Panhandle Counties Research Articles

Billy and Olive Dixon: The Plainsman and His Lady by Bill O’Neal

Reviewed by: Billy and Olive Dixon: The Plainsman and His Lady by Bill O’Neal Chuck Parsons Billy and Olive Dixon: The Plainsman and His Lady. By Bill O’Neal. (Fort Worth: Eakin Press, 2019. Pp. 259. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) The names of Billy and Olive Dixon are household words in the Texas Panhandle, just as they should be. At the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874 Dixon made a remarkable shot with his Sharps “Big Fifty” rifle, shooting a Comanche nearly three-quarters of a mile away. Dixon later claimed it was a “scratch shot” made with a borrowed Sharps, not with his regular weapon. Certainly an element of luck played into it, but two months later Dixon and other hunters were trapped in a buffalo wallow, surrounded by Comanche, again fighting for their lives. Dixon’s actions in this latter engagement earned him the Medal of Honor. The book is written from reliable sources. Dixon himself composed his autobiography; Olive Dixon wrote many articles and other materials that provided additional information about him and his contemporaries. In addition, John L. McCarty wrote a biography of Olive entitled Adobe Walls Bride (Naylor, 1955). Much of the other material O’Neal used is housed in the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, a valuable resource for any historian dealing with Texas and the American Southwest. A lesser historian would have found these materials sufficient, but O’Neal, a modern historianus herbidus (202), visited the ground where his subjects walked. He not only spent a day at Adobe Walls battleground but also visited most of the museums in the Panhandle counties, and he also created many of the illustrations in Billy and Olive Dixon. Billy Dixon himself may have felt most comfortable on the buffalo range. That he ever married is probably due to Olive King’s influence, because Billy was shy when meeting a woman. He would have remained a [End Page 473] bachelor if not for the “adventurous young schoolmarm” (1) who had left Virginia to visit her cowboy brother in the Panhandle. She fell in love with the land, and when her brother’s sod house became crowded due to her newborn nephew, she contemplated returning to Virginia. Fortunately for history she obtained a teaching position in a school south of the Canadian River. Billy Dixon lived five miles away and the two met in late 1893 through one of Olive’s friends. They were married in late 1894; he was forty-five, she was twenty-one. O’Neal’s dual biography is the first solid work on Dixon in more than fifty years. It is as much a biography of the buffalo hunter as a study of how two people lived on one of the last North American frontiers. As Billy Dixon started to suffer from his years outdoors in severe weather, the couple began to work on his autobiography. After his death in 1913, she continued the work and eventually had manuscripts all over the house. Olive Dixon collected interviews with old-timers and provided much valuable material to the fledgling museum in Canyon, today the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Readers will appreciate not only Billy and Olive Dixon as a fine love story, but also as background for the founding and growth of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, which continues to offer assistance to historians. Chuck Parsons Luling, Texas Copyright © 2020 The Texas State Historical Association

Hypertension in Florida: Data From the OneFlorida Clinical Data Research Network.

IntroductionHypertension is highly prevalent in Florida, but surveillance through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is limited to self-reported hypertension and does not capture data on undiagnosed hypertension or measure blood pressure. We aimed to characterize the hypertensive population in the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium by using electronic health records and provide proof-of-concept for using routinely collected clinical data to augment surveillance efforts.MethodsWe identified patients with hypertension, defined as having at least 1 outpatient visit from January 2012 through June 2016 with an ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for hypertension, or in the absence of a diagnosis, an elevated blood pressure (systolic ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic ≥90 mm Hg) recorded in the electronic health record at the most recent visit. The hypertensive population was characterized and mapped by zip code of patient residence to county prevalence.ResultsOf 838,469 patients (27.9% prevalence) who met the criteria for hypertension, 68% had received a diagnosis and 61% had elevated blood pressure. The geographic distribution of hypertension differed between diagnosed hypertension (highest prevalence in northern Florida) and undiagnosed hypertension (highest prevalence along eastern coast, in southern Florida, and in some rural western Panhandle counties). Uncontrolled hypertension was concentrated in southern Florida and the western Panhandle.ConclusionOur use of clinical data, representing usual care for Floridians, allows for identifying cases of uncontrolled hypertension and potentially undiagnosed cases, which are not captured by existing surveillance methods. Large-scale pragmatic research networks, like OneFlorida, may be increasingly important for tailoring future health care services, trials, and public health programs.

Latino Health in the Texas Panhandle: Policy Implications

ABSTRACTThis study focused on the geospatial aspects of Latino health in the Texas Panhandle from 2011 to 2016. The underpinning question became: As more Panhandle counties became increasingly Latino during the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, what have been the ramifications for Latino health care and health outcomes in the fifty-four counties? Latino-majority counties worsened between 2011 and 2016 in all six health indicators: children in poverty, adults uninsured, primary care physician ratio, adult obesity, diabetes, and teen birthrate. In 2011 the eleven Latino-majority counties did not statistically differ from eleven non-Hispanic, white-majority counties in the six health indicators. In 2016 the seventeen Latino-majority counties differed statistically from seventeen white-majority counties for primary care physician ratio, percentage of diabetes, and teen birthrate, all three of which were worse for Latinos.

Are state growth management programs viable tools for biodiversity conservation? A case study examining Florida local governments

We examined the quality of Florida's state growth management program and associated county comprehensive plans as an overall biological conservation strategy. A plan evaluation coding protocol using a conceptual framework derived from the science of conservation planning was applied to local comprehensive plan Conservation Elements to determine the extent to which county-level conservation planning met the well-accepted conceptual framework. We found a high degree of variability in the quality of conservation planning for biodiversity, which was related to political geography. The quality of plans in coastal counties was significantly higher than that of inland counties. Significant regional differences were also evident, with conservation planning quality in South Florida counties significantly higher than in Panhandle counties. Geographic differences in the quality of local conservation planning are attributable to socioeconomic differences, education of the public, and availability of resources for planners. A model selection and averaging approach based on information theory was employed to develop a predictive model of conservation planning quality of Florida local governments. The results of this study call into the question the efficacy of state growth management programs as land-use regulatory tools to stem current rapid losses in biological diversity.

New Establishment and County Records forDiorhabdaspp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) andConiatus splendidulus(Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma

Cooperative projects by various national and state agencies in the last 10 years have resulted in the establishment of an effective saltcedar (Tamarisk sp.) biological control agent, the tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda spp.). Three species of tamarisk beetles have been established in different regions of Texas, typically based on their climatic adaptation. The beetles defoliate saltcedar over multiple seasons, weakening and, during 3 to 5 years, eliminating large stands of this invasive plant. Another saltcedar biological control agent, the splendid tamarisk weevil, Coniatus splendidulus F., is also established in the United States from undocumented introductions. Surveys of saltcedar for evidence of biological control in the eastern Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma during the summer of 2012 following landowner reports of beetle infestations, and previous release efforts along the Canadian River in Texas resulted in new state and county records for Diorhabda carinata (Faldermann), D. elongata (Brullé), and C. splendidulus F. D. carinata × D. elongata hybrids were recorded for the first time in Oklahoma, from five western counties. In Texas, hybrids of D. carinata × D. elongata, D. carinata, D. elongata, and C. splendidulus were recorded from five, 16, one, and three eastern Panhandle counties, respectively. A history of the release efforts for establishment of Diorhabda spp. from 2004–2010 in the Texas Panhandle is included.

Maryland

While the State of Maryland is far from a traditional epicenter of conventional oil and gas development, the ubiquitous Marcellus Shale runs strong through two of Maryland's western panhandle counties, Garrett and Allegheny, and the play for these reserves has many of the industry's eyes squarely trained on this somewhat economically depressed area of Maryland. Several operators have begun preliminary work in the area, and a few large, mid-continental operators have charged headlong into western Maryland performing title examinations, securing leases, and obtaining title opinions in the hopes of pioneering a new geographic market and injecting a much needed boost of economic development into the sleepy, rural area. A few operators have applied for permits to drill and operate horizontal wells in Garrett and Allegheny Counties; however, this is where the fervor, activity, and excitement stops, and the development train leaps from its tracks. To date, the State of Maryland has yet to issue its first horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing permit.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH: AAP Publishes Oil Protection Guidelines for Children

Sparked by requests from anxious parents throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast region after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on 20 April 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) worked with the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU)1 to develop fact sheets for clinicians and parents that pulled together the best available information on protecting children against oil exposures.2 The recommendations, which have been endorsed by the American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, cover a wide range of measures addressing air, water, beach, and food issues, and they can be applied in any oil-exposure situation.3 The recommendations are only professional best estimates based on the limited information about health effects of oil spills on adults, acknowledges Katherine Kirkland, executive director of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, which runs PEHSU. “There really isn’t any research done on children,” she says. The fact sheets will be updated as more information becomes available, says Scott Needle, a Florida pediatrician and member of the AAP Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council. Along with physical health concerns, the fact sheets address psychological problems that may develop in children because of worries about their own health or that of their parents. Needle says it’s essential for parents to try to head off problems by talking with their children and to reassure them that people are working to clean up the oil and keep this from happening again. “We are also concerned about the potential long-term community effects, particularly economic and psychological, and especially affecting areas that have already been battered by severe hurricanes and other stressors in recent years,” Needle says. “The majority of our experience in long-term effects comes from studying the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, and affected communities there are still dealing with the mental health effects.” Even if children do not exhibit health symptoms directly, he says, their overall health and sense of well-being may continue to be impacted on a long-term basis. John Lanza, director of the Escambia County Health Department in Pensacola, Florida, had not heard of the PEHSU guidelines,4 but he says his county adopted similar recommendations based on research conducted by a consortium of Florida panhandle counties after the spill began. The county also conducted an extensive community education effort that parents and children seem to have heeded. The number of acute health problems reported so far has been minimal.5 Data on longer-term effects on children may be hard to come by, however—of the four Gulf states tracking self-reported spill-related health complaints, only Louisiana is breaking out exposure and health effect data by age,5 and no definitive plans for researching health effects on children have surfaced. Moreover, as recently as mid-September new sightings of oil were being reported for several Louisiana beaches, marshes, and offshore areas,6 and there are widespread concerns that oil will continue to resurface in still other areas when storms pass through. It’s extremely difficult to predict how soon after any given storm that it will be safe to visit shoreline areas, says Stephen West, a Coast Guard spokesman working with the Unified Area Command.

How Disasters Affect Local Labor Markets

Abstract This study improves upon the Difference in Difference approach by examining exogenous shocks using a Generalized Difference in Difference (GDD) technique that identifies economic effects of hurricanes. Based on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data, worker earnings in Florida counties hit by a hurricane increase up to 4 percent, whereas earnings in neighboring counties decrease. Over time, workers experience faster earnings and slower employment growth than workers in unaffected counties. Hurricanes have a greater impact in coastal and Panhandle counties, and powerful hurricanes have greater economic effects than weaker ones. Further, the GDD technique is applicable to analyze a wider range of exogenous shocks than hurricanes.

How Disasters Affect Local Labor Markets: The Effects of Hurricanes in Florida

This study improves upon the Difference in Difference approach by examining exogenous shocks using a Generalized Difference in Difference (GDD) technique that identifies economic effects of hurricanes. Based on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data, worker earnings in Florida counties hit by a hurricane increase up to 4 percent, whereas earnings in neighboring counties decrease. Over time, workers experience faster earnings and slower employment growth than workers in unaffected counties. Hurricanes have a greater impact in coastal and Panhandle counties, and powerful hurricanes have greater economic effects than weaker ones. Further, the GDD technique is applicable to analyze a wider range of exogenous shocks than hurricanes.

Vaginal Douching Practices of Women in Eight Florida Panhandle Counties

To document knowledge, beliefs, douching practices, prevalence of bacterial vaginosis, and preterm births in women who douche. Descriptive, cross-sectional nonexperimental design. Six private midwifery/nurse practitioner offices and eight county health departments in the Florida panhandle. Four hundred eighty-three English- or Spanish-speaking women aged 14 to 45 years. Self-administered questionnaire about douching; medical record review. Prevalence of douching, history of preterm labor, preterm births, and prevalence of bacterial vaginosis. Of 483 women, 76% had douched, 43% douched at least once per month, and 36% were unaware they should not douche. As determined by odds ratio, women who douched monthly were 2.5 times more likely to have a history of bacterial vaginosis than women who did not douche (p < .001), and women who douched weekly were 2.75 times more likely to have bacterial vaginosis (p = .004). Of 409 clients with medical records available, 32 had preterm births of which 69% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 4.5, df = 1, p = .034). Among women with preterm births who douched regularly prior to pregnancy (n = 14), 87% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 7.14, df = 1, p = .008). Associations of douching with bacterial vaginosis and bacterial vaginosis with preterm labor were significant. Health care professionals should initiate discussions to discourage douching.

The impact of early media election calls on Republican voting rates in Florida’s western Panhandle counties in 2000

Using voting data for presidential elections from 1976 to 2000, this paper documents an unusual and large drop off in Republican voting rates for Florida’s western Panhandle during the 2000 General Elections. Little change appears to have occurred in the rate that non-Republicans voted. The results appear more consistent with the early call reducing Republican voting rates than the networks discouraging all voters from voting by incorrectly calling the polls closed in the western Panhandle.

Documenting Unusual Declines in Republican Voting Rates in Florida's Western Panhandle Counties in 2000

Using voting data for presidential elections from 1976 to 2000, this paper documents an unusual and large drop off in Republican voting rates for Florida's western Panhandle during the 2000 general elections. Little change appears to have occurred in the rate that non-Republicans voted. The results appear more consistent with the early call that Democrats affected Republican voting rates than the networks discouraging all voters from voting by incorrectly calling the polls closed in the western Panhandle.

Treating Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Compliance and Side Effects

To the Editor. —For the initial treatment of tuberculosis (TB), Mahmoudi and Iseman 1 recommend a four-drug regimen that includes ethambutol. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recently and similarly recommended that initial TB treatment consist of four drugs including either ethambutol or streptomycin. 2 These revised recommendations for initial treatment have been made in an attempt to control multidrug-resistant TB, with the assumption that the drugs are relatively safe. Ethambutol's major toxic effect is retrobulbar optic neuritis, which is said to occur infrequently. At daily dosages of 25 mg/kg, the published incidence of ethambutol-associated optic neuritis (EAON) is 5%; for daily dosages of 15 mg/kg, the incidence is less than 1%. 3 We provide state-funded TB treatment for persons in 26 Texas Panhandle counties and use ethambutol infrequently. We reviewed records of our patients who had received ethambutol during the previous 24 months. Patients with human

Implications of Rising Energy Costs for Irrigated Farms in the Oklahoma Panhandle

As recently as five years ago, research on irrigated crop production in the Oklahoma Panhandle and surrounding area overlying the central basin of the Ogallala Formation focused on irrigable acres and regional share of national production as limits to irrigation development. An aggregate analysis was conducted to determine the economic life of the underground water supply for alternative scenarios regarding the rate of development in irrigated crop production (Bekure, Bekure and Eidman). In addition, bioeconomic modeling was used to determine the effects of alternative means of regulating water use at the firm level (Mapp, Mapp and Eidman). In these analyses, input and output prices, intensity of production practices, and the institutional structure were assumed constant through time. Several recent economic analyses have focused on aggregate or regional effects of alternative product and input prices in areas to the south of the central Ogallala (Condra and Lacewell; Lacewell, Condra, and Fish). Within the central Ogallala, analysis at the firm level has focused on developing costs and returns for reduced tillage production practices and evaluating the effects of changes in overall energy costs on kilocalories of output (Schwartz; Eidman, Dobbins, and Schwartz). This paper examines the impact of rising natural gas prices on the pattern of irrigated crop production, net farm income, and the quantity of water pumped through time for representative farms under various sets of assumptions regarding water resource situations, crop prices, and tillage practices. The geographic setting for this analysis is the Oklahoma Panhandle. The area is semiarid, receiving from 15 to 18 inches of rainfall annually. The existence of large quantities of underground water suitable for irrigation, favorable input and output price relationships, and the profitability of irrigated production have resulted in rapid irrigation development over the past decade. The larger profits from irrigated production are obtained at the expense of greatly increased energy inputs, particularly natural gas. In the three Oklahoma Panhandle counties, 91% of the irrigation wells are powered by natural gas (Schwab). Natural gas accounts for about 60% ot total energy inputs for irrigated production (table 1). This analysis focuses on the effects of a change in natural gas price rather than an overall rise in the price of energy-related inputs. Recharge of the Ogallala aquifer is small relative to rates of water withdrawal and the static water level is declining steadily (Hart, Hoffman, and Goemaat). This analysis accounts for the interaction among rates of water use, water depth, well yield, and pumping costs in determining the optimum organization of production through time. Discussants for this session were Otto C. Doering III of Purdue University, Ronald D. Lacewell of Texas A&M University, and Duane Harris of Iowa State University. Harry P. Mapp, Jr. is an associate professor and Craig L. Dobbins is a graduate research assistant in agricultural economics, Oklahoma State University. Journal Article No. J-3188 of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was conducted under Grant 14-340001-6037 of the Office of Water Research and Technology. The authors are indebted to Vernon R. Eidman and Harold J. Schwartz for their contributions on earlier phases of this research and to Odell L. Walker, Loren L. Parks, and James E. Casey for valuable comments and suggestions on initial drafts of this manuscript. Remaining errors or omissions are, of course, the authors' responsibility.

Oil and Gas Developments in North Mid-Continent in 1975

Iowa drilling activity during 1975 consisted of injection-withdrawal wells drilled by a gas-storage company in Louisa County. In Kansas crude oil production during 1975 (59,106,104 bbl) dropped 4.2% below the 1974 level; natural gas production (850,786,261 Mcf) decreased 4.9%. Processing plants recovered 28.7 million bbl of natural gasoline and LPG and 773 MMcf of helium. Drilling increased 20% with 3,398 holes reported; 50% of the holes drilled solely for oil or gas were successful. In 1975, 91 holes were drilled in Missouri; 69 were shallow stratigraphic core tests and 15 were unsuccessful wildcat tests. Nebraska, with 346 wells, had 50.4% more completions in 1975 than the year before. Total footage drilled was 1,732,450 (5,021 ft per well). The Panhandle counties had t e most activity in 1975. Thirteen new fields were discovered in Nebraska. No tests were drilled for oil or gas in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The Oklahoma Panhandle--A Cross Section of the Southern High Plains

T nHE Oklahoma Panhandle, consisting of the three westernmost Oklahoma counties-Cimarron, Texas, and Beaver (Fig. 1)-is a land of contrasts. Within this area means are insignificant, averages misleading, and generalizations are often invalid. Flat plains alternate with dissected semibadlands; bitter cold and snow vie with blistering heat and dust; fertile calcareous soils contrast with sterile blow sand; bounteous grain yields alternate with crop failures; huge ranches compete with small subsistence farms; emigration meets immigration. Such an area resists adequate description, but some generalizations have merit. Rural property size is steadily increasing; irrigation is expanding apace; mechanization on farms is an accomplished fact; conservation techniques and scientific agriculture are making substantial gains; and the residents of the region have among the highest per capita incomes in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Panhandle, projecting westward as it does from the 100th meridian to the 103rd meridian, provides a sampling avenue that gives valuable insight into the southern High Plains. Indeed, the limits of this transverse segment are almost coincident with the eastern and western boundaries of the High Plains. Although many investigators have suggested boundary lines between the High and Low Plains portions of the Great Plains, agreement among them is rarely attained. The authors suggest that the High Plains boundary is very near the eastern boundary of Beaver County.' Heavy stream dissection and proximity to the margin of the Tertiary in this region present presumptive evidence in the absence of any other significant line of demarcation. And, while it is true that projections of the Great Plains extend west of the western boundary of Cimarron County, volcanic disturbances dssociated with Mt. Capulin in New Mexico give a somewhat different character to northeastern New Mexico. Fortunately, then, the Panhandle counties, political entities, provide a valid transverse sample of the southern High Plains. Such a circumstance assists in the gathering of data, and provides a measure of statistical validity which is often difficult to attain in regions other than political units. The nature of the area allows a dual objective to be met. One purpose of this study is to provide a geographic inventory of the Oklahoma Panhandle which presumably might have multiple uses. Inventories are necessary for intelligent planning, and planning is essential to prevent economic disaster in the southern High Plains during periods of

Morrow Rocks of Western Kansas and Panhandle Counties of Oklahoma: ABSTRACT

The Morrow rocks of Western Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle have a maximum thickness of 700 feet and pinch northeast on the flank of the Anadarko basin. Sands within the Morrow series occur in two basic intervals designated as upper and lower. Upper sands are very lenticular but usually produce where present. They account for production in the Camrick pool, Texas County, Oklahoma; Light pool, Beaver County, Oklahoma; Interstate pool, Morton County, Kansas; and the Leslie pool, Meade County, Kansas. Lower sands produce in the Mocane pool, Beaver County, Oklahoma; Keyes pool, Cimarron County, Oklahoma; and the Sparks pool, Stanton County, Kansas. Morrow sands produce more than half of the area's crude oil and a large percentage of the pre-Permian gas. Production from the 60 pools in the area is from simple anticlinal to complex stratigraphic traps. Common completion practice is through casing with fracture treatment following a light-mud acid wash. Some excellent quality sands are completed natural. Wells sufficient to test the Morrow range in depth from 4,600 to 8,500 feet. Well costs average $10 per foot dry and $15 per foot completed. Reservoirs range from 3 to 90 feet in thickness, resulting in non-commercial to excellent wells with fast payout (less than 1 year). Average porosity is 14%; average connate water saturation is 25% with instances of 40% in commercial wells. Reserves in place End_Page 214------------------------------ range from 300-750 MCF per acre foot and 400-750 barrels per acre foot. Reservoir engineering studies of the character and behavior of some Morrow sands indicate that they should be capable of permitting efficient sweep out under secondary recovery. Subsurface geology and imaginative thinking are essential to the exploration approach of the Morrow. Gravity and seismic methods are being used with success. This area is in the early stages of development, and many reserves remain to be found. End_of_Article - Last_Page 215------------

Notes on Mississippi Amphibians and Reptiles

During most of July and August of 1951, while attending the summer session at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory near Ocean Springs, Mississippi, approxinately 800 specimens of amphibians and reptiles were secured in the panhandle counties of southern Mississippi, on some of the offshore islands, and in short stops while en route to and from Ocean Springs. This material is deposited in the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History, the Illinois Natural Histoiy Survey collection, and in the private collection of the junior author. A second collection of approximately 200 specimens largely from the Delta region, deposited in the Delta State Teachers College Museum, has been made available to us through the courtesy of Dr. R. L. Caylor of that institution. These two collections contain 89 species and subspecies as follows: salamanders, 14; frogs and toads, 19; lizards, 8; snakes, 36; and turtles, 12. Inasmuch as the snakes and lizards of Mississippi have been treated by Miss Cook (1943a, b) and three shorter papers on the herpetofauna of the Gulf counties have appeared (Brimley, 1910;- Corrington, 1927; and Allen, 1932), only county records or specimens of special interest for other reasons are cited in the present paper. Thus the following list is not a complete list of species and specimens collected since the bulk of our material is from Harrison County, the county best known. Despite the several papers cited above, Mississippi remains one of the least known states herpetologically, and it is felt that the distributional records and other notes accumulated for the following 76 forms merit publication.