July 22, 2003 Agri-News Rest in Peace A few years ago my great aunt passed away at the age of 104 years. She lived a full and complete life. It is not as hard to accept her passing as it was someone like my father that was less than 60 years, healthy, innovative and a big contributor to agriculture in his community. The decisions made recently concerning the Minnesota Extension Service (MES) are difficult to accept. The premature death of such an important organization to the people and friends in rural Minnesota as well as many in the metro areas is very sad. The question often asked at a wake of someone that dies prematurely is who is going to replace them in our lives. I ask who is going to be there in rural Minnesota to carry the credible information to revitalize the economy from the far north to the extreme south. This passing should not go without some soul searching as o why and if something could have been done to avoid this unfortunate event. In my years as a veterinarian, I was asked this type of question many times. Whether it was a pet or a farm animal, the owners wanted to know. We must remember if we have a barn that has had a history of healthy and productive animals a change in ownership or management will not guarantee that this success will continue. My diagnosis of the recent MES illness is directly related to the recent change in management. A better barn manager would not have allowed the patient to become so ill. Changes in the type of animals, the surrounding environment and what was fed to the herd would not have led to this terminal condition. I have seen over the years cases where the owner is so convinced he is going to go broke that he eventually goes broke mainly because of attitude. This is the case with the present dean and director. The other piece to this puzzle is the ownership of the barn and herd. The owner is responsible for the choice of a bad manager and his continuing on too long. The owner is also responsible for the amount of money spent on daily activities and the long term maintenance of the barn. Sometimes an owner is some distance from the daily operations of the enterprise. They then need to heed comments of other professionals about the health of the operation. In February Agri-News carried my letter to the editor that recommended that the MES be removed from the University and become a stand alone state agency before the present management wrecked this great institution. Like happened to me in veterinary medicine, the owner did not heed professional opinion, the animal died and in too many cases the owner went out of business. The owner in this case is our elected officials in the Minnesota Legislature. On numberous occasions I had the opportunity to talk to key legislators about the MES and they chose to do nothing. I believe that these legislators are now going to make political rhetoric and say that they will fix it in the next legislative session. Tell that to Kobe Bryant about going to a certain hotel room. Sorry it is too late and you now must pay the price. In the case of these key legislators on the two house ag committees and senate ag committee they should be voted out of office for not doing their job or making a bad decision. No attorney is going to bring back the MES or no bill proposed for political posturing for the next election will bring back the MES after January 1st. If the Governor has any feelings for rural Minnesota he should immediately call a special session and immediately remove the MES from the University before any more damage is done. I believe that the health of agriculture and rural Minnesota is as important to the State of Minnesota as Northwest Airlines or Dayton-Hudson. Without the MES organization, how is this Governor ever going to get any message to rural Minnesota concerning better economic times? Ask the Governor, when did the taxpayers of rural Minnesota or even metro taxpayers have a chance to vote on the survival of the MES? As with the passing of a great contributor to society, I hope a plaque can be hung at Coffey Hall in memory of the MES that says: "Chuck Casey was here, Cause of death- Minnesota Legislature." |
