Thursday, August 21, 1997

Boll weevil eradication forces lick wounds, prepare for South Texas fight

By MARK BABINECK / Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Still smarting after a resounding rejection by South Plains cotton growers, boll weevil eradication proponents on Wednesday discussed ways to prevent a repeat in South Texas this fall.

Farmers on the plains between Lubbock and Midland-Odessa voted this month against organizing a suppression program against cotton-destroying boll weevils. South Texas farmers will cast similar mail-in ballots beginning Oct. 1, and pro-eradication forces said they need to learn from their mistakes up here.

Attitudes were mixed among those attending a board meeting Wednesday of the Abilene-based Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation.

Uvalde board member Mike McHugh said the program already has been operating in South Texas and farmers have seen the benefits. "I really don't anticipate any problems in our area," he said.

Others weren't so optimistic.

"Our public relations aren't making it," said Rick Kocurek, a cotton grower who made the trip from the Corpus Christi area. "A simple, one-time, feed-them-barbecue deal is not going to allay their fears. We need more people out in the field."

The state Supreme Court declared the boll weevil program unconstitutional last spring, although fast-track legislation revived the foundation and placed it under the Texas Department of Agriculture.

By law, the four zones in which trapping and spraying were already under way must hold new referenda to affirm support for the program. Pre-election meetings are scheduled throughout South Texas in September, but a similar effort did little to convince South Plains farmers last week. Turnout was less than 50 percent and balloting fell far short of the two-thirds majority required to activate the zone.

Voting in South Texas will run from Oct. 1-20, while the San Angelo and Abilene areas will determine the fate of their eradication zones early next year.

Kocurek, a foundation supporter, said some growers are so opposed to the program that they walked out on him Tuesday when he brought up the subject at a Nueces County gin.

Kocurek asked for one or two high-ranking officials to make the rounds and speak with prominent anti-eradication farmers between the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio. Growers must meet face-to-face with eradication leaders, he said, not the field hands who know little about the statewide initiative to rid Texas of weevils.

"They're tired of dealing with $5-an-hour employees," Kocurek said.

Board chairman Woody Anderson told Kocurek they'd seriously consider his request.

The board also discussed the messy business of extricating seven counties from the South Texas zone. Austin, Brazoria, Colorado, Fort Bend, Jackson, Matagorda and Wharton counties were removed from the program by their state senators.

Even though the area no longer is part of the program, it's still responsible for $4.9 million in debt the counties accrued while part of the foundation. Part of that debt includes $523,000 in unpaid assessments from last year.

Those who farm the 190,000-acre cotton patch in those seven counties must pay $18 per acre this year and about $10 per acre next year to eliminate the debt. The foundation also has sold off half its 125-truck fleet and must pay off three-year office leases in El Campo and Rosharon.

"We're trying to liquidate our assets and lessen the liability for growers in that area," Anderson said.