By: Scott Eckert, County Extension Agent, Horticulture
A grass with stickers! That may be the easiest way to describe Sandbur. Sandbur is a warm-season annual grass weed that produces sharp, spiny burs. It is difficult to control and hard to recognize before the burs form. There is no satisfactory control after the burs form except hand removal.
Sandbur germinates a few weeks after crabgrass but to be safe, a pre-emergence herbicide should be applied at the normal time for crabgrass. Only a few pre-emergence herbicides are labeled for sandbur. Special label rates or repeat applications, or both, must be used for sandbur control. Pendimethalin (Scott?s Halts), Surflan, and XL are the best choices for preventative sandbur control. Note that Surflan and XL cannot be used on Kentucky bluegrass. These products must be watered in within 3 days after application using 1/2 inch of water or more.
Sandbur also can be controlled in the seedling stage of growth. Professional lawn care companies have access to other post-emergence products that are very effective on
sandbur. No product will make the burs disappear once they have formed. Burs formed in previous years remain on the soil surface, creating a nuisance. Again, hand removal is the
Keeping cattle feeding sites updated is an important investment for cattle producers to consider for herd health and environmental safety.
Choosing the right feeding site could pay dividends.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – For Kansas’ cattle producers, building new feeding facilities can mean shelling out serious cash. However, Ron Graber, Kansas State University watershed extension specialist, said it’s an investment that pays for itself for years to come.
Investing in such a project requires the right equipment and expertise, and Graber said the best place for producers to start is by evaluating the site and enlisting the help of watershed specialists.
Geographic differences
Geographic location within the state plays a substantial role in the environmental soundness of a cattle feeding site, Graber said. Steeper slopes in eastern Kansas, minimum rainfall in western Kansas, and sensitive groundwater in central and south-central Kansas all pose threats to producers.
“If producers live in the western part of the state, rainfall is at a minimum,” Graber explained. “From an environmental standpoint, that makes it easier to deal with, because we can minimize runoff. Conversely, if they live in the southeastern part of the state and get 45 inches of rain a year, we have a lot of potential runoff to deal with.”
“We’d like to see something a little more gradual, between 1.5 to 2 percent slope,” he continued. “Often, it’s more difficult to site a feeding operation in the eastern part of the state than it is in the western part of the state.”
Sensitive or contaminated groundwater in central and south-central Kansas could be a major factor in determining where to build a cattle feeding facility, Graber said.
“We typically look at surface runoff, but if the site is in a sensitive groundwater area, then we have to look at groundwater pollution as well,” he said.
Producers should also pay close attention to management-related hazards when building new facilities, Graber said. Take note of where pens are located near the water source, slope within pens, and consider the placement of a grass buffer area to filter out solids. Making sure cattle feeding facilities are environmentally sound could pay off financially.
“If it’s a new operation, it will pay dividends if they take a close look at that site before they start building any pens,” Graber said.
If a producer has chosen a site that is environmentally poor, it’s time to start searching for a new site. Graber said the first step producers can do in this process is contact a watershed specialist.
“The starting point is getting some help evaluating their site,” Graber said. “Maybe they’re already located in a bad site, and in some cases there are some management things we can help them do. There are a few of them out there that are just poor sites and don’t have many options, and (producers) may need to totally relocate to a new site.”
Project expenses and cost-share assistance
It is important to be aware of environmental considerations, Graber said. Producers should know the differences between desirable and undesirable sites and apply that knowledge to their own operations.
“A lot of times we find that if producers make these changes that help them reach the environmental expectations of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), it also helps profitability,” Graber said.
The amount of money it will take to make the changes depends on the individual site, the size of the site, and whether or not the site is environmentally sound, Graber said.
“If it’s a sizeable operation where they may need a wastewater pond, or they have to do a lot of dirt reshaping, then it can get into quite a few dollars,” he said. “We can see the cost of making the changes get as high as $30,000 to $40,000 if we’re putting in a wastewater pond. If they’re on the other end, and we can make a few management changes, sometimes we can get them done for $2,000 to $3,000. It depends on the site.”
Financial assistance is available to Kansas’ cattle producers to assist in developing, evaluating and relocating cattle feeding facilities, Graber said. Money is available to assist producers with projects such as relocating pens, creating diversions, moving dirt, and building wastewater ponds through a number of national, state and local programs.
“Most of those (funds) are through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) with the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),” Graber said. “There also are some state water plan funds available through the Division of Conservation. It’s primarily an application process through the local NRCS office or conservation district.”
In addition to EQIP local NRCS programs, Graber said cattle producers have access to Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) funds.
“There are a number of watersheds in the state that have these plans in place,” Graber said. “There are cost-share funds available if you are in one of those high-priority watersheds as listed in those plans.”
Graber said several watershed specialists work throughout the state to help put these funds into place.
“Most often, the local extension offices or conservation districts will know what a producer’s options are,” he said.
Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen,
O God, that which thou hast wrought for us.
– Psalm 68:28
Put another way: “Summon your power, God;
show us your strength, our God, as you have done
before.”
*
King James or new international version, the
message can be taken to any campaign season and
usually is. God has been summoned.
In politics, religion is often worn on the practitioner’s
sleeve, or lapel, like that little American
flag, a kind of proof or validation that he or she is
– is what? Consultants advise that those who wear
religion on the sleeve or flag on lapel are seen as
slightly better, or purer, or more fervent, than those
who don’t.
The tradition of summoning the church against
the civil authority is as old as Christianity, as old
as the church as a source of countervailing power
and protection against all the alien, evil exercises
in the secular. Thus it is, institutionally, the bulwark
against abortion, or same-sex marriage, in
spite of the U.S. Supreme Court. We summon the
church against whatever it is that our politics deem
un-Christian, even un-American; it remained for
decades a bulwark against racial integration, the
secular threat of what the descendants of slaves
might do to middle-class Christianity. It is the bulwark,
ultimately, against whatever one’s politics
demand.
*
NOW it has taken another old turn. Early this
month the United States Supreme Court declared
that it will not hear current appeals related to the
constitutionality of state prohibitions of same-sex
marriage. The Kansas Attorney General, Derek
Schmidt, called the Court’s decision “unexpected
and disappointing.” He noted that no court has
decided “squarely” whether Kansas’ constitutional
prohibition, adopted by voters less than a decade
ago, is invalid.
Schmidt said the Court’s decision ensures that
“an already uncertain legal situation for Kansas
and many other states will become even more so.”
In every debate, the Bible has been a footing for
argument.
Religion in state and federal politics can come in
disguise, a “Community Defense Act,” or a “Swat
the Barfly” resolution, or the recent Religious
Freedom Protection Act that Kansas legislators
swooned to embrace. (Imagine using religion to
skirt state law. If your religion justifies discrimination,
don’t hire blacks or sell to Hispanics.)
Some of our newest laws repave the old roads to
intolerance.
At the local level it works in subtle ways, taking
care to soften alarm. In Washington the Supreme
Court put its blessing on private businesses that
deny women employees access to certain types of
health care, namely contraceptive benefits in their
health insurance. Religion was the reason.
Internationally, religion steamrolling politics
resurfaced in Iran in the late 1970s with the
regime of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini. Here
was a dramatic reminder of why we wanted God
out of politics in the first place. Tribal rites have
been rooted in genocide in South Sudan and
Rwanda. Religious bigotry demanded the slaughter
of Bosnian Muslims in Slovenia and Croatia
and war over the former Yugoslavia. The Middle
East is a fire pit.
*
WHEN we get a religious zealot in political
power, loyalties and commitments clash and we
get bloody violence. God is perfect, but the state
is imperfect; when someone tries to put politics on
the level of divine perfection, thousands of people
are bound to be clobbered, literally or otherwise.
God’s laws are eternal and unchanging, but man
lives by change and so do his political structures.
If we try to stop change, as Khomeini and others
have tried, or want only one brand of change, as
Slobodan Milosevic demanded, we bring repression
of men and women, and a stagnation of
society.
God gives absolute truth, but in politics there
is no absolute truth – not in democratic politics,
at least, where we have been taught to respect the
faith and opinions of others. Our individual faith
may be absolute but our political faith is relative.
In recent history the only firm move toward
peace came 30 years ago in the war-torn Middle
East, and it was achieved by a Baptist, a Jew, and
a Muslim. The men involved – Jimmy Carter,
Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat – all said
they felt a spiritual surge in their efforts. Seen
another way, the teachings of Christ, Moses and
Muhammad bent to the universal good.
Or better, the differences in religious faith were
weaker than the need for a common ground.
It’s a long stretch from Geneva or the Golan
Heights, to Washington or Topeka. But religion’s
steamrolling of politics can yet begin with a local
intrusion, with little steps, a patronizing sigh of
benevolence, always “for our own good.”
Accord in governing can’t be done with heavenly
edicts. Divine peace can’t be ordered by brandishing
a sword, and public good can’t be ordered
through unyielding statutes. We can’t write into
law the faith by which everyone in the world, or
the state, must live.
***
Mental malfunction:
a mistake, but hardly the fi rst
By now the tsk-tsks have subsided, and Dakota
Loomis will forever regret that he slammed a trio
of towns in southeast Kansas as “cr–holes.” It was
a moment of Internet indiscretion, one that cost
him his job last week as chief PR officer for the
Kansas Democratic Party. At the time of the foul,
Loomis was on his own time and in a cyber venue
far from official politics. Nonetheless he panned
unwisely, and his friends and colleagues were
horrified.
Almost daily, people in politics say or write or
do things they’d like to take back. Gaffes are frequent,
even routine, in cyberworld, where anyone
can publish. The professionals among us must
remember that in Kansas, communities run off the
sensitive meter when it comes to local pride. The
tar is always hot and feathers are never in short
supply. Take care: Disaster is only as far away as
the “send” button.
Amateur critics can be forgiven, lay bloggers
ignored. But for politicians and their aides, who
trade sincerity and cynicism in equal measure, a
misdirected slam or an unintended slander can be
disastrous.
We recall one notable bungle many years ago
not for its creativity but for its sheer gall. The slur
was issued in a room full of reporters.
In early 1986, a fresh press secretary for Sen.
Bob Dole was in a statehouse press room recounting
his first journey through western Kansas, a
trip that inspired anything but his praise. At first,
we thought to forgive the young man for his ignorance.
But then he got nasty, so we took notes.
“What a wasteland,” he sniffed. “We were in
Garden City. Gawd. And then there was the drive
from Garden City to Hays. There is nothing out
there. Absolutely nothing. Oh, there are a few
cows lying flat on the ground. I am convinced
now that if you are reincarnated, that’s where God
sends you if you f–k up,” he laughed.
We wrote a short piece about this, ending:
“This is Sen. Dole’s representative. Nice to hear
from him during the farm recession.”
The Associated Press and United Press
International had made a story about the press
aide’s remarks, and his trying to weasel out of
them by saying he was only joking.
Dole didn’t think it was a joke. The aide kept his
job, barely, but was sent to another post.
*
TODAY the change is in technology, not savvy.
It’s easier to make a mistake, simpler to send it
worldwide, impossible to take back. What part of
this is so hard to understand?
– JOHN MARSHALL
(Family Features) There’s nothing quite like heart-warming comfort food to beat winter’s chill. And there’s no need for a trek to the supermarket or to resort to the takeout menu drawer. Some of the best and most flavorful ingredients are already in your pantry. That’s right…the canned foods in your pantry.
Canned foods not only mean less preparation and year-round availability of your favorite produce, like tomatoes and green beans, they also help make healthy and delicious homemade meals a reality, more often. Like home canning, the canning process locks in foods’ natural goodness and nutrients so they’re available to you any time of year, and all winter long.
Best of all, canned foods help make the big, bold flavors in dishes like Thai Chicken Curry and Shepherd’s Pie easy and simply delicious – perfect for a chilly day.
For more seasonal recipes and to learn how you and your family can get cooking with canned foods this season and year round, visit www.CansGetYouCooking.com.
Thai Chicken Curry
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 (13.5-ounce) can Goya coconut milk
1 (10-ounce) can Hormel Premium chicken breast, drained and flaked
1 (8-ounce) can Allens cut green beans, drained
1 (16-ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained and cut into 1-inch chunks
Chopped cilantro for garnish
In 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, in hot oil, cook red onion, garlic and ginger until softened, about 5 minutes. Add red curry paste; cook 1 minute.
Add coconut milk, chicken, green beans and sweet potatoes. Over high heat, heat to boiling. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Shepherd’s Pie
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (14.5-ounce) can Red Gold stewed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (15-ounce) can S&W peas and carrots, drained
1 (15-ounce) can Del Monte sliced new potatoes, drained
1 tablespoon butter, melted
In 12-inch skillet over medium heat, in hot oil, cook onion and garlic 5 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. Remove to plate.
In same skillet over medium-high, cook ground beef until well browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Add flour; cook 1 minute. Add stewed tomatoes and thyme. Over high heat, heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Stir in peas and carrots.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Spoon mixture into greased deep-dish pie plate or baking dish. Toss sliced potatoes with butter. Arrange potatoes in center of casserole, overlapping slightly. Bake 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are lightly golden.
In a stunning letter to Kansas editors on Sept. 24, Jim
Concannon, a professor of law and former Dean of the
Washburn University School of Law, has denounced Kansas
Secretary of State Kris Kobach and questioned his fitness for
public office.
Concannon is one of Kansas’ preeminent attorneys, a law
professor at Washburn for more than 40 years, and Dean of
the school from 1988 to 2001. He is now the Robert J. Dole
Distinguished Professor at the law school. His long career as
a renowned professor, celebrated legal scholar and judicial
authority has precluded public comment on the fitness of other
attorneys.
Until now.
Here is the text of Concannon’s letter:
“To the Editor:
“The Kansas Supreme Court in the case of Taylor v. Kobach
applied elementary and uniformly recognized principles of
statutory interpretation when it decided that Chad Taylor’s
request to withdraw as a candidate for the United States Senate
complied fully with the applicable Kansas statute. The court’s
unanimous determination that Secretary of State Kobach violated
“a clearly defined duty imposed by the law” when he refused
to remove Mr. Taylor’s name from the ballot was grounded in
law, not politics.
“As a law professor for 42 years, I have taught those same
elementary principles of statutory interpretation in many classes
at Washburn Law School, including the course on Legislation.
Mr. Kobach, as a former law professor himself, could not have
been ignorant of those principles of interpretation. Instead, he
chose to ignore his clearly defined legal duty and to apply an
unsupportable interpretation of Kansas law which had the effect
of benefitting his personal political agenda and the Senate candidate
of his political party on whose reelection honorary committee
he serves.
“I had the privilege to know personally Mr. Kobach’s four
Republican predecessors as Secretary of State, Elwill Shanahan,
Jack Brier, Bill Graves, and Ron Thornburgh. I was campaign
manager for one of them. Each of them was a person of integrity
who understood that the office of Secretary of State was
unique and imposed an obligation on them to be worthy of the
public’s trust in administering our election laws impartially. I do
not speak for any of them. But I know that none of them ever
would have considered violating a clearly defined legal duty in
order to advance a personal political agenda or the candidacy of
a member of the Secretary’s political party.
“As administrator of our election laws, the Secretary of State
must be held to a higher standard of integrity than other elected
officials. Mr. Kobach’s decision to ignore his statutorily defined
legal duty calls into question his fitness to hold any public office
and, without question, the office of Secretary of State.
– James M. Concannon”
*
Not only is Concannon one of the state’s most respected attorneys,
the Concannon name resonates with longtime Kansans
familiar with the state’s political history. (We note the late Don
Concannon, a longtime Hugoton attorney and southwest Kansas
stalwart who was state GOP chairman from 1968-70, a candidate
for governor in 1974 losing the GOP nomination to Senate
President Robert Bennett by only 300 votes, and twice state
chairman, in 1976 and 1980, for Ronald Reagan’s presidential
campaign.)
In 2012, Jim Concannon was selected for a rare honor in the
profession, the Kansas Supreme Court’s Justice Award, its highest,
recognizing his long work to advance the cause of justice.
In that mission, attorneys rarely – if ever – dress down fellow
professionals in public. Jim Concannon’s letter, then, is a stark
warning that government is headed for the kind of trouble that
worries even the most decorated problem-solvers.
**
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach built his climb into
public office on a fraud, the specious claim that Kansas elections
were turning counterfeit. He must be elected to save
us from disaster, he said; without his vigilance aliens (from
Mexico, we were told to believe) would swarm into the state
like ants, pack the polls and sabotage our elections.
Before he rode into Kansas, Kobach had spent his time in
Arizona beating the desert sage to roust “illegals,” hone his
pitch on voter fraud and sharpen his quill for writing Jim Crow
back into that state’s voting laws.
Next, Alabama and Kansas. Alabama, where Bull Connor and
George Wallace remain states’ rights icons, was an easy sell.
But Kansas, less receptive to snake oil, took some convincing.
Kobach bleated and whined, insisted and persisted: the unwanteds
were flocking over the prairie like locusts; our voting
booths were swarming with imposters and tricksters.
Just how these pretenders had thrown elections – and for
whom – was never explained. It didn’t matter. People voted the
lie. Kobach was elected to protect us from something – what,
exactly, we’ve never quite known.
The important thing to Kobach was that he have a high office,
one that braced his power, that gave him control.
It is one thing for an editorial writer to pronounce Kobach
a Kansas embarrassment and a menace. But it is quite another
when one of the state’s premier law professors, a nationally recognized
leader in the profession, suggests that he be removed
from office.
Kobach may be corrupt but he is no weakling. He has
legions of allies, and friends in high places. Let’s hope they
don’t include many voters.
***
Term limits
are a bad idea
This election cycle, like many others, brings up the occasional
belch about term limits for legislators. Such spasms of
righteousness usually come from one of two sources:
– One who is not familiar with the workings of a legislature,
or
– A candidate who is familiar with the process, but chooses to
prey on the ignorance of disgruntled voters. The base cry in this
case is not to throw the bums out, but to limit their terms.
Term limits sound like a grand idea. Putting a sunset to legislators’
service prevents them from getting too comfortable in
office, too familiar with the trappings of influence. A limit on
terms sets an end to legislators’ time away from the home folks.
Limits prevent legislators from building too much power, from
getting too cozy with lobbyists, bureaucrats, cabinet officials
and other brokers at the Capitol.
A limit on terms is also a limit on experience. It chokes a
legislator’s ability, capacity, capability. Term limits put the legislator
at a disadvantage in the process – unless similar limits
are applied to other players in the power struggle to make or
un-make law.
We have long noted that at Topeka, the Capitol may be the
public’s building but it is the lobbyists’ home. This applies to
Washington as well. Legislators are merely visitors; some stay
longer than others but with rare exception their longevity in
office is no match for the veteran committee staff, agency directors,
department heads, senior lobbyists and members of the
press. Such veterans have been at the Capitol for decades; many
are valued for their experience, skill, institutional memory.
Their influence is well-established.
For many of these non-elected experts, power goes beyond
expertise. The opinion of a senior committee staffer, a longtime
budget analyst or seasoned lobbyist can have far more sway
than the musings of a second-term House member who has just
discovered the second-floor rest room.
Put another way: Throttle the citizenry by limiting the terms
of elected officials, and power goes to the others, the people
who were there when the elected arrived, and who will be there
long after they’re gone.
Smarter legislators come from smarter voters. And the product,
smarter laws, is far more likely with an educated electorate
than a limited one.
– JOHN MARSHALL
