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Saturday, June 11, 2016
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Gambling with Mother Nature Local farmers understand great crops come from a steady balance of nature’s gifts By Eric Engel
eengel@bcrnews.com
The consensus on the crops in Central Illinois this year? The sunshine is always welcome, but a little rain never hurt a single kernel. Jim Stetson, agronomy marketing manager at Ag View FS, said the spotty rains Bureau County has been getting the last month have been hit or miss, and currently it’s pretty dry through the area. “Right now the crops look good, but there’s potential for dry soil in which the crop roots harden up from a lack of oxygen,” Stetson said, noting those kinds of soil characteristics affect the maturity, height and appearance of crops — more or less leaving them stunted, with a yellow color and rolled leaves. Stetson said there were suspi-
BCR photo/Eric Engel
Mother Nature gives her many gifts to help the crops grow each year. Farmers must rely on her kindness for a bumper crop.
cions of a drought in Bureau County from winter forecasts, but he is hopeful, along with all other farmers, things will even out as summer stretches. “In agriculture, if you can average an inch of rain per week, you’re doing pretty good,” he added. Rory White, field manager at Pioneer, said crops planted around Mother’s Day weekend have had some difficulty emerging because the week following Mother’s Day cooled off, causing the ground to harden and forcing some replanting. “Everything depends on the complete environment; the drier the soil gets the harder the ground gets,” White said, adding if you don’t have an irrigator, you’re staring at the clouds all day praying for rain. Jim Rapp, an innovative local farmer who has spent half a centu-
ry in the fields, said the recent dry spell is not causing great disruption in his strategy yet. Although every farmer needs nature’s balanced approach White spoke of, Rapp said farming is all a matter of luck, as he saw some peers who had to replant due to too much rain early in the season. “We’re getting ready to put nitrogen on the farm in Clarion, and it looks really good up here,” Rapp said. “This is my 49th corn crop, and we’ve always been pretty fortunate, but I must say I’ve been doing it all these years and still haven’t got it all figured out.” Russ Higgins, a commercial agricultural educator who covers Northern Illinois, said the crops he has studied this season are good … but varied.
Crops Page 3
What’s next for Cherry/ Dimmick students
Dimmick School Superintendent/Principal Ryan Linnig shares his insight Questions
compiled by
Shannon Serpette
sserpette@bcrnews.com
CHERRY/LASALLE — With a proposed merger of Cherry School to Dimmick School on the horizon, the Bureau County Republican asked Dimmick School Superintendent/ Principal Ryan Linnig to share his knowledge of the merger process and discuss how the students have handled the transition since Cherry’s deactivation two years ago. BCR: What is the next step for Cherry’s possible merger with Dimmick? Linnig: The next step in the process is awaiting the decision by the LaSalle County Regional Superintendent Chris Dvorak. If following the hearing on May 24, he recommends approval of our petition to place the referendum question for consolidation on the Nov. 8, 2016, ballot, then it goes to the state superintendent for consideration. If approved by State Superintendent Tony Smith, then the voters in both the current Dimmick CCSD No. 175 and those in the current Cherry SD No. 92 would vote on Nov. 8 to decide to permanently merge the two school districts. For the past two school years 2014-15 and 2015-16, students from Cherry have been attending Dimmick via the approved deactivation agreement in which Cherry has paid $290,000 per year. That agreement was extended for an additional two years as an insurance policy, while both districts worked to complete the permanent consolidation. BCR: What would the merger mean for the tax rate in Cherry — would residents notice a difference in what they pay now?
Students Page 4 Year 170 No. 69 One Section - 20 Pages
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Beating the heat at the pool
Area pools have opened, and from the upcoming forecast, the timing is perfect. Hot, sultry days are forecast for the next few days, and no doubt, area folks will be taking a cool dip, like this youngster at Alexander Park Pool in Princeton, to beat the heat, enjoy some time with their friends and experience the season in the water.
First West Nile Virus human case confirmed By T erri S imon tsimon@bcrnews.com
SPRINGFIELD — We’ve come to expect the dreaded announcement of human West Nile Virus (WNV) cases in Illinois, but historically,
those cases are confirmed later in the summer. However, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced the first human case of WNV has been reported in Illinois for 2016; an adolescent became severely ill in
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late May and was ultimately diagnosed with WNV. The youth is from West Central Illinois. “We typically don’t start to see human cases of West Nile Virus in
West Nile Page 4
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