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June 17, 2021
PRSRTD PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID ROXTON TX 75477 NO. 16774
Roxton, Texas
Diverging Perspectives:
Rainfall and Texas Agriculture Moisture a Concern for Forage Producers
and heat, which can make tightly wound bales extremely combustible. The haying process can take one to three days depending on weather conditions like temperature, cloudy or sunny skies, or wind and humidity levels. Hay in windrows can dry quickly on sunny, arid and breezy days but could take longer during cloudy, humid and still conditions. Corriher-Olson said forecasts have not provided good windows of opportunity for the process. “Access is the biggest problem, but even the producers who can get in their fields might be looking at a forecast with chances of rain for multiple days each week,” she said. “They either have to risk it or wait. But it’s hard to make decisions with rain in the forecast every day.”
Adam Russell Courtesy SW Farm Press
Rains and the threat of rain have kept forage producers in hay-producing regions of Texas out of fields and behind schedule for the season, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. The delays represent numerous problems and potential problems for hay producers. Just two months ago, drought was the main concern for Texas forage producers who cut and bale warm-season crops like Coastal Bermuda grass to feed their cattle during the winter or market to livestock operations near and far. But too much rain has been the chief concern among forage producers in the eastern half of the state for more than a month, said Vanessa Corriher-Olson, AgriLife Extension forage specialist, Overton. Hay meadows with fences and a water source were likely grazed out, but the majority of production acres don’t have those resources available. “The inability to access fields is the main concern,” Corriher-Olson said. “Fields are too saturated. You can get stuck in a regular truck in well-drained sandy soil, so it makes getting in with heavier equipment to cut and bale or apply fertilizer or herbicide very difficult.” Some producers were able to get a first cutting baled before the rains settled in, she said. Some were able to cut and rake their hay into windrows, but rains came before the cuttings could cure. Curing, the process in which cut hay dries down, is a critical balancing act that preserves the plant material and nutritive value and prevents potential losses. Too much moisture can promote two major problems in hay bales – mold, which spoils it as forage for livestock,
Roxton Trail Clean-up day
Saturday, June 26 8-10 am Summer has arrived and everything is growing! Come help us maintain the Chaparral Trail and take pride in our little town. Roxton is responsible for the trail from Paris and to the Sulfur River. From Roxton to Paris, the trail is currently under construction but is still rideable with a gravel surface for mountain bicycles. The clean-up day will focus on the stretch of trail from the triple arcs bridge north of town to the Chaparral Museum. Participants can park on the grass near the bridge or at the Chaparral Museum and work their way down. Please bring your own supplies, to include glove, pruning clippers, weed eaters, and/or pole saws. Trash bags, water and snacks will be provided. Please contact Anissa at 903-249-3923 if you plan to bring larger equipment or mowers. We are currently raising funds for signage for the trail. Iff you would like to donate you can contact Lou Carolyn Rutherford, treasurer, 903-346-2939 or Anissa Dejoux, Chairman, 903249-3923 or mail to P.O. Box 353 in Roxton. Thank you for your Support!
Excessive rains are impacting forage harvests throughout the state, but East and Central Texas are particularly impacted…
Everything’s Better with Rainwater By Sherry Huguley Courtesy SW Farm Press
“Everything is better when you get rainwater,” says cotton producer Kay White. But for the last two years, rainfall has been sparse on her Dawson County, Texas, farms. In 2020, White never received an inch of rainfall at one time. In fact, she only acquired 6 inches for the year. “There was no lake water or tank water anywhere in the last two years until the last two weeks,” White says,
…while other areas of the state remain under drought conditions.
See RAINWATER continued on page 9
VOICES FROM THE FORGOTTEN WAR
Guarding Chinese POWs in Korea By James Haney
I was on a slow train to Pusan, Korea. We got off the train and were put on a L.S.T. ship, a smaller ship with three doors in the front. The two outer doors swing outward, while the third door swings down, making a ramp. The trip aboard the L.S.T. was supposed to be a dayand-a-half. Thanks to a storm, it turned into a three-day journey. We docked at an island without a “dock,” just a road leading across the land. When they let down the ramp, we hit the water with our full field packs and duffle bags; together they weighed about 20 pounds less than me. The water was about knee deep and only 12-15 feet from the shoreline. We loaded on duce-and-ahalf trucks for the thirty-minute ride to “Tent City.” Living in tents was nothing new to us. About a quarter mile from the tents was a group of soldiers in full gear. My unit was replacing them. They’d moved out of the tents so we could move in. As soon as we unloaded, the other unit loaded its gear on the truck we arrived on and drove back to the ships. We were now part of the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division, 19th Regiment, Company E on Cheje-do Island, South Korea. And they immediately put us to work. Our first platoon went on guard duty at 4:00 pm, and we rotated — on four hours off eight hours — day after day, month after month. I was in the second platoon, and we went on guard at 8:00 pm. Our platoon sergeant was a Sgt. Ritter from Louisiana. As Texans, we considered him a good neighbor. He was a good leader and fair to all. Most thought he was a grouch, but after we got to know him, we realized he just had that type of personality. We had to walk about 20 minutes to get to the POW camp then another 30 to reach our posts. The daylight hours were not for lying in our cots; after all, the Army expected every soldier to earn that $67.00 monthly paycheck. They made us do most anything — march in drill, pick up cigarette butts, cut weeds — whatever
could be found to make sure we didn’t sleep. So, the four-on, eight-off may sound like a good deal, but in reality, it made for about an 18-hour day. You also had to eat and shower (when there was water), so anyone was lucky if they got six hours of sleep a night. The prison compound had four large metal buildings where the POWs lived and supply and headquarters buildings. All were oval-shaped, and two 12-foottall chain link fenced surrounded the compound. Fenced lanes ran between each building and led to a square “bull pen” with a gate on each side. Twentyfoot-high guard towers surrounded the compound, each equipped with a .30 caliber machine gun. On each corner of the compound, machine guns were also under the towers. Each tower was manned by a guard, and at night a second guard walked the perimeter of the fence between towers. One summer evening, our first shift began just between sunset and dark. Sgt. Ritter marched us around the compound, dropping off guards at each tower and another to patrol between towers. At the southwest corner of the compound, he ordered Pvt. Charles A. Clem of Chicota to take the tower and me to walk the fence. A couple of months into our mission, we were stressed from lack of sleep, and a lot of us had short fuses. Clem climbed into the tower, and I was hanging around talking to him as it wasn’t yet dark. The towers were open on three sides with a solid board on the backs and tops. The first thing a guard did when climbing into a tower was to check the machine gun to be sure it was half-cocked. If you needed to use it, all you had to do was pull the bolt back, release it, and pull the trigger. As we talked, suddenly a loud burst of machine gun fire, lasting about three seconds rang out. Private Clem jumped from the tower feet first, hit the ground, and rolled over a time or two. I ran over to check on him, and he said he wasn’t
See KOREA continued on page 5