Too often we lose touch with the concept of locus of control, personal responsibility and accountability, and the power of individuals to effect positive change.   As educators, when we transfer this mentality of helplessness to students we do disservice.
“The dream doesn’t lie in victimization or blame; it lies in hard work, determination and a good education.”

— Alphonso Jackson —

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By Walter V. Wendler

In any organization, when times are tough, there is a natural tendency for people to find someone, or something, to blame.  I used to work with a fellow who taught juniors.  He complained constantly about the quality of the work of his students, and claimed that the students were not prepared for what he was asking them to do.

He blamed the faculty who taught in the freshman and sophomore years as well as the students themselves.

There is an old story about a high school teacher who blamed a student’s poor performance on the junior high school teachers, who blamed it on the grade school teachers, who blamed it on the boy’s parents. The principal went to talk to the student’s mother.  She blamed the father.  When the principal visited the father he claimed he was not sure it was his child, so it couldn’t be his fault.

Blame, like water, is welded to the first law of plumbing.

And it goes the other way.  The professor may blame his department chair for a lack of support to be able to accomplish desired ends.  The department chair may blame the dean, the dean the provost, the provost the president, the president, if she is smart and wants to keep her job, skips the board and goes straight to the state, the state blames the party for a lack of bipartisanship or the federal government, and they in turn blame circumstances, previous administrations and the world economy.

Blame, like dross and slag, rises to the top.

Current events make it easy for universities to blame the states that are supposed to support them.  The University leaders ask, “Why do you forsake us?” And it is true; states are not supporting universities the way that they used to.  Maybe universities are not educating the way they used to.
Leadership cannot necessarily change circumstances but can change an organization in response to them.

This is not to suggest that parents are not responsible for their children’s education, or that faculty are not correct in identifying a lack of support from above as problematic. But, circumstances are circumstances and the positive response to any and all will make the institution stronger and better, no matter how dire they appear.

Leadership deals with a challenging environment at two levels.

First, leadership must take immediate action to deal with the difficulty faced, as serious problems don’t disappear over time, they fester and worsen.  Secondly, and of greater importance, leadership must deal with the long term implication of the current crisis with a responsive plan for the future. For example, if the university is too dependent on state funding, find alternatives.

The public bucket is completely empty in a dozen states and, even more troubling, without a bottom in nearly again that many.  Hank Williams Jr. memorialized the problem, “My bucket’s got a hole in it, and I can’t buy no beer.”

Blame the old pots and pails or find some new ones: leadership chooses.

Correct choices will make things happen and the university will be master of its own fate, no matter how challenging the times are.  Or the university will be a victim of circumstance.  It is like no other state agency or public entity; its mission and purpose are absolutely unique.

Can you imagine a warden writing to ex-convicts and asking them to send money to help build a new library, or a gym?  Or, can you expect elected officials to applaud an organization with an athletics coach who makes 10 or 20 times the annual salary of a faculty member or an elected official?
One of the jobs of our universities should be to find, in abundance and adversity, opportunity for excellence through deliberate action in response to mission.  And let our students see it.

For as long as I can remember I have been an avid news junkie, a voracious newspaper reader and in recent years I spend many hours weekly reading online news sources.

Local, state, federal or world news – it doesn’t matter – I’ve always religiously followed what’s happening, many times following stories from other regions that have no actual bearing on me or my life.

Several years ago I recall my dad telling me that he quit watching the evening news on television because it made him mad, frustrated and many times nervous. Perhaps it’s an age-thing – or maybe it’s just another example that I’m turning into my dad – but I understand more and more what he meant. While I don’t see me ever giving up following the news I also have those same feelings more and more these days.

Many times as a columnist I will take two two story-lines and attempt to turn them into a single thought. Such is the case today.

The first is out of Springfield, Missouri but really could be from Anytown, USA. Sadly, I guess it’s just another tragic example of life in the 21^st Century.

On Feb. 19 Hailey Owens, a 10-year-old fourth-grader, was walking home from a friend’s house after school when she was abducted in broad daylight. She was two blocks from her home. Neighbors watched in horror as she was dragged into a gold-colored Ford Ranger pickup truck. One neighbor even gave chase but lost the vehicle.

A few hours later police arrested Craig Michael Wood, 45, a middle school teacher’s aide and football coach. Wood was driving a gold-colored Ford Ranger. When authorities gained access to his home they found Hailey’s body stuffed in trash bags and inside a large plastic container. She had been raped and shot in the head. There was still wet bleach on the basement floor from an attempt to clean up the murder scene. More than a dozen guns and child pornography was also found in the subsequent search. Wood was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed criminal action in Hailey’s death. He is being held without bond in Greene County Jail. In his initial court appearance he pleaded not guilty. Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson said he was considering pursuing the death penalty for Wood. Hailey was buried Feb. 26.

The second story, also out of Missouri, involves an execution earlier this week when Michael Taylor died by lethal injection 25 years after he abducted 15-year-old Ann Harrison while she was waiting for a school bus. She was raped and then stuffed in the trunk of a car where she was stabbed to death. Taylor admitted to the crime, saying that it was fueled by crack cocaine.

The story went on to note that attorneys for Taylor, through the years, had launched a string of appeals that had allowed him to remain on Death Row for a quarter of a century. The final appeal that was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, asserted that the drugs used for lethal injection could subject Taylor to a “slow and tortuous death.”

As I read the story about Taylor’s 25 years on Death Row, I thought of 10-year-old Hailey Owens and the man accused of ending her young life – Craig Michael Wood. And as I stewed about my feelings – feelings about worthless appeals that allow child killers to languish in prison, children being raped and murdered and the pure evil that exists in the world — I thought of a line from one of my favorite movies, “Unforgiven” where Clint Eastwood talked about killing another person.

“It’s a helluva thing, killing somebody,” Eastwood’s character the murderous William Munney said. “You take away all they’ve got … and all they’re ever going to have.”

‘ … all they’ve got … and all they’re ever going to have.’

Let’s take that line and look at Hailey Owens young life that was snuffed out by a pedophile.

Hailey was forever taken away from her parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, classmates and on and on and on. The second part of that movie line – ‘all they’re ever going to have’ is the saddest aspect. Clearly, police have the right guy, so Craig Michael Wood took away from Hailey the wonder of grade school, graduation from junior high, a first boyfriend, a first kiss, proms, football and basketball games, high school graduation, college, becoming a wife, a mother, enjoying a career and every other joy and accomplishment that would have been her life.

And the possibility that Wood could be on Death Row for 20-25 years is nothing short of repulsive to me. While we have the greatest judicial system in the world it is badly broken when confessed and convicted killers are allowed to live for decades after a jury finds them guilty. Can you imagine what that must be like for an already grief-stricken family? It’s salt in an open wound.

If it wasn’t so sad and tragic it would laughable that an attorney could file an appeal that drugs used for lethal injection would result in “cruel and tortuous death.”

Cruel and tortuous death? Seriously?

That particular appeal, which is becoming more and more popular these days in keeping murderers alive, is yet another example that we live in a world where the perpetrator is now the victim.

Just to set the record straight, a cruel and tortuous death is the way that Hailey Owens and Ann Harrison died.

When you read this several of us will have just returned from the Governmental Affairs Leadership Conference in Springfield. Some of the workshops that we will be attending are:  Farm Bill, Renewable Fuels Standard, Transportation & Infrastructure, Water Quality Issues, Trucking Regulations and many more.

This is always a good conference to attend because these are some of the more important issues that our farmers are concerned about.

Speaking of Trucking Regulations – we will be having a seminar on Monday, March 3 at noon at the Farm Credit Service building in Mt. Vernon.  This is open to the public and lunch will be served at noon.  Kevin Rund will be able to answer any questions that you may have.  Please call the office at 435-3616 if you plan on attending this seminar so that we can plan on the amount of food to prepare.

Last week I discussed the many state wide benefits that are available to Franklin County Farm Bureau members and today I want to discuss the local member benefits.  The following businesses have some discount available to Franklin County members – must show a valid Franklin County Farm Bureau Membership Card –

Big O Farm & Garden – Thompsonville -5% of pet food
FB McAfoos – Benton – 15% off Kubota Logo merchandise
Benton Dairy Queen – Benton- $1.00 off Royal Treat $1.00 off round of mini-golf
Extreme Auto – Benton – free detail with service work of $300 or more
The Weeping Willow – Benton – 15% off $35 purchase
West Frankfort Bowl – West Frankfort – free drink with purchase of meal of free shoe rental
Fast Truck & Trailer – Benton – proudly supporting Franklin County Farm Bureau
Rhino Linings of Southern Illinois – Benton – 10% off Rhino and accessories
Martin’s Restaurant – Benton free drink with $5.00 purchase
Stark’s Total Fitness & Tanning – Benton – one month free of unlimited classes with new membership and any new tanning package get 50% off lotion
Four Season’s Ace Hardware – Benton – 10% discount on entire purchase of $50 or more
Earth Works – West Frankfort – 10% off any rock, mulch, flowers, plants or trees
Christopher Subway – Christopher – buy one 6” mealt @ regular price get 6” sub for $.99
Concepte of Illinois – Benton – for all your computer needs
Rend Lake Marine – Rend City Road – 10% off week day boat rental (no holidays)
Leedle Houme Bees – Mulkeytown – 10% off on honey
Benton Lawn & Garden – Benton – 5% off on parts & labor
The Wild Trillium – Benton – items from local artisans
Benton Save A Lot – Benton – stop in for weekly specials

The Rural Nurse Practitioner Scholarship Program offered by Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) does double duty. How so? It helps out nurses and it helps out rural healthcare. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Twenty percent of the U.S. population live in rural areas, but only nine percent of physicians practice there. The Rural Nurse Practitioner Scholarship Program (RNPSP), now in its twenty-second year, supports nurses who want to become nurse practitioners and serve in rural communities.

There will be five scholarships, worth $4,000 each, granted this year to nurse practitioner students who agree to practice for two years in an approved rural area in Illinois. The program is sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau and the illinois State Medical Society.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be Illinois residents and be a Registered Nurse accepted or enrolled in an accredited Nurse Practitioner Program. Funding is provided by the Rural Illinois Medical Student Assistance Program.

According to Mariah Dale-Anderson, who heads up the program for IFB, “This scholarship has helped many qualified applicants hurdle financial needs or borderline academic barriers to receive a medical education. In all, more than 55 students have benefited from loans and recommendations to the University of Illinois.”

Applications are available at county Farm Bureaus® throughout the state, on the Rural Illinois Medical Student Assistance Program website at RIMSAP.com, or by writing Mariah Dale-Anderson, Special Services Manager, Illinois Farm Bureau, PO Box 2901, Bloomington, IL 61702-2901.
Applications are due May 1.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

In many rural areas, even those with a university, there is a pervasive sense that economic vitality is impossible, the challenges too great, rewards too limited and regional poverty too persistent.  This is a costly misconception.
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”
— Edmund Burke —
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While all universities have the potential to contribute to regional economies, rural universities have an especially challenging role. History insistently testifies:  Universities focused on academic achievement will have a positive economic impact.

A 2010 study by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Nonmetropolitan Outmigration Counties: Some Are Poor, Many Are Prosperous,” shows half of the nonmetropolitan counties in the nation lost population over the past few decades. In 700 of those, declines were 10% or more.  Moreover, nonmetropolitan counties fall into two categories.

On the one hand poverty rates are high, high school completion rates are low, and unemployment is above national averages.  On the other hand some nonmetropolitan counties post high educational attainment and lower unemployment, typically the case in rural counties with universities.  Nevertheless, to rely solely on universities to address outmigration is shortsighted.

Further complicating the scenario, rural universities may contribute to outmigration by elevating aspirations of local students.  The green grass of opportunity grows in distant pastures.  Exodus due to the paucity of local possibilities seems inevitable.

Desperation for any job-creating enterprise may cause snap, short-term decision-making absent appreciation of long-term costs and implications. The Bakken shale formation of North Dakota created an explosion of horizontal drilling for harvesting oil and gas leading to jobs and growth.  Last week in a post on the dailyyonder.com website, Fracking Jobs Come With Costs, Paper Says, Tim Marema suggests that while the immediate benefits of employment are real, there may be long-term challenges for local economies.  The boom of energy related employment may wane when resources play out.   Even with strict environmental safeguards to alleviate pollution associated with recklessly executed and/or leniently regulated fracking, economic impacts may remain indefinitely.

The yo-yo effect of sporadic cycles of activity and inactivity associated with some industries could be modulated by stabilizing employment and development opportunities nurtured through an engaged university.  Exceptional community/institutional collaboration are essential. The Illinois Soybean Center, housed at SIU Carbondale is an example of industry/university collaboration for distinctive regional and community benefit.  It builds on a tradition of faculty student research, and public/private funding.

Well led universities should dampen fluctuations of job creation and job loss in regions where economic activity is seasonal or cyclical such as agriculture and mineral extraction. Understanding the rural economic dynamic and the nature of its impact on a university’s academic mission is the key to success — made especially confounding because no two regions or universities are the same.

“All politics are local,” said Tip O’Neill.  All economies are local too.

In my university community this discussion is ongoing but not new. While fracking is a relatively recent phenomenon, the coal industry in southern Illinois has a long and pervasive impact on every aspect of life. It stands the region in stark contrast to the northern extremities of the state, Chicago and the trade and commerce related collar counties.  Georgia’s metropolitan Atlanta, upstate and downstate New York, coastal California and the San Joaquin Valley all represent distinctive and occasionally competing regions with sundry economic opportunities that create a “two-state” reality.

The challenges are numerous.  A National Agriculture and Rural Development Policy Center research paper by Mark Partridge and Amanda Weinstein of the Ohio State University, suggests natural resource abundance may be a hindrance to economic development in rural regions. Unchecked or poorly configured economic development could be an encumbrance, but any manifestation of a natural resource: scenic beauty, game, fertile soil, oil, or natural gas is of great benefit to any region if exploited responsibly.

Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School, in “Colleges and Universities in Regional Economic Development: A Strategic Perspective,” says universities can have positive long-term economic impacts. Porter’s posit, “A region’s competitiveness is determined by how productively it uses its human, capital, and natural resources; that productivity sets the regions standard of living to its effect on wages, returns on capital and returns on natural resources.”

Rural universities should promote economic development in response to regional distinctiveness, university strength, and shared aspirations.

By Larry Miller

I am writing this article on Wednesday and I am certainly hoping that the following information concerning the Farm Bill is out of date. At this time the House and Senate have both passed it and we are now waiting for the President to put his signature on it. The following came from the IFB:

“We’re extremely pleased to see the Senate follow the House of Representatives’ example and pass a five-year farm bill. Illinois farmers are finally on a path to seeing some long-term certainty and stability in an increasingly risky and uncertain business.

“The bill now before the president strengthens the federal crop insurance program, which is the most important risk management tool available to farmers. Livestock producers also will benefit from the risk management provisions included in the bill, and we encourage the USDA to expedite implementation of those disaster assistance provisions. Finally, it maintains resources for cost-share, working land conservation programs that allow farmers to improve water quality, and helps farmers adapt to tightening regulations.

“This legislation is not only fiscally responsible, but helps Illinois farmers put a much needed five-year plan in place to help manage their risk.  We applaud Senators Durbin and Kirk for supporting Illinois farmers by voting ‘yes’ on this bill and urge President Obama to sign the legislation quickly so the USDA can begin implementing the bill as soon as possible.”

We had invited Doug Yoder, Director of Risk Management at Illinois Farm Bureau to come have breakfast with us and discuss the new and recurring issues with crop insurance. We had several people in attendance and Doug answered many questions. “With grain prices significantly lower than they’ve been in the past 5-6 years, it is vital that farmers maximize their crop insurance coverage,” Doug informed everyone.

One if the issues before farmers for spring will be whether to plant corn or soybeans. With the prices today it seems that soybeans may be a more lucrative crop. It costs approximately $540 with an average production level of 150 bushel per acre to plant an acre of corn but it cost $340 with an average production of 50 bushel per acre to plant an acre of soybeans – this does not take into consideration if the farmer has to pay out cash rent.

The February corn price is close to $4.50 per bushel with soybeans selling at $11.35. There are many more factors involved in this equation and this is just one of the many questions that farmers must ask themselves every year. Farming is definitely not for the weak at heart – with so much at risk they must also be very good businessmen not just be able to drive a tractor.

An ill-timed propane shortage has forced area businesses and residents to make tough decisions in the dead of winter. The price of propane jumped from $1.50 a gallon on average in the state in November to about $5 a gallon in December.  The shortage also forced Gov. Pat Quinn to declare a statewide propane emergency last week, easing driving regulations on trucks delivering propane from other states.

The first Illinois crop update of 2014 released Tuesday found the seemingly endless series of snowstorms this winter has helped recharge soil moisture just weeks from planting. As of this week, the state’s farmers rated 69 percent of topsoil as having adequate moisture compared with 40 percent at the end of October. Deeper subsoil moisture was rated 62 percent adequate this week.

We still have pecans in the office – $8.00 for chocolate covered and $9.00 for regular.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

Position, profit, and power are too frequently both seed corn and fruit of exercised leadership.  Purpose, passion, and perseverance ignite the fires of leadership, consuming the old and creating the new.
For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose of his own soul?

— Jesus Christ —
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Occasionally, leadership is so vibrant that it changes the world. In the 20th century, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had a seminal impact on our nation and world. Vestiges of his leadership values came in an April 16, 1963 epistle entitled, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

The circumstances around this letter are important and should never be forgotten, but will not be rehearsed here. Rather, in recognition of King’s illustrious leadership abilities in the face of difficulties nearly unimaginable to many in the 21st century, highlighting principles of leadership espoused in this letter might prove useful — for people in leadership positions, in government, other public service, education, industry, commerce, and families.
Here are five principles:

Recognition of High Purpose: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”  All effective leaders are called to action in service to something larger than self. Social units from families to nations are guided by the recognition that an outpouring of service through leadership profoundly affects those led.

Communication of the Importance of the Work at Hand:  “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’” There is in all valuable leadership a sense of urgency. It must be real rather than manufactured. It must be clear to any thinking human being. It must for these reasons be of the utmost importance and the highest necessity.

Commitment in Spite of Personal Cost: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’” A common failing of contemporary leadership, whether in a family, or a nation, is a recurring sense that leadership serves itself.  Such leadership becomes the ultimate expression of greed rather than generosity. Leadership requires tilling new soil, taking an organization where it has not been, or has had difficulty going, in spite of the cost to the leader.

Sometimes such leadership is seen as radicalism, when in fact it may be the most profound statement of moral purpose that an individual can make.
Challenging Predispositions:  “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” Because leadership requires a new path, it simultaneously must confront the well-worn path of the status quo.  Such patchwork requires something much stronger than indifference to the way things are, and a basic rejection of the concepts that keep an organization the way it is. We see in political circles a consistent and disturbing unwillingness to change a course of action. Any comfort with how things are in spite of the fact that things don’t work. As Dr. King suggested the greatest sin is “lukewarm acceptance.”

Willingness to Criticize “The Family”: “I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.”  People in groups that need and demand leadership must accept criticism and question what has gone before. The people who must be willing to withstand most sturdily the challenge of leadership are those closest to the center of the group, for “the family” resists change most stridently.
Martin Luther King Jr. displayed genius-like abilities to understand leadership immersed in society’s most vexing questions. He was uniquely predisposed by experience, birth, and by a willingness to follow his God, to be a pivotal social force of the 20th century.

Our universities similarly demand a form of leadership that demonstrates this same kind of commitment and passion towards purpose. Without insight seats of learning will stumble into the mid 21st century.

Everyone recognizes the problem of the increasing cost and diminishing returns on a college education.  There are steps that anyone can take to reduce cost and increase effectiveness.
“We’ve got a crisis in terms of college affordability and student debt.”
—  Barak Obama —
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For potential college students these resolutions have some merit.

Be it resolved:  If my high school has dual enrollment opportunities with a community college or university, I will use them and attain high school credits and university credits simultaneously.  This may seem like rushing things but many 16 year olds are capable of college work.  Usually dual enrollment courses are free and if they articulate with a senior institution, in your chosen field of study, you can save $1,000 per course, maybe double if living costs are considered.  An Orlando Sentinel story by Erica Rodriguez, chronicles the efforts of Max Rock dual graduation, from high school and community college concurrently.  A 50% reduction in the cost a bachelor’s degree could be realized.

Be it resolved:  Since I am a graduating senior it may be too late for the dual enrollment, or maybe it’s not available, I will check out community colleges that have 2 + 2 articulation agreements with senior institutions.  But, don’t trust the published literature from the community college or the senior institution. If possible visit both institutions. Talk to advisors.  Be sure your long-term aspirations are clear and everyone agrees the community college courses will fit into your chosen degree program.
Here’s the reality. Many institutions will honestly tell you that 60 hours of community college courses will transfer. However, they may not transfer into your chosen major. For example if you are interested in mathematics, and take 15 hours of introductory math courses at a community college it’s possible that none would transfer into the math major but all would transfer into the university. Challenge everyone for honesty and clarity.

Be it resolved: I will not take electives at a community college, an online education provider, or any institution that don’t fit directly into my chosen field of study.  That sounds limiting.  However, if you are interested in 16th century art, but want to study biology, engage the interest in art through the internet or library, where you can access a range of expertise and insight for free.
Intellectual growth is the purpose of education.   But, on borrowed or scarce funds you must make economic decisions. You can become educated through personal study.  Some of the world’s great thinkers never enrolled in a college course.  They were autodidacts.

Be it resolved:   Since graduation rates from online degree programs are very low, and tuition’s not, I will coldly review the cost/benefits. Be wary of online degrees unless you visit the campus and meet faculty members and students. Don’t even take individual online courses unless they are taught by a faculty expert, bear university credit, count in your degree plan, and they are free or nearly so. There are too many cost-effective alternatives.

Be it resolved:  I will ruthlessly review job opportunities, and graduate school options, based on my career aspirations and my academic abilities.  Make sure they are sensible for you. Believe no one except your own experience, family, teachers, counselors, and people you know and trust. Too many colleges market degrees with low value in the workplace and little intellectual substance to boot. You can make the choice to study anything but it must be your decision made on ice-cold economic analysis.

Decisions about what to study have fiscal consequences.  The Daily Californian posted this in a recent story on college graduates:  “According to the General Social Survey, which monitors social change in the United States, the percentage of college-educated Americans who identify as “lower class” increased to 3 percent in 2012, up from 1.7 percent in 2002 and the highest rate since the survey was first taken in 1972. The percentage of college-educated Americans who say their standard of living has gotten worse over the last few years increased 57 percent between 2006 and 2012.”

These five resolutions could decrease cost and increase effectiveness of your education decisions. Our universities should be open and truthful with you as a potential student — your ability to succeed in college, the real costs, and the ultimate benefits. Honesty in both directions is essential.