Disaster Designation For Pennington And Other Counties

 Farmers in eight South Dakota counties are
eligible for federal assistance because of weather and grasshopper
problems last year.

The federal Agriculture Department has designated Ziebach County
as a primary natural disaster area. The designation makes
assistance such as low-interest emergency loans available to
farmers in that county and also the contiguous counties of Corson,
Haakon, Pennington, Stanley, Dewey, Meade and Perkins.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says there was serious damage
from freezing rain, snow, excessive rain, high winds, tornadoes,
flash flooding and grasshopper infestations in the counties in 2009
from late March through December.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)