6A The Panola Watchman, Sunday, July 5, 2020 panolawatchman.com

If you have questions about funerals, please email me athawthornfuneralhm@sbcglobal.net

Hawthorn Funeral Home307 W. Wellington Carthage, Texas 75633903-693-3816 www.hawthornfuneralhome.com

Conversations with

arltonarltonCCDR’s. C. B. CHAMBERLIN& BENJAMIN F. LYFORD

A new profession emerged duringthe early years of the Civil Warcalled the “embalming surgeon.”Some short time before the warwas declared in 1861, Dr. ThomasHolmes had developed a process by

which a liquid could be injected into the body to preserve it for anextended period of time. The veins would be pumped full of thisliquid to arrest and prevent decay, thus making it possible to shipthe body home. These men were usually surgeons who had learnedthe embalming procedure either from Dr. Holmes himself or fromone of his protégés. As time passed, the undertaker began to seethe potential of the embalming procedure for his profession. Thusmany of them began learning the procedure. Slowly, embalmingbecame an integral part of the undertaking business offering,although it did take some years before it became commonplace.In the photo above, Drs. Chamberlin and Lyford appear to bedemonstrating the embalming technique to two Union officers.The field setup pictured might be very typical of that found near abattlefield or field hospital. If you have toured the Hawthorn libraryyou will see below the diarama, depicting this period in time. Wehave embalmers’ tools and equipment we used prior to becoming afull-service funeral home- a time when embalming was done at thehome, as was lying in repose prior to the service and burial.

turtles are major pred-ators, and a lot of thefish they eat are al-ready high up on thefood chain to begin with,so they’re going to po-tentially be heavier inmercury.”

Once prized for itsmeat, it is illegal toharvest an alligatorsnapping turtle inTexas, and person-al harvest is limitedin Louisiana. Despitethis, both Schalk andRosenbaum said illegalpoaching still occurs.

“In some cases, peo-ple are still consum-ing them,” Schalksaid. “Aside from theirthreatened status, alli-gator snapping turtlespossess traits that, inmy opinion, make them

an undesirable sourceof meat because of theway mercury bioaccu-mulation occurs.”

Because the speciesis almost exclusivelyaquatic, with femalesemerging only to neston land, they can beovershadowed by morevisible, terrestrialthreatened or endan-gered species, such asthe Texas horned liz-ard or red-cockadedwoodpecker. Their lackof visibility, however,does not imply a lack ofecological importance.

“It’s an iconic specieshere in Texas,” Schalksaid. “They’re a goodindicator species fora healthy ecosystem— one that’s not over-fished and has stablepopulations that are in-dicative of low anthro-

pogenic impacts.”In addition to being

a top predator, Schalkalso explained that theturtles actually pro-duce a considerableamount of food for oth-er animals, such as rac-coons, opossums andlarger fish through thepredation of nests andjuveniles.

“They’re a prettyeasy animal to be en-thusiastic about justbecause they’re solarge and aggressivelooking,” Rosenbaumsaid. “There’s definite-ly an air of mysteryand lore about themthat makes them atten-tion grabbing.”

For more informa-tion on this and otherresearch, visit atcofa.sfasu.edu.

TURTLE

From Page 5A

Submitted Photo

While often confused with the common snapping turtle, distinct characteristics,such as its large size, pronounced beak and defined serrations along the alligatorsnapping turtle’s shell, set the two species apart. It is illegal to harvest alligatorsnapping turtles in Texas, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently con-sidering federal protection of the species under the Endangered Species Act.

melon will have a deep-er sound, as opposed toan over-ripe one thatwill have a more hollowor flat sound. A duller,more hollow sound canmean the flesh is start-ing to go soft and spoil.

Tip 3: Look fora dull and heavywatermelon

Although it may not

be the most photogenicnor the easiest to carryto your car, the best wa-termelons will be dull inappearance and heavierthan the rest. A shinymelon indicates the in-sides are under ripe.

Also, the best melonof the bunch will mostlikely be heavier thanthe rest. On average, awatermelon is 92 per-cent water, which makesthem so juicy. A heavier

melon likely holds morewater, which will makeit juicier.

2020 is the year of thewatermelon. This year’soff-the-charts watermel-on quality and sweet-ness may be the bestnews you will hear allday. Because watermel-on season usually peaksduring the summermonths, do not miss outon this classic hydratingsnack.

TIPSFrom Page 5A

FAITHLIFE DEVOTIONAL

If we’ll let the truthsof Scripture fill ourminds, guard our

emotions and influ-ence our conduct, Godwill richly reward us(Psalm 25:4-10). Byreading and meditat-ing on His Word, you’lllearn to understand Hisways. This isn’t some-thing we can figure outon our own, becauseHis ways are unlikeours — they are higher,bigger and eternal.

Following God onHis terms will lead toa deepening relation-ship with Him. That’sbecause He chooses toreveal Himself to thosewho seek Him and obeyHis instructions. Andwhen you see that Godalways keeps His prom-ises, your confidencein His faithfulness willsoar.

Whatever the situa-tion may be, you’ll knowyou can trust Him.

Then He will transformyour worries into joyfulanticipation about whatHe’s going to do next inyour life. Even if hardtimes await, you’ll beconvinced that the Lordwill work them out forgood.

A life grounded intruth is powerful. Thosewho live by the Word de-velop spiritual discern-ment which guides theirchoices and guardsagainst deception. Be-cause they demonstratewisdom and godliness,the Lord enables themto impact others signifi-cantly. Since He knowsthey can be trusted, Healso gives them greaterresponsibilities and op-portunities for servicein His kingdom.

With all these benefitsavailable to us, it seemsobvious what the wisestcourse of action is:invest time and energyin building the truth ofGod’s Word into yourlife. Other activities thatclamor for attentionmay seem important orpleasurable, but noneof them can offer thespiritual riches of a lifegrounded in truth.

Allen Tilley is senior pastor at FirstBaptist Church of Carthage.

Let scripturefill your mind

ByAllenTilley

CORONAVIRUS

Special to the Watchman

USDA’s Farm ServiceAgency will now ac-cept applications for theCoronavirus Food Assis-tance Program (CFAP)through an online por-tal, expanding the op-tions available to pro-ducers to apply for thisprogram, which helpsoffset price declinesand additional market-ing costs because of thecoronavirus pandemic.

FSA is also leveragingcommercial documentstorage and e-signaturesolutions to enable pro-ducers to work with lo-cal service center staffto complete their appli-cations from home.

“We are doing every-thing we can to serveour customers andmake sure agriculturalproducers impacted bythe pandemic can quick-ly and securely applyfor this relief program,”said FSA Administra-tor Richard Fordyce.“In addition to workingwith FSA staff throughthe phone, email andscheduled in-person ap-pointments, we can nowalso take applicationsthrough the farmers.gov portal, which saves

producers and our stafftime.”

Through the portal,producers with secureUSDA login creden-tials—known as eAu-thentication—can certi-fy eligible commoditiesonline, digitally signapplications and sub-mit directly to the localUSDA Service Center.Producers who do nothave an eAuthentica-tion account can learnmore and begin theenrollment process atfarmers.gov/sign-in.Currently, the digitalapplication is only avail-able to sole proprietorsor single-member busi-ness entities.

USDA Service Centerscan also work with pro-ducers to complete andsecurely transmit digi-tally signed applicationsthrough two commer-cially available tools:Box and OneSpan. Pro-ducers who are inter-ested in digitally sign-ing their applicationsshould notify their localservice centers whencalling to discuss theCFAP application pro-cess. You can learn moreabout these solutions atfarmers.gov/mydocs.

USDA has several oth-

er options for producersto complete and submittheir CFAP applications.These include:

1. Downloading theAD-3114 applicationform from farmers.gov/cfap and manual-ly completing the formto submit to the localUSDA Service Centerby mail, electronical-ly or by hand deliveryto an office drop box.In some limited cases,the office may be openfor in-person businessby appointment. Visitfarmers.gov/corona-virus/service-cen-ter-status to check thestatus of your localoffice.2. Completing the ap-plication form usingour CFAP ApplicationGenerator and Pay-ment Calculator foundat farmers.gov/cfap.This Excel workbookallows customers toinput informationspecific to their oper-ation to determine es-timated payments andpopulate the applica-tion form, which canbe printed, and thensigned and submittedto their local USDAService Center.

Getting Help fromFSA

New customers seek-ing one-on-one supportwith the CFAP appli-cation process can call877-508-8364 to speakdirectly with a USDAemployee ready to offergeneral assistance. Thisis a recommended firststep before a producerengages the team at theFSA county office attheir local USDA Ser-vice Center.

All other eligibilityforms, such as those re-lated to adjusted grossincome and payment in-formation, can be down-loaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existingFSA customers, thesedocuments are likely al-ready on file.

Producers self-certi-fy their records whenapplying for CFAP, andthat documentation isnot submitted with theapplication. However,producers may be askedfor their documentationto support the certifi-cation of eligible com-modities, so they shouldretain the informationused to complete theirapplication.

USDA adds digital options forFSA food assistance program

LOCALNEWSYOU CAN TRUST

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