama.

The group's goals include:
-conducting scientific studies through its volunteer water quality monitoring program;
-increasing public awareness of water quality issues;
-emphasizing through educational initiatives the importance of water quality.

Most of Lake Watch's members are retirees, some are not. Some members live out-of-state and have part-time residences, but everyone's mission is the same: to keep Lake Martin pure.
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Weather observers offer glimmer of hope
06/13/2007
Southeast Farm Press
Jim Langcuster, Auburn University

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**This story is written by AU's Jim Langcuster and includes quote by Jim Novak, ACES economist and AU professor of agricultural economics.**

While we shouldn’t be counting our chickens — or, in this case, measuring our rain gauges — perhaps we can at least take some comfort from the predictions of a panel of weather experts.

Experts with the Southeast Climate Consortium say that intermittent summer rains, which typically occur as temperatures rise with the onset of summer, soon will be moving into northern Florida and eventually into Alabama and Georgia. While the spotty rains associated with this effect are no panacea, experts say they will provide at least some measure of relief.

“There is some cause for optimism,” says Jim Novak, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System economist and Auburn University professor of agricultural economics, who, along with other economists, has used the consortium’s climate predictions to help farmers make business decisions related to crop insurance and other types of preventive planning.

“There is some hope the seasonal rain patterns are restoring themselves and that there may be some improvement in coming weeks.”

Moreover, an active tropical storm and hurricane season also has been projected. While this raises the specter of crop destruction, these types of precipitation also may offer some prospect for relief.

Alabama is certainly not alone in terms of crop damage stemming from the drought. Extreme drought has taken a toll on most crops throughout the tri-state region, the consortium reports. Crop emergence on non-irrigated land is poor, leading to poor stands. Corn planted in April and early May is most susceptible.

Dryness during flowering and pollination delays silking, reduces silk length and inhibits embryo development after pollination. Drought during grain filling increases leaf death, shortens the grain-filling period, increases lodging and lowers kernel weight.

Cotton and peanuts typically are most susceptible to drought-related losses in mid-July, particularly during and after blooming for cotton and during flowering for peanuts. The consortium reports these crops currently are under stress and that planting progress is below average.

Meanwhile, Novak says, prevented planting provisions may be available to Southeastern farmers under crop insurance policies for the following crops: canola, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, oats, onions, peanuts, popcorn, potatoes, rye, soybeans and wheat. Still, he says that producers should check to make sure. Novak also stresses that farmers should not plow down or undertake any similar actions related to insured crops without checking with the insurance company first.

“Taking such action potentially could void your contract,” Novak says.

“The safe bet always is to check with your insurance agent first.”

At this point, producers who have been prevented from planting or who have planted an insured crop damaged by the drought have several options.

In cases in which conditions have prevented planting by the late or final planting date, producers still can plant the intended crop and hope for the best.

Other options are to plant an alternative crop or to leave the acres idle.

To qualify for full insurance coverage, farmers must plant before the final planting day of the crop. After that date, coverage will be reduced to planting the original crop, Novak says.

Farmers who have been prevented from planting until after the final planting date and who choose not to plant the crop at all will receive a reduced percentage of the original guarantee.

“The amount of reduction will depend on the crop and any optional increased protection level you might have taken,” Novak says.

Likewise, farmers have several options if the original crop has been planted but is severely damaged.

“These include leaving the crop alone and seeing what follows, replanting the same crop or planting a different crop,” Novak says.

Farmers also can opt to abandon the acreage. Under these terms, farmers can plant a cover crop, although they will not be permitted to do anything with it, Novak says.

For acreage to be replanted with another crop, it first must be released by the insurance company. Otherwise, the planting will result in voiding of the insurance contract.

As always, Novak urges farmers to check with their insurers for the specific details of the crop provisions before taking any action.
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