Daily Corinthian • Sunday June 21, 2015 • 7A
Remembering a special father on Father’s Day BY PEGGY SMITH For the Daily Corinthian
If you have a living father, why not do something special for him? Maybe you as a son can walk up to him, put your arms on his shoulder and give him a hug and tell him how much you appreciate him, and how lucky you are to have someone so special. Then, to you daughters, just a simple little kiss on the cheek and say “Fa-
ther, I’m a big girl now, but to you I know I’m still your little girl� and thank him for all the love he has shown you. When you as a son or daughter are sharing a special day with your father, just remember there is one daughter who isn’t as fortunate as you. I’ll remember 1963 for the rest of my life. I’ll carry memories that keep my father alive. I’ll go on missing him and longing for him,
but most of all, I’ll remember him not just being my father, but also my friend. If I could, my words as a daughter to my father today would be thanking him for all the love he has given me so generously and being a father I could never forget. It has been 52 years since I lost my father, but the fun memories I’ll cherish. It’s times like today when everyone is giving a surprise party or utter-
ing the words I can’t give or say, “Happy Father’s Day.� Neither can I sit and watch the smile he would have had on his face when he would have opened his gifts, like a lot of you will be giving your living fathers today. Instead, I have to go to a place where gifts can no longer be opened. I’ll carry my father a simple bouquet of flowers and place them upon his grave. I’ll stand a moment in medi-
tation and say a simple phrase, “Happy Father’s Day, my love is with you forever more.� It would be wonderful if I could stretch my arms today and give him a hug, but I have no regrets for when he walked this earth. I gave him hugs many times. I believe God gave us arms to reach out and show our love. Tomorrow, Father’s Day will have passed, but my father will keep walk-
ing beside me until next Father’s Day when I again will return and place flowers upon his grave and again say, “Happy Father’s Day.�0 (Peggy Smith is the daughter of Murry Drewery, who drowned in 1963 at the age of 51 in Pickwick, Tenn. Peggy and her husband were the owners of Hamburger Harold’s, located on Fillmore Street in Corinth for over 50 years.)
Veterinarians for large animals in short supply in U.S. BY ERROL CASTENS Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
STARKVILLE — If you are one of the estimated 10,000 cattle producers in Mississippi, you may have faced a challenge in finding a veterinarian to treat a sick or injured animal right away. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nationally in 2010 - the most recent year for which statistics are available - about 6 percent of veterinarians specialized in equine veterinary medicine, about 8 percent practiced exclusively or predominantly on food animals, and another 7 percent had mixed-animal practices. By contrast, two-thirds of the nation’s veterinarians in 2010 were practicing exclusively on companion animals (dogs, cats and other small animals). The trend toward small-animal practices is believed to have continued, as increasing numbers of vet school graduates opt for more lucrative pet practices to pay off six-figure student loans sooner. It’s an issue here in Mississippi, too.
“There are plenty of vets out there; there’s just a shortage of those offering large animal services,� said Andy Berry, executive vice president of the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association. “It’s a problem anytime you have less availability. Where it affects you is it may take longer for someone to get to you.� For routine veterinary procedures, a few hours or even days may not be crucial, but securing an animal doctor quickly to deliver a breech calf or to treat a horse with pneumonia could mean the difference between recovery and death for the animals in question. Lee Chrestman, one of Lafayette County’s bigger cattle producers, said, “There’s sure a shortage of veterinarians. His usual practitioner, Dr. Randy McWhirter of Pontotoc, has cut back on his practice, Chrestman said. If an emergency arises when McWhirter isn’t available, “I handle it. That’s all you can do,� Chrestman said. He notes having helped a neighbor with a difficult calf birth just last week. “I get a lot of those
phone calls,� he said. “I’ve pulled a lot of calves, put a lot of prolapses back in.� Dr. David Hidalgo of Amory shares a veterinary practice with his wife, Dr. Pat Hidalgo. He primarily practices on large animals, while she treats mostly pets. “There is a perception that there are too few large-animal veterinarians,� he said, noting that the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine is conducting a survey of both veterinarians and producers to try to clarify the issues. “They’re asking producers what they’re willing to do, what they would pay, and what services they want,� Hidalgo said. “My thoughts are that good, old American capitalism will be the answer. When there’s a way for people to make money, there’ll be plenty of supply.� He said producers ideally should have a veterinarian help with preventive herd health from vaccinations to pregnancy health checks and bull breeding soundness exams. Those who don’t may be the most vocal
about getting a vet’s help in an emergency. “If he’s used a veterinarian once in the last year, that’s not enough for him to be crying about not having a vet immediately available,� Hidalgo said. “I don’t know that a veterinarian needs to go out and treat all animals, but the veterinarian needs to be involved enough for the producer to know his recommended treatment protocols.� Hidalgo said another complication in making a living as a large-animal veterinarian is that fewer people raise cattle than in previous generations. “Even 20 years ago, the county we live in was full of cattle,� he said. “When the market went down, a lot of the small producers got out and never got back in.� “Large-animal medicine is a great way of life. You’re out in the open; you’re using your physical abilities as well as your mental abilities. There would be plenty of people who would like to do it if enough people were willing to pay for their services.� Dr. Carla Huston, a former private-practice,
large-animal veterinarian who is now an associate professor at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said there is clearly a shortage in some areas. One contribution to the shortage of large-animal vets is the change in veterinary focus over the past several decades. “Veterinarians were originally there to take care of horses in the army,� Huston said. Later, the health of food animals - typically beef and dairy cattle in Mississippi - became the impetus for most veterinary work, she said, for reasons of both economics and public health. Whether related or not, one reality in veterinary medicine is that the vast majority of new vets are women. At MSU, veterinary classes over the past five years have numbered between 75 and 80 percent female students, said Rich Meiring, assistant dean for admissions at the veterinary college. Huston said the stereotype that large-animal vets are muscular men often isn’t accurate. “We have a lot of stu-
dents who want to practice large-animal veterinary medicine,� she said. Economics, not personal size or strength, is the most common barrier, with MSU CVM graduates leaving school with an average of $140,000 in student debt. “It’s difficult for a veterinarian to make a good business model in food animal practice, especially depending on the population,� Huston said. “We work hard on trying to train our students in business, but the reality of it, financially, is that that person can make more money doing small animal work. Our farms are 20, 30, 40 miles out. You put someone in a truck driving between appointments, and he or she can’t see nearly as many animals as in a clinic. “That young person may love cows and want to go back home and establish a food-animal practice, but if they’ve got $1,200 a month in student loan payments for 20 years and if they can make 125 percent more by going to town, it’s hard to keep them on the farm,� Huston said.
Utah school creates ‘texting lane’ for phone-focused walkers Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — One Utah university is giving students glued to their cellphones a place to call their own: a designated lane for texting while walking. The neon green lanes painted on the stairs to the gym at Utah Valley University were intended as a lighthearted way to brighten up the space and get students’ attention, spokeswoman Melinda Colton said Thursday. And it worked. A picture of the lanes — which
divide the stairs into sections for runners, walkers and texters — created widespread buzz on social media this month after it was posted online. Though the lanes are limited to the school’s recreation center, 22-year-old student Tasia Briggs wouldn’t mind seeing them catch on across campus. “There’s nothing worse than walking behind someone who’s texting, and you can’t get around them and go anywhere,� Briggs said. She added
smartphone messaging — whether through texts, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram — is a big part of how her generation communicates, and it’s cool to see the college acknowledge it. Utah Valley University is in Orem, 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, and has an enrollment of about 31,000. Student Chelsea Meza, 22, says the lanes touch on a cultural reality in an age of ubiquitous cellphones. “It’s kind of funny. You walk down the hallway
and instead of saying hi, everyone is walking and texting,� she said. Though the lanes weren’t designed to curb a texting problem on campus, about half of students who see the lanes really use them, Meza said. Though Colton says she hasn’t heard of the concept at any other colleges, it’s not the first time anywhere that it’s been tried. The Chinese city of Chongqing last year created a smartphone sidewalk lane that was intended to be ironic while also re-
minding people that staring at phones while on the go can be dangerous. Officials said they got the idea from a similar stretch of pavement in Washington, D.C., created by National Geographic Television as part of a behavior experiment. The smartphone lanes attracted attention there too, but people using their phones generally didn’t notice them. At Utah Valley University, the idea came from a group of students and staff who wanted to spice
up a gray staircase in the new Student Life & Wellness Center, said Sam Hadlock, a student designer on the team. The typographic design installed June 7 was a favorite of student government leaders. The concept is a bit different from the red-brick-and-ivy aesthetic typically associated with university campuses, said Hadlock, a 26-yearold recent graduate. “I think it’s fun, and great to see current design on a university campus,� he said.
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