The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

2013, What Does It Hold For Us?

by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher/Owner

January 16, 2013

Here it is 2013, and it’s hard to believe that it is almost 12 years past that terrible day of the terrorist attack on the United States on 9-11.

And wasn’t it just yesterday we were worried about the new Millennium and the shortage of water and everything else we might have to endure once we reached January 1, 2000?

Hopefully, the America people will keep up their guard, so to speak, to continue fighting and protecting our constitution and freedoms.

As today, many Americans worry about a President and a Congress, that we wonder if they have any regards for our U.S. Constitution, and we worry about what might happen if they continue taking away many of our rights that our ancestors fought so hard for. And they say they are doing it to protect us.

The news reported on Tuesday that the White House told gun-control advocates that President Barack Obama’s wide-ranging gun control proposals will include a new federal gun trafficking law -- long sought by big-city mayors as a way to keep out-of-state guns off their streets.

The proposal is to be unveiled today (Wednesday,) along with Obama’s call for universal background checks for all new gun purchases, as well as new bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

I agree with Mike Huckabee’s suggestion this weekend, that we have background checks on our politicians before they run for office.

The NRA, who have suggested guards at school doors released a video Tuesday calling President Obama hypocritical since his daughters have guards watching over them every day at school.

“Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” a narrator asks. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their schools? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.”

I wonder what would have happened after President Lincoln, or President Kennedy or President Reagan were shot, if legislators decided it was time to do away with citizens right to protect themselves.

Because of all this discussion, gun shows have been enduring long lines and selling out of their guns, and the same is going for ammunition.

On a lighter note, we did receive a news release that President Obama will be using two historic Bibles to be sworn in for his second term Sunday, January 20th: the Bible used by President Lincoln at his first Inauguration in 1861, which the President used in 2009, and a Bible used by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here in Hancock and Henderson County it seems farm land values are still high as well as all around in the Midwest.

In Hancock County the Dan Kern ground south of La Harpe had over 500 registered bidders if you can imagine that.

According to Sullivan Auctioneers website, the January 12th large estate auction, selling approximately 164.15 surveyed acres of Hancock County, farmland offered in 4 tracts located near the south edge of La Harpe, is productive farmland with Class A soils, improved pasture land, hunting/recreational acreage and older farmstead with outbuildings. With Theresa Purdy, Executor and Kurt Dittmer, Attorney, a smaller tract sold at $11,000 an acre, tract 2 at $8,000.00 per acre, tract 3 at $2,900.00 per acre and tract 4 at $4,000.00 per acre for a grand total of $1,052,657.00. It was interesting to read on the Sullivan Auctioneer website about the sale of 375 acres in Nevada, Iowa which Dan Sullivan auctioned at $17,000 per acre. The land was owned by the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1978 and the church reaped $6.38 million from the sale.

The land was exceptional land even with the drought last year, it said, yielding 200 bushels per acre on corn and had a corn stability rating of 90. A neighboring farmer bought the land for himself and his son.

The Des Moines Register Jan. 5th article said that Iowa farm land has more than tripled and a November land value survey released shows an average statewide price of $8,296 per acre, up 24% from 2011.

As for my wishes in 2013, I fell in love with a beautiful draft horse in 2011 I saw at the Summit Farms north of Ames, IA. Bruce Rastetter, owner, is vested in purebred Percheron horses and has one of the finest teams in the Midwest. He also has built a beautiful barn next to a pond which houses them. When the mares are not on the road appearing at shows, they are producing offspring, but this particular mare that I am pictured with here, I would love to own someday. Yes, it is a dream, but who knows. All things are possible in 2013.