ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS APPEAL FOR DROUGHT HELP

Gov. Jim Edgar trudged through dry corn and soybean fields Tuesday in an effort to assess the drought problem in northeastern Illinois but he warned that any help from the federal government is at least three weeks away.

Ironically, as northern Illinois suffered through another two days of dry weather, farmers in central Illinois saw the skies turn to gold as steady rainfall Monday and Tuesday provided up to 5 inches of rain and perked up their troubled bean crops.

The governor and state Agriculture Director Becky Doyle made stops at farms in Cissna Park in Iroquois County and Shorewood in Will County, both areas that have seen little rain in the last few months.

During a helicopter tour, Edgar announced he will ask the federal Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service to undertake preliminary disaster assessment reports in the next few days and be prepared for final assessment reports immediately after the harvest season.

He also announced he will ask the ASCS to release funds for an emergency feed program to help livestock farmers affected by drought damage to summer crops, such as hay and oats. Edgar also said his administration is trying to get set-aside acreage on farms released for grazing and haying.

But he told farmers in Cissna Park not to be too eager.

"We hope there will be federal aid but I want to caution everyone: it's not something that's going to happen tomorrow," the governor said.

The federal government cannot act on a disaster declaration until it has seen figures from the final harvest.

"The key thing is for us to convince the federal government," the governor said. "It's very apparent that there's been a lot of damage already, just the colorization of the corn. It looks like it ought to be September right now looking down there."

Six Republican legislators who represent farm territory wrote a letter to President Bush to try to convince him to support drought disaster assistance legislation that has passed the Senate.

"Our area has only just begun to recover economically from the drought of 1988 and now we again face a terrible drought," said the letter signed by Reps. Jerry Weller, R-Morris; Les Conkling, R-Kempton; Gordon Ropp, R-Normal; Robert Regan, R-Crete, Ed Petka, R-Plainfield and Tim Johnson, R-Urbana.

While northern Illinois remained parched, it was a totally different situation on farms in central Illinois, stretching from Quincy to Champaign to Peoria.

Monday night, the hardest storms hit between Peoria and Springfield. On Monday and Tuesday, Springfield reported 1.3 inches of rain with about 1 inch hitting Peoria.

"I'm sure that they're all smiling if this rain was general over the county," Sangamon County Farm Bureau Manager Jack Oakley said Tuesday. "In my house south of Springfield, I had 1.7 inches and that was at 7 a.m. this morning.

"I'm sure it will help soybeans at this point in time because they are at a critical stage," Oakley said. "On the corn, I'd say that most of the damage that was done has already been done and the rain won't have too much significant effect on that."

Several towns reported more than three inches, including: Oakley, 5.4 inches; Bement, 5 inches; Lincoln, 4 inches; Tuscola, 3.9 inches; Oakland, 3.8 inches; and Newman, 3.8 inches.

In west-central Illinois, there was also significant rainfall Monday and Tuesday: Augusta, 1.86 inches; Congerville, 1.16 inches; and Beardstown, 1.05 inches.

On Monday night, the rain was extremely heavy and visibility was near zero on Illinois 121 and Interstate 55, where many drivers were forced to seek shelter.

The mercury never hit 80 degrees Tuesday in central and northern Illinois but just across the river from Southern Illinois in Paducah, Ky., the temperature rose to 99 degrees.