Assessing Barriers to Health Care Services for Hispanic Residents in Rural Georgia

Since the 1990s, many Hispanics have been relocating to the rural South and their permanency (although beneficial to the economy) poses new challenges at the institutional level. One area of major concern is the adequate provision of health care. Our article evaluates the socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic/transportation barriers that Hispanic residents face when seeking primary health care services in Toombs County, Georgia. Data were acquired through personal interviews with Hispanic residents, local health professionals, and key community informants by using a combination of opportunity sampling and a snowball approach. Results indicate that the local health system and the county as a whole have not yet fully adapted to the health needs of Hispanic migrants. There was a consensus among all respondents that language and communication issues were the primary barriers to accessing health care

The Potential Impact of Heir Property on Timber Management in the Southeastern United States

Abstract Active timberland management maintains forest health and productivity, which in turn contributes to the sustainability of the resource and wealth of the landowner. However, when land is held as heir property, options for timberland management are often limited. Heir property is owned as an undivided interest among many heirs of an original owner, or multiple generations of owners, who died intestate. This is common among African American landowners in the South. As a result the title is considered “clouded,” limiting access to capital and resources that are beneficial to timberland management. In this paper, the authors hope to improve awareness of this issue by documenting potential obstacles that heir property owners may encounter including the inability to plan land management activities such as forest inventories, harvesting, and replanting. As a result, the health of the forest may suffer posing a threat to forest productivity and landowner wealth generation. Keywords: Forestry, Timber Management, Heir Propert

Identifying Heirs’ Property: Extent and Value Across the South and Appalachia

A database of property tax records was used to locate and quantify the extent of heirs\u27 property across 11 states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). Based on previously published work, an index of four variables was then developed to estimate the likelihood that a given parcel was heirs’ property. The authors conservatively estimate that there are at least 496,994 parcels of heirs’ properties with a combined total area of 5.3 million acres and a market value of $41.9 billion in these states

CAFOs, Culture, and Conflict on Sand Mountain: Framing Rights and Responsibilities in Appalachian Alabama

This paper presents a case study of controversy associated with large confined animal feed operations (CAFOs) on Sand Mountain in the northeast corner of Alabama, the tail-end of the Appalachian Mountains. We examine competing cultural frames developed by supporters and opponents of CAFOs that produce hogs. Both sides of the CAFO controversy utilize locally-specific cultural understandings of private property. Those opposed have framed their concerns both in terms of formal environmental standards of regulatory agencies and the responsibility of landowners not to engage in activities that adversely affect neighboring land owners. CAFO operators have framed the issue by drawing upon local traditions of individual rights over how one uses land, while calling upon reciprocal social relationships that stretch across multiple generations to win support or mute opposition. The controversy has spilled over into the legislative and regulatory arenas, where tradition-based cultural frames are repeated but in different forms

Stunted Growth: Natural Resource Concentration, Economic Growth, and Dutch Disease in the Southeastern United States

We study the link between economic growth and resource endowment in the southeastern United States and find signs of Dutch Disease. Using data for 815 counties in this region, we focus attention on the connection between economic growth and forest resources. Our data support the Dutch Disease theory that economic reliance on natural resources contributes to low economic growth.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Natural Resources Endowment and Economic Growth in the Southeastern United States

Using forest concentration data from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, this paper test whether or not the low-level of economic growth is related to forest resource intensity and Dutch Disease. Specifically, cross sectional data from 815 counties are used to evaluate how changes personal income growth is affected by concentration of forestry resources, government and business investment, educational investment and consumption. We find evidence that the county economies in the South may suffer from Dutch Disease.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Rural America in a Globalizing World

This fourth Rural Sociological Society decennial volume provides advanced policy scholarship on rural North America during the 2010’s, closely reflecting upon the increasingly global nature of social, cultural, and economic forces and the impact of neoliberal ideology upon policy, politics, and power in rural areas. The chapters in this volume represent the expertise of an influential group of scholars in rural sociology and related social sciences. Its five sections address the changing structure of North American agriculture, natural resources and the environment, demographics, diversity, and quality of life in rural communities.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1103/thumbnail.jp

County-Level Extension Programming: Continuity and Change in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System

Production agriculture is no longer a dominant feature of Alabama\u27s rural life. Forestry and natural resource issues have emerged as significant concerns expressed by County Advisory Boards designed to help shape county-level Extension programming in Alabama. Our findings indicate that county-level Extension programming continues to put greater emphasis on traditional agricultural programs than on forestry and natural resources even though County Advisory Boards considered the latter issues to have greater priority. We examine the potential causes for the continued dominance of traditional programs in Alabama and conclude that initiatives to change program priorities are unlikely to begin at the county level

Differing Perspectives on Biofuels: Analysis of National, Regional, and State Newspaper Coverage

We examined national, regional, and Alabama newspaper coverage of biofuels development to observe variation in coverage and to understand the role of media on controversial issues of national importance. The years covered, 2007-2009, coincided with peak media interest in biofuels. Our focus on Alabama and the South is justified by the potential for biofuels development present in that state and region. We hypothesized that sources quoted would vary by topics, that article tone would vary depending on biofuel type and associated feedstock, and that tone would vary depending on whether the focus was on local economic impacts or broader issues related to biofuels. All three hypotheses were supported. We conclude that newspapers in this study have served as conduits for the views of local growth machine coalitions, but that when the focus extended to issues beyond the local realm, newspapers have played a different role, actively contributing to public discussion and policy debate

One Engineer and a Dog: Technological Change and Social Restructuring in Alabama\u27s Pulp and Paper Industry

We apply a commodity systems analysis to examine a series of changes that are transforming Alabama\u27s pulp and paper industry. Alabama is a critical area for investigation because it lies at the heart of North America\u27s principle pulp and paper production zone. Industry restructuring is a complex process involving the reorganization of capital and corporate ownership, as well as changes in technologies, which affect the labor process. For example, a recent spate of corporate mergers has resulted in concentration of mill ownership and has accelerated the prevalence of sub-contracting. Indeed, the expansion of sub-contracting into new realms raises the fundamental question of what constitutes a core activity in this capital-intensive industry. The consolidation process has not proceeded in a unidirectional manner, however. For example, some corporations have expanded investments in forest land, while other firms have actively sought to divest themselves of direct ownership of such land, freeing capital for investment elsewhere. Placing Alabama mills in a broader regional context, we examine a set of environmental and economic pressures within the commodity system that have led to these changes