More rural school travails

The February 22, 2012 issue of the Newton County Times reports on steps the Jasper School District has recently been compelled to take in relation to its tiny Oark campus and a course it is no longer offering there. The lede for the story provides perspective:

Members of the Arkansas Board of Education learned a little about the problems of efficiencies of smaller schools during its regular monthly meeting Monday, Feb. 13. Jasper School superintendent Kerry Saylors was on the meeting's agenda to request a waiver of the rules governing standards for accreditation by allowing the school district to stop offering a required word processing class at its Oark campus.

Last semester only one student was enrolled in the class. In October the student moved and enrolled in another school district leaving no other students to take the class.

Under such circumstances, Arkansas law apparently permits the school not to offer the course (presumably for just this year). To qualify for this waiver, however, the school district must jump through various hoops. First, the local school board must petition the State Board of Education regarding the matter. The school district must also provide proof in writing that the course is on the district's master course schedule and that the district has a teacher employed to teach the course. In addition, state school officials must make an on-site visit, and the school district must appear before the State Board of Education--which is what happened on February 13.

This seems to me an excessive amount of paperwork and--in particular--travel to and from Little Rock by local school officials and State Board members. Perhaps these requirements have been deemed necessary out of concern that, without such checks and balances by the state, rural schools may be tempted to avoid the statewide curricular requirements in light of the the very lack of economies of scale that are so obvious from this story.

At that February 13 meeting, Saylors fielded questions from the State Board, including questions related to the size of the school and the lack of enrollment in several upper division classes. Saylors reported that the Oark campus has 65 students total in grades 7-12. When a Board member noted that several courses at Oark have a capacity for 25 students but have only 1-2 enrolled in each, Saylors responded, "That's a common situation when you have more classes than students. That's the problem of the efficiency of that size of school."

Board Chairman Ben Mays then commented on Oark's "AP courses and ACT scores," but the newspaper did not report the substance of those comments.

Earlier posts about the Oark school are here and here.

The relevance of rurality

Journalists are in the business of telling stories, of course, and I sometimes find it interesting to note what bits of context they choose to include or exclude as part of their narratives. The New York Times coverage yesterday and today of the devastating events in Afghanistan intrigued me in this regard. The lede on nytimes.com reads:

Stalking from home to home, a United States Army sergeant methodically killed at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children, in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan on Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility, Afghan and American officials said.

I suppose the authors use "rural" here to answer the "where" question journalists are supposed to cover (along with the who, what, and when questions). Why not name the place? No one would recognize the name, I suppose, because it is too obscure.

P.S. I note that subsequent coverage of these events has continued to refer to the rural locale, also referring to the places where the shootings occurred as "hamlets." Afghan President Hamid Karzai has now called for American troops to be pulled out of "rural Afghanistan," but not out of the country altogether. I wonder what this suggests about the rural-urban divide--perhaps a lack of oversight in the rural places, meaning that catastrophes like this one are more likely to happen there. Certainly, both Afghan and U.S. oversight of these small outposts in and near villages is likely more challenging than is oversight of bases, where Karzai suggests the U.S. military should be confined.

Income inequality at the county level: a (very partial) rural-urban comparison

The U.S. Census Bureau released this report yesterday, based on the 2010 Census yesterday, and the New York Times features this item by Catherine Rampell on its Economix blog today. At first glance at the Census Bureau map charting levels of income equality, it looks like a lot of the counties with relatively low income inequality are nonmetropolitan. But I see that some of those with the greatest income inequality are, too. Among the latter are counties that represent the rural gentrification phenomenon. One of those is Pitkin County, Colorado, home of Aspen, which has the fourth highest household income level in the country. (Pictured above is the Pitkin County Jail; in Aspen, even the jail appears salubrious!). Pitkin County's population is just 17,148, and its poverty level is quite low, at 8.4%. The county's per capita income (2006-2010) was $64,381, which wikipedia proclaims as the fourth highest among the nation's counties.

Rampell highlights these findings regarding county population size based on the Census Bureau report.

The most equitable distribution of income was in Loving County, Tex--then nation's least populous county, with fewer than 100 residents--with a Gini value of 0.207.

Generally speaking, many of the counties with more equitable distributions had small populations, or happened to be "a fast-growing county containing commuter towns within a large metropolitan area," according to the report's author, [Adam] Bee.

For comparison sake, I note that Loving County, Texas, has a per capita income of $42,220 and a 0% poverty rate. Loving County is in west Texas and oil wealth may help explain its relative affluence because the median household income among Loving County's 50 housing units is a robust $83,889, which is more than 20% higher than Pitkin County, Colorado's median household income: $64,502 among the county's 13,000 housing units.

An impoverished nonmetropolitan county with an even higher rate of income inequality than Pitkin County, Colorado is East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, in the Mississippi Delta. Indeed, East Carroll Parish has the greatest income inequality of any county in the nation. With just 7,759 residents, the Parish is a 7 on the rural-urban continuum (with 9 being the most rural). Its poverty rate is a whopping 40.8%, and the per capita income is just $15,947. The median household income is $24,038. East Carroll Parish is 69% black, and I bet most of the wealthy there are among the minority white population.

Whoever the "rich" folks are in East Carroll Parish, they would probably look downright needy if you set them down in Pitkin County. Indeed, comparing these two local government units' economic data, you get a stark illustration of income inequality across counties (and regions), which should surely attract as much attention as income inequality within the local government unit.

Drunk driving vs. rural livelihoods?

student recently called to my attention this false choice suggested by Montana state representative Alan Hale, a Republican from Basin. In a debate last year regarding whether the state should extend the "look-back" period associated with its DUI law and thereby enhance the ability to crack down on repeat offenders, Hale asserted that "pubs are important gathering places in his rural Montana district--important gathering places that are only accessible by car." Hale just so happens to run such a pub in Basin. Read the AOL story here. Some quotes from Hale's comments on the floor of the Montana legislature follow:

These DUI laws are not doing our small businesses in our state any good at all. They are destroying them. They are destroying a way of life that has been in Montana for years and years. ... These taverns and bars in these smaller communities connect people together. ... They are the center of the communities. I'll guarantee you there's only two ways to get there: Either you hitchhike, or you drive, and I promise you they're not going to hitchhike.

Funny, I always thought churches and other civil society institutions were at the center of rural communities.

Basin is a Census Designated Place in Jefferson County. Photo above is of a tavern in Darby, Montana, population 710, in Ravalli County.

Marketing upscale clothing, with rurality, meekness and devotion

I recently purchased some lovely silk scarves at a boutique. The tag on the scarves describes the origin of silk fibers, the history of their use and how to care for the scarves. Interestingly, the tag also uses the words "rural" and "villager" in relation to those who made the scarves. It reads in part:

The Intrinsic and Artistic Skills Of The Intriguing Villagers of Mystical INDIA Are Proudly Presented Thru These Varied Combinations Of Silks And Other Spectacular Natural Indian Fibres.

* * *

Your Purchase Also Benefits and Supports The Meek, Gentle, Selfless Rural Indian Villagers Who Are Seeking Salvation Thru Simplicity, Devotion And Hard Work.

Obviously, this was not written by a native English speaker, but the word choice nevertheless seems significant. I find the references to rurality as such a positive thing to be interesting in this context--perhaps because the scarves are not the somewhat crude handcrafts one might buy in a developing world country. I guess I'm thinking that most people buying these scarves would not really care that they are helping poor villagers half a world away--but perhaps I am wrong about this. I also find intriguing the implication that rural folk/villagers are synonymous with meekness, gentleness, and selflessness.

Oglala Sioux file suit against beer distributors

A student called to my attention last month a law suit the Oglala Sioux have filed in federal court against Anheuser-Busch and some other large breweries, along with four stores that sell beer in tiny Whiteclay, Nebraska, population 14. Turns out, more than 13,000 cans of beer and malt liquor are sold in Whiteclay every day, and the reason lies across the South Dakota state line: the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The New York Times reports on the lawsuit today, and the headline for Timothy Williams's story sums up the situation well, "At Tribe's Door, A Hub of Beer and Heartache."

The Pine Ridge Reservation has been "dry" (an alcohol prohibition area) since the 1970s, but a devastating alcohol problem persists there. The Oglala Sioux blame the beer distributors, accusing them of "encouraging the illegal purchase, possession, transport and consumption of alcohol on the reservation" where "[f]etal alcohol syndrome, fatal drunken driving accidents and beer-fueled murders have cast a pall over Pine Ridge for decades." The Sioux are seeking $500 million for costs that the tribe has borne for health care, law enforcement and social services linked to chronic alcohol consumption. The suit also seeks to limit the amount of beer that stores in Whiteclay can sell. The complaint alleges that the defendants "know that they are selling alcohol to people who have no permissible place to consume it, and who are smuggling it onto the reservation for illegal use and resale."

Williams describes the devastation that is Whiteclay:

After the lawsuit was filed, Whiteclay's two-lane road, Highway 87, bustled with traffic driving to and from the beer stores. Dozens of people in various states of inebriation wandered along the road. Other men and women were passed out in front of abandoned buildings. A Hank Williams, Jr. 45, "I'd Rather Be Gone," was among the detritus along the road, as well as empty liquor bottles, a copy of "Tabernacle Hymns No. 3," soiled clothing and a dead puppy.

Williams also explains some of the law enforcement limitations related to the easily available alcohol. First, the Sheridan County sheriff's department employs only five deputies, and the department is based 19 miles away in the county seat, Rushville. Those five deputies serve a county with just 5,469 residents spread over 2,446 square miles. That's a population density of just 2.2 persons/square mile. The Sheridan County sheriff says his deputies patrol Whiteclay two or three times a day, but with budget cuts, they cannot expect to do more.

Meanwhile, across the state line, the Pine Ridge Reservation is roughly the size of Connecticut, but it, too, is sparsely populated, with just 45,000 residents. The tribal police department has just 38 officers, a drop from 101 just six years ago. Ninety percent of the criminal cases in the tribe's court system are linked to alcohol, as are a similar percentage of illnesses among tribal members. Tribal police made 20,000 alcohol-related arrests last year. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, any sign of alcohol use, e.g., slurred speech, walking funny, can get a person arrested.

Williams shares an anecdote that highlights the inefficacy of the various law enforcement agencies in this place that he characterizes as "lawless." Williams describes a gathering of Sioux drinking in Whiteclay; one shouts obscenities as a Nebraska State Patrol officer passes. "The trooper slammed on the brakes and shouted obscenities back, threatening to call in the sheriff to 'clear this town.' An hour later, there was no sheriff, and the crowds had grown thicker."

Williams touches on another rural angle in this story--the role of the beer stores in Whiteclay's survival. In addition to the beer stores, the town has two grocery stores and an auto body repair shop. Williams quotes Victor Clarke, the owner of one of the grocery stores, which does not sell alcohol:

People don't want Whiteclay to go away ... The state of Nebraska doesn't want Whiteclay to go away because it allows problems to be isolated in this one little place. You hear people in the towns around here, saying, 'We don't want these guys in our town.'

Clarke makes the point that if the Sioux weren't getting their beer in Whiteclay, they could get it in any number of other places an hour away. By permitting the sale of unlimited beer in Whiteclay, the problem is cabined and concentrated.

This seems to me a truly pitiful effort on the part of all of the governments involved to address a complex and entrenched problem.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XCVII): An interview with the Sheriff

Lots of issues of the Newton County Times have been piling up in recent weeks, while I have been traveling and teaching. The February 22, 2012 issue of the paper features a lengthy interview with Newton County Sheriff Keith Slape, with the headline focusing on his oversight of the construction of the new jail. But the interview covers a lot more territory than the circuitous path leading to the actual construction of the jail. In particular, Slape provides details of the budgetary and other challenges his department has faced in the past year.

Slape reports that he had to lay off a deputy a year ago and that his office is still badly underfunded, in part because of budget cuts made by the Quorum Court and in part because the county has not received Title Three funding that he "typically uses to employ two office staff members. " He notes that 14 other counties in the state are also waiting for their appropriations because of "bureaucratic problems." Describing the consequences of the funding cuts, the paper quotes Slape:

I had to borrow and beg from other offices. Paper for writing reports was a significant need. We made use everything that was purchased was an absolute necessity. We got down to buying toilet paper a roll at a time. Some things we did do without.

The county recently conducted an auction of surplus materials and unclaimed property, and the proceeds raised are being used to sustain the sheriff's office until the federal funds arrive. The 2012 Sheriff's Office budget is $265,000, up from $205,000 in 2011, when the Quorum Court had severely slashed it. The additional $60,000 for 2012, Slape reports, "is due in large part to the cooperation of other county officials who worked with him to provide a budget which he feels is adequate."

The Sheriff's office has also been able to save money by leasing high-mileage, older patrol vehicles from the Sheriff's office of a larger county. One of those vehicles had 70,000 miles on it, which is a low-mileage vehicle for Newton County. Slape also used an "Adopt-A-Car program in which local businesses and individuals made monetary contributions to stripe, add light bars and otherwise equip the patrol cars that were received stripped down."

The sheriff reported that his office's "command unit" saw heavy use last year. That unit is a converted FEMA trailer outfitted with radio and computer equipment. It is placed at the scene of special operations, searches, and rescues.

Regarding the several years that the county has been without a jail and paying to house prisoners in the jails of neighboring counties, Slape commented, "The worst thing is I have a pile of warrants here. Only the bad ones can go to jail right now." He says he can't execute misdemeanor warrants without a county jail in which to put people, and that people in the county know this and so are not being deterred from committing these lesser crimes.

Slape noted that those who have gone to prison in recent years have most often been guilty of drug offenses. "Those stepped up actions along with new laws regarding possession of substances and materials used to manufacture methamphetamine have had a positive effect in reducing the noxious drug's availability." But now prescription drugs are filling the vacuum, according to Slape, who said that the demand for prescription drugs is so great that even some elderly citizens are selling theirs to subsidize their meager incomes.

Slape disclosed that the international hacking group, Anonymous, had successfully gained access to the Sheriff's Office computer system. The Sheriff's Office learned of this breach from the FBI, and the office has now added enhanced security to its systems to prevent future incidents.

In other news, all of the county's officials have announced that they are seeking re-election, including Sheriff Keith Slape, who is seeking his fourth two-year term. The longest serving official is County Assessor Sheila McCutcheon, who is seeking her ninth term. Except for the county sheriff and the county collector who run as Independents, all of the current officials are Republicans.

Opening Day of UN's Commission on the Status of Women: Focus on rural women

The following post was written by Lauren McIntosh, a third-year law student at Pace University. Lauren and I are two of the observers designated by the American Society of International Law to attend the United Nation's 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Rural women are a focus of the 56th Session, which means that agriculture is, too.

Monday marked the beginning of the 56^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. This year’s priority theme is the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and other current challenges. This theme seems more relevant than ever now that the world’s population has exceeded 7 billion (expected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050), with rural women making up one-fourth of the population.

The Honorable Marjon V. Kamara of Liberia, the Chair of CSW56, opened the session in the General Assembly Hall with the delegates from the Member States of the United Nations and representatives and observers from national, regional, and local organizations in attendance. During her opening statement, Kamara emphasized that much normative work on gender equality remains to be done in the political realm at the international level, and actual implementation at the national level is also a major task. This includes bridging the gap between the promises made at the international level and their implementation at the national level; thus, the real work begins after CSW56 when the delegates return to their home countries. Furthermore, she stated that the goal of gender equality is not a task to be undertaken only by women, but it is the responsibility of society as a whole to work towards achieving this goal.

We also had the honor of hearing from Michelle Bachelet, the first Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of U.N. Women and the former President of Chile (photo above). She stressed that the session’s priority theme is pressing as it includes issues relating to human rights, equality, and justice for a quarter of the world’s population; furthermore, empowering rural women is not just good for women, but advances the interests of all members of society. Although they are often overlooked, rural women are actually on the front lines of many pressing global issues, such as climate change and its effects on agriculture. The Arab Spring and other such movements have also shown us that we must open up the political process to all members of society, especially rural women. Strides have been made, and more women now work and participate in politics at the international, national, and local level, but this is not enough, as rural women also need economic independence. In this realm, Bachelet noted, rural women have seen less progress. For example, women farmers receive only five percent of agricultural extension services. She also quoted a rural woman who expressed another challenge:

When the land is in my husband’s name, I’m only a worker. When it is in my name, I have some position in society.

One especially interesting point raised by Bachelet was the important role a cell phone can play in the life of a rural woman, as it is a means to acquire services and carry out business. A recent study showed that 41 percent of women reported an increase in income and professional opportunities because of their cell phones. Ultimately, in order to achieve economic independence, rural women need better access to basic infrastructure and technology. Bachelet concluded by stating:

I know that equality is possible. It will take time. It will take our concerted and collective effort. But I am convinced that if we put our energies into empowering women and advancing gender equality, we will create a new and better future.

As both Kamara and Bachelet emphasized in launching CSW56, much work lies ahead. After this encouraging start, the delegations, observers, and attendees moved on to smaller group discussions, roundtables, and panels to get on with that important work.

Cross posted to Agricultural Law and IntLawGrrls.

My articles about CEDAW's Article 14, which is entirely about the rights of rural women, are here, here, and here.

U.S. District Judge rejects organic farmers' suit against Monsanto

U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, Southern District of New York, last week dismissed a lawsuit that a group of organic farmers, seed companies and food safety groups had filed in March, 2011, against agribusiness giant Monsanto Corporation. The plaintiffs acted preemptively, essentially seeking protection against lawsuits by Monsanto should the corporation sue for patent infringement based on the anticipated but unintended (and, indeed, undesirable) presence of genetically modified crops among their yields. The plaintiffs sought a ruling that that Monsanto's patent were invalid because they are "injurious." The plaintiffs claimed that Monsanto's practice was to "aggressively assert[]" patent claims against U.S. farmers. They plaintiffs alleged that Monsanto engages in "baseless litigation to intimidate farmers and restrict competition with its transgenic seed."

Buchwald rejected these arguments, writing:

There is no evidence that plaintiffs are infringing defendants' patents, nor have plaintiffs suggested when, if ever, such infringement will occur.

Indeed, Judge Buchwald found the plaintiffs' claims "unsubstantiated ... given that not one single plaintiff claims to have been so threatened." Judge Buchwald also found that the plaintiffs had "overstate[d] the magnitude of [the defendant's] patent enforcement." Monsanto brings an average of 13 patent-enforcement lawsuits each year. Judge Buchwald found this "hardly significant when compared to he number of farms in the United States, approximately two million."

In addition to fearing patent infringement claims by Monsanto, the organic farmers and other plaintiffs note that genetically modified organism (GMO) material also lowers the value of their product. Because of unavoidable cross-pollination, most organic corn in the U.S. contains between half a percent and two percent GMOs. Read more here.

The case is Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association v. Monsanto Co., 11-02163, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Read NPR's coverage of the matter here. The Sacramento Bee ran this Monsanto Press Release.

Cross-posted to Agricultural Law.

Spatial isolation, spatial disparities in American Indian justice

"Higher Crime, Fewer Charges on Indian Land" is the headline for Timothy Williams's recent story in the New York Times. Here's the lede:

Indian reservations across the United States have grappled for years with chronic rates of crime higher than all but a handful of the nation's most violent crimes. But the Justice Department, which is responsible for prosecuting the most serious crimes on reservations, file charges in only about half of Indian country murder investigations and turns down nearly two-thirds of sexual assault cases, according to federal data.

***

Under federal law, tribal courts have the authority to prosecute tribal members for crimes committed on reservations, but cannot sentence those convicted to more than three years in prison. As a result, tribes usually seek federal prosecution for serious crimes.

Indeed, some tribal members have sued the federal government for deciding not to prosecute--and for what they allege is shoddy police work.

One part of the story that intrigued me was an explanation that one former tribal judge offered for the federal government's efficacy and engagement. He focused on literal material spatiality, noting that "federal prosecutors typically live, work and try cases hundreds of miles from Indian country."

It sounds a little bit like "out of sight, out of mind." But, as Williams notes, there is also the challenge of limited resources--and competition for which cases are going to garner them.

Getting into farming (and staying there)

That's the topic of several recent stories out of California.

A few days ago, the San Francisco Chronicle ran this front-page story about the diminished profitability of cattle ranching, particularly in California where land prices are so high. The story features Tim Koopman of Sunol. It's no wonder his land is so pricey: Sunol is an unincorporated Census Designated Place... happens to be in metropolitan Alameda County, home to City of Oakland and part of the Bay Area bubble. Koopman is the first of four generations of ranchers in his family to work off the ranch. His two sons also ranch--and they also earn their livings with careers off the ranch.

[A] number of American cattle families are throwing in their branding irons, either selling off their land or planting crops. While the price of beef is at record highs, the cost of doing business for some is impossible.

***

The shrinking beef supply is affecting consumers, who on average paid 10 percent more per pound for meat in 2011 than they did the year before, said Steve Kay, editor and publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly, a trade publication based in Petaluma."

Kay added that consumer prices could rise another 10% in 2012. Still, demand has remained strong, with 14% of the U.S. beef supply exported in 2011.

Ranchers, agricultural experts and theUSDA cite a number of reasons for the beef decline: loss of grazing land to development or other farming purposes, the high cost of feed and energy and the fact that the average age of a rancher has crept up to 59 and their children don't necessarily want to take the reins.

Development of farm land, the resulting high cost of land, and aging farmers are also themes of this January story from the Sacramento Bee. It tells of a match-making scheme--matching, that is, farmers looking for land with plots to be farmed. Here's an excerpt from Carlos Alcala's story:

Putting farmers onto underused land was once a matter of creating homesteads.

Now it has entered the computer age, with nonprofits using the Internet to match farmland with growers.

***

[M]any landowners are hoping to preserve the land for agriculture, not development, and want to help young farmers--not large agribusiness.

It led to a dating service of sorts for farms.

***

Farm Link has online listings of about 80 land opportunities in the Central Valley and connections to around 800 would-be farmers.

Land opportunities can be as small as half-acre or as big as 800 acres.

There is an urban parcel in West Sacramento that the owner wanted productive, and orchard acreage in Apple Hill looking for someone new to take it over.

And that takes us to this story, which ran in the Bee a few days earlier. It focuses on a well-known Sacramento-area organic farm, Good Hummus, in neighboring Yolo County. Jeff and Annie Main, who own Good Hummus, are 61 and 59 years of age, respectively, and their children are pursing other careers. The Mains know they could sell their 20-acre farm for more than it's worth for agricultural purposes, but they don't want it to be developed. They specifically want it to be farmed. Edwin Ortiz's story explains the solution being pursued to keep the land for farming:

Enter the Davis and Sacramento natural food cooperates with "One Farm at a Time" solution.

Both stores are helping to raise funds to purchase an easement, through the oversight of the Yolo Land Trust, that would stipulate the Mains' property would remain a farm, in perpetuity. Such efforts are not common in California, since most easements demand only that land remains open space.

The goal is to raise between $300,000 and $400,000 from 40,000 customers who shop both stores, said Paul Cultera, general manager of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op.

"This is a test model ... The idea is to do this and then move onto the next farm," Cultera said.

I am heartened to know of these grassroots efforts to save California farm land and to get and keep Californians farming. Only time will tell whether they succeed.

Cross-posted to Agricultural Law.