DATE:     8/21/97
CONTACT:  Walker Miller, (864) 656-0274
          Powell Smith, (803) 359-8515
          John Oxner, (803) 929-6030
WRITER:   Tom Lollis, (803) 284-334

County Agents Honor 
Friends of Extension

     SANTEE -- Clemson Extension agents presented three Friend of
Extension awards during the recent annual meeting of the South
Carolina Association of County Agricultural Agents.
     Awards went to Ed White, director of the Sunbelt
Agricultural Exposition in Moultrie, Ga.; master gardener Beverly
Colman of Charleston; and W.P. Rawl & Sons, a vegetable-growing
family farm in Lexington County.
     County agent John Oxner of Richland County presented White
his plaque. White is a former county agent and was assistant to
head of the Extension Service in his native state of Alabama for
seven years.
     In 1976 he became head of the Rural Development Center and
Conferences with the Georgia Extension Service in Tifton. Two
years later the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition was added to his
administrative duties. When he retired from Extension in 1994, he
became Sunbelt Ag Expo director fulltime.  He and his staff
signed up a record 1,119 companies for exhibits in 1996.
     "Ed has been very supportive of the county agents and was
instrumental in getting Clemson involved with educational booths 
at the Sunbelt Ag Expo,"  Oxner said. "He is a great ambassador
for Southeastern agriculture."
     Clemson Extension plant pathologist Walker Miller presented
the award to Colman, a retired editor for a New York book company
who has donated thousands of hours to help update the Clemson
Extension Agricultural Pest Management Handbook.
     "A master gardener since the program began in 1981, she has
contributed more than 8,000 hours of service to Extension in
Charleston County," Miller said. She helps train new master
gardeners and appears regularly on Making It Grow!, S.C. ETV's
program on gardening and agriculture.
     Colman writes Taproot, the master gardener newsletter for
Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties and helps edit
Extension Chords, the cluster newsletter.
     W. P. Rawl & Sons is a third generation family farm,
according to Powell Smith, county agent in Lexington. W.P. Rawl
died some years ago, but his sons, daughters, grandsons and
granddaughters run the farm now, growing more than 1,000 acres of
vegetables.
     "They are innovators, active in the community and are
excellent supporters of the Extension Service and Clemson
University," Smith said.
     Howard Rawl, one of the late Mr. Rawl's sons, is on the
Clemson University Board of Visitors. He has served on numerous 
local and state Extension committees. Mrs. Sue Wingard, a
daughter, is an agricultural commissioner and has also served on
many local Extension committees. A grandson, Charles Wingard, is
on Smith's vegetable action committee.
                                END