2 Girls Killed, 8 Injured Detasseling Corn

Yahoo/AC ^ | July 26th, 2011 | Sherry Tomfeld

[stillafreemind]

Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall died of their, and two others (names not disclosed) were seriously injured. Six other workers treated for injuries deemed not life threatening, were part of a 72 member group working to detassel corn for Monsanto Corp out of St. Louis. Garza and Kendall were both from Sterling, Ill.

[RitchieAprile]

was the chicken convicted of treason?

[Rebelbase]

A weather channel guy last week said that corn tassels were affecting the humidity for Wisconsin.

Anyone ever heard of this before?

[MissEdie]

Was she Amelia Bedilia?

[stillafreemind]

They pick the female rows, store it or haul it. Then they pick the male rows. I believe the female seed is what is used for seed corn.

[freedomlover]

I have a story to further hijack the thread.

An old girlfriend of mine told me a story about her South Georgia life where they had free range chickens. One chicken had become my girlfriends pet, “Harold”, who would follow her around the property.

One day Grandma came to town for the day, and come suppertime went out into the yard and grabbed the first chicken in sight and killed it for dinner. No big deal in those days and that culture.

They didn’t realize it was Harold until he was half eaten.

[goodwithagun]

Will Monstanto be protected from these law suits also?

[listenhillary]

I had a farmer friend that used to try to sell beef direct to consumers. He would put classified adds in the St Louis newspaper. He had to stop after he kept getting calls asking if he delivered freerange beef for free also.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sad. RIP.

[familyop]

"A $20 dollar device like this could have saved their lives."

Properly spec'd GFCIs tend to trip a lot with motor-driven, wet equipment (e.g., deep well pumps), so they'd probably do the same with irrigation system motors. ...starting current of motors, wire friction common in operation,... GFCIs are still avoided in well pump systems (rainproof boxes, fuses, grounds between boxes and well casings used instead). Maybe irrigation equipment should be turned off, before anyone goes into the cornfield. Or maybe all components should be waterproof like those around exposed, indoor plumbing (expensive).

[bgill]

No, Amelia was a nice nut case. This woman was a nasty mean nutcase.

[bgill]

Oops, poor Harold!

[PiperShade]

Farming - or “pharming” - has long been recognized as having a high mortality rate. Right up there next to commercial fishing. I feel for the families involved. But if ‘they’re farmers they know the risks.

In my small town friends lost their daughter by electrocution moving a grain auger. Others a cousin by suffication in a grain bin accident. Lots of contemporaries I know - and their kids - have died in accidents incidental to farming operations over the years.

A decade or so back I spent a few hours with a farming friend discussing how many of us “farm kids” grew up in a tractor seat performing tillage and harvest tasks at ages when our peers were trying to peddal a Schwin. Or how our kids “grew up” directing of a couple of hundred horsepower in the same tasks. >PS

[MissEdie]

Then your grandfather was a true gentleman when he helped her.