Beech Tree News Network

Dear Editor:
Farmers and Ranchers,

By John W. McCauley, USDA Farm Service Agency State Executive Director

It’s that time of year again. The Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) 2016 County Committee Elections began June 15, 2016. Your FSA county committees are a vital and direct link between our farm community and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

I have a friend who is an English professor.  He teaches full-time at a community college and part-time at a state university.  He is very hard-working and very southern.  He pronounces the word “aunt” as “ain’t” when referring to his mom’s sister, and he likes beans and cornbread, as well as chicken and dumplings.  As all good teachers do, he expects a lot from himself and from his students.  His class is not an “easy-A.”  At the end of each semester, he calls me with a list of quotes from the teacher evaluations his students submit.  His favorite so far said, “I thought this class was goi

ABOMINATION:  What can I say about the events of the past week that might truly make a real difference?

In last week’s article, we studied about the Bible’s teaching concerning the brevity of life upon this earth. Passages like Ecclesiastes 9:5, James 4:14, and Ephesians 5:16 make it clear that our lives are brief at its longest while we are upon this planet. In contrast, there is an eternity to come. This eternity is not limited in any way, and thus will continue on and on. This fact is something we need to “lay to heart” (Ecc. 7:2). Yes, in the Bible there is an eternity with God that is promised, and an eternity away from God that is promised.

Allen County’s close location to larger cities with a rural and friendly setting makes the county a great place to live and work, as their website will tell you.  Scottsville, the county seat, is located 20 miles from Bowling Green, KY; 120 miles from Louisville, Kentucky and only 60 miles from Nashville, TN”.

We are in the Vacation Bible School (VBS) season. As a child, I loved going to the classes in our cool, church basement classrooms. I enjoyed the traditional cookies and Kool-Aid (any flavor!) snacks and the games we played during our time outside. The games were simple (Red Rover, Drop the Handkerchief, etc.), but fun.

One of the stories I’ve been told about the farm on which we live is that at one time it was covered with copperheads, until the farmer who lived here brought in a herd of pigs to root them out and kill them.  However he rid the farm of them, I’m grateful.
    Our friend, Bobby Hampton, told us when he lived on the land across the road from us, he had a little Dachshund that would hunt down the poisonous snakes and shake them till their scales rattled—God bless the little thing. 

NOT PERMITTED:  Oh boy, time, there is never enough of it is it? How does it sneak past us, so quickly and easily? At the Kinkade household our eldest has been buying towels, welcome mats, bedroom furniture and the like, in preparation for moving into a place other than the family home she has known all her life and the youngest member of our clan, just reached the milestone of receiving a permit, which lets him legally operate a motor vehicle, with some restrictions.

"The living know that they shall die ….” So says Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:5. I would add that while this is true, many of the “living” are living in denial! I have seen many die through the years, and it just emphasizes the fact that we need to be prepared for when our life ends. Solomon wrote, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart” (Ecc. 7:2). It is time we lay some things to our hearts.

There are 120 counties in the state of Kentucky.  Starting this week, I will review the origins of each county, in alphabetical order.  First up is Adair County.  Formed out of Green County in 1801, the county is named after General John Adair, commander of Kentucky troops in the Battle of New Orleans and Governor of Kentucky from 1820-1824. The county seat is Colombia, Kentucky.