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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1985)
— Page 8/The Battalion/Wednesday, October 2, 1985 MISSOURI REPERTORY THEATRE PRESENTS DELIGHT! In the splendid music of America’s most celebrated songwriter. "This is a dream of a shoui Happy Funny. Witty and so compassionate. It makes you feel good." NEW YORK TIMES BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM presented by MSC Townhall October 3, Rudder Auditorium 8 p.m. Call MSC Box Office or any Ticketron outlet for more information 000(3 The Missouri Repertory Theatre Tour is made possible by financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Texas Arts Exchange and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Waldo by Kevin Thomas Last Depression-era cannery in Texas victim of the times - -i - T'. $ S irt!. Associated Press LOCKNEY — The Floyd County Community Cannery will soon take its place among the other relics ot the past, a victim of dwindling can supplies, county belt-tightening and waning public interest. With it goes a piece of Depression-era Americana, the last of its kind in Texas. “I hate to see it shut down,” said cannery manager Eunice “Pete” Hulcy. “It’s been a lot of help to a lot of people for a long, long time.” In existence since the ’30s, the cannery was a product of FDR’s Work Progress Administration. At the time it was one of many across the nation where farmers and rural folk could bring their produce and have it canned, paying for the serv ice with a portion of the canned product. The rest of the canned goods were kept for the family’s use or traded in town for other mer chandise. Now, according to Rex Sherry, training officer with the Food and Drug Division of the Texas Depart ment of Health in Austin, the com munity cannery is “a dying breed. People were very dependent on them once. To my knowledge, it (Floyd County’s cannery) is the only one in the state at this time.” One of the reasons for the demise of the Lockney cannery, which is housed in an old military barracks building, is dwindling use. Three years ago, following a food poison ing scare, state health department rules forced cannery employees to K ut an end to the barter system that ad existed since the Depression. People bringing in produce were re quired to do most of the work them selves, paying for the cans, and can nery employees had to keep strict records. Although the food poisoning was ultimately traced toother causes, the rules remained, and use of the com munity cannery dropped sharply, according to Hulcy. But use is still fairly high during The cannery was a prod uct of FDR’s Work Pro gress Administration. It was one of many across the nation where farmers and rural folk could have their produce canned, paying for the service with a portion of the canned product. peak tember, with anywhere from 10 to 30 people a day using the cannery. Some of the cannery users come from other counties. The number of out-of-county res idents using the cannery is one of the problems, according to Floyd County Judge Choice Smith. Floyd County residents pay 22 cents a can while out-of-county users pay 25 cents a can for produce proc essed at the facility. The county makes 2 to 5 cents profit on the ac tual cans, but employee wages, equipment maintenance and utility bills are paid for by county taxpay ers. The county budgets $10,000 a year for operation but two of the last three years the cost has slightly ex ceeded that amount. Smith conceeds it is not a huge percentage of the county’s $1 million-plus annual bud get, but points out that the cannen isn’t the only victim in the fiscal bell tightening. County commissioners have beer coping with property valuationstk are down by almost $98,000 andes peeled to decrease even more tk next two years. But the real death-knell for lit cannery was Smith’s discover) thi: the 20-cent tin cans the county ptii chased from American Can Co.,: Arlington, would no longer beavaif able. He checked around and finaii found another source — in New Or ica ns — with a price of 40centsper can. “And that didn’t even takeintoa count the increased cost of transpo tation.” Smith said. “A lotofpeopit have Ivenefitted from the cannen; But they just wouldn’t be willingtc! pay that much. It’s sad it hastodox [ (nil it just priced itself out.” Hulcy agrees that there is proii I bly no alternative to closing the ft I cility: "Nobody can pay 40 cents for I empty cans. 1 hate to see the plan I close down, but when you ant gel materials, you can’t get material! | There have been a lot of businesse| around town that have closed.Tit'j (commissioners) have hung on fori; long time.” Hulcy estimates there is about;. two-day supply of cans left. Wheil they are gone, the cannery will rti main open until the end of Novetr-1 her so tnat people have access totk I grinder ana pressure cookers. After that the facility, an institu I lion in Lockney and Floyd Counttf for almost half a century, will be per I manemly closed — relegated to tk i memories of those who partially ok I their survival through the GreatDt-1 pression to the community cannen S' Freshmen & Sophomores! i&$ce The schedule for Freshmen and Sophomore photos for the 1986 Aggieland has been extended to October 1-11. Photos will be taken at Yearbook Associate’s studio located above Campus Photo Center at Northgate. Office hours are 8:30-12 and 1-4:30.