Direct, face-to-face discussion invariably results in new, more accurate understandings. Public health covers a broad spectrum and the physical and mental well-being of these tobacco farm communities is vital to maintaining stability in regions which depend heavily on tobacco production. We are not seeking a handout; we just want understanding and consideration.

None of this would be possible without the assistance of the Southern Tobacco Communities Project under the guidance of Ms. Rebecca Reeve, Program Director, as well as the Institute for Environmental Negotiation, under the direction of lead moderator Dr. Frank Dukes.

These discussions started in hopes of reaching some common ground as well as a search for higher ground. It is our opinion we have attained both goals.

Let us make one thing clear: we have done nothing wrong. We have played by the rules. Public policy has guided our past and will certainly play a major role in charting the course for our future.

Our agenda with the public health community has been primarily one of education -- education as to who we are and why we do what we do. We have never strayed from that agenda nor have we tried to change the agenda of the public health community. We, the members of the tobacco community, support a strong comprehensive youth access program.

Who is the American tobacco farmer?  We are the 125,00 small AMerican tobacco farms dotted across many states and are integral threads of the fabric which holds these communities together.  WE happen to live in regions highly dependent upon tobacco production, primarily due to topography, lack of natural rainfall, proximity to markets, and other factors out of our control.  According to recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics, 90 percent of the approximately 18,800 black farmers are located in the south and one-third of them in the Raleigh Service Region receive more than 50 percent of their income from tobacco. A number of these tobacco farmers are defined as socially disadvantaged. Another group defined by USDA as socially disadvantaged are the more than 600 Lumbee Indians -- many of whom derive a majority of their income from tobacco.

In my own County of Halifax, Virginia, 52 percent of the quota holders are women, yet another socially disadvantaged group. Many are elderly ladies who own a tobacco quota and depend on this income annually as a major source of revenue to supplement their meager social security payments. They use this money to pay their health insurance, their farm taxes and other mandatory payments. This annual income enables them to keep their family farm, which in most cases many generations have sweated and toiled to sustain a quality of life we feel is second to none.

A chilling statistic is the top four states listed for total limited resource farmers also happen to be the top four tobacco producing states: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, respectively.

We feel a major turning point in attitudes of the public health community toward the tobacco farmer came as a result of a two-day tobacco briefing and tour which occurred last August in rural Halifax County, Virginia. National policy makers from the public health community, along with representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services attended. We are gratified that these entities were concerned enough about our physical, mental, and economic well-being to take out time from their busy schedule to come down and view firsthand who we are.

Of equal importance is who we are not. We are not the big plains farmers with tandem 4-wheel drive tractors with acres and acres as far as you can see. Our attempt was to put a face on the issue and we feel we accomplished just that. Department of Health and Human Services attendee, Andrew Hyman, stated he "was learning something new every minute, every conversation." Mr. Hyman's new tobacco overview included a separation within the industry itself between grower and manufacturer. "And I think that was an important thing for me to take away, that we not view tobacco as a monolith."

Walter Sinclair, on behalf of the American Heart Association, on September 11 in testimony before the Committee on Agriculture in the Senate commented on the tour as "an eye-opening experience."

Much concern has been generated for the tobacco farmer and farm communities since the June 20, 1997 agreement between the 40 state attorneys general and the manufacturers. The Senate voted last fall 98 to 0 that the small tobacco farmer must be included in any type of settlement.

We were encouraged by President Clinton's comments on the proposed tobacco settlement on September 17, 1997, when he stated, "Any tobacco settlement must protect tobacco farmers and their communities. We know that tobacco farmers are honest, hardworking people -- many of whom live and work on small family owned farms. They haven't done anything wrong. They deserve a chance to have their lives and be made whole.

Mr. President and members of the 105th Congress, we respectfully accept the commitments as stated and we look forward to participating in an active role in taking our tobacco communities into the 21st century and at the same time being made whole.

An unprecedented opportunity is before us to enhance the public health of this nation and to protect tobacco communities. The ten core principles as presented will serve as a vehicle to accomplish this goal. The core principles should be used as a filter to determine which proposal best meets these principles. This is truly a unique win-win situation which provides a soft-landing for our communities.

Proverbs 29:18 reads: "Where this is no vision, the people perish." The core principles serve as a vision to sustain a unique group of God's people, the small American tobacco farm family. Thank you.