ducationEThursday, November 11, 2010

The Brownsville States-Graphic

page A8

CornerCorner Katherine HornThank you and

blessings to all our military personnel who have served, continue to serve and will serve or who gave their lives in service to our country - a happy, healthy, and safe Veterans’ Day to you all. And again, thank you.

Tuesday, November 16, is just around the corner. What is special about that day? It is our Friends Night at the Library! Please join us for Friends Night Tuesday, November 16, at 7 pm. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Joan Hartman. Dr. Hartman has written a book titled “Grace Finds Gold.” We are very excited to have Dr. Hartman here with us again. Dr. Hartman, in this story, based the main character in “Grace Finds Gold” (Mary

Grace Hartman) on her youngest grandchild, who is 2 years old. Grace discovers some things that are truly gold and some things that only look like gold. Dr. Hartman presented her previous book titled “Sam’s Special Cookie” here at the library several years ago. Please join us as we welcome Dr. Hartman back to Brownsville and the Elma Ross Public Library. All are invited to attend Friends Night at the Library, Tuesday, November 16 at 7 pm.

Just a few reminders. We are still undergoing renovations here at the library. Please excuse our mess. If you are too sick to go to school or to work, you are too sick to come to the library. Toddler Time will take place (hopefully,

if the children’s area renovations are complete) Monday, November 15, at 11 am. The Friends Book Sale tables are still not accessible at the moment. Please do not bring items to be donated to the library for the next couple of months as we have no place to put them. Thank you. There will be no Lunch & Learn for the month of November because of the Thanksgiving holiday. And finally, the Elma Ross Public Library will be closed on Thursday (November 25) and Friday (November 26) in observance of Thanksgiving.

Happy Reading!

By Walter Battle

Now that the 2010 harvest completed so early, many farmers will have a lot of time to assess financial needs for the 2011 growing season. With this in mind, I was thinking of some information that my University of Tennessee colleague Chuck Danehower (Farm Management Specialist) pointed out during the Mid-South Ag Finance held earlier this year. He said there are five things agriculture lenders look for concerning farm operation loans. These observations were presented and discussed by nationally re-known Economics Professor, David Kohl of Virginia Tech. Dr. Kohl identified the following areas producers are measured upon:

1) Sensitivity analysis – lenders are looking, more and more, at the financial shocks of

a 10 percent drop in revenues, a 10 percent increase in costs, and a 1 – 2 percent increase in interest rates. This is a test on how liquid the farm operation is. It should be noted that Chuck uses some of these numbers using Finpack, a free and confidential service that allows producers to develop a comprehensive farm financial plan. Contact our office at 772-2861 or call 1-800-345-0561 for more information on the MANAGE program.

2) Stressed Industry – are you in a stressed industry? Even in tough agriculture times, there still are producers who are very successful. If you are in a stressed industry, build your case to your lender why you will be successful. Developing your farm financial plan will be a key component.

3) Third Party Risk – how you are

linked to others in your community and how will it affect your business. This could be anything from grain and cotton buyers who buy your production to farm suppliers where you have pre bought inputs for the next year. How stable is their business? If they have financial difficulty how will it affect you?

4) Trend Analysis – more and more, lenders are looking at trends and financial averages over a multi-year period. Tax records will not cut it. Lenders need to see how your records even out over time and adjust for carryover production, pre-buying inputs, and are accrual (associated with a particular production year) based.

5) Benchmark – lenders are looking at how your operation stacks up to others of comparable size and enterprises. Is it in the Top 1/3, Middle 1/3, or

Public Service Announcement

WANTED! WANTED! WANTED!Would you like to make a difference in a child’s life?

Must be caring and committed with time to share. Chil-dren who have dissabilities are often in need of special education services. Some of these children have no parents and need a concerned volunteer who is willing to learn about their special needs. If you are an adult who is interested in helping represent a child’s needs for services and develop plans with service providers to meet those needs in the absence of their parents, please contact our local special education department to let them know of your interest and willingness. You can make a difference; please call today.

In Haywood County, the contact person is Bernice Thompson.

Phone 772-9613 EXT: 2250. The Executive Director of Special Services for Haywood County is Mary C. Hood, Phone 772-9613.

Free training to be provided by Haywood County school district.

Public Service Announcement

Pursuant to federal and state laws, the Haywood County Board of Education is required to provide edu-cational services for all disabled chil-dren ages 3 through 21. If you have children or know of children that have special needs and may be eli-gible for special education services, please contact:

Mary C. HoodExecutive Director of Special ServicesHaywood County Board of Education

900 East Main StBrownsville, TN 38012

(731) 772-9613

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Five Things Farm Lenders Look For

Walter Battle County DirectorWalter Dirl 4-H AgentTiffany Thomas 4-H AgentTravis Wade 4_H Program AssistantTennille Short Family Consumer Science (FCS) AgentSharon Sparks FCS Program AssistantPeggy Jackson Family Resource Center Programs Students in Mrs. Elizabeth Lovelace’s

first-grade class at Haywood Elementary were all dressed up the week before Halloween. They weren’t dressed up in Halloween costumes, however. They dressed up to depict vocabulary words. Students picked words that other

students their age may not have known. On the day assigned, they wore their costumes around the school as they traveled to various classrooms. During their presentation, they stated the word, the part of speech, the definition, and a sentence using the word.

Students study vocabulary words through costumes