01/29/07 Committed Ethanol & Corn Growers

Committed Ethanol Industry and Corn Growers get Aggressive. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Following the announcement of the President's lofty energy goals during the State of the Union Address - the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council outlined the things consumers can do to reduce energy consumption - and ultimately bring the nation one step closer to energy independence. According to EPIC Executive Director Tom Slunecka the ethanol industry is committed to helping the nation reach the President's goal of reducing gasoline usage in the U.S. by 20-percent in the next ten years. But if consumers get involved - he says the country's energy goals can be attained even earlier than 2017. In fact - the group says it's as simple as choosing ethanol when available and choosing flexible fuel vehicles. The National Corn Growers Association is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and in keeping with NCGA's continued mission and the organization's vitality  corn grower and NCGA Liason Guy Davenport says the Grower Services Action Team has set aggressive goals for 2007 DAVENPORT: The main goal of the membership programs for this year and everything would increase our membership by 2%. We know that's a lofty goal but that is what we are really going to try to push for through this coming year. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. One might have expected the following story to have occurred in Manhattan but hardly in the Northwest, least of all in Eastern Washington making it tragically apparent how far removed people have become from farming. Two Spokane County deputies are facing animal cruelty charges for killing a 6 month old calf grazing near the highway. It wasn't a humane shot that ended its life rather these two "tuff" cops jolted the calf with over 50,000 volts of electricity& for more than 4 minutes. Despicable animal cruelty deserves a tough sentence instead the Spokane County Sheriff called the deputies "justified" and the county prosecutor refused to file charges. An onlooker who described the animal as being tortured mercilessly had to hire an attorney to bring the cops to court after her complaints were ignored. Where have all the cowboys gone! This is a six month old calf folks not a bull or even viscous bit bull. Real men would have flanked and tied it, at the least herded it out of harms way. Let's hope the bullies with the trigger happy tasers get a good jolt from the judge. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.