By William L. Garvin
Growing up in Southwest Idaho, summer always brought a radical change of scenery for those of us living in town. As soon as school was out, many of us were shipped off to the farms and ranches of assorted grandpas, uncles, and cousins for summer. I don’t know how we survived without President Obama and his Department of Labor!
My grandparents had a small farm in the Owyhee mountains way outside a wide spot in the road called Reynolds Creek. Grandpa Bass was a quiet, hard working man, as he had to be to make a living farming in the high desert. My first driving lessons were sitting on grandpa’s lap high up on a John Deere tractor. We weren’t wearing helmets, my feet couldn’t reach the pedals and we didn’t have seat belts or airbags.
I also had a horse to ride for the summer, a big buckskin gelding named Midas. He didn’t come free of charge. You see, I had to get up at first light and as soon as Grandpa saddled Midas, I had to ride out and bring in the cows for milking. Again, no helmets, airbags, or seat belts. Sometimes I had to slop the pigs. Other times, I had to gather eggs and fend off nesting hens and overly protective roosters. Pitchforks and pitching hay were also parts of
the summer routine as was riding on top of mountains of hay on a horse drawn wagon. I believe it was a state mandate that every hayloft had to have a rope tied to the rafters for kids to swing as high as they could and then drop into the hay. I don’t believe it was OSHA approved.
When it came to Sunday fried chicken dinner, we had to catch the chickens and off with their heads. Grandma would dip them in boiling water and then we had to pull off the feathers and pinfeathers. We carried in the pails of milk in the morning so she could separate the cream and make butter. We were often forced into service to turn the crank on the churn. We usually volunteered to turn the crank when it came to making ice cream.
We had an outhouse and bathed in the horse tank. We went to bed at dark because there was no electricity and the only light came from kerosene lamps. If company came, we slept on the front porch and listened to coyotes, owls and other night birds hunting prey. If we didn’t have any chores, there were always BB guns and lizards. We could also ride our horses up to the many caves in search of the elusive Indian arrowheads. No chaperones,
no GPS, no guidance other than being home by dark. We left Idaho after I finished the sixth grade and my summers on the farm ended.
If President Obama’s Department of Labor would have had its way, they would never have started. In response to his presidential Executive Order, DOL drafted regulations which would ban children under sixteen on farms from “hazardous work” which is defined as over six feet high or using tools which are “power take off driven,” such as battery screwdrivers! Whereas we thought we were developing a sense of responsibility and a work ethic, DOL
sees exploitation. Whereas we thought we were contributing to the family welfare, DOL sees child endangerment. DOL Wage and Hour Division inspectors were fully prepared to charge onto family farms armed with their citation books. Much like EPA inspectors, they were ready to “crucify” violators.
After the public outcry and concern that even 4-H and FFA projects would be endangered, DOL backed off and has begun a series of “clarifications.” This does not sit well with nanny state surrogates such as Human Rights Watch who complained that “the most vulnerable working children in America” are being abandoned. “Instead of protecting child farm workers, the Labor Department will look the other way when children get crushed,
suffocated, and poisoned on the job,” said Zama Coursen-Neff. Check this out, Zama. On average, 113 youths die annually from farm related injuries. Thirty-five percent are due to motor vehicle and ATV accidents, or drowning. In 2007, 700 kids under 14 drowned; in 2008, 716 bicyclists were killed. Why don’t you outlaw biking and swimming? Better yet, why don’t you mind your own business! We don’t need you or DOL to extricate the
poor downtrodden and exploited masses of grandkids from beneath the iron heels of Grandpa’s capitalist oppression!
No comments:
Post a Comment