More legal wrangling aimed at saving two tiny schools

Recent issues of the Newton County Times discuss the latest efforts by two small schools in the Arkansas Ozarks to prevent their consolidation. I wrote about the schools' legal and fiscal actions this spring, here and here. A related story about how Arkansas funds schools is here.

The August 17, 2011 issue of the newspaper reports that the lawyer for the Deer-Mt. Judea School District has asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to reconsider a circuit court ruling that dismissed the District's suit that protest the state's school funding method. The District is arguing that its concerns arose after a 2007 Arkansas Supreme Court decision in a case called Lake View, which found the state's school funding formula constitutional. The Deer-Mt. Judea District is asserting that inadequate transportation funding by the state forces small school districts that cover a lot of territory to divert funding from other programs to cover transportation costs. The District has asked the state to establish a maximum one-way bus ride of 45 minutes for public school students, and to bar the state education board from closing small, remote schools.

Under Act 57 of 2003, the educational-funding structure law, funding targets districts of 500 students using factors such as transportation and personnel. Per-student funding is based on this calculation. The state deems districts with fewer than 350 students too small to guarantee an adequate education.

The September 14, 2011 issue of the paper reports that the Arkansas Supreme Court has given the state a three-week extension to respond to the Deer-Mt. Judea District filing. It also reports on a meeting of the Deer-Mt. Judea School Board at which district patrons asked the Board what its plan is in the event the lawsuit fails. One patron seemed to suggest that the District should be making overtures to the Jasper District, with whom it may have to consolidate. The Superintendent responded, "Our official stand is to wait until the lawsuit is over."

Other issues of the paper indicate that other area schools are closely monitoring whether they will be able to keep their schools, as indicated in reports of each school district's enrollment. The A front-page story in the August 24, 2011 issue is headlined "Ozark Mountain reports 663." This means that the Ozark Mountain District's three schools have that total enrollment, and the story indicates it is broken down 244 students in Bruno-Pyatt (Pyatt has a population of 373), 238 in Western Grove (population 518), and 181 in St. Joe (population 109). Bear in mind that, prior to consolidation in 2004, each of these schools was its own district, with its own superintendent. Districts like Ozark Mountain that were formed out of the 2004 consolidation have already achieved some economies of scale.

Nostalgia, economics, and spatiality in reporting on post office closures

Legal Ruralism has featured a lot of posts recently about the proposed plan to close 3,700 post offices, most of them in rural areas. You can read some here and here. Now, recent issues of my two "favorite" news sources, the New York Times and the Newton County Times, both feature stories about the proposed closures. I'll write about what the Newton County Times teaches in a subsequent post, but the ostensible angle in the New York Times story is how post offices serve as more than places to do postal businesses--they are community hubs. The headline is "Where Post Office is the Town's Heart, Fears of Closing." (The alternative headline the NYT is using is "In Rural America, Fears that Beloved Post Offices Will Close"). Of course, we've talked about this community hub theme in class and in recent posts. We've also talked about the impact of post office closures on the elderly, which this story also notes.

But what appears at first blush to be a story focused on rural community turns out to feature a business angle--or at least an economic one. Indeed, in the print edition, the story appears on the first page of the business section, for which journalist Steven Greenhouse regularly writes. Greenhouse focuses on several tiny communities in Ohio and depicts them sympathetically, with a good dose of nostalgia. The story's dateline is Neville, Ohio, population 109, and Greenhouse opens with a folksy, small town vignette:

While checking for mail on her daily visit, Susan Reid regaled the town postmaster with news of the wonderful swimming lessons enjoyed by her two home-schooled children. Suddenly, her 9-year-old son began tumbling around, ever so playfully, on the floor, as if he were at home.

* * *

Meanwhile, the door of the white clapboard building opened and in walked Norma Bowling, a retired nurse’s aide, carrying a plastic bag. “Here are the bell peppers I promised you,” she said, handing the gift to Ms. Blackburn [the Neville postmaster].

Greenhouse subsequently quotes Bowling regarding her reliance on the post office:

I just wish that they would leave our post office alone. If I couldn’t come here to get my mail every morning, I’d feel a big part of me has died.

A patron of another nearby post office, a marketing representative who goes to the post office a couple of times day to mail proposals to prospective clients, comments, “You’re throwing the little people, the rural people, under the bus."

But wait, as I read these quotes again, I wonder if Greenhouse's depiction is sympathetic, or whether it is actually more patronizing?

In any event, if you read between the lines, it seems Greenhouse is making a hard-edged business point : Isn't it a waste of money for the Neville post office to remain open--given that another post office, the one in Moscow, population 240, is just four miles or so down the road? He notes that proposed closings at nearby Higginsport (population 227) and Chilo (population 82) will similarly channel postal patrons to Moscow. Greenhouse quotes a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson, Susan Brennan, who makes a similar point:

Regarding rural America, the fact is that our network of post offices was established decades ago to serve populations that in many, many cases moved on years ago. The residents in these communities already go to neighboring towns to shop for food, go to the drugstore, purchase gas, go to the bank — they can take care of their postal needs there.

Greenhouse, with Brennan's help, makes a fair point. Communities do dry up (even if they don't quite blow away) and the fact that Neville has had a post office since 1816 does not necessarily mean that it still needs one. I documented this in a post from earlier this year, about the fact that my home county, the population of which has never exceeded 10,000, has been home to some 50 posts offices--though not all at the same time, mind you--over the years. In fact, when you look at all of the Newton County post office closures and openings over the years, the U.S. Postal Service looks downright agile.

In any event I think it's important to note that Greenhouse would not have been able to write quite the same story if he had used examples from the West, as opposed to more densely populated Ohio. That is, I doubt that any post offices exist in rural Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, or on the western slope in Colorado that are within four miles of another post office! Four miles doesn't seem far, I admit. But when I was driving through parts of rural Montana and Idaho this summer, I certainly didn't see any post offices within four miles of one another. Indeed, I was surprised to see post offices seemingly in the proverbial middle of nowhere. These included a post office next to a convenience store in North Fork, Idaho, not even a Census Designated Place, near the base of Lost Trail Pass, and one in Clayton, Idaho, also not a Census Designated Place but which Wikipedia tells me has a population of 7. Yes, that's right, 7! But these two post offices serve big chunks of Lemhi County and Custer County respectively, which seems to me to change the calculus. Lemhi County has a population of 7,936 and a population density of just 1.7 persons per square mile. Its biggest population cluster is Salmon, with a population of 3,130. Custer County has a population of just 4,368 and a population density of just under one person per square mile; its largest population cluster is Challis, population 909. Only a handful of post offices serve the residents of these remote counties, and people literally come out of the woodwork (well, literally, the mountains) to use these facilities. In other words, it's not only the seven residents of Clayton who use the U.S. Post office there. Of greater use to more citizens (mostly tourists!) than the North Fork and Clayton post offices are the equally isolated post offices in Glacier National Park (at Lake MacDonald Lodge), pictured top, and the one in the summer tourist mecca of Stanley, Idaho, population 47. (Why, I wonder in retrospect, did I take photos of these and not the more distinctive post offices in the more remote, more truly "local" and rural locales of North Fork and Clayton?)

The thing that's easily overlooked, of course--and this seems to be the case with Greenhouse--is that while many post offices seem to serve a place with little or no population cluster, they are actually serving many more residents than live in the incorporated or unincorporated area where the post office is located. That is, they serve people who drive in from the surrounding county (or counties) to do their postal business. In the case of Neville, Chilo, Higginsport and Moscow, Ohio, that broader area means at least some parts of Clermont County, which is included in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Metropolitan Area. In short, it's not clear from Greenhouse's story how many residents of the area are served by these small post offices since the references to the small towns at risk of losing their posts offices suggest just a few hundred people. Whatever the answer to that question, it's not one being asked by journalists like Steven Greenhouse, who may not realize that the loss of which he writes affects more than the 109 residents of Neville. Just as importantly, post office closures in the rural west may not implicate services for many people, but I daresay that the distances residents must cover to reach an alternative post office if the closest one closes are never as little as four miles.

Farmville (Part III): Fruits of labor

Last week, our class we watched the documentary, "Morristown: In the Air and Sun." The documentary loosely presented neutral story lines: a factory outsourcing its jobs to Maquiladoras in Mexico; Mexican immigrants crossing the border into America; and the struggles these workers face. Some of the workers at the plant described how they worked in a factory fourteen hours a day without breaks or safety attire. The movie ended with the workers agreeing to unionize and achieve better working conditions.

I found the movie very intriguing because the stories of the factory workers' deplorable working conditions and lack of pay are much different than the experiences of workers on our ranch. Farm labor is very hard work. A typical harvest day is depicted here. Our farm workers are not members of a union; however, California residents have all benefited from the worker's rights movement.

The worker's rights movement picked up steam in the 1960's. Caesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. The Association provided support to farm workers and notified them of pending lawsuits in Northern California. A copy of the Association's newsletter can be found here. The Association later became the United Farm Workers Association (UFW). Over the years, the UFW has organized strikes to protest for higher wages, lobbied for worker's rights bills, and provided a voice to the farm worker. Through the hard work of the UFW, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act was passed. The act establishes collective bargaining for farm workers in California, something not provided in federal law.

One would think that since the workers rights movement was in the 1960's, many agricultural labor issues would be resolved. However, it seems that farm workers are more marginalized than ever. Movement of farm workers, lack of knowledge of available legal aid, and fear inhibit many farm workers from reporting unsafe working conditions and low wages.

In Morristown, the workers lived and worked in the same factory town all year long. Such permanent residency makes it easier to form unions, because turnover among workers is lower and permanent offices can be established. Since a high majority of farm workers work seasonally and travel year round, it is hard to keep track of union members and their specific needs. In Yuba City, we have the Western Farm Workers Association. In a telephone interview, the association informed me they won a legal battle last year, receiving a $300,000 award to be distributed to the farm workers involved in the lawsuit. However, the association is having a difficult time finding the farm workers, as they have likely moved on to a subsequent harvest.

A second issue hindering farm workers from receiving the benefits of unionizing and reporting poor working conditions is lack of knowledge of available legal resources. Even though farm workers have fought for better pay and working conditions in California since the 1960's, the Western Farm Workers Association informed me that many farm workers do not know when the law is on their side. The federal Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act aims, "To assure necessary protections for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, agricultural associations, and agricultural employers." 29 U.S.C.A. § 1801 (West). Specifically, the act requires employers to pay workers' wages prescribed by federal, state, and local regulation. Doe v. D.M. Camp & Sons, 624 F. Supp. 2d 1153 (E.D. Cal 2008).

Even if the farm workers understand the law protects them, fear is a third issue that impedes farm workers from unionizing. Like the workers in the documentary Morristown, many of the farm workers in my hometown are undocumented. This past week, I interviewed one of our workers, Marta. Marta informed me that fear of deportation stops many farm workers from reporting bad working conditions and low wages. She also stated that workers do not trust the legal community because lawyers have a hand in the deportation process.

As a farmer's daughter and future lawyer, I find these problems very disconcerting. It is upsetting to know that almost forty years after Caesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta started the National Farm Workers Association, fear still paralyzes many farm workers, preventing them from reporting low wages and deplorable working conditions. While legal resources are available and the UFW has national name recognition, perhaps more of a grass roots campaign is needed to inform workers of their rights. How can the legal community more effectively reach the migrant farm workers?

Another blog post about unionizing and farm workers can be found here

Could a goat slaughterhouse provide the solution for economically depressed Lyon County?

Wabuska, Nevada is an unincorporated outpost in Lyon County. Currently, it is perhaps best known for Linda's Wabuska Bar and its location roughly halfway between Silver Springs and Yerington. If a Modesto-based developer has his way, it may soon become home to a multi-species meat processing plant.

A Reno Gazette Journal article details the plant that would handle beef, pork, sheep, and even goats. In the article, Vincent Estell, the project's developer, waxes rhapsodic about the qualities that make Wabuska the perfect location for the Walker River Meat Processing Plant. Estell cites the area's proximity to highways, lack of downwind neighbors, railroad access, and geothermal power as selling points for developers. But the benefits are not entirely one-sided.

Lyon County has had the highest unemployment rate in Nevada over the last several years, hovering above 15% since the beginning of 2009. Lyon County's unemployment rate has outpaced the national rate by as much as 11%.

In one of the hardest hit areas of the country, any proposed development would appear promising. If Estell can actually meet his lofty goals, the meat processing plant could be a boon to the nearby residents of Yerington and Silver Springs.

Estell believes that his proposed processing plant could employ up to 350 people during the construction phase. Another 300 would be able to start working in the facility right away, with yet another 300 employed within a year. According to the US Census Bureau, Lyon County was home to 51,980 residents in the 2010 Census. However, the two closest Census Designated Places, Yerington and Silver Springs have a combined population of 8,344 people (3,048 and 5,296 people respectively). The addition of 600 long-term jobs in the area would have a significant impact on the local economy.

In fact, according to an article published in August by the Meat Trade News Daily, Estell estimated that the plant could pump up to $50 million into the local economy by the time it is fully constructed and operational. Additionally, Estell has said that the median annual salary for workers at the plant would be around $36,000. In a county where the annual per capita income from 2005 through 2009 was estimated at $19,467, this would seem to be a welcome addition to the region.

So what's the holdup? The location of the proposed development is currently zoned for industrial use. Because the plant intends to reuse its waste-water in fields that it would plant on site, the County would have to approve a special-use permit and zone the area for agriculture. In September, the Lyon County Board of Commissioners sent a proposed ordinance that would change the zoning from industrial to agricultural back to the County's planning department because of concerns about how it would affect future industrial development.

In an era where green development and sustainability are buzzwords, it seems slightly strange that a proposal for a development to make use of its own waste would be a sticking point. But perhaps Lyon County's leaders are simply trying to look out for the best interests of the county going forward. A KOLO news story makes reference to a number of empty parking lots that were supposed to serve developments that never materialized. It is likely that at least one of those developments in the past made promises similar to those currently being made by Estell, only to fail to follow through after the County made efforts to accommodate the developers.

The proposed meat processing plant would undoubtedly make a positive impact on Lyon County - if it can live up to its promises. The problem for the County's leaders lies in quickly making the necessary legal changes to get the development off the ground while ensuring they don't spend valuable resources on a project that goes nowhere. The clock on the project might be running however, as the Reno Gazette Journal notes that the location of the plant has already shifted to Lyon County from Lassen County, California. If Victor Estell can't get the commitment he needs from Lyon County, he might pack up his promises and head to the next rural county in need of economic development.

Rural voting and the 2012 elections.

Rural people are stereotyped in several ways. For example, rural people are thought to be pro guns and anti government. Or, rural people are more likely to value family and go to church, than their urban counterparts.

Generalizations are problematic, especially when applied to rural areas--which differ immensely across ethnic, cultural, economic and political lines. However, some generalizations prove true, at least to some extent. Data show that rural people are, on average, more likely to vote Republican.

One study, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, showed that about two-thirds of the rural populations vote Republican in national elections. Furthermore, this pattern has remained fairly static since 1980, except for a period in the early 1990's, when many rural people voted for Bill Clinton. This exception to the pattern can, perhaps, be explained by Bill Clinton's marketing of himself as a guy from the country. The Greenberg survey was conducted in Census Bureau "nonmetropolitan" counties.

The strength of the Republican vote in rural areas is changing as rural populations migrate to urban or suburban areas. As demonstrated in a video by the Reference Population Bureau, rural population decline was a significant trend reflected in the 2010 census:

(M)any rural areas lost population, including much of the Great Plains, and northern and central Appalachia. In fact, nearly half of the 1,104 counties that lost population during the decade were isolated from metropolitan areas, and some of these counties have been losing population for decades. Long term changes in the U.S. economy, along with the recent recession, underlie these patterns of county population growth and decline. For example, in the past ten years, counties whose economies were dependent on farming, mining, or manufacturing, were more likely to lose population.

One question that arises from this trend is: Do rural people take their rural values with them when they leave? Will rural people living in the urban diaspora will continue to vote along conservative lines? Discussions on this topic yield mixed conclusions. Some people think that you can "take a girl out of the country, but can't take the country out of the girl." Others think that rural attitudes are environmental and will diminish in urban settings.

As a recent New York Times article argued, "as the number of rural voters dwindle, so does their influence — which could have broad implications for how the Republican primaries and the general election play out in 2012." At first glance, the New York Times article seems to suggest that people who leave rural areas behind, leave the rural vote there too.

It seems possible that the children of conservative-leaning parents may vote differently if raised in a liberal environment. However, I have a difficult time trying to convince myself that someone entrenched in politically conservative ideology will up and vote liberally as soon as they move to the big city, or suburbs, and leave their Tea Partying neighbors behind. As Professor Lisa Pruitt has observed, "rural mindset and rural values may persist in urban areas of such states if many urban dwellers maintain significant links to rural areas, such as parents and grandparents who still live there."

What all this means for the 2012 elections is hard to surmise definitively. This is especially so considering some of the other trends affecting rural voting behavior, such as the steady growing influx of minorities. For example, the influx of Latinos, who tend to vote more liberally, could change rural voting trends.

On a final note, yet another factor affecting the 2012 vote is changing electoral policies. The New York Times, in a different article, recently reported that Republican controlled legislatures all over the country are enacting new voting booth laws such as, "requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, cutting back early voting periods or imposing new restrictions on voter registration drives." The article noted, that along with making it more burdensome for specific populations to vote, perhaps ironically, these restrictions will also make it harder for rural people to vote.

For an in depth analysis of rural voting, see Professor Lisa Pruitt's article, "The Geography of the Class Culture Wars."

Be careful what you wish for

The October 3, 2011 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart made light of a serious situation. In one of the segments, which can be found here, one of the show's "correspondents" interviewed a Georgia blackberry farmer whose blackberry crops were rotting because he simply didn't have enough laborers to pick them. The segment displayed the current struggle of Georgia farmers with a small dose of humor. But after I allowed myself a little chuckle at The Daily Show's silly antics, I couldn't help but agree with Jay Bookman, who astutely points out, "It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad."

According to the USDA Economic Reserve Service, Georgia has a rural population of 1,839,995 and an urban population of 7,847,658. In 2010, the rural unemployment rate in Georgia was 11.6% as compared to the 9.9% urban unemployment rate. The rural unemployment rate has increased significantly more in percentage than its metro counterparts. In fact, rural employment has declined during the past 3 years (-2.1 in 2007-2008, -5.3 in 2008-2009, and -3.5 in 2009-2010).

27.6% of Georgia land is classified as farmland, and agriculture accounts for a great deal of the state’s economy. Yet, despite the perpetually increasing unemployment rates, Georgia is experiencing a significant farming labor shortage. This phenomenon was highlighted by many news outlets at the beginning of the summer (samples can be seen here, here, and here) and has surfaced again this week. A significant factor contributing to the labor shortage was the passage of House Bill 87, a much harsher immigration law than was previously in place. The predicted effects (mainly migration away from Georgia) of HB 87 were felt even before its effective date on July 1, 2011. Subsequent studies from the Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Agribusiness Council confirmed Georgia farmers lost a large amount of their workforce.

A CBS Atlanta Report noted that as of June 2011, there were 11,000 vacancies in the farm industry. Despite the striking unemployment rate mentioned above, farmers, such as blackberry farmer Mike Paluska, are finding that people simply aren't replying to their job postings. In fact, Paluska said that his farm has "not had a single person come" in response to his ads. But the bleak truth is that these jobs are seasonal and pay poorly. In fact, fewer than 200 of those 11,000 open jobs pay at least $16 an hour and fewer than 900 provide benefits (only 7.7 percent offer health insurance, and barely a third are even covered by workers compensation).

Georgia's initial solution? Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal, promoted the creative policy solution that would utilize a substantial amount of probationers to do the work. In the words of economics professor, Alexander Tabarrok, these immigration laws have "turned good workers into criminals and turned criminals into bad workers, losing on both ends of the deal."

The Governor's solution was greeted with mixed reviews. To those who think anyone can pick a blackberry, this might sound like an appropriate solution. However, Paluska reminds us that farm labor is skilled labor. He states, "It's a joke. No disrespect to the governor. But, it is a skill...it's something that is very meticulous, and I am doubtful that [probationers] would be suitable labor for us." Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) Executive Director, echoed this sentiment. He said, “Field harvest work is skilled labor. Anyone that has tried to pick blueberries, or cucumbers, or watermelons knows you have to have to have experience, plus be in top physical condition.”

In order to maintain quality control, farmers had to increase oversight in order to ensure the proper results. But when you've lost a significant amount of money (like the $200,000 Poluska anticipates losing by the end of the season), what choice do you have? Beggars can't be choosers, and in this case our hard working American farmers have been relegated to be the beggars. For some, the emergency probationer program came too late and others struggled with the programs inconsistent labor supply. Others, such as Colquitt County vegetable grower, Sam Watson, felt that the concept of using probationers was a “good idea” and provided much needed relief.

This week, the Georgia plight has reached Washington. The Moultrie observer reported that the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association is predicting that the shortage of workers this spring may have cost the state $140 million. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Blog broke that down into specific crop loss, finding a loss of $16 million in Vidalia onions and $29 million in blueberries all due to the ripple effect of HB 87. It further quoted a report, conducted by The University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and authored by Dr. John McKissick and Sharon Kane (which will be released later this week), which notes that the $140 million accounts for only direct farming losses and fails to account for the ripple effect the farming economy has on the rest of the state. It states:

The shortage of labor, and dollar losses at the farm gate, also had a tremendous impact on the local communities and the entire state of Georgia. Hall reported that multi-county and state models of all the business and interactions of consumers and business was formulated by the researchers to estimate the impacts of the reported losses on the local communities and the state as a whole. Calculated on an annual basis, the Spring 2011 berry and vegetable production resulted in an additional $106.5 million dollar lost in other goods and services in Georgia’s economy putting the combined impact at about $181.5 million dollars. Assuming the grower responses in the study are representative of all growers for the seven crops analyzed, the total yearly economic impact would be approximately $391 million dollars and the job loss would be about 3,260 on a statewide basis. The shortage of labor, and dollar losses at the farm gate, also had a tremendous impact on the local communities and the entire state of Georgia. Hall reported that multi-county and state models of all the business and interactions of consumers and business was formulated by the researchers to estimate the impacts of the reported losses on the local communities and the state as a whole. Calculated on an annual basis, the Spring 2011 berry and vegetable production resulted in an additional $106.5 million dollar lost in other goods and services in Georgia’s economy putting the combined impact at about $181.5 million dollars. Assuming the grower responses in the study are representative of all growers for the seven crops analyzed, the total yearly economic impact would be approximately $391 million dollars and the job loss would be about 3,260 on a statewide basis.

It is no wonder that farmers support immigration reform. All across the nation, farmers are suffering because of our persistent desire to drive out undocumented workers. The following is a list of just some geographic areas that face farm labor shortage concerns:

• In Alabama, they are worried about their sweet potatoes. The sweet potato farmers fear is well-founded, as Alabama towns hit by April’s tornado found themselves struggling to rebuild their cities, because many of its immigrant concrete pourers, framers, roofers, and other construction laborers were leaving town.
• In California, the farmers are worried about their grape and raisin harvests. Some vineyards have gone so far as replace grape harvesting jobs with machines . (Interestingly, Roy Beck, the executive director of Numbers USA, a nonprofit that supports lower immigration levels, suggested to farmers that a solution may be to resort to mechanization of harvesting.)
• In Colorado, they are worried about onions and corn. While they try to rely more heavily on local labor, it simply neither enough nor sustainable.
• The Northeast's dairy farms share the same concern.
• Arizona's harsh immigration laws are currently contributing to their farm labor shortage.

It is clear that immigration reform is needed in order to accommodate both the quantity of workers wanting to work in the United States and the amount of work that needs to be done. But what about the large amount of unemployed US citizens? Farm work is undeniably hard. It takes a great deal of psychical strength and probably a great deal of mental stamina. But why won't any of our unemployed do these jobs? What is it about farm work that is so "beneath" the average American citizen? As a country, we once valued and admired the traits that made a good and productive farmer. In fact, we still value these traits: hard honest work, perseverance, and doing what it takes to provide for your family. We just don't link those traits with farming anymore. Farmers, much like American teachers, are not getting paid enough, and (possibly more importantly) they are not getting the respect they deserve for what they provide for our country. I can't help but feel stymied at how to once again elevate these positions to where they belong. I can't believe it is simply a matter of more money and benefits.

Indian country as oil country

In our class discussions and readings, we have touched on the persistent poverty and high unemployment rates that plague many of those who live on Native American reservations across the country. According to the USDA Economic Research Service's analysis of 2000 Census data, 40 high-poverty Native American counties "did not simply have a greater incidence of poverty, they also had the highest proportion in deep poverty" as compared to other high-poverty counties. On the USDA ERS site, "deep poverty" means that "[a] full fifth of the total population in these areas lived in households with incomes below 75 percent of the poverty line." Among high-poverty counties, Native American counties also have the lowest share of people employed.

Given these sobering statistics, I was interested to read this blog post by Reese Rogers of the Rural West Initiative at the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. In the post, Rogers discusses the construction of an oil refinery on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

Made up of nearly one million acres of land and parts of six different counties, Fort Berthold had a population of nearly 6,000 people in 2000. Although Fort Berthold's counties are not among those determined by the USDA to be high poverty, the reservation did have high unemployment rates before the oil boom.

Fort Berthold encompasses a large portion of the rich Bakken shale formation, which has been enjoying a boom in oil production since 2008. It is estimated that the Bakken formation holds nearly 4 million barrels of oil and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids. According to Rogers, the refinery in Fort Berthold and other oil-related developments have already contributed to a stunning 36 point drop in Fort Berthold's unemployment rate.

What caught my eye about the blog post, however, was the leading quotation from Tex Hall, Chairman of Fort Berthold's Three Affiliated Tribes, "We are of the firm belief we will become more sovereign by the barrel."

Despite the potential economic benefits of drilling and refining oil, it is unlikely that all the local residents are as supportive and optimistic as Chairman Hall. Indeed, as Rogers points out later in the post, there are serious environmental and cultural concerns:

The unique situation of the sovereignty of the tribal lands often leads to red tape and confusion over responsibility when it comes to environmental regulation. While the EPA took control in assessing the environmental impact of the refinery project, residents have expressed concerns over the lack of environmental regulations governing other actions, such as dumping. Other concerns have been voiced about development encroaching on cultural sites.

According to the Bismark Tribune, one unforeseen consequence of the oil boom has been the increased traffic on reservation roads. Huge trucks damage the roads and stall traffic, creating concerns about adequate access to emergency services. For many, the most significant concern is the use of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," so close to underground water sources. (See other Legal Ruralism posts about tracking here and here.)

Still, in several articles on development of the oil fields, there is pattern of highlighting the potential for self-sufficiency for rural people who previously had limited economic opportunity. One November 2010 article in the Bismark Tribune says that many tribe elders feel that the oil boom helps to right the wrongs of the federal government, which in the 1950s forced residents to relocate within the reservation when it flooded parts of tribal lands to create a reservoir.

Beyond providing temporary jobs for refinery construction and permanent jobs in drilling or at the refining, money reaped from the oil may also help the Affiliated Tribes invest in roads, health care, and technology.

Perhaps the best assessment of Fort Berthold's delicate position comes from Chairman Hall, quoted in an Al Jazerra article on the subject:

It's in the spirit of our ancestors, they left us this land and these beautiful minerals that were in the middle of this oil plain...The oil and gas on Fort Berthold, it's a blessing and it's a curse. If we don't do it right and we let the oil run over us...it'll be a curse.

The same old South

Recently, an article in the New York Times covered a new genre of programming: southern-focused reality television. While this seems like an untapped market full of potential for TV executives, there are two thoughts that must be highlighter: (1) programs in this genre stand to perpetuate a negative over-generalization and (2) it isn't all that new. Which reinforces the author's central point: these stereotypes ignore southern progress.

The article talks about several shows, but I want to highlight just a few. First, we see Southerners teaching urban counter-parts how to fish with their hands in Hillbilly Handfishin' on the Animal Planet. Then in the History Channel's Swamp People, we see a documentary, of sorts, that details alligator season in swamps and how the Southerners are maintaining their "ancient way of life." In CMT’s Sweet Home Alabama, we see a Southern belle looking choosing her mate between city and rural suitors. And in the upcoming Redneck Riviera we might see a portrayal of the South reminiscent to Jersey Shore. I say might because Alabama towns are currently saying, "thanks but no thanks," to the show and not letting producers film. Two stereotypes are present within all of these shows: the hillbilly and the Southern Belle. But, as the article contends, neither of these stereotypes are accurate portrayals of Southern life. As Matt Wray explains in Not Quite White the hillbilly stereotype has long-been a way to divide Southerners from the larger group of Caucasians. In this way, Wray explains, white is more of a social class and Southerners are left out of it.

Meanwhile, the Southern belle stereotype completely ignores modern rural realities. As Professor Pruitt explains in Towards a Feminist Theory of the Rural, modern rural women face a number of hardships, such as: low wages, low education, and frequent underemployment. Infrastructure problems, such as bad transportation and lack of childcare, exacerbate their condition.

Absent from Professor Pruitt's discussion is the knight in shining armor who rescues the southern belle. Instead, she notes that these women must frequently rely on carefully balanced social networks to meet their needs. And these networks are fragile and temporary, they are hardly the same thing as waiting on Rhett Butler.

But these stereotypes are not new. In fact, television has made a lot of money off them over the years. Consider the Beverly Hillbillies featuring an Appalachian family finding oil and subsequently moving to Beverly Hills where their failed assimilation and unfamiliarity is the primary source of comedy.

This new batch of shows relies on the same tricks and stereotypes that older shows did. In the upcoming Redneck Riveria the union jack will cover clothing, hates, and even lifted trucks. But recall the Dukes of Hazard where the General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger, was adorned with the same bars and stars. The Dukes's primary plot device was outsmarting the city folk. Fast-forward to the present and we see the same ideas and similar portrayals.

All of this is even more interesting if you look at the progress of other stereotypes in popular culture. Consider African-Americans in cinema and television. Take the Uncle Remus character from Disney's Song of the South for example. There we have a character speaking a stereotypical dialect which left many then-contemporary critics thinking that the movie demeaned African-Americans.

Contrast that same character with Philip Banks from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He is a rich attorney (and later judge), who takes in his nephew and raises him as his own. Or Carl Winslow on Family Matters, a patriarch over a modern family in Chicago. Both portray African-Americans in a positive light.

The same evolution is true for women. Consider the Alice Kramden character from the The Honeymooners. Or consider Marion Ross and her portrayal of Mrs. Cunningham in Happy Days. Both depict stereotypes of women as stay-at-home mothers, reliant on their husbands. But glancing around modern airwaves, we see powerful female roles. From Friends to Ally McBeal to any cop-show, women play roles that could have easily been written for a man.

But the comparisons don't have to end with only the two most obvious groups. Even children's roles have evolved. Consider Dennis the Menace or Oppie Griffith in the Andy Griffith Show. In each we see one-dimensional portrayals of young boys: Dennis is a trouble-maker, through and through, and Oppie is a generally clueless boy devoted to his father. Fast-forward to modern times and we see children dealing with important real-world issues. Hannah Montana features a young girl forced to balance a double-life as a teen and a superstar. Or the long-running Boy Meets World, which dealt with an array of issues from substance abuse to love, sex, and even a little rock and roll.

But the Southerner? He's still typecast as a hillbilly; playing the same role on the same stage.

Obamacare's implications on the southern Oregon coast

The United States Supreme Court convened Monday for the start of its 2011 term. Many commentators expect the justices to rule on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordability Act, aka Obamacare.

The Court's decision will have wide-ranging ramifications, including on rural health care. On the southern Oregon coast, doctors and hospital officials have expressed optimism over the much ballyhooed insurance mandate. But they have already started to see benefits from a less publicized provision: adjustments to Medicare reimbursement rates.

Coos County has 63,043 residents and three hospitals. The largest one is Bay Area Hospital, a not-for-profit health district hospital that treats about 7,500 patients a year.

The area's growing retirement population means the hospital gets much of its funding from government programs. As of 2008, more than 50 percent of hospital expenses were covered by Medicare, with another 10 percent funded through Medicaid. Another 10 percent of patients don't pay for their medical services, according to a local newspaper article.

Before Congress passed the 2009 health care reform act, Bay Area Hospital was only reimbursed about 92 cents for every dollar spent on Medicare patients. The government paid only about 45 cents per dollar for Medicaid patients. To compensate, the hospital has increased the cost of services in recent years so that commercially insured patients pay the hospital about 38 percent above the cost of providing the service, leading to higher premiums.

But as part of the health care law, Congress included a provision that adjusts the formula for Medicare reimbursements, which hadn't changed since the program started in the 1960s. The law has temporarily increased Oregon doctors' reimbursement rates by between 3 and 5 percent, with a medical panel scheduled to determine a permanent reconfiguring of the formula in 2012.

This change apparently has helped Bay Area Hospital's bottom line. In 2008 and 2009, the hospital spent more than it took in. In 2010, the hospital reported $5.2 million in income from operations. Medical administrators have said the more favorable reimbursement rates should also make it easier to recruit doctors to the state.

The picture could get even rosier if the Supreme Court upholds Obamacare's insurance mandate. The provision could significantly reduce the number of patients who simply do not pay for medical care, which accounted for more than $17 million in 2010 for Bay Area Hospital.

However, a recent article in The New Yorker provides a cautionary tale about adjustments made in federal health care programs. The story focuses on a pharmacist in Montrose County, Colorado, who laments the passage of Medicare Part D, a federal program that subsidizes the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. The article's author, Peter Hessler, explains the problem:

[T]he U.S. government allows private insurance plans to negotiate with drug providers. Big chains and mail-order pharmacies receive much better rates than independent stores, because of volume. Within the first two years of the program, more than five hundred rural pharmacies went out of business.

Obamacare looks like it will help southern Oregon: providing hospitals and doctors with greater reimbursement for treating patients with Medicare and reducing the number of patients who get services for free because they are uninsured. But states that have seen a decrease in population since 1960 might suffer as a result of the changes in reimbursement rates, suffering like the pharmacies that couldn't compete following enactment of Medicare Part D.

So while the early changes brought about by Obamacare appear to be helping Bay Area Hospital's bottom line, there's no guarantee that other rural areas will see similar improvements.

Human ATMs bring banking services to the rural poor

At a recent United Nations Development meeting, Ela Bhatt, lawyer who founded the Self Employed Women's Association in Gujarat, India, spoke on the "100 miles principle" and how it applies to rural poverty. According to Bhatt, an individual needs six things: food, clothing, housing, primary health, primary education, and primary banking. These six needs can be produced within a range 100 miles. If unavailable within the 100 miles, however, development of knowledge and information technology can make the six "needs" possible. In short, decentralization fosters accessibility to such needs. Read more about the rural-urban divide on India here.

Kolad, a small town 70 miles south of Mumbai, India's financial capital, may have found a plausible method of addressing one of its needs: expanding primary banking. In a recent New York Times article, Vikas Bajaj reports an increasing trend of "human A.T.Ms," a hybrid of human tellers and automated teller machines. These "roving" tellers, armed with laptop computers, wireless modems, and fingerprint scanners, travel to rural areas to open accounts and process financial transactions for farmers and migrant workers.

These bank accounts earn 4 percent annual interest and incur no maintenance fees or charges for deposits and withdrawals. One mobile agent, Swati Yashwant, is a 29-year-old mother of one. Ms. Yashwant has been stationed in Kolad as a correspondent for State Bank for about four months now and is one of an estimate 60,000 group of "business correspondents" in India. As a business correspondent, she earns a monthly average wage of $200 on commission, which far exceeds the $65 monthly average income in rural India.

The "banking correspondent" project started roughly five years ago, at the urging of the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank seemed to realize that the traditional banking system was too costly and too inaccessible to the rural population. By literally bringing the services to the doorsteps of the farmer's home, the Reserve Bank has found a "relatively inexpensive way to recruit customers." Ms. Yashwant alone has set up 74 million bank accounts. The central bank predicts the number of business correspondents will more than double, to 126,000, by March.

Although the project has already produced promising effects, it is not without challenges. Business correspondents such as Ms. Yashwant must first travel to these remote villages by bus or even rickshaws. Once there, the wireless connections often falter and disrupt work. Blackouts are common. Additionally, many fingerprint scanners aren't able to read the calloused fingerprints of many farm laborers. Furthermore, the State Bank loses money on most of these accounts because the sums are so small. Ms. Bhatt cautions that the success of the business correspondents largely depends on who is establishing a banking relationship at the local level.

Banking is a relationship based on trust, so this cannot be easily built up. But it’s a good effort. Our Indian School of Microfinance for Women also does training for Business Correspondents.

Despite reservations as to whether the necessary trust can be built, the use of business correspondents still seems to be a step in the right direction. In Brazil, Mexico, and Kenya, similar use of mobile tellers aim to help the rural poor save and protect money. Abhijit V. Banerjee, who co-authored with Esther Duflo "Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty", considers the use of business correspondents to be "something that could be quite powerful." By setting up accounts, the poor are more likely to save the money they earn rather than spend it. As officials report, the average account balance has been steadily increasing. In March, the balance was just 100 rupees, whereas in August, the average increased to 160 rupees.

More importantly, as both Ms. Bhatt and Ms. Yashwant point out, a large reason why the rural poor stay poor is because they are simply financially illiterate, and do not think to save their money. Bringing banking service to their doorsteps helps the financially illiterate better understand banking. Regardless of the current challenges, the project has shown promising benefits. As Krishna Kumar, managing director at State Bank comments, the business correspondent project is currently more of a "social obligation," but "in a few years, it will be significant." The business correspondent project offers a viable economic solution for places like Kolad, but more importantly, it offers an example of how technology coupled with diligent effort can bring help to those in need.

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part LXXXVIII): Reward offered for deer poachers

The Sept. 21, 2011, issue of the Newton County Times features a front-page story on deer poaching, reporting that two bucks were found near the Murray Road at about 7:30 am on Sept. 16. Arkansas Game & Fish Enforcement officers "from the field" recovered a 4-point buck and a 9-point buck, both about 40 yards from the road. A witness reported seeing a dark colored pick up truck leaving the scene soon after shots were fired. A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the poacher(s), but the story does not specify the amount of the reward nor the agency offering it (presumably the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission). The Game & Fish officers reported that the venison would be salvaged and distributed to community food pantries. They also commented that "a lot of deer, particularly bucks, have been seen moving about throughout the county which will encourage poaching."

In other recent law and order news, the Jasper City Council tabled a proposed animal control ordinance in order to consider examples of similar laws and the costs involved. Read a related post here.

Ricky Middleton, 52, was found guilty of theft by receiving, two counts of altering or changing engine or other numbers, and possession of a vehicle without manufacturers' numbers. The charges stemmed from execution of a search warrant on Middleton's property in November, 2009. Middleton pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a total of 32 months of probation, along with a fine of $200 and court costs. Read earlier posts about Middleton here, here and here. I am surprised given his criminal record, most notably his involvement in a plot to kidnap the Sheriff's son, that Middleton was able to negotiate a deal that involved no prison time.