Word: flocks
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...operation was the start of the U.S. Army's "blackbird control program." Last fall the birds had descended on southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee like a biblical plague. In addition to Fort Campbell's flock of 5 million, there were almost 10 million birds at the military arsenal in nearby Milan, Tenn.. and another 1.5 million in the town of Paducah, Ky. The blackbirds battened on feed meant for livestock, and their droppings might spread histoplasmosis, a lung disease. Before retaliating, the Army issued an environmental statement, and defeated court suits brought by two humane societies (TIME...
Paducah opened the attack. On a chilly, drizzly night, the town sprayed its roosting flock with a detergent that, in combination with the rain, removed insulating oil from the birds' feathers. Cold weather did the rest: 20% of the birds died. A few nights later, the Army went to work at Fort Campbell without waiting for rain. Huey helicopters sprayed the blackbirds with detergent, then fire trucks doused them with water. Meanwhile, the birds at the Milan arsenal have been left alone-until the next rainy cold spell. But the Army still stands a good chance of losing...
...Hopkinsville. "Farmers are in the fields with shotguns, cattle and hogs are driven from the feed lots, children's slides are covered with bird droppings." The damage to the area is already estimated at $2.6 million. That figure does not include the damage done by a similar flock of 7 million birds around the Army arsenal at nearby Milan, Tenn. Nor do the costs take into account two bird-borne diseases: gastroenteritis, which is often fatal to baby pigs, and histoplasmosis-caused by a fungal spore in the bird droppings-which produces lung damage in humans...
After years of dutifully ministering to his flock, the Rev. Thomas Marshfield, 41, begins fleecing the ewes. When his trysts with the church organist and other assorted supplicants are exposed, Marshfield is shipped West for a month's rest to a desert spa for troubled clergymen. The regimen is ecumenical. There is golf in the afternoon, poker at night and daiquiris whenever. Mornings are spent alone at an obligatory typewriter, where orgies of therapeutic confession are the order...
...leads to the prisons. The inmates who have volunteered for the reading program often make a supreme effort to learn. Besides, in a prison environment virtually devoid of therapy and personal virtually devoid of therapy and personal attention, even short visits mean a lot. Guys you don't tutor flock over to say hello and rap for a few seconds. After a few weeks, tutees start talking to you about prison life, at times about personal problems...