Month: January 2013

Top Story No. 4: West Nile hits county

People in North and East Texas learned to live in fear of mosquitoes in 2012.

The pest-borne West Nile Virus ravaged the region, accounting for 405 cases in humans and 18 deaths in Dallas County alone. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said 2012 saw the highest number of West Nile cases since the disease was discovered in the United States in 1999.

Henderson County also set a record this year with four cases of West Nile Virus in humans. While that may not sound like much compared to Dallas County, remember that before this year, the county had a grand total of two confirmed cases of the infection in humans. Both of those came in 2005.

Locally, fears ran high enough to prompt city officials to increase spraying efforts.

In August, Athens officials sprayed the entire city, something not usually done.

“Normally we go out and spot treat,” Director of Planning and Development Gary Crecelius said at the time.

In Malakoff, where the city usually sprays for mosquitoes twice a month during the summer, officials increased that to twice a week. At least once, the city even bumped that up to three times a week.

“We are just trying to do the best we can for our city,” Malakoff Public Works Director Tim Whitley said.

When the cold weather moved in and killed the mosquitoes, fears of West Nile died as well.

But the buzz will return with the warm weather, so remember these tips from the Northeast Public Health District:

– Use an approved insect repellent every time you go outside and follow the instructions on the label. Approved repellents are those that contain DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus.

– Regularly drain standing water, including water collects in empty cans, tires, buckets, clogged rain gutters and saucers under potted plants. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, you are required to contact Drain Cleaning Brisbane for cleaning and repair service.

– Wear long sleeves and pants at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.

– Use air conditioning or make sure there are screens on all doors and windows to keep mosquitoes from entering the home.

Top Stories No. 5: Changes to ag child labor regulations dropped

Pct. 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney (far right) poses with his father and his son.
Pct. 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney (far right) poses with his father and his son.

In September 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to agriculture child labor regulations for kids under 16. Those rules would have put restrictions on the operation of tractors, and prohibited many animal husbandry practices such as branding, breeding, dehorning, vaccinating, castrating, and treating sick or injured animals.

Rural Henderson County was furious at the idea.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney, who said he learned how to drive a tractor at age 7, was one of those leading the local charge against the measure. He said working on the farm gave him “an awareness of circumstances around me. It taught me to think, and it has for everyone that has grown up in an agricultural background.”

“It gives you an awareness of the world that, in my opinion, that is lacking as we get farther away from an agrarian society,” he said.

Rural families around the country protested, and the DOL received more than 10,000 comments, nearly all negative, on the proposed rules change. Washington, D.C. heard the uproar.

On April 26, the U.S. Department of Labor announced it was dropping proposed changes.

“This ruling means that rural America will continue with its traditions of family farms and ranches, neighbors helping neighbors, and the free exercise of learning and living an agricultural way of life as we have for generations,” McKinney said after the announcement. “The circumstances associated with this way of life have helped to instill a work ethic in our children that extends well beyond their childhood.”

“This issue was a direct assault on my way of life,” he said. “If I hadn’t had the opportunity and the freedom to grow up in this very fashion, I would not be the person I am today. My life is the product of at least four generations of farmers and ranchers passing a tradition down to me. I am currently passing that same tradition down to my son and to have been prevented from doing that would have been a travesty to me.”

Congressman Jeb Hensarling said, “Working on a family farm provides youth the opportunity to gain valuable skills, earn money for education, and learn the value of hard work, character, and leadership. While it is essential to ensure the safety of all workers, decisions on who can work when and where are best left to the individual families, farmers, and ranchers of East Texas—not bureaucrats in Washington.