, "V- Emergency Numbers Following is a list of emergency numbers of interest to the public. Additional numbers will be added from time to time. For other numbers to be included on this list, contact the Plaindealer office, 385-0170. Family or Personal Crisis 385-6400 Senior Citizens Council 1-338-6075 1-455-2660 Consumer Protection Bureau 385-1703 Fire ,..., 385-2121 Police 385-2131 Sheriff 4 1-338-2141 McHenry Rescue Squad .*. 385-4414 Johnsburg Rescue Squad 385-1130 Healthy by Mary Richards If you were to look at the label on a certain food and read a list of ingredients which stated that the food contained solanine alkaloids, oxalic acid, arsenic, tannins, nitrates and more than a hundred other chemical substances of no recognized nutritional value...would you eat it? Chances are you have eaten just such a food not once, but many times. For all those chemical substances are contained in a simple potato. In fact, all vegetables, fruits and other "natural" foods contain many chemical substances put there by Mother Nature her self. The Corn Picture The Price Drop - From the beginning of the moratorium ori\ grain sales to Russia in mid-August and until late October, V Illinois farmers have watched corn prices drop from about $3 to around $2.25 a bushel. At the same time, estimates of this year's U.S. corn production went down by about 100 million bushels, and Russia's grain production estimate dropped from 180 million metric tons to a critical low of 160 million. Moreover, economic indica^orf in the U.S. were showing definite signs of a businesirrecovery for 1975. Based on these facts, many farmers expect corn prices to recover to the $3 level when the harvest glut is over. The Price Recovery - Corn prices will recover after the harvest surplus finds a home, but possibly not to the August highs. The first recovery will come in a narrowing of the 50 to 60 cents a bushel basis between the Chicago-March futures contract and bids to farmers. This gain will be 20 to 30 cents a bushel, and could come soon. The timing of further gains in the basis is less certain, but they will come. If corn futures stay at current levels, that is, the March contract at $2.85 to $2.90 and the May at $2.90 to $2.95, elevator bids to farmers for No. 2 corn in central Illinois will gain another 20 cents a bushel by May. In effect, the farmer who forward-contracts his stored corn at current prices will get 40 to 50 cents a bushel for storage by planting time. The Uncertainties - One uncertainty is this: "Will the storer realize the storage return if he does not forward- price?" The answer is, "He will if future prices stay at this level - an unlikely event." If futures go up, he will have his storage return plus a speculative return. If futures go down, he will lose a part of his potential storage return. Trends in futures prices will be influenced by technical factors in the market, growing conditions for corn crops in Argentina and South Africa and for winter wheat in the U.S. and Russia, and finally by the rates of U.S. exports and feed usage. The question here is not whether we run out of corn, but how much will be added to carryover stocks. Corn Supply - The use of com for feed in the U.S. is at the lowest level since 1964-65. Therefore, the 1975-76 corn supply and the total feed-grain supply will be adequate to meet the maximum export demand, and add sizeable amounts to end- of-year carryover stocks. Our 1975-76 corn supply will be 6.1 to 6.2 billion bushels, and our use within the U.S. is not likely to exceed 4 billion. This leaves 2.1 to 2.2 billion for exports and carryover. The USDA expects exports to be 1.4 to 1.5 billion bushels. Hence, the carryover stocks of corn from the 1975 crop are likely to be 600 to 800 million bushels, compared to 359 million this year. Prospects for all U.S. feed grains indicate that if the highest potential of feed usage and exports are attained, next year's carryover stocks of 20 to 25 million tons will be 30 to 50 percent larger than this year's small carryover. The prospects of a sizeable addition to carryover stocks of feed grains will temper the "bullish" influence of export pricing; and except for temporary runups, the likely result in corn prices will be in the $2.50 to $2.75 *ange, provided production prospects for the 1976 corn and wheat crops are normal. • (Leslie F. Stice, Extension Economist, Grain Marketing) POET'S CORNER W1 ho THE COLD WINDS OF NOVEMBER hen the cold winds of November wl outside my door... I sit in grandma's rocking chair and listen careful for her steps on our wooden floor. O, how I love to listen to her about her yesterdays... when she was just a little girl and how she used to play. I munch on my cookies, she just baked for me... they still feel warm in my hand as I bite in, with my teeth.... The fire is burning in her old fashion stove. Sometimes I can see the flame... throwing shadows, up on the wall they're looking almost like spooky ghosts. ....now I can hear her footsteps on the stairs, I jump out of her rocking chair. She is walking kind of slow... because she is so old... but, O, how I love her silver shiny hair. ...and she begins to talk again, about the years which have gone by... I sit on the floor, just listen to her, yes, I have many questions to ask... but grandma, why? But I don't interrupt her, it is not polite my mother told me that, at one time. So I sit there in silence, listen to every word she speaks with her voice, so old and fine. Yes, I spent so many happy hours with grandma, in those cold wintry days... they seem so precious today.... like beautiful strange flowers... Grandma is gone, she is resting from her rich long life. She made my years so very happy when I was still a little child. ...and today, when the cold wind howls outside again I sit in grandma's rocking chair I close my eyes, I cpn hear her voice and see her silver shiny hair. Maria Heiser Furthermore, the amounts of some of the chemicals in "natural" foods can be quite substantial when compared with substances currently used as intentional food additives. (Additives, incidentally, are those substances added-Ho processed foods in order to enhance flavor, improve color, extend shelf-life and protect nutritional value.) For example, there are almost 10,000 milligrams of solanine in the 120 pounds of potatoes eaten by the average American citizen each year. Solanine is a relative of the poison found in deadly nightshade, and 10,000 milligrams will kill a horse if given in a single dose. It doesn't kill you or me, however, or even harm us noticeably, because we eat out potatoes in smaller individual quantities, over a year's time. The average American also eats about 1.85 pounds of lima beans in a year, containing about 140 milligrams of hydrogen cyanide, the lethal agent used in a gas chamber. If you're an average American, you eat 14 milligrams of ar senic with your annual con sumption of seafood. Even the total of two teaspoons of nut meg sprinkled on your food for spice during the year contains 44 milligrams of a strong hallucinogenic drug called myristicin. All these things do us no harm, however, as our bodies' waste disposal systems are well able to handle the load under normal circumstances. These substances are all natural ingredients found in the foods we eat, and obviously are not monitored as closely as are artificial food additives. Why, then, have so many people turned to "natural" food diets? One reason is that many people fear that food additives are harmful. Nation-wide research has shown that one- fourth of all buying households in the United States are con cerned about the additives in food. They ask whether the additives are really necessary...and they question the necessity of using chemicals to preserve foods. What they do not realize is that additives help keep our food supply plentiful, attractive, less expensive, nutritious and pleasing to the palate. Preservatives significantly reduce food loss caused by spoilage, and chemical for tification has virtually ' eliminated scurvy, rickets, Constitution Conference Receives Recognition A four-day conference on the United states Constitution has been recognized as a national Bicentennial program by the American Revolution Bicen tennial administration (AR- BA). Sponsored by the 24,000 member American Academy of Political and Social Science, the conference will be held in Philadelphia April 5-8, 1976. Participants will include seventy-five statesmen, scholars, jurists and individual representatives of public in terest groups. The conference will explore the philosophic, legal and administrative history of the Constitution, examine the consequences of its use throughout the nation's history, and recommend constitutional changes which would reflect evolving needs of our society and better prepare us for America's third century. Results of the conference will be distributed throughout the country to policy makers, civic, political and university leaders and the media for review and implementation of the recom mendations. Principals of the conference are chairmen, Herbert Wechsler, director of the American Law Institute, and Harlan Fiske Stone, professor of Constitutional Law at C o l u m b i a u n i v e r s i t y ; Keynoter, Louis Pollak, acting dean and Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and Law of the University of Pennsylvania Law school. Sydney Eiges, assistant administrator of the ARBA, presented academy president Marvin E. Wolfgang with a national Bicentennial flag and certificate of recognition in Washington recently. He pointed out that "the ARBA strongly encourages all citizens to consider and re examine the great documen tary pillars upon which our system of government is based - the Declaration of In dependence and the Con stitution with its Bill of Rights." The conference and related activities are being supported by a grant from the Sun Oil Company, arranged through Philadelphia '76, the official Bicentennial agency for the city. Mr. Eiges congratulated Sun officials for their con structive involvement in the Bicentennial. The conference will take place in several historical buildings in the Independence BET PROFESSIONAL RENT OUR RINSE N VAC-th« new portable, Mty-to-uM hot watar attraction carpat daaning machina that far t / j r . . . rinaaa carpat fibari with hot watar and claaning solution f loosans and lifts all dirt. grima and rasiduaa to tha carpat surf sea whara thay ara immadiataly • laavas your carpats CLEAN. FRESH and 0D0R-FREEI M0m CUASS CASffTS /£« Rent for only UtfS TMEM CHASER LONGER ($2'/tHRS., " $5.00 MIN.) HOUR OVERNIGHT SPECIAL I 8:00 P.M. - 9:00 A.M. $10.00 HORNSBYS . f a m i l y c o n f e r s - 4400 W. ROUTE 120 McHENRY, ILL Before SANTA be sure to have your MOORE O MATIC arage door installed! OPEN AND CLOSE YOUR GARAGE DOOR . . .FROM YOUR CAR. • Safety feature instantly reverses motor if door meets obstruction. • Finger-touch control reverses movement of door inst antly at any point of travel. • Operates all kinds of overhead doors up to 18 feet in width, and in all kinds of weather. • Requires only 2Y2 inches of headroom over highest rise of door. • Protected by 5 year manufactures warranty. FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE Weath V - ̂ Alexander Lumber goiter and botulism. Many of those who consume "natural" foods are above average in intelligence and income and in a position to devote the time and extra costs usually involved in preparing what they consider to be a higher quality product. Natural flavors cost two to three times the price of their artificial counterparts. Persons who prefer "natural" foods often do so as their expressions of genuine concern about food additives and nutrition. Each of us, in fact, should be concerned about the chemicals in our food supply; and do everything possible to assure that the chemical additives in the food we eat continue to be well regulated and subjected to rigid testing procedures so that they remain both safe and functional. So, whether you prefer "natural" foods or the more convenient, less expensive processed variety, the most important thing to remember is that, either way, a well- balanced diet is essential to good health. If you want further in formation about food additives, contact your local health department, or write to: Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Fpdd and Drugs, 535 West ^Jefferson Street, Springfield, 111., 62761. --/Zî \ PAGE 5 - PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1975 Assessor Will No Longer "Burn" Solar Heat Users In order to encourage the use of solar energy, the General Assembly enacted a new property tax exemption law this past session for those who make use of the sun. The bill's sponsor was State Rep. John Grotberg (R-St. Charles). He discovered that solar heating and cooling systems cost more than con ventional systems and in troduced a bill to do something about it. As a result, owners of solar heating or cooling devices may now apply to their supervisor of assessments' office for a tax break to make certain that their home's, office's or fac tory's real estate tax assessment won't be any higher replace oil-, gas and coal. I hope that those who are seriously considering installing heating or cooling devices powered by the sun will not be inhibited because they think their real estate taxes might go up," Skinner said. "By going to their local courthouse and filling out a form, an owner of such a building will make certain that he or she will be charged no more than would be the case if a conventional, fossil-fueled temperature control system had been installed." Lists of firms dealing in solar heating and cooling systems, as compiled by the Illinois Department of Economic and Business Development, may be Hall area, site of the 1787 Constitutional convention. Papers prepared by committee keynoters will be distributed in advance and will provide the basis for discussions. The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in Philadelphia in 1889, and since then has brought scholars together to discuss broad public issues. Conference coordinator and contact is Varney Truscott, The American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 3837 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104. Instant Replay 909 N. Fronrst. McHenry Phone 385-1424 than it would be with con- Obtained by writing Rep. ventional heating or air con--^ Skinner at Box 308, Crystal ditioning equipment, reports Lake, 111., 60014. bill co-sponsor Rep. * Cal Skinner, Jr. "This tax break is merely an extension of one that was given to business for pollution control devices in the late sixties, as far as I am concerned," the Crystal Lake House Revenue committee member continued. "With 2,300 local residents having visited the recent McHenry County Defender- sponsored exhibition of the uses of solar energy in Woodstock, no one should doubt the existence of widespread in terest in use of the sun to Defrost frozervmeat and fowl in the refrigerator before baking or roasting it. You may have to plan your menu a day ahead, but the practice saves cooking time and energy. Fluorescent lights are more energy-efficient Jhan in candescent lights. One 40-watt fluroescent tube give out more light than three 60-watt in candescent bulbs...and can save you about $10 a year in electricity. CiO^ Heei! RALPH- H&lf McHENRY 20% DISCOUNT DRAPERIES-WEDDING GOWNS SUEDES-FURS AND HATS AND OUR EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS TO YOU D i l l n i A I Q CLEANED AND $1 95 'KING & QUEEN • ILLUffO NEW TICKINGS * 1.00 EXTRA WITH ANY ORDER OF CLEANING OR LAUNDRY ^••ILLINOIS CLEANER-FURRIER & LAUNDRY 385-7746 Join our 1976 Christmas Club getafreegift and interest! Join McHenry Savings' 1976 Christmas Club now and have the cash you need for next year's Christmas shopping. In addition, you'll get free a hand painted Christmas pin and5'/4% interest on your savings. Come in today while our pin selection is complete. McHENRY S A V I N G S « llll IIIICllllll. 1209 North Green Street 10520 Main Street • u McHenry Savings W AND LOAN ASSOCIATION^^ » McHenry. Illinois Richmond. Illinois SAVERS HOURS 9 00amto4 30pm Monday. Tuesday. Thursday and Saturday 9 00 S m to 8 00 p m Friday McHenry Drive-In Window open Wednesday 9 00a m to 2 00 pm Closed Wednesday in Richmond MCHENRY MONEY MACHINE OPEN 24 HRS A DAY EVERY DAY' _. Deposits mtureo to J40 OOO by the Fedenl Saving* «nd LO»n ln»ur»nc« (