Lance Crombie - Spokesperson for the Alcohol-fuel Movement

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Mr. Lance Crombie of Webster, Minnesota is a farmer... he even carries business cards which attest to that fact. Crombie, however, has a number of sidelines that aren't exactly typical of a tiller of the soil.

Lance is, for instance, a former cancer researcher who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology, the inventor of a low-cost solar collector, a partner in the firm that distributes his invention, the chairman of the Minnesota State Heart Fund, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Minnesota, a member of the New York Academy of Science ... and he's listed in Who's Who in the Midwest and Outstanding Young Men in the Midwest.

Lance is also a moonshiner.

A moonshiner? Yep, you read it right. You see, Crombie is the kind of guy who gets things done when they need doin', and he's not at all hesitant to buck the system or throw out the "accepted " answers when he feels that he can find a better solution by himself.

So-when his family's fuel bills became more than their budget could bear-Lance sat himself down, designed a sunpowered still, and began to produce corn alcohol. . . which he planned to use to heat his home and power his farm machinery.

It wasn't long, however, before his experiments brought about a head-to-head confrontation between Crombie and the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms ... the "revenuers".

Surprisingly enough, Lance won that battle (he obtained permission to operate his still) and-in the process-he became a spokesman for the alcohol fuel "movement" . . . a group of people who feel that our continued dependence upon fossil fuels is the quickest possible route to energy bankruptcy, and that agriculture ought to be given the chance to take a whack at solving America's fuel problems.

In order to find out more about Crombie, and about alcohol's use as a fuel, MOTHER sent staffer Bruce Woods to the Gopher State to interview the Minnesota Moonshiner. While there, Bruce managed to wedge some questions in among the corn combining, volunteer work ' and alcohol "public relations" activities that had kept Lance awake for the previous 30 hours.

In this transcript of Bruce and Lance's exchange, you'll discover that Lance Crombie is—indeed—a farmer ... but a farmer who-quite possibly-holds the key to individual total energy self-sufficiency in his hands.

PLOWBOY: Lance, it's obvious from everything that's gone on since we arrived at your home-the constant phone calls, the people stopping by for information and advice, etc. -that your distillation experiments have attracted a lot of attention. Just how did a Minnesota corn farmer wind up in the middle of this home-produced alcohol controversy?

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