Guano an Petro-Balm, Etc.

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BITS &PIECES

News that fits nowhere else

SYMBOLIC HOUSE—For nearly two generations now, the somber farm couple in Grant Wood's painting American Gothic has come to symbolize the hardworking, steadfast character of the nation's agricultural heartland. But times are changing, and not necessarily for the better. Word has reached Mother that trouble is brewing in Eldon, Iowa (population 1,000), where the frame farmhouse that Wood used in his painting still stands. Seems as if some big-city real estate interests have prevailed on local officials to allow them to erect a huge medical-waste disposal plant on one side of town. "Despite the fact that maybe 80% of the townspeople are against it," said Barbara Pauls, an Eldon resident. What offends her is not merely that the plant will be sited within a couple of blocks of the farmhouse, or that the mayor and the town council appear to have negotiated the deal on the quiet. Rather it is that Eldon, like a lot of other rural communities in the Midwest, could become a dumping ground for waste produced in the cities of the populous Northeast. "Not from just there, either," Pauls continued. "As I understand it, the people behind this project even intend to dispose of medical waste from foreign countries. I mean, what is America coming to?"

GOLD ON THE HILL—Officials are keeping its location a secret, but the lode of bat guano discovered within the town limits of Gold Hill, Oregon, not long ago is proving a small windfall, particularly for Katie the Cop, the chief of police. "Like a lot of other small towns," said Mayor Jay De Yoe, "we're always looking for revenue. When a town worker stumbled upon the guano deposit, we thought it'd be a kick to sell it as fertilizer. Katie needs a new car." So, after collecting, sterilizing and packaging the guano, the town sells it—$2 for one ounce, plus $r for shipping. "It makes a terrific gift," said De Yoe. "And it's health department—approved." But is it a terrific fertilizer? "Well, one of our citizens spread it around a tomato plant a short while back," the mayor told Mother. "It grew like blazes. Then it ate the cat." For orders, write to : Town of Gold Hill, P.O. Box 308, Gold Hill, OR 97525 (Attention: Guano.)

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