Tobacco

Nov. 3, 1985 James Taulbee, 15, a sophomore Future Farmer of America student at George Rogers Clark High School, has been named the Leader of the Month for September. Taulbee, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Taulbee, Jackson Ferry Road, has as his FFA projects show cattle and tobacco and participated in the FFA Mud Sling and the Steer Show. The Clark County Courthouse received a fresh coat of paint earlier this week. The job was completed by Radden and Sons Painting Company.

A Lexington man admitted to breaking into three Winchester businesses to steal cigarettes, in an interview with police this week. Richard Darnall, 42, will face five counts of second-degree burglary, once his cases in Fayette County are resolved, Winchester Police Detective Danny Thomas said. Thomas said Darnall said he broke into businesses during the last month in Winchester including the AT&T store and three convenience stores. Thomas said police became interested in Thomas after he was charged with a string of similar burglaries in Lexington.

  100 years ago — 1910   John Sharp, who cultivated a 5-acre tract of tobacco, has a new economical plan he accidentally stumbled upon. He worked his crop with 11 boys and one small house dog of the rat terrier variety. This dog took a row every time one of the boys did and “wormed” the tobacco as clean — either by killing them by biting them to pieces, or by mashing them on the ground with his front paws. He would take his lunch break with the boys, but on Sunday, instead of going to church or Sunday School, he went into the tobacco field and “wormed” until dinner time.

The 2010 tobacco growing season is nearing an end and farmers need to begin preparing now to manage diseases in the 2011 crop. There’s no way to tell what disease pressures growers will face in the coming growing season. Much depends on the climate when dealing with diseases like blue mold and target spot. However, some problems will show up again and again once certain diseases become established in a transplant system or the field. It is important to think about managing diseases like Pythium root rot, target spot, black shank and Fusarium wilt now and not wait until the upcoming production season.

PAINT LICK — In an annual ritual signifying the end of the summer growing season, older men followed a familiar path hewn by younger men through rows of golden tobacco leaves Thursday afternoon. The young men were competitors in the 29th Garrard County Tobacco Cutting Contest, a battle for speed and accuracy that came down to what has become a predictable finish. In the event at Roy Noe’s farm, Alvin Stamper of London edged out Garrard resident Daniel Edgington for the fifth year in a row, cutting 4.1 sticks (six plants each)

A Clark County firefighter is on paid leave from the department after being arrested Monday for stealing tobacco bales from a barn to resell. James T. Wells, 21, of 8303 Ecton Road, was charged with two counts of third-degree burglary after allegedly entering a barn on McClure Road and taking bales of tobacco. According to court documents, Wells admitted to taking the tobacco on two occasions, five bales on Dec. 7 and six bales on Dec. 11. He then sold the tobacco for $375 and $500, respectively, according to the citation filed by Detective Brian Caudill of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Shane and Stephanie Wiseman of Clark County won second place in the Kentucky Farm Bureau's Outstanding Young Farm Family contest. The announcement came Tuesday at a young farmer awards luncheon at KFB's 90th annual meeting. First place went to a LaRue County couple, Aaron and Ashley Reding of Howardstown. Third place winners were Chris and Misty Thorn of Calloway County. The Wisemans received 300 hours free use of a Kubota tractor, $750 from Premier Crop Insurance, a $1,000 voucher from Pioneer Seed, a $300 voucher from Southern States Cooperative and a $400 voucher from Miles Seed.

Nov. 24, 1984 Chairpersons for the Future Business Leaders of America Chapter at George Rogers Clark High School recently were selected. They are Jenny Rogers, publicity; Michelle Gullett, ways and means; Jennifer Wilson, scrapbook; Melissa Crawford, social; Chari Beth Rose, membership; Cathi Jennings, Smoke Signals; and Heather Vance, Lynn Grant and Cindy Patton, programs. The women of the First Church of God, East Hickman Street, will have their annual Christmas Bazaar Saturday, Dec. 1 in the fellowship hall at the church.

Buyers were paying good money Monday for most of the tobacco at Farmers Warehouse at one of the first auctions of the year, but some say there's still concern that prices could drop and hurt local farmers. Warehouse owner Jerry Rankin said last week that an excess of tobacco on the open market this year could hurt profits for local tobacco farmers, despite this year's crop being one of the best in several decades. On Monday, the first tobacco bales were auctioned out of Rankin's warehouse.

In a big white warehouse just south of the Centre College campus, there are 1 million pounds of tobacco waiting to be sold. It could be part of one of the best tobacco crops in decades, but one warehouse owner is concerned a flooded tobacco market could be bad news for farmers. Jerry Rankin, owner of Farmers Tobacco Warehouse in Danville, said the amount of tobacco on the open market this year is abnormally high ? he estimates as much as 25 million pounds of the crop is available for anyone to purchase.