Dawson County News

County eyes drug testing

Attorney says policies will likely need to begin at state level.

LEXINGTON—Doling out tax dollars to help pay expenses of Dawson County residents who find themselves between a rock and a hard place is one thing.

Paying rent, utility or medical bills for someone who has reached poverty level due to drug addiction is another.

Dawson County commissioners would like to cut general assistance funding to applicants who test positive for drugs.

But county attorney Liz Waterman told commissioners, during their regular bimonthly meeting on Monday, the logistics of setting up drug tests for applicants is not impossible, just more difficult than adding a urinalysis to qualifying criteria.

“I personally believe people in poverty due to drug abuse shouldn’t be eligible for county aid,” Waterman said. “But from a practical standpoint, I don’t know how to do that.”

There are no stipulations in state statutes that allow drug testing as a qualifying criteria to receive financial assistance, Waterman said.

General aid paid by the county is based on poverty and the county contracts with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to administer the program.

Often recipients are waiting for acceptance into HHS programs and have no means to pay bills in the meantime.

Sometimes, HHS services don’t cover expenses.

The county paid roughly $16,000 in aid over the last fiscal year for residents who either didn’t qualify for HHS assistance or who were waiting on program approval.

General assistance bills reached $175,000 the previous year, due to one county general assistance recipient with unusually high medical bills.

“County aid is a last resort,” Waterman said. “If these people become ineligible for HHS services due to an action or inaction, then they are ineligible for county aid as well.”

Drug testing is not currently required for HHS assistance.

USDA authorizes emergency grazing and haying of CRP acres for Dawson

Source: USDA Farm Service Agency - Texas

In response to drought conditions, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) authorized emergency grazing and haying use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for Dawson County. This authorization brings the total to 81 counties approved to graze CRP acres and 78 counties approved to hay CRP acres.

For Dawson County, haying authorization ends on August 31, 2011 and in accordance with the CRP policy changes, grazing authorization ends on October 31, 2011.

"Eligible producers who are interested in emergency grazing or haying of CRP must request approval before grazing or haying eligible acreage," said Juan M. Garcia, USDA Texas Farm Service Agency executive director. "Producers must also obtain a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service that includes grazing and haying requirements," he said.

Additionally, there will be a 25 percent CRP payment reduction for CRP acres used for grazing or haying (depending on the number of acres actually hayed) under these emergency provisions.

To take advantage of the emergency grazing and haying provisions, authorized producers can use the CRP acreage for their own livestock or may grant another livestock producer use of the CRP acreage. The eligible CRP acreage is limited to acres located within the approved county.

For emergency grazing requests…

Eligible producers who are interested in grazing CRP under the emergency authorization and current CRP participants who choose to provide land for grazing to an eligible livestock producer, must first request approval to graze eligible acreage; obtain a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to include grazing requirements, leave at least 25 percent of each field or contiguous CRP field ungrazed for wildlife, or graze not more than 75 percent of the stocking rate as determined by NRCS.

What news?, the market, politics, and the local press

News flash, journalism, infotainment, and the bottom-line business of broadcast news

Deciding What's News, A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time

News culture

Breaking news, how the wheels came off at Reuters