CHAPTER SCOOP

The

John 1.Leonard

FFA

Chapter. Florida,ishelpingtoclean upawildlifepark including cleaningout thepoison ivy growing onthe paths.

Midway. North

Carolina.

FFA

has startedarecycling project for the whole school.

Yuma,

Arizona.

FFA

Chapteralsohas aplan,buttheyextendedittoincludethe community.

Anyone who

has paper or cans can bring them to the agriculture departmentoraskan

FFA member

tostop by andpickthemup.

When

El Dorado Springs, Missouri.

tried to start arecycling effort for class- roomsoftheirschool,theyran into

some

challenges like where to take the paper (nearestwas 80milesaway) and whatto putitin

(FFA

got extraboxes from local businesses).

The new

classroomcomputerusedby theEastland.Illinois.

FFA was

purchased with

money

received from a state

grant.

FFA members

inWebberville.

Michigan, are helping elemen- tary studentsenrolled inProject Pals,the

new

mentoringprogram

where FFA members

help younger students with school work, peer pressure and other challenges.

The

DeerValley Fl-AChapter

m

Phoe-

nix. Arizona, held a

pumpkin

carving contest after the October meeting.

The

contest was a huge success as

members

gotto

know

eachother,developedleader- shipskills, learned to work andorganize as ateam

md

hadalotof competitivefun.

As

advisor

Thompson

walked into the shoptofilm^tr.•activities,a

pumpkin

seed was tossed his vay which prompted a

pumpkin

seedfigrit.

When

Torrington,

Wyoming.

members

attended the mid-winter state fair,theyorganizedtheir

own

"pick ofthe litter" contest. Each

member

chose the two pigs from each market swine class they thought would finish first andsec- ond. Bi'vMarlattwon.

Scott

McCoy

senlin a"hotscoop"item about the Lakeland, Indiana, Chapter

members

buildinga

new FFA bam

onthe school farm.

Tri-Point.Illinois,

FFA

judgingteams

won

the first and second place at the county spring barrow

show

and junior judging contest.

The

blue ribbon team

willbehonoredatthestatepork producers expo.

Chapter officers ofJena. Louisiana.

were presented

new FFA

jacketsso they wouldrepresent the chapterwell.

For Farm-City

Week,

the East Troy.

Wisconsin. Chaptersetupa pettingzoo, cheese identification contestandanagri- cultural trivia hoard forelementary stu- dents.

EssexChapterinMassachusettsheld a"poultry"auction.

The

billofsaleranged fromfinchestoturkeys.

Members

of the

FFA

in Wolfeboro,

New Hampshire,

arebuildingadiorama for thestatefarmandforestryexposition.

The

themeisStewardship:Caringfor the Land.

The FFA

chapter in Lander.

Wyo-

ming, has doubled their attendance at

monthlymeetingsfromtheprevious year by

moving

themeetingstothenoonhour and providing a free lunch for all

who

attend.

Attheannual

Dade

City.Florida.

FFA

Christmas bar-b-que.therewasa collec- tionpoint for toysand

warm

^clothing.

Keep

those"hot" ideas

coming

tothe magazine.

You

^{can nevertell}

when

your chapter's great ideawill

make

thisChap-

terScooppage.

36 FFANewHorizons

Bossie Heats Belcherville

Methane madness makes heroes of small town FFA members

The

Belcherville,

^{FFA members}

Arkansas,have^at discovereda

way

toslashtheir high school's electricity bill

and protect theenvironment at the

same

time.

"It'squitea slickoperation

when

you thinkaboutit,"relates Belcherville advi- sorJoe

Bob Rumen.

"We'reable toslow

down

the 'Greenhouse effect," provide high school agriculture students with a good lesson in agricultural engineering, andsave theschool thousands ofdollars ontheir electric bill."

The

'slickoperation'

Rumen

describes

is an electricity

power

plant fueled by methanegascapturedfrom, believeitor not,dairycows.

Long

ago scientists discovered that cattleproduce methanethroughtheir di- gestive process.

Between

13percentand 20 percent of annual emissions world- wide

come

fromcattle.

Some

people fear thismethaneaddsto"global

warming"

of the planet.

Butit'snot aproblematBelcherville, wherethecows" methane is bottledbya contraption

made

of pipesandtubesthat

seem

to

come

straight

from

Willie

Wonka's

chocolatefactory. Allescaping methanevaporsarecapturedbya seriesof oldstovefansthat

hum

quietlyafewfeet

aboveeachcow.

The

methanegasis then converted to liquidalcoholand

moved

througha

com-

puterizedfuelinjectionsystemthat

pow-

ers a 250 horsepower generator in the school's boiler room.

The

20 milkers neededto

make

theoperation

work

were donatedbyareafarmersandbroughtinto theschool'sagricultureshop,wherethey

This

FFA member

Iscollecting a

methane sample

forusein

researchinga

more

efficientgas-to-liquidconversionratio.

arecaredforby

FFA

members.

"Our

heating and cooling costs are only

$50

per month,"

Rumen

brags.

"That'swhatitcoststokeepthesegirls in hay.

We

might even

make

alittlewiththe income

we

get for the milk."

Newfound

Popularity

Rumen

andhistroopsareheroestothe other studentsandteachersatBelcherville.

Their

newfound

popularity stems from the fact that school officials no longer worry about discontinuingextracurricu- larsports,sinceschoolmaintenancecosts have been cut to practically zero. "If it

hadn'tbeenforthose

FFA

girlsandboys,

we

wouldn't have had a team in the regionals last year," notes Belcherville footballcoachJimShorts."The teachers

may

evenget raisesthisyearl"

As

for

Rumen,

he modestly defers credit to his

FFA members —

^especially

onePollyGaston,a14-\ear-oldgreenhand

who

dreamed upthemethanecon%ersion idea

w

hile sitting inafreshmanli\estock classlast fall.It

was

Poll\-v\hocalculated the preciseratiosneededfor themethane gas-to-liquidconversion.

"After

we

put the system together, it

was

a simple matter of finding a

good

steady source for the gas." says Polly,

who

grew up \>.'ithco\\s on her family's dairyfarm.

Polly says the

cows

were

jumpy

at first.

They

didn't take well to theirnew- surroundings,especiall> w hentheschool held fire drills. "They don't like their iContiintcdonPoog^g\

April-May. 1992 37

Bossie HeatsBelcherville

(Coiuiiuiedfrom^Pai>e37)

routine interrupted."explainsPolly.

Music Soothes The Savage Beast

Then she tried anidea ottered by her dairy farmer-father: music for the herd.

The

rest,astheysay. ishistory.

Now

the

cows

arecontentto

munch

theircud and

chew

theirhaytothe tunesofGarthBrooks and the Kentucky Headhuniers. If the alcohol tank inthe boiler

room

getsdan- gerously low, Pollyputs a Prince

CD

in theshop's playerandaddsa littleginger ale tothecow'sdrinking

w

ater.

"He

gives

me

indigestionsometimes,too."she says simply.

"No

offense intended.

The cows

seemto like hisolderstuff better."

The power

plant's emissions were checked and approved bythelocalEnvi- ronmentalProtection

Agency (EPA

^).

Now some

local businesses are interested in duplicating thesystemintheir

own

shops.

Rumen,

however,haslicensed the

power

plantexclusivelytotheBelcherville

FFA

chapter.

"I figure, ifa local business wants to usethissystem,

we'lljustaddafewmore cows

to the herd and run a line to their place,"says

Rumen.

"Afterall.this isan educationalactivity."

And

althoughPolly refusestogivethe

EPA

her formula for the gas-to-liquid conversion, she has agreedtoprovidethe information to other

FFA members

so they can set up their

own

methane-pow- eredgenerators.

To

keeptheformulaconfidential. Polly

made

a simple codejust for

FFA mem-

bers. Here it is.

With apenciland paper, write Polly's initials,theletters

FFA

andthe

FFA

motto.

Leave plenty of space between letters.

Next,

number

eachletter.(Startbyputting

I and 2below Polly's initials,and follow throughtotheendofthemotto.)

Your

last

number

should be55.

The

fonnulawillbe

1 Nealed

when

you write the letter that correspondstoeach ofthesenumbers:^5-

1-9-11 "^0-3-15-17-25-51.

Good

ⁱ ck!

And

as the Belcherville

cows

might \.that'stheendofthistale.

•Exampfe: ^{'^}

Q 77^

1 : ^{.^} 4 5.

Sports Champions

By

ChrisFeaver

Blink.

^{Notfastenough.Okay,}

^now

tryitagain,andblink asquicklyas you can.

Nope,

still not fast enough.

No

matter

how

hard you try. it's im- possible toblink,snapyour^fingers,pick

Bonnie

Blair

upacartonofmilkatthe7-11,ordo most anythingelsein.02ofasecond. Butyou can win aspeed-skating race in .02 of a second(or 1/50ofa secondifyouprefer fractions). Justask Bonnie Blair.

Blair, without question the greatest

woman's

speedskater in United States history,

won

hersecondandthirdWinter

Olympic

speedskating goldmedalsinAl- bertville.France.She wasthefirstAmeri- can

woman

ever torepeat a gold-medal performance in anyevent.

No woman

in either the Winter or

Summer

Olympics hasever

won more

goldmedalsthanBlair.

She winsgoldmedalswithregularity, but displays a knack for winning by the smallestof margins.'Victories inboththe 1.000-meter race in the 1992 Olympics andthe500-meterraceinthe1988Calgary Olympics, where she set a still-standing world-record of 39.10.seconds, were by

just.02ofa second. Her 500-metergold medal in the "92 Olympics was by the relativelycomfortablemarginof.18ofa second. Blair also

won

abronzemedalin the 1.000 metersin 1988.

While her gold-medal-winning mar- gins

may

besmall, thereisnothingsmall aboutherdominanceofthesportof speed- skating for thepast several years. In the 1991-91

World Cup

season entering the Olympics. Blairdidnot lose either a500 or a 1.000-meterrace. Since 1986, Blair hashad 28 finishes

among

thetopthree, including 14victories.

Thereare severalreasonsforthisdomi- nation. Blair is considered tobe the best technical skater,either

man

or

woman,

for the speedskatingsprint distances.Shealsodisplays afiercely competitive nature

when

she's on theice.""Sheisa killer,"saysBlair's coach PeterMueller.

But hercompetitive nature disap- pears offthe ice. She is usually seen witha bigsmileonher faceandperhaps apeanut-butterandjellysandwichinher hand. Shelikestoeatthemtosettleher

stomachbefore arace.

"Ijustlove thesport.Thereisalotof hardworkthatgoes withit.Ithasbrought a^lotof joyto

my

life."saysBlair.

Ever since her older brothers and sistershelpedlaceonapairofold skates over her shoes

when

Blair wasjusttwo yearsold,therehasbeennoquestionthat she

was bom

to skate. She quickly be-

came

a short-track skating whiz, while growing up in Champaign. Illinois, be- foreturningto speedskating.

Herfamilywas on handinfullforcefor the1992 games.

More

than45friendsand relatives

made

thetriptoAlbertville.root- ing heron andserenading her with

"My

BonnieLies

Over The

Ocean."

With her success. Blairhas

become

a herointheUnitedStates,a rarethingfor aspeedskater.

Now

shemustdecideifshe wantsto retireorgofor

some more

goldin the '94

Olympic Games

inNorway.Ifshe doesstayinthesport,there willbe

many

competitors shooting to beather. But to

do so. they would have to

make

up that final.02ofasecond.

When

racingBonnie

Blair, that isaneternity.

,„

38 FFANew^Horizons

fiZT