The National Grange - a New Century


National Grange Overseer Jimmy Gentry explains the Grange’s grassroots process.

Though it’s easy to imagine that our efforts to spread the word about and grow the Grange must begin and end right here in the good ole’ USA, National Grange Overseer Jimmy Gentry seized a rare and exciting opportunity to take our policy stances and our grassroots strategy to a highly diverse group of international students and professionals, Monday, June 30, 2008.

“Communicating our grassroots process to representatives from other countries was enjoyable and gratifying,” says Gentry. “I am thankful that the Grange had an opportunity to be a part of this program.”

Program participants came under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program and were hosted by the Institute of International Education. The full program, lasting June 26 through July 17, has three overlying goals:

To examine democracy in the U.S. and the significance of citizen participation in the democratic process;
To observe the activities of citizen action groups that interact with U.S. elected officials at all levels of government to influence political, social, and economic change; and
To develop an appreciation for how ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity contributes to a dynamic and resilient political system.

Gentry was part of a three member panel that specifically dove into the issue of citizen action groups. Also joining him were representatives from the National Organization for Women (NOW) and AARP. Sharing a PowerPoint presentation with the group about the organizational structure of the National Grange, Gentry explained how Grange policy is passed through the various levels of the organization, as well as how the organization influences government officials. Each participant was given a copy of The National Grange 2008 Legislative Policy Book and Grassroots Training Manual, and Gentry answered questions from several participants after his prepared remarks.

National Grange Writes to Homeland Security Secretary Concerning National Bio-and Agro Defense Facility

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff

National Grange recently wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff concerning the proposals to relocate the Plum Island Animal Disease Center to a location on the mainland United States. The National Grange supports a National Bio-and Agro Defense Facility that is
geographically isolated as much as possible from the environmental, commercial, and civic infrastructure of the mainland, such as the Plum Island (NY) facility. The Grange strongly opposes the development of an animal disease research facility on the United States mainland that works with live strains of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) viruses as well as other virulent foreign animal diseases (FADs) anywhere near existing concentrations of commercial livestock.

According to Leroy Watson, Legislative Director of the National Grange, the economic risks of a potential outbreak of FMD to family farmers and ranchers across the nation with commercial livestock operations will far outweigh the advantages the government has put forth to justify their proposals to bring this critical and sensitive research back to the mainland and away from the isolated island research facility, where it has been successfully conducted for more than fifty years. While there are many possible scenarios for the outbreak of animal diseases that would pose a significant economic risk to family farmers and ranchers as well as to their surrounding rural communities and their natural environments, few come close to the nightmare of an outbreak of FMD in dramatically impacting many aspects of American life.

There is no known cure for FMD once it has been contracted. Once the disease is loose on the mainland U.S., it could require mass slaughter and disposal of potentially tens of millions of individual carcasses of domestic and wild animals to control the outbreak. It would undoubtedly disrupt the domestic and international sale of meat and meat products throughout the nation for months or even years. The ancillary costs to general commerce, outdoor recreation, and impacts on future investments in the livestock sector by family farmers and ranchers would exceed the conservative USDA estimate of $60 billion in direct costs by several fold.

Recently Great Britain experienced two outbreaks of FMD that have been attributed to a release from bio-research facilities working with FMD. A 2001 outbreak caused at least $16 billion in damages, devastated the rural economy, and nearly caused the government to fall. The experiences in Great Britain lead the National Grange to conclude that conducting federal research on dangerous animal diseases on the U.S. mainland is a risk we do not have to take. Even if an outbreak never occurs, the National Grange is concerned that a mainland facility would become an inviting target for espionage and terrorist or criminal attacks aimed at breaching the physical and procedural barrier built into the facility and getting these pathogens out of the laboratory to eventually be released into the environment. The concern is that a facility located on the mainland would attract an extremely broad universe of potential terrorist or criminal organizations to use an attack on the facility to advance their goals.

National Grange Encourages Local Granges to Host Public Information on Digital TV

This Summer and Fall, the National Grange is encouraging local Granges to host Digital Television Coupon Application Events focused on providing times when consumers can come to a specific location and get assistance in applying online, via phone, or completing a paper application. “Complete It. Connect It” is focused on urging consumers who want converter boxes to apply for coupons now. Please consider spreading the word about the digital TV transition and Coupon Program.

Big changes are coming to television, but they have nothing to do with summer re-runs or the new fall season. These changes involve the transition to digital broadcasting on February 17, 2009. Congress ordered the change to all-digital broadcasting to free up channels for police, fire, and emergency personnel. According to the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that oversees the nation’s airwaves, the digital transition offers benefits beyond public safety: it will open the door to new wireless services for consumers, allow TV stations to offer better picture and sound quality, and enable TV stations to broadcast several programs at the same time.

For millions of Americans — those whose televisions are already hooked up to cable or satellite or those who have televisions with built-in digital tuners — the transition should be seamless. But if you get your programming on an analog television through a rooftop antenna or “rabbit ears,” you will have to take action to keep your TV sets working after the transition. You can:

Connect your analog TV to a converter box that will get digital reception;
Connect your analog TV to a paid service like cable or satellite; or
Buy a TV with a built-in digital tuner.

Through a program run by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, every household can get two coupons — each worth $40 — to help defray the cost of the digital converter boxes. Most of the boxes cost between $50 and $70; coupons can be ordered online at www.dtv2009.gov or by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009. Government coupons for converter
boxes are available on a “use it or lose it” basis for 90 days after they are mailed. If the coupons are not used within 90 days, they cannot be replaced. One coupon can be applied toward the purchase of each converter box so two coupons will only be needed for two converter boxes. It is illegal to sell the coupons,
but coupons can be given to a family member or friend.

If your Grange decides to conduct a digital TV community service project, free event resources are available. If you provide the location and encourage your members and community partners to attend the event, then NTIA can assist with the following event resources at no cost to you, provided that the event is open to the public, with capacity for at least 100 attendees:

Speaker and/or individual to conduct a converter box demonstration
Loaner converter box
Connection to local certified retailers that may want to participate in the event

Local media pitching to encourage journalists to promote and cover the event Ready to Host an Event? NTIA encourages you to use the resources above to help your community take action and prepare for the digital TV transition. Please contact D’Neisha Simmons Jendayi at or 202-835-9473 if you would like NTIA’s help in facilitating an event in your community.

National Grange Supports the "Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Act of 2008"

The National Grange wrote to House and Senate Agriculture Committee members supporting S 3238 and HR 6522, the Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Act of 2008. These pieces of legislation would ban beef imports from Argentina until that country can guarantee that its beef exports are free of Food and Mouth Disease (FMD). In addition to Argentina’s unpaid debt, FMD is one of Argentina’s many problems that could potentially harm America’s farming community.

Argentina has proven to be an international pariah with its economic and foreign policies, which hurt America’s family farmers and ranchers. Argentina repudiated its debt obligations of over $30 billion in public and private debt in 2005 to American taxpayers. After the 2001 default, the Argentine government manipulated its currency, which allowed the country to maintain an unfair export incentive. Argentina recently moved to impose a 45% export tax on soybeans that amounts to “sovereign profiteering” in light of a world food crisis. At a time when food safety is a rising international priority, Argentina has been unable to prove that its beef exports are FMD free. Clearly, Argentina can’t be trusted to honor its debt, to export its soybeans without profiteering on the pressing humanitarian needs of a hungry world, or export disease free beef. These pieces of legislation are a step in the right direction toward making Argentina accountable to the basic standards of the international community.

National Grange Applauds U.S Supreme Court Gun Decision

The National Grange applauded the Supreme Court decision overturning the ban on most gun ownership in the nation’s capital. The basic issue for the Justices was whether the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual’s right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia. The Court said an individual’s right to bear arms is supported by “the historical narrative” both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted, thus ruling that Americans have a right to own guns for selfdefense and hunting.

Edward Luttrell, National Grange President stated, “The National Grange is ecstatic about the U. S. Supreme Court decision concerning the right to bear arms. Our policy, derived at the grassroots level from our members across the country, states that we oppose restrictions on the rights of citizens to bear arms for protection of their families, property and common defense, with the exception of assault weapons manufactured and designed specifically for military use.”

Luttrell continued, “National Grange members favor severe and mandatory sentences, including incarceration, for anyone using firearms while committing a crime and the strict enforcement of existing rules and regulations pertaining to the ownership, purchase, or registration of firearms.”

Leroy Watson, Legislative Director for the National Grange concluded, “The U.S. Supreme Court wisely upheld the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thus overturning a 32 year old law adopted by Washington DC’s city council prohibiting residents from owning handguns unless they had one before the law took effect.”

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